| A Helper runner slides safely into third. Helper’s Legion team is now 6-1 and winning with great offense, solid defense and good pitching. |
Three wins and a loss kept the Helper American Legion record almost perfect. In the early season they are now 6-1 and counting. The team headed north to Burley, Idaho for a tournament last week and played well. They beat Box Elder 17-6 and then played a traveling team from Pocatello and lost 8-13. Regrouping, they went on to trounce Minico 11-0 and finish off with a 12-7 victory over Caldwell, Idaho.
The first game was Thursday June 12 with Helper playing Box Elder, Utah. Hayden Basinger threw four great innings of shutout ball. Colby Snow came in and pitched the 5th inning and gave up all six of Box Elders runs.
Coach Cisneros summed up the performance, “He pitched good, we just did not make a few plays for him that would of have gotten out of the inning ithout giving up any runs. As a team we hit the ball very well.”
Daniel Peczuh had four hits. Ron Herrera and Gatlon Huntington both had a pair and Josh Dennison and Tyler Bean both blasted one over the fence.
The Pocatello Regulators were the second opponent of the day. The Pocatello club is not a Legion team, but a traveling all-star sqaud.
Derick Anderson pitched five innings as Helper led 8-7 going into the seventh, but gave up six runs in the last inning to lose 13-8. Kyler Edgehouse was the closer in the final two innings and coach Cisneros summed up his performance.
“He did a great job despite the loss,” commented Cisneros. “We played a good game but lost in the last inning.The umpire made two really bad calls with two outs and the bases loaded with the score still 8-7 in our favor. These two calls ended up costing us the game, but we also had too many errors and we stranded 10 base runners during the game.”
Kyle Esquibel and Blake Mortensen both had homeruns in the game and both Sherman and Herrera each had a double.
On Friday ,June 13, Helper played one game against the host team Minico, Idaho. Jordan Gee pitched a complete game shutout as Helper took Minico out in five innings.
Derrick Allred had three hits. Matthew Peczuh, Bean and Huntington each had a double. With the win Helper moved into the championship game to be played the next day.
Wrapping up play on Saturday the team took on Caldwell, Idaho for the championship
“We played a great game against a very good Caldwell team that had not lost yet in the tournament,” stated Cisneros. “We played solid defense and hit the ball very well.”
Josh Dennison started on the mound and pitched four solid innings. Herrera came on in relief and pitched two good innings allowing only a run. Edgehouse picked up the save by finishing the game and not allowing a run.
“Ryan Draper played solid at shortstop and had numerous defensive stops throughout the tournament. Ron Herrera once again had a great game with the bat as he had another homer and a double,” said Cisneros. “Herrera was also named the tournament’s most valuable player. This was a great tournament for us as we got a chance to play everyone on our roster and we got a lot of game time experience. We are playing very well for this early in the season.”
Esquibel added to the offense with a triple. Matt Salas and Ryan Draper each contributed a double.
Helper played at home Monday at 7 p.m. against Murray. Scores for that game will be in Thursday’s edition of the Sun Advocate.