Saturday’s American Legion baseball game between the Lewis-Clark Twins and the Nampa Chiefs was forced to extra innings off of a two-out right field single by the Chiefs’ Aaron Vavold to send Max Sperry home from second to tie the game at 4-4. Prior to the hit, Sperry hit the ball down the right-field line and it just stayed in enough to make it an awkward play for the defense to keep the game going.
What followed was much more in the Twins’ favor.
In the bottom of the eighth, Brighton Schumacher was on second base due to the added runner rule in extra innings. A wild pitch allowed him to ease into third and then a passed ball went to the left of the catcher’s mitt and Schumacher trotted home to win the game at 5-4.
It was a nice consolation victory for the Twins, who were bounced from their own Dwight Church Tournament on Friday.
Twins’ pitching
The Twins (3-7) used four pitchers in the bout. Zack Bambacigno started on the mound, went five innings and allowed three runs (none earned) on three hits with two strikeouts.
Isaiah Raines came in as relief in the sixth with a runner on first. Raines struck out the first batter and then proceeded to walk the next two batters and load the bases.
Enter Zavier McFee. He came in during a rough spot and struck out the next two batters easily to keep the Twins in the lead at 4-3.
Lewis-Clark coach Micah Brown said that McFee did just what he asked him to do and shut the Chiefs down that inning.
“Really proud, especially (of) Zavier McFee, he came in a big spot (with) the bases loaded and got two strikeouts,” Brown said. “Really ballsy out of him and (I) loved it.”
Hayden Line then closed out the game and pitched two innings with one run allowed on two hits.
Brown said that using multiple pitchers was expected in this game.
“When you get about three or four games in a row, our pitching starts to get a little thin, so we have to call on guys and they got to be ready to go,” Brown said.
Twins’ offense
The Twins’ offense was not a fireworks show. There were some struggles, some of which could be attributed to the solid pitching by the Chiefs (8-6).
But some players did well in the contest. Grady Kennedy went 2-for-3 with two doubles. Makhi Durrett had two hits, including a double, and had one RBI. Colt Kelley had two hits and added one RBI.
