Roundup: Sugar-Salem baseball, Pocatello softball, earn state tournament berths

State tournament berths were on the line Saturday as District 6 baseball teams concluded their best-of-3 play-in series.

Defending state champion Sugar-Salem downed Homedale twice to earn a shot at a repeat state title, and Bonneville took care of business in its 5A series to advance, but the other 6A teams saw their seasons come to a close.

In softball action, Pocatello earned a 5A state berth with a play-in win over Bonneville, but Thunder Ridge fell to Rocky Mountain in a 6A matchup.

BASEBALL

6A

Mountain View downs Madison
Mountain View jumped out to an early lead and then put the game away with six runs in the fourth inning on the way to a 9-4 win.

Alex Ramos had two doubles and two RBI for the Bobcats (19-11) and Payton Kostial and Josh Haslem also knocked in runs.

5A

Skyline knocked out by Twin Falls
The Grizzlies beat Jerome 6-0 behind a complete-game shutout from Dillon Herzog.

Skyline advanced to play Twin Falls in the finals, but the Bruins pulled out the win 4-3 with the game-winner coming in the bottom of the seventh.

4A

Sugar-Salem rolls into state tournament
The defending state champion Diggers defeated Homedale for the second time in the tournament, winning Saturday’s game 6-1 to earn a spot in the 4A state tournament.

Jack Gardner hit a two-run triple in the third and Ben Aldrich followed with an RBI single to left. A bases-loaded walk staked Sugar-Salem to a 4-0 lead and starter Dawson McInelly tossed a complete game, striking out six, to earn the win.

3A

Firth eliminated
The Cougars held off Challis-Mackay 10-9 despite Challis-Mackay scoring five runs in the top of the seventh to erase a six-run deficit.

Beau Ringel had two doubles and three RBIs for Firth.

Challis-Mackay’s late rally started with a homer by Jacen Farr. Tanner Rusworth knocked in a run and Marlen Mitchell added an RBI on a ground out. Brayden Ollar followed with a two-run double, but the Cougars were able to prevail.

Firth (20-8) advanced to play Nampa Christian, but a 2-0 lead wasn’t enough as Nampa Christian tied the game in the fourth and put up six runs in the fifth and earned a 9-2 win.

North Fremont eliminated
The Huskies fell to New Plymouth on Friday and lost again to New Plymouth 8-1 in the second matchup on Saturday.

The Huskies (9-12) were held to four hits.

SOFTBALL

6A

Rocky Mountain’s Tayler Klocko knocked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh as Thunder Ridge saw its season come to an end with an 8-7 loss.

The Titans led 7-3 after four innings before Rocky Mountain Mountain rallied to tie the game.

Giulia Johns, Chelsea Adam, Avery Roberts, Sadie Fuller and Leyda Santilla each had two hits for Thunder Ridge.

5A

The 5A play-in game also came down to the last at-bat as Pocatello’s Jordy Snell singled in the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh for a 7-6 win over Bonneville.

The Thunder led 5-0 before the Bees rallied for six runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead.

Bonneville led 6-5 in the seventh, but Pocatello’s Oakley Hirschi homered to right to tie the game. Jakobi Nebeker followed with a triple, setting up the game-winner by Snell.