Weiser baseball team wins first state championship

In a history-making performance, the Weiser High School baseball team walked away with a three-game sweep and a state 3A championship title Saturday in Fruitland.
 The Wolverines entered the state tournament on Thursday, drawing undefeated Marsh Valley, the No. 1 team in Idaho.
 Weiser felt the pressure, but rose to the challenge.  
 Ray Calley took the mound for the Wolverines, the senior lefty getting the start due to his leadership and off-speed pitching capabilities, according to Weiser Head Coach Bowe von Brethorst.
 “Ray has some dirty pitches that I thought [he] might be difficult to handle,” he said.  
Weiser 12, Marsh Valley 10
 Calley lasted four innings before Marsh Valley got their timing on him and recorded six runs on five hits and walked two batters.  
 The Eagles came out swinging, making good contact with the ball and didn’t give up a single strikeout in the contest.  
 Koda Coers came in next in relief and tallied runs on five hits.  
 On the offensive side of the game, eight Wolverines managed to hit the ball and add 16 hits on the evening.  Of those eight batters, six of them managed multiple hits with Coers, Kooper von Brethorst, Jarret Mink, and Tyler Pope each managing two, while Willy Shirts and Brett Spencer led the team with three hits each.
 Weiser also managed 11 RBIs with Coers and Beau Shields leading the team with three each.  
 The high slugging percentage was on both sides of the ball with 11 hits coming from Marsh Valley, including three home runs.  
 The Wolverines managed to stay ahead of the game with a high level of play throughout the contest, and opening up the first inning with three runs against Marsh Valley’s one in the top of the first inning.  

The Eagles answered with three of their own, but Weiser repeated the same performance, adding three more to the total and bringing the score to 6-4 at the end of the third inning.
 Neither team added any points to the board in the fourth inning, but Marsh Valley added three unanswered scores in the fifth.  
 The score was 7-6 in favor of Marsh Valley going into the seventh inning.  This is normally the time when you can feel the tension in the Wolverines and start to sense the anxiety forming, but not on Thursday.  
 The Wolverines, maintaining their composure, fought in the seventh despite Marsh Valley adding two more runs to the board.  
 In the bottom of the seventh and down 9-6, the Wolverines dug deep and put three more runs on the board to tie the game at 9-9.  
 In the final extra innings, Beau Shields came in as the final relief for the Wolverines.
 The first Marsh Valley batter got on base with a single and made it to third when the second batter hit a single to get on first base. The third batter hit a sacrifice fly to score the first batter and move the second one to third base.  
 Shields would strike out the next batter and then they would finally pop up and some solid Weiser defense held Marsh Valley to just the one run.
 In the bottom of the eighth inning, with one out, Spencer and Shirts would both single to get on first and second base.  Shields came to the plate and on a 2-2 count, hit a walk off three run homerun to win the game for the Wolverines with a final score of 12-10.  
Weiser 8, Kimberly 2
 Coming off the great win against Marsh Valley, the Wolverines faced No. 2 seed Kimberly on Friday.  
 Weiser knew that Kimberly had a couple of tough pitchers, but having already played one game any team can use up pitchers quickly.  
 The Wolverines took the lead in the first inning, putting up two unanswered runs in the first inning and another four in the second inning.  
 Kimberly finally answered with one run, scoring in the third inning and each team added another run in the fourth inning bringing the score to 7-2 in favor of the Wolverines.  
 In the fifth inning, Kimberly went on a tear and on a two-out rally, scored three runs due to an error by the Wolverines on top of two solid singles.  
 Weiser couldn’t get anything going to answer the runs, but again this is normally where things get a little nerve wracking for Weiser fans. Kimberly again would try to capitalize loading the bases, but the solid and error free defense in the sixth inning held off any Kimberly scoring attempts.  
 The Wolverines were able to add one more to the total in the top of the seventh inning and was trying to stop Kimberly from scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning.  
 Kimberly added a single shot homerun, but couldn’t muster anything else to stop the Wolverines from taking the game 8-6.  
 Weiser once again had 16 hits on the game and multiple hits from six Wolverines including two each from Willy Shirts, Beau Shields, Jack Burke, and Ray Calley.  
 Kooper von Brethorst had three hits on the night and leading the team was Brett Spencer with four hits.  
 Weiser had six RBIs with von Brethorst and Shields adding two each to lead the team.  Senior lefty, Jarret Mink, got the start on the mound for his Wolverine team and went five and a third innings, recording five runs on ten hits and two strikeouts.  
 Senior right-handed pitcher, Beau Shields, came in for one and two thirds innings and managed to hold Kimberly to one run off of two hits and one strikeout.  
 “This is the second game that we have just settled in and played the game the way that we know how and have practiced,” Bowe von Brethorst said. “There were some times during both games where things didn’t go our way, but we just moved on to the next play or the next batter.  This was great baseball.”
Weiser vs. Fruitland
 Last but not least, the Wolverines played in the Championship game against the Fruitland Grizzlies on Saturday afternoon.  
 The game wouldn’t start until 5 p.m. due to rain and other delays on the field.
 Weiser had faced Fruitland twice during conference play and lost both times, but everyone knows that it is sometimes difficult to beat a team three times, especially when they are playing the best baseball they have played during the entire season.  
 Weiser started off at the plate with Fruitland taking the home field and home-team advantage. Brett Spencer would double, followed by Shields and Shirts singles to score and take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.  
 On defense with junior lefty, Willy Shirts, on the mound, Koda Coers caught two Fruitland pop-ups before one batter reached first on an outfield error. Another pop-up to Payton Albertson in centerfield would end the inning and leave Fruitland scoreless.  
 Ray Calley would hit a single followed by two walks for Coers and Jack Burke. Spencer would single and score Calley, once again loading the bases. Coers would score on a wild pitch before the end of the inning.  
 Fruitland managed to get on base on a single up the middle, but would be thrown out trying to steal second on a left-handed pitcher with a great pick move.  
 Coers would catch another pop-up and Kooper von Brethorst would handle a ground ball to end the inning 3-0 in Weiser’s favor.  
 In the top of the third inning, both Shields and Calley would collect singles, but Weiser couldn’t add to their totals.  
 Fruitland would get on base with a walk to start the bottom of the third inning and advance to second on a third strike dropped ball.  
 The Grizzlies collected a single that would score the walk, but nothing more, bringing the score to 3-1 Weiser.  
 In the fourth inning, von Brethorst, Shirts, and Shields would all single to score von Brethorst.  Weiser only added one run in the inning.  
 Fruitland got one runner on base on an error and would be thrown out trying to steal second for the second time during the game.  
 Fruitland promptly collected two more outs and added no runs in the fourth inning.  
 Weiser’s momentum slowed a bit in the top of the fifth, the Wolverines managing only one single by Coers before turning it over to Fruitland.  
 The Grizzlies hit three straight balls towards center field, getting two runners on base and scoring one of them to add one run during the bottom of the fifth inning.  
 Solid defense by Albertson, Shirts, and Spencer helped to finish the inning with a 4-2 score.
 Spencer would come to the plate in the top of the sixth inning and hit a single to get on. Shirts would collect an out, but move his teammate to second base.  
 Shields and Jarret Mink would walk for the Wolverines and, on an error at home plate by the Grizzlies, Spencer and Shields would find home plate, bringing the score to 6-2, Weiser.  
 A Fruitland batter walked to get on base in the bottom of the sixth inning, followed by great defense by Mink with a catch in right field, and a strikeout by Shirts. Spencer would end the inning handling a ground ball and throwing to first for the final out.  
 Top of the seventh, and the last attempt to add some points for the Wolverines, Coers would walk to start off. Von Brethorst would lay down a sweet bunt to advance Coers to third base, while he was safe sliding into first base.  
 Spencer once again would add a single, scoring Coers and advancing von Brethorst to second. Shirts would add a single and load the bases for Weiser and then Shields would add another single as well to score both von Brethorst and Spencer.
 Weiser would end the top of the seventh with a score of 9-2.  
 Fruitland started the bottom of the inning with a ground out to Coers at second base, followed by a walk and a pop up that would get on by error and advance the first runner to third base.  
 A sacrifice fly would score a Fruitland batter and give them two recorded outs.  
 The next Fruitland batter would hit a double to right field that would score one more run for the Grizzlies.  
 That was all that they could muster, as the next batter would fly out to Mink in center field to end the game and start the celebration.  
 Again, the Wolverines recorded 16 hits during the final contest.  
 Six Wolverine batters did damage during the night with five of them managing multiple hits.  
 Calley and von Brethorst each had two hits. Shirts had three hits, followed by Shields and Spencer with four each to lead the Wolverines. Shields and Spencer also led in RBIs, Spencer recording two and Shields four.
 Shirts went all seven innings throwing 107 pitches for the Wolverines and recording four runs on five hits, three strikeouts, and five walks.  
 Coach Bowe von Brethorst was excited:
 “This was an amazing group of young men who just dug in and got the job done,” he beamed. “I am so proud of how hard they worked: their dedication and their ability to move from one play to the next. They and all of the coaches are an amazing team and family.”  
 It is the first state championship in Weiser High School baseball history.
 Weiser came close in 2019 when the team won the consolation championship. With the 2020 season cancelled, the Wolverines were ready to resume play in 2021.
 The 2021 Wolverine baseball team made history and had an amazing season filled with success. Saturday was definitely a great day to be a Wolverine!