The Cinderella path to a state championship provides plenty of drama and memorable stories. Entering the season as the heavy favorite and backing it up with more hardware poses a different challenge. And Owyhee proved it was up to that test Saturday.
The second-year program repeated as 5A baseball state champions, edging Lake City 5-2 at The College of Idaho’s Wolfe Field to capture yet another title for the newest Meridian high school.
“At the beginning of the year, we kind of knew that we would be a pretty solid team,” Owyhee junior Ryder Cutlip said. “But being able to prove that it’s no fluke, and we can go from being an underdog to being on top in just one season, it means a lot.”
The No. 1-ranked Storm (23-4) returned all but one player from last year’s championship team, making them an easy pick to repeat. But titles never come easy. Every opponent circled the day Owyhee came to town, loading up their best pitcher and looking to make a name for themselves off the defending state champs.
Saturday’s victory earned Owyhee coach Russ Wright his 10th state championship. He’s guided teams on both the David and Goliath routes to a title. He said proving everyone wrong as the underdog is more fun, but winning as the favorite poses a different challenge, and provides a different reward.
“You don’t get any instant momentum,” said Wright, 60. “Whatever you do is because you went and took it. You don’t get any Cinderella story. You don’t get any of that. You get everybody’s best effort.
“So it’s really rewarding that way because it’s hard. It is hard to do, and it’ll be hard again next year. And we’re going to try to do it next year.”
That instant momentum nearly swung to No. 6-seeded Lake City (21-7) early Saturday. Cutlip struggled on the mound in the top of the first inning, walking two batters, hitting another and giving up an RBI single to Jake Dannenberg. He recorded only a single out and left the bases loaded before Owyhee brought in sophomore Kaleb Doty to put out the fire.
Doty started the season on junior varsity before a couple of injuries forced him up to the varsity squad. He quickly made himself so indispensable that the Storm turned to him when it trailed for the first time all weekend.
He delivered once more, recording two quick outs to escape and then throwing three scoreless innings to help bridge the gap to closer Jack Ryan.
“He got us here,” Owyhee junior Nick McDaniel said. “He did everything we could ask for from such a young guy in such a pressure situation.”
Cutlip tied the game with an RBI single in the third, and Owyhee finally broke loose in the fifth inning. McDaniel laced a two-run single past a drawn-in infield, Keagan Kelly added an RBI single and Cade Walker tacked on a sacrifice fly as the Storm hung four runs on the scoreboard.
Fittingly, shortstop Cole Rohlmeier started the rally, absorbing a hit by pitch and then stealing second before coming around on McDaniel’s bases-loaded single. The senior chose to transfer to Owyhee last season, leaving a starting position at Rocky Mountain to become the only player at Owyhee with significant varsity experience.
He warned the rest of the state that Owyhee was just getting started last year. But with a championship medal hanging around his neck again Saturday, even he struggled to believe the school’s unlikely story.
“It’s unreal,” he said with a laugh. “I did not expect this to happen in my two years at Owyhee. I’m just at a loss. It’s amazing.”
MOUNTAIN VIEW 9, MIDDLETON 5: The fourth-seeded Mavericks (17-12) broke up a tie game with four runs in the top of the fifth to bring home the third-place trophy.
Carson Lupton started the damage with an RBI double, and Will Grizzle followed with a bases-loaded double. Lupton finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs, and Grizzle was 4-for-5 with three RBIs.
Micah Mendiola went 2-for-3 with two RBIs for No. 2 Middleton (23-7)
EAGLE 9, HIGHLAND 8: Ryan Buchanan led the Mustangs to their second straight walk-off win in extra innings to capture the tournament consolation title.
Buchanan singled in the bottom of the 10th-inning for the walk-off victory, bringing home Devon Downie for the winning run a day after Eagle (18-9) beat Timberline with Ben Mortimer’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Buchanan finished 2-for-5, and Grant Baskin went 1-for-3 with a two-run, inside-the-park home run that scored Buchanan in the fifth inning.