Babe Ruth state final runs late
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
BENTONVILLE - Jim Snodgrass has watched the Babe Ruth Baseball league in Siloam Springs come a long way in recent years.
The team Snodgrass manages - the Siloam Springs All-Stars - is a testament to that, especially in this year's North Arkansas 14-year-old Babe Ruth State Tournament at Phillips Park.
Siloam Springs advanced all the way to the championship round, scoring runs in bunches and having fun all the while.
After going undefeated throughout the whole tournament, Siloam Springs lost 6-5 to Mountain Home in the first championship game and the result of the "if necessary"game was not available at press time.
"Been a fun tournament," Snodgrass said. "Our guys have played good. We had a couple of breakdowns there at the end. We missed a squeeze play call and we got a kid thrown out on that. That's the way the ball bounces for you sometimes. Sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you."
The ball bounced right for Siloam Springs most of the tournament. The team scored 25 runs in its opening game and then scored 23 more over its next two games going into Monday's first game.
It's Siloam Springs' second appearance in a state championship in the last three years. As 12-year-olds, Siloam Springs put up the same type of offensive output but ran into a buzzsaw in Batesville and lost in the finals.
"They've gotten a lot better each time we've gone to state," Snodgrass said. "We're doing a lot better. We've really improved over the years. We've got a good little ballclub."
The All-Stars were selected from six different teams in the Siloam Springs Babe Ruth league. Having been together four weeks, the team won the District 4 championship to advance to the North Arkansas Babe Ruth State Tournament. The winner of the state tournament advances to the 14-year-old Southwest Regional Tournament in Bryant. Snodgrass has coached in the Siloam Springs league for the last several years. "Our kids have worked hard over the years," Snodgrass said. "I've been coaching a lot of these kids for seven or eight years now. Every year they get a little better so I'm happy for them."
• • • Siloam Springs took a 5-0 lead in the second inning of the first game Tuesday, taking advantage of four Mountain Home errors and a RBI single by Ryan Smith. Mountain Home scored a pair of runs in the second and two more in the fourth off starting pitcher Keith Laster. But Laster escaped multiple bases-loaded jams to give Siloam Springs a 5-4 lead heading into the sixth inning. Siloam Springs could have broken the game open in the top of the sixth but left the bases loaded with no runs scored. Mountain Home took advantage in the bottom half of the inning. Andrew Snodgrass relieved Laster and left with the bases loaded and one out. Reliever Blake Curry forced a pop fly to first by Mountain Home's Blake Covington, but first baseman Will Tucker fell while making the catch and Mountain Home runner Trey Killian tagged up to tie the game. Austin Tilley scored on a wild pitch to give Mountain Home a 6-5 lead. Pitcher Billy Wehmeyer pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to end the game.
• • • Siloam Springs played Tuesday without tournament standout Braden Pippin. Pippin's family scheduled a vacation to begin Tuesday. The final game of the tournament was originally scheduled for Monday but rain on Saturday pushed the tournament back a day. Pippin has played first base, shortstop and pitched for Siloam Springs. In three games he collected six hits, scored seven runs and had nine RBIs. He picked up a save in Siloam Springs' 25-19 win against Fayetteville and pitched a complete game in Monday's 14-3 win against Mountain Home in the winner's bracket finals.
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