15-year-old All-Stars come up short

By Tim Ritter

Posted: July 29, 2009 at 10:27 a.m.

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SPRINGDALE — For four innings, the Siloam Springs 15-year-old All Stars went toe-to-toe with the reigning state champion Mountain Home Bombers.

Right up until Mountain Home exploded for eight unanswered runs in the final three innings of Sunday's third game of the state baseball tournament held at Randal Tyson Recreation Park in Springdale.

Mountain Home relied on the crafty pitching of left-hander Billy Wehmeyer and the potent of Chris Armistead to drop Siloam Springs into the loser bracket following an 11-2 victory.

Later in the day, Fort Smith Church League eliminated Siloam Springs from the tournament with a 15-0 win.

Despite the two losses, Siloam Springs still advances to the Southwest Regional Tournament which starts Aug. 6 in town at James Butts Baseball Complex.

Armistead's 3-run homer in the top of the sixth inning off Siloam Springs starting pitcher Braden Pippin stretched Mountain Home's lead to 9-2.

Pippin and Siloam Springs had kept Mountain Home's offense pretty much in check until the four-run sixth inning.

Relying primarily on his offspeed change-up and curveball, Pippin's fastball found the sweet spot of Armistead's bat for a 335-foot mammoth shot over the left-field fence.

Through five complete innings, Pippin held Mountain Home to five runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

The sophomore-to-be righthander found confidence in his curveball and had his best outings in the third and fourth innings, holding Mountain Home scoreless and hitless, while receiving strong defense from shortstop Keith Laster and second baseman Simeon Pruett.

Mountain Home, however, took advantage of several costly fielding errors by SiloamSprings, including an apparent inside-the-park home run by Damon Berry that was misplayed in right field.

Berry's hit off the glove of the Siloam Springs outfielder swung the momentum in favor of Mountain Home, who extended its lead for good at 4-2.

Siloam Springs scored both of its runs in the bottom half of the first inning, thanks to outfielder Moises Ponce's 2-run single to right-center field that scored Pruett and Laster.

Pruett reached first on the bases-loaded walk, followed by Laster taking advantage of a Mountain Home fielding error.

Wehmeyer handcuffed the Siloam Springs' bats for one hit through five innings, until Pippin drove a 1-2 curveball to right field with two outs.

Siloam Springs catcher Kaleb Morgan recorded the third hit, a lead-off single to center field in the seventh inning.

Wehmeyer tossed seven innings and finished with 12 strikeouts to collect the win for Mountain Home.

Note: Mountain Home clinched the state championship with an 8-3 win over Bentonville.

Sports, Pages 14, 17 on 07/29/2009

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