BASEBALL

HIGHLAND 9, MADISON 4

HIGHLAND 15, MADISON 14

At Halliwell Park, Highland swept Madison with 9-4 victory in the opener and a 15-14 walk-off win in game two.

In the opener, Jaxon Christensen carried the Rams. The senior went 3-3 with 4 RBI then struck out 10 in his five-inning win.

“Jaxson didn’t have his best stuff on the mound tonight,” Highland coach Christian Colonel said. “He wasn’t as crisp as usual, which is great to see — because he had to learn to pitch without his best stuff.”

Zach Blad won a high-scoring finale with a walk-off 2-RBI single to left. It capped a game in which Highland and Madison combined 29 runs and 33 hits.

“The guy throwing was throwing hard and I told Zach to just get ready and go win the ball game,” Colonel said.

“We didn’t play good defensively in game two at all. We were up seven runs at one point and it went away because of errors.”

Highland (8-5, 2-0 5A District 5-6) plays at Madison on Thursday at 4 p.m.

HIGHLAND 9, MADISON 4

Madison 300 010 0 — 4 10 0

Highland 234 000 X — 9 7 5

Highland — WP: Jaxen Christensen. 3B: Easton Eddie. 2B: Colton Sneddon

HIGHLAND 15, MADISON 14

Madison 112 224 2 — 14 17 2

Highland 031 900 2 — 15 16 3

Madison — LP: Landen Drake. 2B: Trayson Kostial, Kameron Kostial, Cody Rydalch, Riley Sutton, Isaac Walker.

Highland — WP: Trem Tolman. 3B: Easton Eddie. 2B: Easton Eddie (2), Aaron Kearns, Colton Sneddon, Luke Davis.

MALAD 8, PRESTON 2

At Malad, the Dragons used timely hitting to earn a 8-2 win over Preston.

Behind two-hit performances from Stetson Higley, Bridger Bastian, Tanner Olsen and Grady Combs, the Dragons turned 10 hits into eight runs. While Preston left 10 runners on base, Malad left only one.

“The kids are just starting to focus and there’s not as much pressure in those pressure situations,” Malad coach Bo Clark said.

It also got an impressive start from Grady Combs, who struck out 10 and allowed a pair of earned runs in six innings of work.

“He was juts hitting his spots and changing his speeds,” Clark said of Combs. “Preston put together some nice hits, though, in the second.”

Malad (9-0) plays Grangeville and Declo on Friday at Glenn’s Ferry HS

Preston (5-3) plays a doubleheader at Marsh Valley on Saturday.

MALAD 8, PRESTON 2

Preston 020 000 0 — 2 9 2

Malad 210 050 X — 8 10 2

Preston — LP: Ashton Madsen.

Malad — WP: Grady Combs. 3B: Tanner Olsen. 2B: Dillon Evans, Traven Ward.

SNAKE RIVER 11, FIRTH 1

At Snake River, the Panthers’ offense had no hiccups and rolled to a 11-1 win over Firth.

Pitcher Nate Goodwin was phenomenal, tossing 5.2 innings while giving up a half-dozen hits, no earned runs and striking out nine.

“He pitched today, instead of just throwing,” Snake River coach Rich Dunn said. “He hit spots and worked out of even counts. He could throw his off-speed stuff for strikes, which allowed us to wiggle out of some jams.”

Offensively, Goodwin went 2-2 with a pair of RBI and walks. Payton Brooks went 1-3 with a triple and a walk. Cade Fisher went 1-2 with a double.

“Our last two games, we’ve had 32 hits,” Dunn said. “We knew going into the season that we had a chance of being decent and we finally look like baseball players again.”

Snake River (3-2) hosts a doubleheader against Kimberly on Saturday.

SNAKE RIVER 11, FIRTH 1 (6)

Firth 100 000 X — 1 6 4

Snake River 101 126 X — 11 11 1

Firth — LP: Sam Park. 2B: Sam Park, Burton Park, Nathan Park.

Snake River — WP: Nate Goodwin. 3B: Payton Brooks. 2B: Cade Fisher.

SOFTBALL

FIRTH 5, SNAKE RIVER 3 (6)

At Snake River, the Panthers couldn’t overcome an early deficit and lost 5-3 to Firth.

Pitcher Lyndsie Larsen struck out 14 in her complete game, allowing four runs, a half-dozen hits while walking three.

For Snake River, Addie Campbell had a home runs and 2 RBI. Halle Leavitt went 2-3 with a triple. And Larsen had an RBI-double.

Snake River (3-3) plays at American Falls on Wednesday.

FIRTH 5, SNAKE RIVER 3

Firth 102 100 1 — 5 6 1

Snake River 000 201 0 — 3 5 4

Firth — WP: Jolley. HR: Barker. 3B: M. Jolley, Leslie.

Snake River — LP: Lyndsie Larsen. HR: Addie Campbell. 3B: Halle Leavitt. 2B: Lyndsie Larsen.

MALAD 9, BEAR LAKE 6

At Malad, Bear Lake couldn’t hold its early lead and fell 9-6 to the Dragons.

The Bears were up 6-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth .., then the Dragons’ bats got hot.

Freshman Kaitlyn Pickett lined an RBI-double into center. Senior Riley Dorius smoked an RBI-single up the middle. To finally take the lead, Freshman Hallie Horsley blasted a two-run home run, her sixth of the season.

Dorius also helped the Dragons on the mound. She tossed all seven innings, allowing 10 hits and two earned runs while fanning a half-dozen.

“They hit us. Riley got it, but a lot of the runs they had came on errors,” Malad coach Christie Schow said. “Riley is consistent and doesn’t allow a ton but Bear Lake showed up today and hit her.”

Bear Lake (3-2) plays Wendell and McCall-Donnelly at Glenn’s Ferry on Friday.

Malad (7-0) plays at the JV team of Logan (UT) on Saturday at Noon.

MALAD 9, BEAR LAKE 6

Bear Lake 103 200 0 — 6 10 5

Malad 120 051 X — 9 12 4

Bear Lake — LP: Hailey Humphreys. 3B: Nelson, Wollstenhulme. 2B: Rigby.

Malad — WP: Riley Dorius. HR: Hallie Horsley. 2B: Riley Dorius, Shaelie Ketchell, Kodi Phillips, Kaitlyn Pickett (2).

GOLF

BURLEY INVITATIONAL

At Burley, with 11 schools competing, the Preston boys placed second overall while Century also took silver in the the girls classifacation.

The Diamondbacks’ girls were led by Sophia Lipppiello (90) and Lauren Asaand (92), who individually finished third and fifth, respectively.

In the boys division, Preston’s Jackson Parker shot a team-high 74, which placed him in a tie for second.

Elsewhere, local girls golfers who broke 110 included Pocatello’s Adi Atkins (109) along with Emmy Richards (105) and Ari Long of Century.

On the boys side, the locals who carded a score under 90 were Logan Rodgers (88) of Pocatello, Preston’s Owen Pearson (85) as well as Kade Anderson (82) and Spencer Payne (88) of Century.