The second game of the day at The Rock was very interesting and we saw a little bit of everything.  Meridian jumped in front behind Timmy Jones' mammoth home run that hit the houses in right field with a ball that flew easily over 400 feet.  After building that lead, Meridian squandered it away in the bottom of the 4th inning allowing 5 runs without Capital even getting a hit.  In all the years of watching baseball, I can truly say I have never seen a half inning quite like that.  From there, Meridian bounced back by scoring 6 runs over the next two innings to take a 10-8 lead going into the 7th and the drama was just beginning.  Capital had already scored one run and had the bases loaded with no outs and the winning run on 2nd base.  After a failed squeeze play, Capital grounded into a game ending double play and Meridian left victorious winning 10-9.  

On the other side of the bracket, Eagle and Timberline were able to pull out victories, but neither of them came easy.  Eagle fell behind 1-0 after the 1st inning before they were able to score 4 runs in the 6th inning behind some timely hits to stretch their lead out to 6-1.  A lot of people were surprised when Eagle coach Frank Wright decided to go with Darrion Simons on the mound, but the lefty delivered and Eagle is now set up beautifully with Brandon Brown on the hill tomorrow.  As for Timberline, they were stymied by Colton Sale going into the 6th inning before a couple errors and a couple walks were the difference as Timberline scored 5 runs to win 5-3.  

That sets us up for two great semifinal showdowns tomorrow starting at 4 PM.  You can listen to both games on 630 The Fan with Rocky vs. Meridian at 4 PM followed by Eagle and Timberline at 7 PM.  The two loser-out games at Centennial will feature Capital vs. Borah at 4 PM and Mountain View vs. Boise at 7 PM.

With all of the girls games happening, the boy's will take a back seat this weekend, but plenty is still on the line.  Four semifinal matchups will take place between the 5A and the 4A and State Tournament Berths are on the line.

In the 5A, the Borah Lions have run their winning streak up to 18 consecutive games, but it wasn't easy against Vallivue.  Their semifinal matchup will be against the surging Eagle Mustangs who are on a 4 game winning streak of their own.  Braiden Shaw has really stepped up as of late and will try and score tomorrow against a combination of Ben Tucakovic and Brock Holubetz guarding him.  If Shaw and Tucakovic cancel each other out with their scoring production as they are the #1 and #2 scorers in the SIC, it will come down to guard play and thats where the Lions have a huge advantage.  DJ Dean is a phenomenal football player, but takes a back seat to Isaiah Wright when it comes to basketball as Wright is by far the best defender in the conference and in my opinion, will be the reason why Borah will move on to the District Championship.

The other semifinal game will be the rubber match between two evenly matched teams in Mountain View and Boise High.  The Braves will have the chance to make their first State Tournament in 16 years with a victory and ironically, it will be against the defending State Champions.  The Mountain View Mavericks had a 2nd half to remember against Meridian as they scored 43 points behind Tanner Percifield's huge game and ended up running away with it in the 2nd half.  The game against Boise High should be a close one and I am starting to think the Braves are a team of destiny as I will pick them in the upset over Mountain View.

The two games where teams will be fighting for their season are both surprising and compelling.  I will pick Vallivue to upset Timberline and Centennial to get back on track against Meridian.

In the 4A, Bishop Kelly will play Skyview in the rubber match between two teams looking to clinch their spot in the State Tournament field and Kuna will try and keep on rolling as they play the surging Middleton Vikings.  These games are that much more important because the losers will have to win three consecutive games to get in the State Tournament Field.

We were out at the Borah vs. Capital season finale and it was a complete polar opposite of the game that was played two nights ago between the same two squads.  On Monday, the two teams combined for 14 errors and 31 runs.  Last night, it was a much cleaner baseball game as Capital did not commit an error and held off a Borah rally for a 5-3 victory.  The Eagles will either be the #4 or #5 seed for Saturday and Borah slipped down to 8th and they will face Rocky Mountain at noon on Saturday to open up the District Tournament.

Mountain View's streak of 25 innings without scoring a run finally ended last night and Jason Maughn shut out Timberline to end the 4 game losing streak for the Mav's as they beat the Wolves 2-0.  With the loss Timberline clinches the #3 seed in the District Tournament.  As for the Mavericks, they will either be the #4 or #6 seed depending on the result of their game tonight against Vallivue.  With a victory, they will be the #4 seed and take on Capital and with a loss, they would face Timberline.

Eagle was able to get back to their winning ways by shutting out Boise 10-0 behind a dominant pitching performance from Skyler Souza.  With the victory, Eagle will be the #2 seed for the District Tournament and Boise will be the #7 seed regardless of what happens tonight because they would lose out on a two way tie breaker with Meridian and would also lose out on a three way tiebreak with Meridian and Mountain View.  With that being said, these two teams will square off again on Saturday.

The rollercoaster ride continues for Meridian coach Rod Williams as his team has won two consecutive games with their backs against the wall and could move all the way up to the #5 seed with a Mountain View loss tonight.  If the Mavs win, Meridian would be the #6 seed.

Tune into the show today at 4 as we will be catching up with Rocky Mountain standout Bryce Feist and catch you up to speed on all sports in the Treasure Valley.

Standings

Rocky Mountain  17-1

Eagle                  13-5

Timberline          12-6

Capital                 9-9

Mountain View     8-9

Meridian              8-10

Boise                   8-10

Borah                  7-11

For the Bobcats to pull off a victory, they will need Jane Hansen to do what she has been doing all year: scoring points.  The 5'10 junior averages 18 points per game and has taken 37% of her team's shots this season.  Fellow junior Paige Crittenden is 2nd on the team scoring 11 points per game and these two will need to get their season average's to have a chance, but that will be a tough task against a pesky Viking defense that allows just 32 points per game.

While fans here in the Treasure Valley are hoping for an all District 3 Championship game, there are a few teams that might stand in their way.  Wood River takes on Century in the opening game and despite Wood River having a 13-9 record, they have won 9 of their last 10 games and are a team that Middleton head coach, Andy Jones is already eying as a roadblock on their quest for a third straight championship.  On the other side of the bracket, everyone is looking at a 1st round showdown between #2 Bishop Kelly and #3 Rigby where they both boast impressive 20-4 records.  

You can listen to all of Middleton's games on 630 The Fan starting today at 3:00 PM.

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As for the matchup we will be at tonight, it seems to be two teams heading in opposite directions.  The Borah Lions have won 5 of their last 7 games to climb all the way from 10th to 7th in the standings and with a win tonight, they could potentially take the #5 spot heading into the District Tournament.  In their way will be a Capital squad that is looking to clean things up defensively after committing 9 errors last night in a puzzling 18-12 defeat at the hands of Borah.  Despite all of their struggles, Capital can still clinch the #4 seed in the District Tournament with a win tonight.  

Another game that had people around the valley scratching their heads was Boise's 3-2 win over Eagle.  The Mustangs had seemed to be clicking on all cylinders, but were shut down by the crafty left hander, Lance Kotter and now need to win to have a chance at the #2 seed going into Districts.  As for Boise, their possibilities are endless.  With a win tonight, they will most likely be the #5 seed heading into the District tournament, but with a loss they could fall anywhere from 6th-8th which would mean a tough matchup for Saturday.

No team is in need of a win more than Mountain View.  The young Mavericks have now went 22 consecutive innings without scoring a run and are looking for answers offensively at the wrong time of the season.  While that streak is most likely to end tonight, they need to win one of their final two games if they want to avoid slipping all the way down to #8 and a matchup with Rocky on Saturday.  For that to happen, the Mavs will need to string a few hits together and hope to shut down a Wolves team that is looking to grab the #2 spot in the District Tournament.

The final matchup does not have as much buildup as last night because Meridian officially squandered Vallivue's chances of making the District Tournament by scoring 3 runs in the top of the 7th inning to secure the victory.  Now with the pressure off of Meridian to make the District Tournament, they will look to win on Senior Night to move up in the standings for Saturday.

There is a lot on the line for 7 of the teams in the SIC tonight and we will have all of the action from the Capital @ Borah game with 1st pitch coming at 6:00 on 630 The Fan.