OROFINO — It was the bottom of the sixth inning in a defensive battle of a Whitepine League district baseball final between the Troy Trojans and Potlatch Loggers on Saturday at Orofino High School, and a rare sight had materialized: A runner on third base.

Brody Mitchell, who reached base after hitting a hard ground ball (ruled a fielding error by bookkeepers) and made further progress with the help of a sacrifice bunt from Trey Magallon, eagerly took off for home as a fly ball from Connor Carpenter soared over third, only for it to drift into foul territory late in its flight. Another pop-up moments later was no false alarm, and Mitchell thrilled the Potlatch faithful by sprinting through the plate while the Trojans narrowly missed a catch attempt just beyond second base.

A three-up, three-down top of the seventh sealed the Loggers’ 1-0 championship victory.

At long last, the taut pitching duel between Potlatch’s Logan Carpenter and Troy’s Dominic Holden ended in a one-run victory for the Loggers.

“That was incredible,” Potlatch coach Trent Baysinger said of the game, which he described as having him “pulling (his) hair out” with stress before his team came through.

With the win, defending Idaho Class 2A state champion Potlatch (18-2) advanced to the state’s newly introduced Super Regionals, in which the Loggers will receive a host bid for a game this coming Friday against an opponent to be announced. The Trojans (13-9) went on to fall 17-3 to Clearwater Valley of Kooskia with the second-place berth to Super Regionals at stake.

Rising to the occasion

The dominant pitching effort of senior Logan Carpenter and an efficient defense to back him up enabled the Loggers to maintain a scoreless stalemate through five-and-a-half innings, but it was Logan’s freshman brother Connor who ultimately stepped up to the plate to break the deadlock.

The younger Carpenter, who was not a varsity starter for much of the season, said that his last at-bat represented by far the biggest moment of his young career as he sought the go-ahead run while facing down the Trojans’ ace pitcher, Holden.

Further adversity came his way when his first crack at the ball was carried foul by winds that had kicked up late in the game, ultimately growing strong enough that they overturned the tent under which players and supporters of the Clearwater Valley Rams were watching as they awaited their team’s showdown with the loser.

He rose to the occasion.

“(Connor Carpenter’s first fly ball) was right over my head, so I was like, ‘It should be fair,’ because I was in fair territory — so I just went home and it ended up going foul, but luckily they didn’t catch it there,” Mitchell said. “That second one, I knew it was there.”

Carpenter’s second contact with the ball brought home Mitchell for the only run of the game.

The Loggers’ first baseman Brenton Breeze recorded all three outs in the top of the seventh, catching a throw from second baseman Waylan Marshall to clinch the title. Breeze waved the ball high in his hand as he ran jubilantly into the victors’ celebratory throng.

Logan Carpenter went the full distance at the mound, finishing with six strikeouts as he earned the shutout win.