CALDWELL — A year ago, the Owyhee baseball team caught everyone by Storm, pun intended.
There would be no surprising anyone this season or sneaking up on any unsuspecting teams. Now, with the target on their backs, every team Owyhee played this year would become Storm chasers.
Turns out even as the favorites, the Storm can still find their way to the top.
Owyhee beat Lake City 5-2 on Saturday in the 5A State Championship game, securing their second straight state title in just their second year of existence.
“Last year was kind of a surprise for all of us, but I was like ‘might as well do it again, everybody better watch out for us,’” said senior Cole Rohlmeier. “It happened and it’s just amazing.”
After the West Ada School District’s newest high school opened in the fall of 2022, the Storm became the second team to win a state title in its inaugural year, following in the footsteps of the boys basketball team that winter. Unlike the basketball team, which featured multiple NCAA Division I recruits, there was less hype surrounding the baseball team, which seemingly came out of nowhere to win the title.
The Storm followed that up with a title defense to capture the fourth banner for the school, following up on the one won by the softball team earlier in the day.
“We’ve got such a great team,” said junior Nick McDaniel. “We got so many young, talented guys and we’re such a mentally tough team. We had it all season and it was our tournament to win. We just had to deliver, and we came through.”
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McDaniel had the breakthrough hit for the Storm in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and the score tied 1-1. McDaniel had a single to centerfield that scored two runs and sparked a big inning for Owyhee. Keagan Kelly followed that up with an RBI single and Cade Walker added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to give the Storm a 5-1 lead.
For Owyhee, scoring in big chunks seemed to be a big theme for the weekend. The Storm plated 15 runs over the course of three games at the College of Idaho’s Wolfe Field. A total of 13 of those runs were scored in innings where the Storm scored at least three runs.
“When we get energy in the dugout, we just keep hitting,” said McDaniel. “We have so many good hitters on this team, once we get a little bit of momentum, it just doesn’t stop.”
Owyhee also got a boost from three relief pitchers, Kaleb Doty, Hunter Mahaffey and Jack Ryan. Doty came in for Ryder Cutlip in the first inning after Cutlip struggled on the mound. The Wolves took an early 1-0 lead and loaded the bases, looking for more when Doty came in. He immediately got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat and keep Owyhee’s deficit at just one.
“It was huge, only being down one run, there’s seven innings of offense left to play,” said Cutlip, who had an RBI single in the third to tie the game. “We knew we could get one run, at least, so it was huge for Doty to come in and shut the door on them there.”
Doty ended up pitching three innings, allowing just one hit, while Mahaffey pitched 1 and 2/3 innings, earning the win, and Ryan finished the final two innings for the Storm.
For Owyhee coach Russ Wright, this marks his tenth state title after winning eight at Fruitland. He was convinced to come out of retirement last season to build his own program. When he took the job, he said he could never have imagined having this level of success right out the gate.
“Any time you get into the sport, that’s what you want,” said Wright. “You say ‘that’s the end result,’ because that’s what you have to sell to your kids on Day 1. They are just a really special group of kids,” said Wright. “Last year they were a bunch of JV kids, other than a couple kids. Even when it got a little tough, they never quit believing.”
