Wildfire, Crush teams fall at Western nationals

SPOKANE - The Coeur d'Alene Crush '97 and Northwest Wildfire under-12 softball teams dropped opening games in the ASA Western "A" national tournament on Tuesday at the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex.

Northwest Wildfire led the Southern California Wicked 4-3 in the sixth before a late rally gave the Wicked a 7-4 win.

Ryley Thomason and Madi Naccarato each had two hits for the Northwest Wildfire, who faces the Salem Slyders today at 4 p.m.

Mariah Montee, Analisa Raynor and Abby Howard had hits for the Crush '97 in a 9-0 loss to the Orange County Elite in their first game of pool play.

"We gave them four outs each inning," Coeur d'Alene coach Garry Stark said. "Our pitchers did well, but we need to get some better hits."

Coeur d'Alene will play again today at 2 p.m., with seeding for the double-elimination tournament to be determined later today.

Local tennis

Here are the first-round results for a junior tennis tournament, put on by the Coeur d'Alene Tennis Association at the Cherry Hill Park tennis courts.

The semifinals are scheduled for today at 9 a.m., with the finals Thursday at 9 a.m.

Level 1

Topher Carson d. Jill Johnson 8-6.

Level 2

Craig Tedmon d. Cam Veeder 8-6; Lexi Carlson d. Karmen Frampton 8-2; Caitlin McHugh d. Jordan Cates 8-7 (5).

Level 3

Abigail Steed d. David Roth 8-5.

Level 4

Peter Youngblood d. Cate Gobin 8-5; Mary Fisher d. Avery Strobel 8-0; Zach Waite d. Mindi Grantham 8-3.

Level 5

Megan Kobrick d. Clara Gobin 8-3; Braden Ridgewell d. Emma Burke 8-6.

Level 6

Anne Gobin d. Suzanna de Tar 8-4.

Level 7

Abby Danileson d. Elliot Fothergill 8-6; Peter Gobin d. Maggie de Tar 8-5.

Level 8

Sophia Gobin d. Josephine Schelstrate 8-7 (4).