Lake City wins 5A IEL
<p>Becky Short, of Lake City, slides safely into second base Friday as Post Falls' Kendal Floch fields the ball during the sixth inning of the Save 2nd Base breast cancer awareness game in Coeur d'Alene.</p>
<p>Katie King attempts a swinging bunt in the seventh inning for Post Falls.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - How up for grabs is next week's 5A Region 1 softball tournament shaping up to be? On Friday, with the No. 1 seed still on the line, Richelle Ashburn of Post Falls threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts - and her team lost.
COEUR d'ALENE - How up for grabs is next week's 5A Region 1 softball tournament shaping up to be?
On Friday, with the No. 1 seed still on the line, Richelle Ashburn of Post Falls threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts - and her team lost.
That's because Lake City took advantage of a couple Post Falls miscues to push across a pair of runs. And freshman Casey Stangel struck out 12 and pitched out of several jams in a three-hit shutout as Lake City won 2-0 in the first game of a doubleheader to clinch the 5A Inland Empire League title. It's the T-Wolves' third straight league title.
"It's anybody's game next week," Lake City coach Laura Tolzmann said. "We're playing really well right now. Richelle threw well today, and it was nice to see us get the ball in play and make them have to play (defense)."
Lake City (19-4, 9-3 5A IEL) will play host to No. 4 seed Lewiston (15-11, 3-9) in the first round of regionals Wednesday at 2 p.m. Post Falls (12-9, 5-7), which would have been the No. 1 seed with a sweep, became the No. 3 seed after the first-game loss, and will play No. 2 Coeur d'Alene (20-6, 7-5) on Wednesday at 2 p.m., at Ramsey Park.
The winners play at 4 at Lake City for the regional title and a berth to state May 20-22 in Twin Falls. The losers play at the same time at Ramsey in a loser-out game. The remaining teams play Friday for the region's second berth to state.
"Every game at regionals is going to come down this way - who gets the big hit, or who makes the mistake," Post Falls coach Jack Foster said. "We outhit them, and Richelle threw a great game - we've just got to give her some help. It probably could have been 0-0 forever."
Lake City won the second game 8-7, as Kallie Neal singled in courtesy runner Avalon Leddy from second base with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
The games were part of "Save 2nd Base," an event designed to raise breast cancer awareness.
In the opener, Alycia Barrowcliff of Lake City walked to lead off the third and eventually scored thanks to a couple Trojan errors. In the sixth, speedy leadoff hitter Becky Short reached on an error and eventually scored on a fielder's choice.
Post Falls left eight on base - three of which had reached third. In the third inning, Lake City second baseman Jamie Hall dived to her right to prevent Ashburn's single from leaving the infield, keeping the lead runner at third. Stangel struck out the next batter to get out of the inning. In fact, the left-handed Stangel ended five of the seven innings with strikeouts.
"I think she likes the pressure," Tolzmann said. "She likes knowing she's in charge in some of those situations, and thrives on it."
"I always have an extra focus under pressure," Stangel said. "I'm not worried about them hitting the ball, because I have a killer defense behind me. In those situations you can't let them score, so you've got to buckle down and hit your spots."
In the second game, Short had three hits and drove in two runs, and Hall had three hits and scored twice.
Rachel Collins had three hits for Post Falls, including a home run leading off the top of the seventh to tie the game. Dara Kolar had three hits and scored twice.
Post Falls played without two of its top three hitters, including Bradley-bound second baseman Bri Joseph, who was getting an MRI on her shoulder.
"They took advantage of their chances," Foster said of Lake City in the first game. "We had runners in scoring position in at least five innings, but couldn't get that big hit. Every little play is huge in these games."
Post Falls wraps up its regular season today with a noon game at Lakeland.
FIRST GAME
Post Falls 000 000 0 - 0 3 3
Lake City 001 001 x - 2 0 2
Richelle Ashburn and Haley Walker; Casey Stangel and Mariah Linahan. W - Stangel (14-4). L - Ashburn (10-4).
HITS: PF - Mueller 2, Ashburn. LC - none.
SECOND GAME
Post Falls 001 230 1 - 7 11 0
Lake City 112 030 1 - 8 15 2
Richelle Asburn, Rachel Collins (2) and Haley Walker, Tori Schuler (5); Kallie Neal, Amber Hawkes (5) and Mariah Linahan. W - Hawkes (1-0). L - Collins (2-5).
HITS: PF - King, Aparicio, Collins 3, Kolar 3, Walker, Schuler, Floch. LC - Short 3, Neal 2, Stangel, Hawkes, Hall 3, Yurick, Edwards, Chadderdon, Linahan. 2B - Aparicio, Kolar, Short, Neal, Hall, Linahan. HR - Collins (2).