Hawks force second title game

BASEBALL

SANDPOINT - One team came in riding a seven-game win streak and sitting in the driver's seat, while the other was playing its fourth game in four days and had to win to keep the season alive.

In Thursday's 4A Region 1 baseball tournament championship game at War Memorial Field, a sense of urgency won out, as No. 2 Lakeland (12-11) forced a second title game with a 13-3 win in six innings over No. 1 seed Sandpoint (13-8).

Cody Vandever fired a three-hitter, and the Hawks capitalized on some early Bulldog miscues to build a 9-0 lead after three innings, reversing the tables on Tuesday's meeting, when Sandpoint jumped out to an early 9-1 lead.

"We haven't given Sandpoint a good clean baseball game for a long time," Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury said. "We tried to play clean and aggressively and jump on them early and see how they'd react."

Lakeland plays at Sandpoint today at 4 in a winner-take-all title game for a berth to state next week in Nampa. The teams have split their six meetings so far this season.

Lakeland plated seven runs in the third inning, keyed by two-run singles by Vandever and Daniel Mobeck, as Sandpoint committed a few of its seven errors in the big inning.

Vandever threw a 107-pitch complete game on Monday before coming back on two days' rest.

"I told my pitchers yesterday we're all in the same boat, and I said, 'Who wants the ball?,'" recalled Bradbury, whose team will play its fifth game in five days today. "Vandever said 'I do, coach,' and he came out and threw lights out."

Lakeland 207 013 - 13 10 1

Sandpoint 000 300 - 3 3 7

Game called after 6 innings due to 10-run rule.

Cody Vandever and Luke Howell; Patrick Anthony, Tevin Hamilton (3), Daniel Charvoz (4), Markus Davis (6) and Eric Nikssarian and Corey Neer (3). W - Vandever. L - Anthony (3-3).

HITS: LL - Mobeck 2, Ogden, Cooper 2, South 2, Burnett 3. Spt - Cramer, Charvoz, Hamilton. HR - Cramer.

SOFTBALL

Moscow 11

Sandpoint 1

MOSCOW - The Bears (6-19) ousted the Bulldogs (5-17) at the 4A Region 1 tournament.

Moscow plays at Lakeland (12-11) on Saturday at noon in the championship game, needing to beat the Hawks twice to go to state. Lakeland needs just one win to go to state.