Late-game magic
<p>Lakeland High's Alyana Watson waits for the call from the official after reaching to make a tag at second against Amy Westberg from Moscow during the 4A Region 1 championship Saturday.</p>
<p>Lakeland High's Alia Cox takes the brunt of a collision with baserunner Jamie Wallace from Moscow during the seventh inning. Cox was tended to by coaches to help stop a bloody nose, but remained in the game to finish the Hawk's 3-2 win over the Bears.</p>
RATHDRUM — In softball, if you have a good pitcher throwing on any particular day, you can be tough to beat.
Lakeland senior Jamie Klopatek and Moscow sophomore Raelyn Gosse did exactly that for six innings, but in the end the Hawks found a way to move past the Bears 3-2 to win the 4A Region 1 title on Saturday.
Down 1-0 in the sixth inning and the bases loaded with one out, Lakeland senior Jordan Thomas popped out to first base. The first baseman threw to third base, but the ball got past the third baseman and rolled down the left field line, allowing Alexis Jacobson and Alyana Watson to score to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead.
“I was just thinking I had to get home,” Watson said. “No matter what, I knew I had to score. Once I did, I just wanted to get three more outs and go to state.”
Lakeland (13-11) will face Wood River of Hailey (10-17) on Thursday at 4 p.m. PDT at Pocatello High in its 4A state tournament opener.
“I guess we like waiting until the end,” Lakeland coach Colleen Bevacqua said. “It adds some stress to my life, but our veterans came up really clutch. As a team, we ride high in our wins and low when we lose. I just kept telling them that it isn’t over until the final out.”
Dani Westling added an RBI single later in the sixth for Lakeland to make it 3-1.
Moscow left fielder Chrissy Hicks hit a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence to give the Bears a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
Gosse allowed three hits and had four strikeouts for Moscow, which finished 5-20.
“Raelyn was fabulous today,” Moscow coach K.C. Lee said. “She goes 100 percent every day, whether it’s defensively or pitching. Her and (Amy) Westberg are a great team together. She has a lot of good motion pitches and uses them well.”
Klopatek allowed three hits and struck out 10 for the Hawks.
“I just tried to focus pitch by pitch,” Klopatek said. “I didn’t try to get ahead of myself and just went all out because today was all or nothing.”
Bevacqua added that Klopatek’s effort is a big reason why they are headed back to state for the third straight year.
“She’s really been working hard,” Bevacqua said. “She definitely showed it today. The girls played well behind her defensively and worked well as a team.”
Moscow pulled to within one run in the seventh on a Becca Papineau RBI double, allowing Jamie Wallace to score following a collision with Lakeland catcher Alia Cox at the plate. Following a two-out walk, Klopatek got Niki Redinger to fly out to Thomas in center field to end the game.
“We kind of turned it on when we needed to,” Klopatek said. “It’s a good feeling to walk away the winner. Especially with Alia getting hit in the face, it gave us more motivation to win today.”
Moscow 001 000 1 — 2 3 2
Lakeland 000 003 x — 3 3 0
Raelyn Gosse and Amy Westerberg; Jamie Klopatek and Alia Cox. W — Klopatek (7-4). L — Gosse.
HITS: Mos — Hicks, Wallace, Papineau. LL — Watson, Kunas, Westling. 2B — Kunas. HR — Hicks.
STATE SOFTBALL TOURNAMENTS
Times PDT
At Twin Falls High
Thursday
2 p.m. — Post Falls (14-9) vs. Mountain View (21-8)
2 — Eagle (20-9) vs. Capital (11-19)
4 — Highland (23-9) vs. Timberline (21-7)
4 — Lake City (21-5) vs. Rocky Mountain (20-7)
At Pocatello High
Thursday
2 p.m. — Blackfoot (22-4) vs. Kuna (22-4)
2 — Jerome (17-12) vs. Hillcrest (16-12)
4 — Lakeland (13-11) vs. Wood River (10-17)
4 — Mountain Home (24-2) vs. Pocatello
At Ramsey Park, Coeur d’Alene
3 p.m. — Sugar-Salem (18-3) vs. Buhl (22-7)
3 — Fruitland (22-2) vs. Timberlake (15-10)
5 — Marsh Valley (19-6) vs. Kimberly (25-0)
5 — Kellogg (11-8) vs. Teton (13-11)