Post Falls, Lakeland open tournament with victories
TWIN FALLS — Richelle Ashburn struck out 16 and Post Falls defeated Mountain View of Meridian 4-0 in the opening round of the state 5A tournament Thursday.
“After the first two batters reached base, Ashburn struck out the side and settled in a groove,” Post Falls coach Jack Foster said. “There were a couple big defensive plays made behind her and we were able to make some things happen on offense.”
With two Mountain View (21-9) runners aboard in the second inning, Post Falls second baseman Bri Joseph snared a line drive and fired to first for the final out, robbing the Mavericks of at least one run.
Brooke Litalien put the Trojans on the board in the first inning with an RBI single. Post Falls extended its lead in the third with an RBI double from Dara Kolar and a two-run single from Michelle Booth.
“The bottom of the order came through and we had a little bit of everybody chipping in,” Foster said. “We got the big hits when we needed them.”
Post Falls, the Region 1 champs, was playing in its first state tournament since 2006, and its first state tourney as a 5A school.
Post Falls (15-9) plays Timberline (22-7) of Boise today at noon MDT.
Mountain View 000 000 0 — 0 3 2
Post Falls 103 000 0 — 4 10 0
Michaela Barr and Destiny Turner; Richelle Ashburn and Haley Walker. W — Ashburn (13-4). L — Turner.
HITS: MV — Barnes, Barr, Owen. PF — Joseph, King 2, Collins 2, Ashburn, Litalien, Mueller, Kolar, Booth. 2B — King, Kolar, Barnes.
Rocky Mountain 7
Lake City 3
TWIN FALLS — Sami Verity and Jennifer Woodson had three hits apiece as the Grizzlies (21-7) of Meridian defeated the Timberwolves in an opening round game of the state 5A tournament.
“We just left too many runners on base with less than two outs,” Lake City coach Laura Tolzmann said. “We couldn’t get them across the plate. I guess we’ll be ready to play a few games tomorrow.”
Katie Rowe hit her eighth home run of the season in the bottom of the third for Lake City (21-6), which faces Eagle (20-10) at 9 a.m. PDT.
Casey Stangel had eight strikeouts and Kory Kritz and Kallie Neal added RBIs for Lake City, which can still come back through the losers bracket to play for the title.
The Timberwolves, runners-up at the Region 1 tournament, would have to win three games today and one more Saturday to reach the championship round.
In the other 5A openers, Capital beat Eagle 6-4 and Timberline downed Highland 5-3.
Highland (23-10) plays Mountain View in a loser-out game, and Rocky Mountain plays Capital (12-19) in the other winners bracket game.
Rocky Mountain 002 100 4 — 7 11 0
Lake City 001 001 1 — 3 8 2
Bree Kopczynski and Josi Verity; Casey Stangel and Mariah Linahan. W — Kopczynski. L — Stangel (16-6).
HITS: RM — S. Verity 3, Nebel 2, Schamber, Woodson 3, Keele, Ricca. LC — Short 2, Rowe, Hawkes, Kritz 2, Hall, Neal. 2B — S. Verity 2, Nebel. 3B — Neal. HR — Woodson, Rowe (8).
Lakeland 3
Wood River 2
POCATELLO — Hawks sophomore Ashley Metcalf came on in relief in the top of the first inning with the bases loaded and one run already in for the Wolverines in a first-round game at OK Ward Park.
She got out of that jam with no more runs scored, and allowed just one run the rest of the way, and finished with 11 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
“She did such a great job; that’s a tough spot to come in as a sophomore, but she was able to come in and hit her spots,” Lakeland coach Colleen Bevacqua said.
Lakeland (14-11) tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI double by Alyana Watson and a run-scoring single by Bekah Kasting.
In the sixth, Shelby Kunas singled, pinch runner Alexis Jacobson moved up to third on a single by Rachel Grawcock, and Jacobson scored the go-ahead run on a one-out single by Amber Grubham.
“We really pulled together and got on our bats and played defense behind Ashley,” Bevacqua said.
Lakeland, making its third straight appearance at state, plays Kuna (23-4) today at 11 a.m. PDT.
Wood River is 10-18.
Wood River 110 000 0 — 2 5 0
Lakeland 002 001 x — 3 9 2
Ali Levy and Alex Lindbloom; Jamie Klopatek, Ashley Metcalf (1) and Alia Cox. W — Metcalf. L — Levy.
HITS: WR — Martinez 2, Dawson, Gove 2. LL — Watson 2, Kasting, Kunas, Grawcock 2, Grubham 3. 2B — Dawson, Gove, Watson, Kunas, Grubham.