THE FRONT ROW with Jason Elliott May 23, 2012

Last weekend, eight teams came to Coeur d'Alene with dreams of capturing a state championship at the state 3A softball tournament at Ramsey Park.

Fruitland may have left with the championship, but if nothing else, both the Timberlake Tigers and Priest River Spartans showed that they may have saved their best for last.

DESPITE LOSING in its first game to the eventual champions, Priest River - which had never been to the tournament in its 17-year program history - found a way to beat Kimberly, the team that won the championship two years ago, the last time the tournament was held at Ramsey Park.

Timberlake, who won its first game against Buhl, ran into a Homedale team that hit the ball really well and kept the Tigers off balance enough advance to the championship games on Saturday.

Not playing for a championship on Saturday, if neither played to the level of the first game, that could have been understandable. But that didn't happen.

The Tigers committed errors on the first two plays of Saturday's third-place game against Bear Lake and trailed 2-0 before a lot of fans were settled into the stands. They got on the board in the second inning and seemed well on the way to the win before the Bears fought back to take the lead in the sixth inning.

But the Tigers didn't appear to get rattled, instead finding a way to battle back and eventually win the game in the seventh inning.

This was nothing new when it comes to this school.

Earlier this year, I watched as Timberlake advanced to the state championship game in girls basketball with much similar heroics.

Trailing by 3 points, senior guard Kara Wenstrom banked in a 3-pointer to tie the game and send the semifinal game with Snake River to a second overtime.

Priest River fell behind early and couldn't quite match Buhl's offensive output, losing 11-1 in six innings in the consolation game.

WHETHER ENDING the season with a win or a loss, it doesn't matter in the long run.

Of the five different classifications, only two teams in each win their final game of the season.

While Fruitland proved it was the best over the weekend, the Grizzlies also won the championship last year and were second two years ago after losing in an if-necessary game to Kimberly at Ramsey Park.

Who knows what could have happened if the state still had a double-elimination format.

Maybe the Tigers find a way to get back to the title game or maybe win it.

Teams play at their best in the final weekend of the season.

It's just sometimes - the best might not be enough.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].