The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT May 26, 2012

They finished their Coeur d'Alene Crush careers with a regional softball championship against a rival team from southern Idaho.

When it came to the state 5A high school tournament, while the rivals were a little closer to home, the result was the same - a championship.

AFTER CONCLUDING their careers with the Coeur d'Alene Crush ASA softball team last summer, Coeur d'Alene High seniors Chelsey Rasmussen, Randi Spencer, Nikki Ragsdale, Elli Tindall and Kyeli Parker capped their high school careers with a state championship - a 5-2 win over archrival Lake City last Saturday at Capell Park in Chubbuck.

"I was in shock," said Rasmussen, who played first base. "There was a lot of disbelief. I actually started crying when it was over."

Before the game, there wasn't any key speech to motivate the team.

"There was really nothing that needed to be said," Rasmussen said. "We knew we had to give it our all."

"We really had nothing to lose and they had everything to lose," said Parker, who played third base.

“It was so special. It was so crazy because our last game with the Crush, we’ve had some really big wins.”

After finishing second in the state championships with Crush, Coeur d’Alene beat the Magic Valley Sooners in the Northwest A regional title game. The Sooners are made up of players from the College of Southern Idaho softball program.

The group, which has played on the Crush together for the past nine years, won five state ASA titles.

“We’ve had some big wins together,” said Spencer, who played in the outfield.

“Coming into games against Lake City, we usually work ourselves into a frenzy before the game,” Spencer said. “Then we overthink everything and psych ourselves out. In the title game, we were a lot more relaxed.”

Coeur d’Alene beat Lewiston 5-4 in the regional runner-up game to advance to state.

“I think we really surprised people with how well we did at the end of the season,” said Tindall, who played second base. “We almost didn’t make it to state and to win it, it was shocking — even to us.”

Even though the team had beat Capital and Meridian the previous day to advance to the title game, doubts were heavy that another win could come against Lake City — which had beaten Coeur d’Alene 10 straight times dating back to 2010.

“Our own parents weren’t really serious about us winning the tournament,” Spencer said. “They were being supportive. Before the game, my parents were just encouraging me to get a hit or just get on base. Nobody expected this to happen.”

“(Coeur d’Alene assistant coach) Travis (Smith) told us after the game, ‘you don’t always find the best way to get it done, but you get it done,’” Parker said. “They’re not always the best games, but we still find a way to get it done.”

OF THE graduating seniors, only Ragsdale will continue her playing career next year — she has signed to play at North Idaho College.

“I’ll miss the friendships I’ve have with them,” said Ragsdale, who will play in the outfield and pitch at NIC. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in them to get the job done on the field and I’ll miss playing with them.”

The others are just going to take time to enjoy the summer together before moving onto college in the fall.

“It will be nice to take a break,” Spencer said. “It will be the first time some of us won’t be playing softball in a really long time.”

Rasmussen and Tindall will study engineering at Montana State, while Parker will attend Boise State University. Spencer is still undecided between Nevada or NIC.

“I really like Montana State,” Tindall said. “It has been my dream school to go to and I really want to go into chemistry.”

“For the past eight summers, I think we’ve seen each other literally every day,” Parker said. “And we’ve grown to be just like sisters. We’ll still see each other every day, but the family-like setting I’m going to miss the most. Honestly, this is one of the most fun teams I’ve played on.”

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