Boise tops Lumbermen in tourney opener

MERIDIAN - Lance Kotter went 4 for 5 with an RBI as the Boise Seminoles rallied to beat the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen in the opening round of the American Legion Class AA state baseball tournament on Wednesday at Rocky Mountain High.

Coeur d'Alene (16-29) will face Idaho Falls in a loser-out game today at 9 a.m. PDT.

Carter Chaffin doubled leading off the second inning and scored on an RBI double by Colton Gray. Joe Roletto drove in Gray with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2 after the second inning.

Coeur d'Alene took the lead on a sac fly by Chaffin in the third and a bases loaded walk to Gray to take a 4-2 lead after the third inning.

"We had some rust in the first inning," Coeur d'Alene interim coach Zach Clanton said. "Joe (Roletto) was a little amped up and left some pitches up in the strike zone in the first inning. We made some noise in the second, and it looked like we were going to make some noise."

Michael Hicks, Shawn Montee and Gray had two hits each for Coeur d'Alene.

"I told them we could hit with anyone in the state before the game," Clanton said. "We left a lot of runners on base."

Coeur d'Alene had the winning run on second in the bottom of the ninth, but were

see LEGION, B4

unable to push the run across.

"It's a heartbreaker definitely," Clanton said. "We've always had a group of goofballs and like to keep it light, but the pressure was getting to them a little. They wanted to win it and had a chance in the ninth. One hit here or there, and we're playing in the winner's bracket. They definitely want to come through the loser's bracket and make some noise in the tournament."

Boise Seminoles 200 001 020 - 5 11 0

Coeur d'Alene 022 000 000 - 4 9 1

Dash Dale, Sam Showalter (8) and Casey Kawamura; Joe Roletto and Colton Gray. W - Bowle. L - Roletto.

HITS: Boi - Broderick, Kotter 4, Haggett 2, Gustavson, Cochran, Oths 2. Cd'A - Robbins, Green, Hicks 2, Montee 2, Chaffin, Gray 2. 2B - Chaffin, Gray, Kotter