Coeur d'Alene breezes to first win

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Win, and they've got a prime time ticket for Thursday night.

Coeur d'Alene beat the Abbot-O-Rabbit Little League of Anchorage, Alaska 9-0 in pool play of the Northwest Regional tournament on Tuesday night at Houghton Stadium.

"I'm real happy for the boys," Coeur d'Alene coach Paul Manzardo said. "It was nice to be on the winning side of things."

Coeur d'Alene will face Cody, Wyo., today at 9 a.m. in their final pool play game. With a win, Coeur d'Alene (1-2) will advance to a semifinal game on Thursday at either 5 or 9 p.m. If Coeur d'Alene loses, they will be eliminated from contention.

"We control our own destiny, which is nice," Manzardo said. "If we win, we get a date with Washington."

Cody is 0-3.

Brandon Gay allowed one hit and struck out eight in 4 2/3 innings for Coeur d'Alene. Gay threw 10 first-pitch strikes in the game.

"He had a little less nerves today," Manzardo said. "He pitched really good on Saturday, and it was unfortunate we didn't win, but he was real effective today and locating his pitches. He was able to move the ball in and out of the zone and control his change-up and curve ball well."

Kyle Manzardo hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to give Coeur d'Alene a 2-0 lead.

"As a coach, you're excited because it gives you some energy," said coach Manzardo of his son's home run. "But we'd jumped out to an early lead in each game and we needed to make sure these guys knew this game wasn't over. As a dad, I was extremely happy and real proud of him."

Coeur d'Alene extended the lead to 3-0 on a dropped third strike in the third inning, then blew the game open with a six-run bottom of the fourth inning to take a 9-0 lead.

Manzardo singled to score Cody Davenport and scored on Watson's RBI single to give Coeur d'Alene a 7-0 lead.

Kobe Sims' two-run single capped the scoring in the fourth for Coeur d'Alene.