Cd'A holds off Lake City for title

COEUR d'ALENE - When it comes to rivalry games, no lead is safe.

With the tying run standing at third base with one out in the seventh inning, Coeur d'Alene pitcher Breana Burke got two outs on flyballs, the second to second baseman Kylie Rasmussen to give the Vikings a 5-4 win against the Lake City Timberwolves in the championship game of the 5A Region 1 tournament on Tuesday afternoon at Larry Schwenke Field.

It is Coeur d'Alene's first regional title since 2008 and snaps a string of three straight regional titles by Lake City.

"It's been a while since we've beaten Lake City five times in a season," Coeur d'Alene coach Larry Bieber said. "We had a good run there for a while, but it feels good to be back in the driver's seat."

Coeur d'Alene (20-3) will face the runner-place from District 3 (Boise) in the opening round next Friday in the state 5A tournament at the Skyview Softball Complex in Nampa.

"I love the fight, and the battle," Lake City coach Laura Tolzmann-Fierro said. "It's one of those awesome rivalry games and why we love to play these games."

Earlier, Coeur d'Alene outlasted Post Falls 4-2 and Lake City beat Lewiston 14-4 to advance to the title game. Lewiston beat Post Falls (1-19) 11-1 in a loser-out game.

Lake City (18-6) will host Lewiston (11-9) in the second-place game Thursday at 4 p.m., with the winner also advancing to state.

Coeur d'Alene 5, Lake City 4: Zoe Clark had two RBIs - a sacrifice fly in the first and an RBI double in the fourth - for Coeur d'Alene. Sydni Parker went 3 for 4 with two runs scored for the Vikings.

"It felt good to get a district championship over the rivals," Parker said. "Our No. 1 goal all year as been to win the state title and it will always be that."

Brooke Albertson, who was 1 for 10 at the plate against Lake City in four games this season, singled in the first.

"I didn't think as much when I was up to bat today," Albertson said. "And that helped a lot. It was really important to win it because we hadn't won it the previous three years, so it felt nice to bring it back here."

Abby Howard singled to score Kylie Smith to give Coeur d'Alene a 2-0 lead in the third inning.

"We took a couple chances today that bit us in the rear end," Bieber said. "That delayed steal by Sydni (in the fourth), that's the kind of thing that puts them on their heels. I'm really proud of this team."

Lake City tied it in the fourth after JaeCie Wilson singled leading off the inning and came around to score on an error, followed by a Jordyn McCracken RBI double.

"I think any time we play each other, there's really no safe lead," Tolzmann-Fierro said. "I loved that we competed and we'll fight to the end of this thing."

McCracken struck out four before being relieved by Michaela Flerchinger, who struck out two.

"I thought Jordyn threw well, and so did Michaela coming in," Tolzmann-Fierro said. "Both Jordyn and Hannah hit the ball hard today."

Lake City cut the deficit to 5-4 in the sixth with a run scoring on an fielder's choice.

Wilson tripled with one out in the seventh, but was stranded at third.

"JaeCie's answer was big for us," Tolzmann-Fierro said. "It was a great game."

Lake City 000 211 0 - 4 6 1

Coeur d'Alene 101 300 x - 5 10 2

Jordyn McCracken, Michaela Flerchinger (4) and Chloe Falciani, Kimmie Cook; Breana Burke and Abby Howard. W - Burke (12-3). L - McCracken (12-5).

HITS: LC - J. Wilson 2, McCracken, Shippy, Jackson, Nelson. Cd'A - Parker 3, B. Albertson, Behm 2, Burke, Howard, Rasmussen, Clark. 2B - McCracken, Nelson, Parker, Clark. 3B - J. Wilson, Parker.

Coeur d'Alene 4, Post Falls 2: Brooke Albertson had two hits and Analisa Raynor had an RBI in the sixth inning to lead the Vikings past the Trojans in the opening round at Larry Schwenke Field.

Taylor Ekness had a two-run single in the fourth inning and Alexis Murray allowed one hit through the first four innings for Post Falls.

"The girls were making plays behind her," Post Falls coach Jack Foster said. "Defensively, we played as well as we have all year long and gave ourselves a chance to win. That's about all you can ask of them."

Post Falls 000 200 0 - 2 5 3

Coeur d'Alene 000 103 x - 4 6 0

Alexis Murray and Katie McDermott; Mariah Montee, Breana Burke (7) and Abby Howard. W - Montee (8-0). L - Murray (1-6).

HITS: PF - Haskew 2, Rosetti, McDermott, Ekness. Cd'A - B. Albertson 2, Howard, K. Albertson, Rasmussen, Raynor. 2B - Haskew. 3B - Rasmussen.

Lake City 14, Lewiston 4, 6 inn.: Brittany Gay, Hannah Nelson and Dakota Wilson all homered as the Timberwolves beat the Bengals in an opening round game at Canfield Middle School.

"I thought we all swung the bats really well," Tolzmann-Fierro said. "We made some good defensive plays and just got the job done."

Wilson had four RBIs and Gay finished with three for Lake City.

Darcie Huffaker had three RBIs for Lewiston.

Lewiston 102 100 - 4 6 2

Lake City 607 001 - 14 16 1

Madison Atwood and Darcie Huffaker; Jordyn McCracken, Michaela Flerchinger (5) and Chloe Falciani and Kimmie Cook (5). W - McCracken (12-4). L - Atwood.

HITS: Lew - Fuhs 2, Wells, Huffaker, Johnson. LC - Shippy 2, J. Wilson, Williams, D. Wilson 2, Nelson, Gay 3, Cavanaugh 2, DeMent, Cook 2, McCracken. 2B - Wells, Gay, Shippy, D. Wilson, Williams. 3B - Fuhs. HR - Gay, Nelson, D. Wilson.

Lewiston 11, Post Falls 1, 5 inn.: Paige Wells hit a two-run home run in the first inning for the Bengals, who went on to eliminate the Trojans at Canfield Middle School.

"I think we kind of ran out of gas after the first game," Foster said. "We were so excited and fired up after the first game, we just didn't have enough in the tank. Lewiston hit the ball really, really well. The kids definitely got better in their last five or six games."

Kyra Haskew doubled and scored on a passed ball in the second inning for Post Falls.

Post Falls 010 00 - 1 3 1

Lewiston 221 42 - 11 16 0

Game called in fifth inning due to 10-run rule.

Alexis Murray, Lexie Butterfield (3) and Katie McDermott; Wiik and Huffaker. W - Wiik. L - Murray (1-7).

HITS: PF - Haskew, Hammond, Gomer. Lew - Fuhs 3, Atwood, Wells 3, Dodge 3, Bowden 2, Collins 2, Wiik 2. 2B - Haskew, Dodge. 3B - Wells. HR - Wells.