THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, July 16, 2015
Laura (Tolzmann) Fierro is mostly known around these parts as a longtime softball coach at Lake City High - where she guided the Timberwolves to a pair of state titles before stepping down after the 2014 season.
Before that, she was a pretty good high school softball player in the city as well.
Last weekend, however, she played the role of proud aunt, watching the state 10-and-under fastpitch softball tournament at Ramsey Park in Coeur d'Alene.
Her niece, Brynn Tolzmann, hit an over-the-fence home run on Friday night for the Coeur d'Alene Crush, en route to a victory against the Lewis-Clark Warriors.
"Wondering if you could mention it, since I don't think many 10-year-olds can hit it over the fence," Laura asked.
* Speaking of proud relatives, another note was sent in concerning another big moment at Ramsey Park last weekend, this time in the state 12U tournament.
We reported, in a Sunday game, the Spokane Stealth Tibbits scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Spokane Diamonds Cushner 4-3. The Diamonds tied for fifth.
According to her father, Sean Mathis of Hayden Lake, here's how it happened:
"Destiny Mathis actually was the last batter up in the bottom of the seventh inning," he reported. The Stealth was down by one run, and Destiny, 13, who will be an eighth-grader this fall, was down to her last strike when she put the ball in play.
"The pitcher ran to get it and couldn't," he said, "then the pitcher grabbed it, threw it to first and the first baseman fumbled it and Destiny was safe at first, bringing in the two runs to win the game."
* News flash - Felix Hernandez pitched one perfect inning of relief and Nelson Cruz went 0 for 2 with a strikeout as the Seattle Mariners clinched home-field advantage for the World Series with the
American League's 6-3 victory over the National League in Tuesday night's All-Star Game in Cincinnati.
Mike Trout will throw out the first pitch for one of the games in Seattle. The Mariners will honor him for hitting a leadoff homer, scoring two runs and being named MVP of the All-Star Game - doing more to help the AL win than anything Felix or Cruz did.
But them's the rules, though giving the team with the best record home-field advantage in the World Series would make more sense - even rotating it between the leagues every year, like they used to do, would be better than attaching it to a meaningless exhibition game.
I think we would still tune in to watch.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.