LEGION BASEBALL: AMERICAN LEGION CLASS AA AREA A TOURNAMENT
<p>After fielding a ground ball, Prairie’s Matt Lebsock makes a spin and leaps into the air while throwing to first for a fifth inning out Thursday during the American Legion Class AA Area A tournament against Lewis-Clark at Thorco Field in Coeur d’Alene.</p>
<p>Prairie’s Brandon Busch makes the tag as Lewis-Clark’s Cole Grijalva slides into third base during the fifth inning.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Kenny Cooper and Jared McDaniel each had two-run singles in the fifth inning as the Northern Lakes Mountaineers beat the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen 9-2 in the opening round of the class AA Area A (district) tournament on Thursday at Thorco Field.
Northern Lakes (18-24), a first-year program from the Rathdrum area, will face Lewis-Clark today at 4 p.m. in a semifinal game. Coeur d'Alene (28-19) will face Prairie in a loser-out game at 1 p.m.
Logan Bruner allowed one run over eight innings in his second start of the year for Northern Lakes.
"Today, it was a combination of what the coaching staff has been preaching all season," Northern Lakes coach Pat Capone
said. "It's not going to be just one guy. Logan was huge for us. I'm very proud of the effort and team win, but we came here to win a district title."
Logan Bruner doubled to score Ryan Pote to give Northern Lakes a 6-0 lead as the Mountaineers added three more runs to take an 8-0 lead after the sixth inning.
Devin Kluss tripled leading off the seventh and scored on an RBI single by Dominic Conigliaro for Coeur d'Alene, which has lost five straight games.
As the state tournament host, Coeur d'Alene has already clinched a berth to state. The top finisher between Lewis-Clark, Northern Lakes and Prairie also advances to state starting Tuesday at Thorco Field.
"We just weren't able to match their energy tonight," second-year Coeur d'Alene coach Zach Clanton said. "We had 14 flyouts and it's tough to win when you're not able to make them make a tough play. We've got to find some consistency heading into state."
Northern Lakes 000 143 010 - 9 16 1
Coeur d'Alene 000 000 002 - 2 7 2
Logan Bruner, Dalton Strong (9) and Jared McDaniel; Dominic Conigliaro, Elliott Sparks (6), Sam Slusser (8), Parker Gabrielson (9) and Grant Wade. W - Bruner. L - Conigliaro (4-5).
HITS: NL - Pote 3, Jackson 3, Strong 2, Bodak, Wrotenbury 2, Cooper 2, McDaniel 2, Bruner. Cd'A - Vaudreuil, Conigliaro 2, Sparks, Green, Gabrielson, Kluss. 2B - Pote 2, Jackson 2, Bruner. 3B - Kluss.