STATE 5A SOFTBALL: Almost the perfect sendoff

POST FALLS — With one swing, the skies opened on Saturday, and it won’t be the same again for the Coeur d’Alene High softball team.

That swing — a grand slam by Hailey Fisher with nobody out in the top of the fifth inning — rallied the Eagle Mustangs past the Vikings 8-6, sending the Mustangs home with a sixth state 5A fastpitch softball championship in school history.

And it sent Viking coach Larry Bieber home a runner-up for the eighth time in his 21st and final season as fastpitch coach at Coeur d’Alene High.

“We competed our butts off this weekend,” said Bieber, who earlier this season announced his retirement from coaching. “We flat out got with it. Eagle’s a really good, strong hitting team and they’ve been pulverizing teams all season. We had them on the ropes here twice and had them for a while until they got that grand salami. They live and die by the home run and homered 50 times in 22 games. I think we did an awesome job of competing today.”

Bieber won five fastpitch titles with Coeur d’Alene (28-3), the last coming in 2012.

“I’ve got no regrets on anything we did this weekend,” Bieber said. “It was a great way for me to ride off into the sunset.”

Eagle finishes 30-1.

In a loser-out game earlier on Saturday, Breana Burke hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning as Coeur d’Alene beat Lake City 7-2. The Timberwolves (21-9) finished fourth.

“I loved our fight today,” first-year Lake City coach Jesse Lenz said. “They never gave up. They battled and I was very excited about our approach late in the game. We’ve got five excellent seniors and they took me in as a first-year coach and accepted me as a coach at this school. We had our ups and downs, but we’ve got 10 underclassmen coming back and we want to be right back here next year, fighting for a title.”

Eagle 8, Coeur d’Alene 6: Coeur d’Alene opened a 5-1 lead in the top of the first inning, keyed by back-to-back two-run doubles by Jadyn Behm and Bryce Catt.

Eagle pulled to within 5-3 on a two-run double by Rachel Menlove.

“We were a little tight to open the game, a little nervous,” eighth-year Eagle coach Doug Corta said. “But we got back to our game plan and our pitcher started to find the zone. There was a lot of nerves early on, but this was a big game for sure.”

Moments after Fisher’s grand slam, the game was delayed 20 minutes due to a heavy rainstorm.

“It’s hard to say if that was a key,” Bieber said. “It was their momentum that we stopped. We had our chances, but didn’t quite get it done. I’m so proud of these kids. They worked their butts off to come all the way back. I had a feeling we were going to come back, but weren’t able to get it done.”

“After that first game (a loss to Eagle in the tourney opener on Friday), I don’t think I’ve been that mad after a loss,” Coeur d’Alene senior Kylie Rasmussen shortstop said. “I think this game would have been a lot different if we could have came out of the winner’s bracket. But Eagle’s a great team and I’m glad we got to play them two times.”

Eagle finished as runner-up in 2013, losing to Lake City in the championship game at Ramsey Park in Coeur d’Alene.

“That year, we were so close against Lake City,” Corta said. “It was a tough one and we just kept working hard to build from that. I’m just proud of these kids.”

Eagle 102 041 0 — 8 11 5

Coeur d’Alene 500 100 0 — 6 9 3

Bradie Fillmore and Rachel Menlove; Breana Burke and Abby Howard. W — Fillmore. L — Burke (26-3).

HITS: Eag — Fillmore, Moffat 3, French, Kukla, Strickler, Menlove, Corta, Fisher 2. Cd’A — Rasmussen 2, Howard, Behm, Catt 2, Montee, Smith 2. 2B — Moffat, Menlove, Behm, Catt, Smith. HR — Fisher, Rasmussen (4).

Coeur d’Alene 6, Meridian 0: Rasmussen, who had one home run coming into the tournament, hit a two-run home run in the first inning, her third in two days at state.

Jadyn Behm had a pair of RBI singles for Coeur d’Alene.

Meridian (19-12) finished third.

Meridian 000 000 0 — 0 3 0

Coeur d’Alene 400 011 x — 6 8 1

Sam Whitley and Jaycie Clucas; Breana Burke and Abby Howard. W — Burke (26-2). L — Whitley.

HITS: Mer — Clucas, Martinez, Krawl. Cd’A — Rasmussen, Raynor 2, Behm 2, Montee, Catt, Smith. 2B — Raynor, Smith. HR — Rasmussen.

Coeur d’Alene 7, Lake City 2: In the first game of the day, the Vikings took advantage of four walks and an error in the first inning to build a 5-0 lead in a loser-out game against the Timberwolves.

“We’ve been talking about the little things all year,” Lenz said. “I couldn’t be prouder of a group of girls, but the little things cost us today. We had a couple of errors and made a couple of mistakes. You take that out, we’re right there.”

Lake City senior third baseman Katelynne Murphy had an RBI single in the sixth for Lake City.

“I thought we finished well as a group,” Murphy said. “We battled and came together to accomplish all that we’ve done. It was a great team effort to come back and battle with Coeur d’Alene. This season has been a blast. Getting that trophy for this group of seniors means a lot. Finishing fourth wasn’t ideal, but bring a trophy home means a lot to us.”

“She’s stepped up for us in a huge way,” said Lenz of Murphy. “We threw her in there during the Coeur d’Alene game (at regionals), and she stepped up and showed the heart of a lion. That girl, you ask her to do anything and she’s right there. I couldn’t be any more proud of all of them.”

Kylie Smith had two hits for Coeur d’Alene and Heather Hawkes had a pair of singles for Lake City.

Lake City 000 002 0 — 2 4 1

Coeur d’Alene 500 020 x — 7 7 3

Kayla Patton, Michaela Flerchinger (3) and Kimmie Cook; Breana Burke, Jane Wilkey (6), Burke (7) and Abby Howard. W — Burke (25-2). L — Patton.

Eagle 15, Meridian 0: Autumn Moffat had a two-run single and Rachel Menlove hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning for the Mustangs in a semifinal win against the Warriors.