A numbers' game in prep softball
Idaho switched to fastpitch in high school softball some two decades, but you wouldn’t know it by glancing at some of the scores from 4A Inland Empire League games this season.
Lakeland took three of four games from Moscow, the Hawks winning 14-13 (in eight innings) and 24-14 at home.
Five days later in Moscow, the Bears won 17-16 in the opener before Lakeland bounced back to take the nightcap 19-18.
Lakeland scored an average of 18.25 runs per game vs. Moscow, and the Bears averaged 15.5.
More recently Sandpoint, en route to its first softball league title in school history, took all four games from Lakeland, wining 12-3, 13-11, 14-11, 13-9.
So in only one of those games did the LOSING team score less than nine runs.
WHAT IN the name of Jennie Finch is going on here?
OK, so there may not be any Division I-bound pitchers in the league that you often see in the 5A IEL, but it’s not like they’re lobbing the ball up to the hitters, at the risk of umpires calling illegal pitches because the pitchers are throwing with too much arc.
Lakeland coach Colleen Bevacqua, in her 12th season as Hawks’ coach, says hitting has gotten better over the years — teams have more good hitters through the lineup.
“We can score a lot of runs, and we can give up a lot of runs,” Bevacqua said.
Sandpoint started its high school softball program in the early 1990s, shortly after Lakeland did.
Since the IEL split into 5A and 4A leagues in softball in 2010, Lakeland has won the 4A IEL five times (in 2010, ’11, ’12, ’13 and ’15), Moscow once (’14).
Lakeland won the regional title in ’10, ’12, ’13 and ’15, and Moscow won in ’11 and ’14.
This is the first year since 2006 that the 4A regional tourney runner-up will have a chance to qualify for state; ever since, only the winner advanced.
Sandpoint’s last trip to state came in 2003, when the Bulldogs won the 4A Region 1 tourney after finishing second to Coeur d’Alene in the combined (5A/4A) IEL.
Sandpoint also won the 4A regional title in 2002, and finished third at state. The Bulldogs also made it to state in 2001, finishing third in what was then called A-1 Division II.
Sandpoint’s first trip to state was in 1996, if memory serves ...
MEANWHILE, Coeur d’Alene High has been a state title contender nearly every year in fastpitch. But this year is the first time since 2004 that the Vikings (20-0 this year) have entered the postseason undefeated. In ’04, Coeur d’Alene took a 25-0 record into state, where the Vikings lost twice to Eagle and finished second. Guess who’s favored to win state this year? Eagle, ranked nationally by some prep services, and the defending state champions after beating the Vikings in last year’s title game.
Post Falls is much improved this year under second-year head coach Brian Stranger. The Trojans will have a tough time trying to get past Coeur d’Alene and Lake City and to state, but their 13 victories so far this season are noteworthy. It’s the most wins for a Post Falls team since 2010, when the Trojans won the state 5A title, and only one less victory than Post Falls posted in the five seasons since that crown.
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.