Lake City on a roll
LISA JAMES/Press McKenzie Wilson, 11, of Lake City, gives assistant coach Janey Ortega a high-five, as Lacey Lemberg, right, 32, and Emma Gray left, follow after Haley Loffer’s home run put them ahead of Meridian 8-2 at the end of the 6th inning during the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Lake City won 8-2 to advance to the next bracket.
LISA JAMES/Press ABOVE LEFT: Haley Loffer of Lake City gives assistant coach Amanda Krier a high-five, as Reilly Williams celebrates after Loffer’s home run put them ahead of Meridian 8-2 in the sixth inning during the first game of the state 5A softball tournament Friday at Coeur d’Alene High School. ABOVE RIGHT: Haley Loffer’s dad, Jeremy Loffer, left, and stepdad, David Hunt, fist bump each other after Loffer’s home run.
LISA JAMES/Press Haley Loffer’s dad, Jeremy Loffer, left, and stepdad, David Hunt, fist bump each other after Loffer’s home run put Lake City ahead of Meridian 8-2 in the sixth inning. inning during the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Lake City won 8-2 to advance to the next bracket.
LISA JAMES/Press Bailey Cavanagh of Lake City clears 2nd as Lexi Knauss of Meridian catches the pass from first during the third inning of the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Lake City won 8-2 to advance to the next bracket.
LISA JAMES/Press Deborah Overby of Meridian tags Haley Loffer of Lake City as she reaches for 3rd after attempting to steal during the 5th inning of the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Meridian lost 8-2 to Lake City.
LISA JAMES/Press Deborah Overby of Meridian tags Haley Loffer of Lake City as she reaches for 3rd after attempting to steal during the 5th inning of the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Meridian lost 8-2 to Lake City.
LISA JAMES/Press Deborah Overby of Meridian tags Haley Loffer of Lake City as she reaches for 3rd after attempting to steal during the 5th inning of the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Meridian lost 8-2 to Lake City.
LISA JAMES/Press Keana Reyes-Burke of Meridian loses her helmet sliding into 2nd as Haley Loffer of Lake City tries to tag her during their first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Meridian lost 8-2 to Lake City.
LISA JAMES/Press Lexi Knauss of Meridian slides safely into 2nd before Haley Loffer of Lake City loses control of the ball during their first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Meridian lost 8-2 to Lake City.
LISA JAMES/Press Ashley Kaufman of Lake City pitches against Meridian during the 6th inning of the first of their 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Lake City won 8-2 to advance to the next bracket.
LISA JAMES/Press Meridian catcher Ashley Brink (?) tries to tag out Lacey Lemburg of Lake City as she slides into home plate during the 5th inning of the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Meridian lost 8-2 to Lake City.
LISA JAMES/Press Lake City players celebrate their 8-2 lead over Meridian at the end of the 6th inning during the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Lake City won 8-2 to advance to the next bracket.
LISA JAMES/Press Lake City fans celebrate their 8-2 win over Meridian at the end of the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday.
LISA JAMES/Press Lake City fans celebrate their 8-2 win over Meridian at the end of the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday.
LISA JAMES/Press Haley Loffer of Lake City catches a ball during the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday. Lake City won 8-2 to advance to the next bracket.
LISA JAMES/Press Lake City fans celebrate their 8-2 win over Meridian at the end of the first of the 5A State Championship games at Coeur D’Alene High School on Friday.
COEUR d’ALENE — Third-year Lake City softball coach Jesse Lenz was admittedly too assertive in the Timberwolves’ 5A state tournament opener Friday.
He often pushed the envelope in waving in baserunners for the extra bag, a couple of those gambles leading to outs.
It was that aggressive approach, though, that ultimately vaulted Lenz’s sophomore-laden club to a pair of convincing triumphs and a ticket to today’s semifinal.
Lake City uncorked a combined 24 hits as it dispatched Meridian 9-2 before invoking the 10-run mercy rule in a 13-3 rout of Highland of Pocatello at Coeur d’Alene High’s Larry Schwenke Field.
The Timberwolves (22-2), the 5A Inland Empire League and Region I tournament champion, face two-time defending state champion Eagle (27-2) today at 9 a.m. at the same location for a trip to the championship game.
Haley Loffer’s two-run homer against Meridian helped blow the game open in the opener. Against Highland, Jalyssa Beamer’s third-inning grand slam swiftly changed the complexion of the contest.
“I would take every one of those errors on the basepaths. That’s on me,” Lenz said. “Overall, though, we really executed our game plan. We didn’t know where we stacked up, but we showed we could beat great teams. We just got on a roll.”
Lake City is aiming for its fourth state title in program history, the last one coming in 2013. Eagle is hoping to garner is classification-best eighth 5A championship.
Beamer thinks the Timberwolves made a statement.
“I think it was very important to come out the way we came out,” said Beamer, a sophomore right fielder. “We showed what we could do.”
Lake City 9, Meridian 2: Meridian (19-8), the District III tournament runner-up, couldn’t withstand the Timberwolves’ flurry of hits in the fourth and sixth innings.
RBI singles by Emma Gray, Ashlynn Allen and Loffer gave Lake City a 3-1 lead before the T-Wolves pasted the Warriors with five runs in the sixth frame.
Back-to-back RBI doubles by Beamer and Ashley Kaufman preceded Loffer’s two-run homer, and the rout was on.
Meridian ace Jordyn Miller gave up 13 hits to a team that saw every player in its lineup record a hit.
Longtime Meridian coach Tom Pinkley believed his team — which features four college-bound players — was due for a bad showing.
“Sooner or later, you play a bad game. We were out of it mentally,” Pinkley said. “Lake City came up with the key hits and we didn’t. That and errors was that difference, really.”
University of Montana-bound senior Lexi Knauss led Meridian, going 3 for 3 with a triple and an RBI.
Meridian then lost its next game, 7-2 to Kuna, for an early exit from the tourney.
Meridian 000 100 1 — 2 9 4
Lake City 001 305 x — 9 13 2
Jordyn Miller and Abigail Gagnon. Ashley Kaufman and Olivia Zufelt.
HITS: Mer — DeSloover, Knauss 3, Gagnon, Brink, Rice 2, Reyes-Burke. 2B — Reyes-Burke, LC — Loffer 3, Chapman, Zufelt 2, Cavanagh, Williams, Gray, Beamer, Kaufman 2, Allen. 2B — Reyes-Burke, Kaufman,
Beamer. 3B — Knauss. HR — Loffer.
Lake City 13, Highland 3: Lake City had just a 2-1 lead when Beamer stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third.
With the bases juiced, Highland pitcher Kiara Grover, who has signed to play at Salt Lake Community College, had Beamer in an 0-2 count before she sent a shot that bounced off the top of the right field fence and over the scoreboard.
Reilly Chapman also took advantage of a bases-loaded opportunity in the fifth inning on a bases-clearing double.
Highland coach Tisha Coverdell, whose team ran through its District 5-6 tournament with a combined score of 31-2, felt the Rams (24-4) gave up early.
“A half an inning into the game, I could see it,” she said. “I was like ‘What’s going on, girls, where’s our team? Where’d you go? You’re happy we won the first game, finally, but you’re going to shut down?’ I just didn’t see that drive to win.”
Coverdell pointed to Beamer’s blast as the turning point.
“Without that grand slam it would have been 2-2,” the 21-year head coach said. “We tried to get it out of the zone, and that didn’t happen.”
Senior Bailey Cavanagh had three hits for Lake City. Olivia Zufelt went 2 for with a RBI triple.
Kaufman, who went the distance in both games Friday, yielded just four hits in a game that ended in the fifth inning.
Highland 001 11 — 3 4 3
Lake City 204 25 — 13 11 2
Kiara Grover and Jordan Frasure. Ashley Kaufman and Olivia Zufelt.
HITS: High — Harmon, Benson, Jackson, Bosquez. LC — Loffer, Chapman 2, Zuffelt 2, Cavanagh 3, Gray, Beamer 2, Allen. 2B — Harmon, Benson, Chapman, 3B — Zufelt. HR — Beamer.