Lake City settles for second at state

COEUR d’ALENE — They’re satisfied.

No, the Lake City High softball team wasn’t thrilled with finishing second in the state 5A softball tournament, but the Timberwolves are satisfied.

After falling 9-4 in a semifinal game to Eagle on Sunday at Coeur d’Alene High, the Timberwolves fought back in the championship game against Eagle before coming up short in a 4-3 loss.

“I could not be more proud of the way these girls represented Lake City High,” third-year Lake City coach Jesse Lenz said. “They battled their tails off. I tip my cap to (Eagle coach) Nicole (Rollins), she’s a hell of a coach and it’s a great program they’ve got going. I think we gave them all they wanted and a little more in that title game.”

The title was the third straight for Eagle (29-2), and eighth overall. Lake City (23-4) was bidding for its fourth state title, in its first title-game appearance since 2013.

Boise (23-9) finished third after losing to Lake City 9-6. Earlier Sunday, Kuna (21-8) finished fourth after losing to Boise 5-1 at Lake City High.

After Saturday’s schedule was rained out, the final four teams returned Sunday to finish up on a sunny, 78-degree day.

Eagle 4, Lake City 3: Eagle took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run single by Kelly Kukla, followed by RBI singles from Noelle Foster and Rachel Menlove.

Lake City rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning, loading the bases before Olivia Zufelt hit a two-run triple to make it 4-2. Bailey Cavanagh followed with an RBI single to make it 4-3. Eagle’s Autumn Moffat retired all three hitters in the seventh to close the game out. Moffat, who has signed with BYU, struck out seven in the title game, and took a one-hitter into the sixth.

“It was definitely a battle,” second-year Eagle coach Nicole Rollins said. “We’ve had tough battles all year long. You see the true guts and glory out of these kids this year.”

It marks the third straight title for seniors Menlove, Moffat, Kelly Kukla and Hailey Fisher, all of which had key hits in the 2015 title game win at Post Falls High over Coeur d’Alene. Eagle was runner-up at Ramsey Park to Lake City in 2013.

Earlier on Sunday, Eagle scored seven runs in the bottom of the second inning and took advantage of three Lake City errors to advance to the title game.

“We had to refocus,” Lenz said. “They got us pretty good this morning, and we did not play our best. All I had to say to them was let’s clean it up and show them what Lake City softball is all about. And they refocused and we were right there. I could not be more pleased.”

Sophomore Ashley Kaufman struck out six in the title game for Lake City.

“Our sophomores, they were huge for us today,” Lenz said. “We call them the Fab Five because there’s five of them on this young team. But Oz (Zufelt) and Jay (Beamer) battled all day long at the plate and took some great swings on the ball and they were battling. I’m very pleased and excited to see what the future holds for all of them.”

“I was really thankful that God gave us the opportunity today to come back and fight as a team,” Zufelt said. “Our seniors led the way the entire time, and it would have been nice to get them a first-place trophy for all the hard work they’ve done, but I’m happy.”

Lake City had its trip to state cut short by weather last year after going 1-1 on the first day, then seeing the losers bracket canceled. After Saturday’s games were washed out, the tournament was extended to a third day for second straight year.

“It’s seven innings, but it’s one pitch at a time,” Lenz said. “We learned last year, they had that burning feeling from last year. They felt that 14-hour bus ride that we had going 1-1. There was no closure for us last year. We got closure this year, but it’s not what we wanted to be. But dang, I couldn’t be more proud of these kids.”

Lake City started five sophomores, two juniors, one freshman and one senior Sunday.

“I think Eagle showed more compassion and drive than we did today,” Beamer said. “But we’ll be back next year. As a team, we came closer together and showed what we can do and can’t do. Next year, we’re coming for it.”

EAGLE 4, LAKE CITY 3

Eagle 000 040 0 — 4 8 0

Lake City 000 003 0 — 3 6 1

Autumn Moffat and Rachel Menlove; Ashley Kaufman and Olivia Zufelt. W — Moffat. L — Kaufman.

HITS: Eag — Ke. Kukla 2, Moffat, Waite, Ka. Kukla 2, 11, Menlove. LC — Chapman, Kaufman, Allen, Loffer, Zufelt, Cavanagh. 2B — Zufelt.

Lake City 9, Boise 6: Beamer hit a three-run home run in the second inning to give the Timberwolves a lead they didn’t give up to beat the Braves in the third-place game.

“Lake City, when they had runners on, they knocked them in,” Boise coach Brian Barber said. “They’re pretty aggressive and they took advantage of their baserunners when they had the chance.”

Zufelt had an RBI single in the seventh for Lake City, which scored a pair of runs in the fifth inning on wild pitches.

LAKE CITY 9, BOISE 6

Lake City 060 021 0 — 9 8 1

Boise 100 000 5 — 6 10 1

Ashley Kaufman, McKenzie Wilson (6) and Olivia Zufelt; Eden Cook, Revi Brown (5) and Ambryn Fortier. W — Kaufman. L — Cook.

HITS: LC — Gray 2, Beamer 2, Zufelt 2, Kaufman, Loffer. Boise — G. Shimatsu, Cook 2, H. Shimatsu, Escobar 2, Round, Atkins, Zaragoza, Fortier. 2B — Gray, Beamer, Zufelt, Kaufman, Cook, Fortier. HR — Beamer.

Eagle 9, Lake City 4: Autumn Moffat struck out six and the Mustangs jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the second inning on the way to a win.

Ashley Kaufman hit a two-run single in the fifth inning and Emma Gray had two hits for Lake City.

EAGLE 9, LAKE CITY 4

Lake City 000 021 1 — 4 7 3

Eagle 070 020 x — 9 11 2

Ashley Kaufman, McKenzie Wilson (2) and Olivia Zufelt; Autumn Moffat and Rachel Menlove. W — Moffat. L — Kaufman.

HITS: LC — Beamer, Loffer, Allen, Chapman, Gray 2, Kaufman, Cavanagh. Eag — Waite 2, Ka. Kukla, Foster, Menlove 2, Fisher, Moffat, O’Connor, Ke. Kukla, Peters. 2B — Ka. Kukla, Menlove 2, Foster, Fisher, Moffat.