Cripps goes yard as Post Falls tops Lakeland
- BASEBALL
POST FALLS — Chase Cripps delivered a two-run home run in the fifth inning, and the Post Falls Trojans scored in each of their first five at-bats to beat the Lakeland Hawks 10-3 in nonleague baseball Tuesday.
Cripps’ homer was to left center, just left of the batter’s eye in center field — a 50-foot-wide, 8-foot-high extension of the regular outfield fence, which is 8 feet high.
Quin Bennett hit a double off the batter’s eye portion of the fence, and Jake Pfennigs hit a triple high off that portion. A few feet left or right, and the Trojans would have had three homers in the game.
“We had some really good approaches at the plate today,” Post Falls coach Mick Zeller said. “We weren’t swinging at bad pitches, we got ahead in the count.”
Jacob Rutherford struck out six in five innings for Post Falls (5-5). Bennett went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored, Tanner McCliment-Call was 2 for 4 with an RBI and run scored, and Pfennigs was 2 for 3 with two runs scored.
The Post Falls High field also escaped the heavy rains elsewhere in the area.
“We had some drizzle, but that was about it,” Zeller said.
Logan Siegford went 2 for 3 and scored once for Lakeland (7-7), which travels to Sandpoint on Thursday for a 4A Inland Empire League doubleheader.
Post Falls visits Coeur d’Alene on Saturday for a twinbill to open 5A Inland Empire League play.
Lakeland 011 010 0 — 3 7 2
Post Falls 213 130 x — 10 9 0
Max Baker, Tristan Clift (3), Ezra Grigg (4) and Colton Aragon; Jacob Rutherford, Quin Bennett (6) and Nate Buer. W — Rutherford (1-1). L — Baker.
HITS: LL — Taylor, Bradbury, Gifford, Aragon, Siegford 2, Clift. PF — Buer, Cripps, Rutherford, Bennett 2, McCliment-Call 2, Pfennigs 2. 2B — Taylor, Buer, McCliment-Call, Rutherford, Bennett. 3B — Pfennigs. HR — Cripps (1).
St. Maries 18-11
Kellogg 0-1
ST. MARIES — The Lumberjacks, who have had most of their schedule to date rained out, improved to 3-0 with a nonleague sweep of the Wildcats at City Park.
Further details were not available.
St. Maries travels to Bonners Ferry on Thursday.
- POSTPONEMENTS
A nonleague softball game between Timberlake and Lakeland in Rathdrum was postponed due to rain, as well as a tennis match between Post Falls and host Lakeland.
No makeup dates were announced.