Haen leads Lums past Prairie
MARK NELKE/Press After forcing Paul Keating (3) of Prairie at second base, Coeur d’Alene shortstop Levi Haen throws to first to retire Seth Villanpando for the double play in the fourth inning Friday at Post Falls High School.
MARK NELKE/Press Harrison Reid of Prairie scores on a passed ball in the second inning vs. Coeur d’Alene on Friday at Post Falls High.
POST FALLS — Levi Haen drove in three runs — including the tiebreaking run in the top of the seventh inning — and earned the save as the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen edged the Prairie Cardinals 8-7 in American Legion class AA North Idaho League play Friday evening at Post Falls High.
Haen’s sacrifice fly drove in Jack Bloom, who led off the seventh with a single for Coeur d’Alene (4-0, 4-0 NIL). Haen also hit a two-run single in the sixth that put the Lums up 7-4.
“We did enough to win,” Coeur d’Alene coach Kevin Dunton said.
Matthew Gjevre, who missed the high school season with a torn ligament in his left wrist, made his Legion season debut and went 3 for 4 with a run scored for the Lums.
“It was good to have Matt back,” Dunton said. “He had three hits, and all of them were clutch.”
Tanner McCliment-Call, who went 2 for 4, hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to pull Prairie within 7-6. Seth Villanpando, who drove in a run and scored twice, came home on a wild pitch to tie the game.
“I thought we pitched well for the most part, but we left a lot of guys on base,” Prairie coach Pat Call said. “We didn’t do a good job moving guys. That’s a pretty good team (the Lums) for playing, what, eight games?”
Singles by Sam Schultz and Trevor Vandever put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the seventh for Prairie (3-11, 0-2), but Haen retired the next two batters on a soft liner and a fly to center to end the game.
“It’s just tough, not playing on a consistent basis,” said Dunton, whose team is playing an abbreviated schedule due to a shortage of pitching and players. “These kids have a lot of experience, but there’s no experience like game experience.”
“We’ve had some rough ones (this season) — walks have been our Achilles’ heel,” said Call, noting in one game his pitchers put 22 on base via walks or hit batsmen. “If we quit walking guys we’d be tough. Walks are like fingers on a blackboard.”
Prairie travels to Lewiston on Tuesday to play the Lewis-Clark Twins in a league doubleheader at Harris Field.
Coeur d’Alene and Prairie are both entered in the Coeur d’Alene/Spokane Wood-Bat Classic beginning next Wednesday.
Coeur d’Alene 203 002 1 — 8 14 1
Prairie 121 003 0 — 7 7 0
Zach Mackimmie, Brady Thompson (3), Levi Haen (7) and Carter Friesz; Matt Fleming, Sam Schultz (6) and Seth Villanpando. W — Thompson. L — Fleming.
HITS: Cd’A — Haen, Karns, Thompson, Friesz 2, Dooley, Bloom 2, Cunningham 2, Gjevre 3, Brown. Pra — Villanpando, McCliment-Call 2, Reid, Pollard, Schultz, Vandever. 2B — Dooley, Friesz, Brown.
Northern Lakes splits
first two games
at Libby tourney
LIBBY, Mont. — Northern Lakes finished off an 11-5 victory over the Bitterroot Bucs, then lost 4-1 to Mission Valley on Friday at the Libby tournament at Lee Gehring Field.
Against Bitterroot, Jack McDonald hit a three-run double in the fourth inning for Northern Lakes, which led 6-1 in the fifth on Thursday when the game was suspended by rain.
Brandon Filler hit a two-run single in the fifth for the Mountaineers, and Colton Aragon added a two-run single in the sixth.
Mission Valley scored three runs in the top of the seventh to break a 1-all tie with Northern Lakes. Dustin Smith’s RBI single in the bottom of the fourth for the Mountaineers tied the game at 1.
Northern Lakes (9-2) is scheduled to play the Tri-County Cardinals today at 7 a.m.