Roller coaster of a baseball ride in 5A IEL

After two days in the 5A Region 1 baseball tournament, the No. 4 team is on to state and the top seed is out.

So much for seedings matter, in this four-team league.

“Not in this league — oh, my,” said third-year Lewiston coach Davey Steele, whose Bengals captured the regional title Tuesday with a win at No. 2 seed Post Falls. “It would have been nice to have been the 1 seed, and have everyone drive down to Lewiston for the 2 1/2-hour trip. But this league is crazy. We were 2-2 against the league champs (Lake City), and we were 0-4 against these guys (Post Falls). But the league champs were 3-1 against these guys.

So seeding doesn’t mean a ton. It’s who brings the bats on any given day, I guess.”

JUST ASK Lake City.

The Timberwolves went 8-4 in league, one game better than Post Falls. But despite two well-pitched games at regionals, Lake City went two and out after scoring just two runs in the two games.

“The league’s real good, and has always been good,” third-year Lake City coach Paul Manzardo said. “I’ve always thought that. It’s always been a good league. It’s always competitive between each of the teams. It’s really unfortunate we only get 1 1/2 berths to state. I think any of the teams could go down there and do just fine.”

There was a glimpse this was coming last year. Lewiston won the regional title as the No. 1 seed, but Coeur d’Alene battled back through the losers bracket as the No. 4 seed to make it to state.

“Everybody can beat everybody,” Post Falls coach Mick Zeller said. “Up until this point (the championship game) they (the Bengals) hadn’t beaten us, but on any given day ... that’s just the way it is in this league. It’s just brutal.”

Heck, look at 4A baseball. Lakeland was the third seed out of the three-team 4A Inland Empire League, but beat the top two seeds on Monday to move within one game of the state tournament.

WHAT’S GOING on?

Zeller is in his second season in his second stint as Post Falls coach.

He previously coached the Trojans from 2001-11.

“The last time I coached, in 2011 and before that, there was always that dominant team,” Zeller said. “There was Lake City (in 2007 and ’08). One year it’d be Lewiston, or it’d be Coeur d’Alene, and everybody else would fight for that second spot. Where now, it’s just so balanced, top to bottom. Lake City was the 1 seed; I don’t know that they were the favorite.”

Three of the four teams (Lake City, Post Falls and Lewiston) all have players who played in the Little League Northwest Regional in San Bernardino, Calif., which is just one step away from the Little League World Series. So there’s talent throughout the league.

“That, and summer ball,” Zeller said. “Back in 2010, 2011, it was hard to get kids to play summer ball. You’d get a few, but now everybody plays. Some play Legion, some play Dodgers, some play Crew, some play ... whatever. Almost everybody’s playing now.”

Which means on any given day in the 5A IEL — or the Region 1 tournament — you just never know what’s going to happen.

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.