A good run around the bases

As graduations hit in the area starting soon, a lot of different teams will have different looks next year.

Some teams will just promote from within, if they’re fortunate enough to carry a junior varsity program.

While it might not seem like it at the moment, the 3A Intermountain League baseball landscape will be a little different next year.

TIMBERLAKE WILL graduate five seniors that have played a lot of big-time games for the program, both in the past two years with Cameron Knigge as coach, and before that, Bill Rider.

Seth Villanpando, Dustin Smith, Jacob Privitt, Logan McDonald and Kyle Kleyhauer were all four-year varsity members of the Tigers.

“We’re going to lose some guys that played in big spots,” said Knigge following the Tigers’ final game of the season, a 13-7 loss against Payette in the state 3A consolation championship game. “They’ve been big for us and our program. They’ve been some good guys both on and off the field. We’re looking forward to seeing who else steps up next year.”

The group qualified for state in three of their four years, going 1-2 in each year. In 2015, Timberlake beat Snake River 3-2 in the opening round, then lost to eventual champion Fruitland in the semifinals, and Marsh Valley in the third-place game.

Speaking of stepping up, Bonners Ferry stepped up and won the 3A tournament, beating Homedale 4-2 last Saturday for the first state title in program history. The Badgers finished the season 19-5.

Bonners Ferry will lose 11 of 14 players from its roster next season, with two juniors and a sophomore back.

Kellogg will lose four players off a team that finished 4-13 this spring.

Seth Bateman of Bonners Ferry and Jack McDonald of Timberlake — both underclassmen — were the only non-seniors selected for the all-league team.

At this time next year, somebody is going to step up again.

Those names, are still to be determined.

IN A lot of the preseason interviews with coaches, especially in the 5A Inland Empire League, they said that the league is going to be tough again.

You pick the sport, it’s tough.

Basketball, soccer, baseball, softball —just battles with each other to get to the state tournament.

This year was no different, with fourth-seeded Lewiston winning the Region 1 baseball title, and top-seeded Lake City losing two straight to quickly fall out of the postseason.

Whether it was a surprise or not that the two teams from the 5A IEL ended up facing on the final day, it does seem kind of fitting.

As one coach described, any team in the league can go win the thing.

Well, Post Falls almost did.

Almost.

The Trojans came up short 10-8 against eventual champion Timberline High of Boise in the semis, but bounced back to roll past Lewiston in the third-place game.

As for an encore, that’s still to be determined.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.