LEGION BASEBALL: Northern Lakes hangs on to win opener over Cd’A
COEUR d’ALENE — Tristan Clift drove in three runs and the Northern Lakes Mountaineers won their season opener Sunday, surviving a late rally by the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen for an 8-7 victory in class A North Idaho League play at Coeur d’Alene High’s Ted Page Field.
Clift, a recent graduate of Lakeland High, hit an RBI single in the fifth to snap a 3-all tie, then followed with a two-run double in the sixth to hike the Northern Lakes lead to 8-4.
“Tristan Clift played out of his mind, especially at the plate,” first-year Northern Lakes coach Bryce Johnson said. “Then we threw him on the mound in relief of Jack McDonald, and he held it down.”
Ray Knerr hit a two-run single in the fifth, and Louis Powell went 3 for 3 and scored twice for the Mountaineers, who draw from Lakeland and Timberlake high schools.
Calvin Carroll had two hits and Ryan Schneider drove in a pair of runs for Coeur d’Alene (5-4-1), which defeated the Sandpoint Lakers earlier in the day.
Cole Petit hit an RBI single, and two other runs scored on errors for the Lumbermen in the bottom of the seventh. With runners on second and third and two outs, Clift induced a popup to second base to end the game.
“There was definitely some rust, but we did enough to get it done,” said Johnson, noting Timberlake (where he is an assistant coach) played just one game this spring before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, and Lakeland did not play a game. “We kept saying to stick with it, and it paid off.”
Northern Lakes is scheduled to play the Silver Valley Miners today in a 3 p.m. doubleheader at Morehouse Field in Osburn.
N. Lakes 101 042 0 — 8 10 6
Cd’A 201 010 3 — 7 6 3
Jack McDonald, Tristan Clift (5) and Colton Aragon, Louis Powell (3); Joe DuCoeur, Lucas Erickson (2), Owen Benson (4), Ryan Schneider (6) and Cal Carroll.
HITS: NL — McDonald, Powell 3, Tr. Vandever, Clift 2, Knerr, Pemberton 2. Cd’A — Garza, Carroll 2, Martindale, Schneider, Petit. 2B — Clift, McDonald, Carroll, Schneider, Garza.