LEGION BASEBALL: Northern Lakes rallies in seventh to beat Camas Prairie in Class A Area A opener

RATHDRUM — Down to their last at-bat, and then down to their last out, the third-seeded Northern Lakes Mountaineers staged a seventh-inning comeback Friday afternoon — with a little help from the second-seeded Camas Prairie Zephyrs.

Northern Lakes scored all four of its runs in the top of the seventh to stun Camas Prairie 4-2 in the first round of the Idaho Class A Area A (district) tournament at Lakeland High’s Gorton Field.

“We were down, but we had to believe,” Northern Lakes coach Bryce Johnson said. “That’s the second time they’ve had to score two runs to extend it, and their sense of belief … they never give up. I don’t know what else to say except that I’m just unbelievably proud of their effort, and just being persistent.”

Northern Lakes (19-15) will play the top-seeded Moscow Blue Devils today at 2 p.m. in a semifinal game. Moscow defeated the North Idaho Lakers of Sandpoint 13-8. Earlier Friday, the Lakers beat the Lewis-Clark Cubs 8-6.

Camas Prairie (18-9) will play the Lewis-Clark Cubs today at 11 a.m. in a loser-out game. The Lakers play the Camas Prairie-Cubs winner today at 5 in a loser-out game.

Brayden Turcott of Camas Prairie took a one-hit shutout into the top of the seventh. He retired the first batter, then Andrew Horn of Northern Lakes singled to right. Pinch hitter Caleb Knight hit a bullet up the middle that Turcott knocked down, then threw wildly to second base.

Tanner Vandever lifted a fly ball to short right field. The Camas Prairie right fielder charged in and overran the ball, and it dropped behind him for a single, scoring Horn and putting runners on first and third.

The next batter popped out for the second out.

Louis Powell, who pitched six innings and kept the Mountaineers in the game, lofted a fly ball to right center that appeared to be the final out. But the ball was dropped by the center fielder and two runs scored to give Northern Lakes the lead.

“I thought he might have caught it, but I was rounding first like he wouldn’t, and as soon as it dropped … I was very excited, very happy,” Powell said. “I looked around and everybody’s jumping around; it was a sight to see. I’ll never forget that.”

Tristan Clift doubled to left to score Powell with an insurance run.

Scott Pote then came on in relief to retire Camas Prairie in order in the bottom of the seventh.

“Stressed out, frustrated at our at-bats, but you’ve just got to keep going,” Powell said of the team’s mindset heading into the seventh.

“We just struggled to change our plan at the plate,” Johnson said. “That kid threw really well, and he kept us off-balance and he threw a lot of strikes, and we weren’t making very good adjustments. We had to put it in play, and after the first inning that had been a struggle for us.”

Powell, a former Timberlake High star who played this past spring at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Ore., struck out five, walked five and allowed two hits in six innings.

“He pitched his butt off, and we weren’t doing anything offensively,” Johnson said. “To keep picking yourself off the mat after we don’t give you any run support, and to go out and compete and compete and compete, that says a lot about the kid.”

Northern Lakes 000 000 4 — 4 5 2

Camas Prairie 101 000 0 — 2 2 2

Louis Powell, Scott Pote (7) and Sam Pemberton; Brayden Turcott and Tori Ebert.

HITS: NL — Powell, Clift, Hessing, Horn, Vandever. CP — Schoo, Ebert. 2B — Powell, Clift.

Cd’A Red 9

Shadle Shockers 3

COEUR d’ALENE — Nolan Christ hit a three-run double in the first inning and Braeden Newby added a three-run double in the second as the Lums Red beat the Shadle Shockers 9-3 in a Washington Class AA district tournament game at Thorco Field.

Jesse Brown went 3 for 4 and scored twice for Coeur d’Alene (24-10-2), which advances to a semifinal game against Gonzaga Prep Navy today at 4 p.m. at Jackson Field in Spokane. A win there would qualify the Lums for state, and advance them to the championship game on Sunday.

Shadle 012 000 0 — 3 6 1

Cd’A Red 430 110 x — 9 10 1

Shadle battery unavailable; Paxon Bunch, Kyle Seman (3), Bryce Hall (5), Nathan Brillhart (6) and Braeden Newby.

HITS: Shadle — N/A. Cd’A — Coppess 2, Brown 3, Smart, Newby, Christ, Hall, Cohen. 2B — Christ, Newby, Brown.

G-Prep Navy 3

Cd’A Navy 2

SPOKANE — A second Lumbermen team nearly made it to the semifinals, but host Gonzaga Prep Navy scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to edge the Coeur d’Alene Navy squad.

The Lums (27-12) play the Shadle Shockers today at 1:30 p.m. at Jackson Field in Spokane in a loser-out game.

Gonzaga Prep Navy plays the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen Red team today at 4 p.m. in a semifinal game, with the winner qualifying for state.

Aidan Blanco singled and scored on a single by Nate Weatherhead in the second inning for Coeur d’Alene. Jayden Butler walked and scored on Cooper Smith’s single in the sixth to put the Lums ahead 2-1.

Cd’A Navy 010 001 0 — 2 8 3

G-Prep Navy 000 100 2 — 3 5 0

2 out when winning run scored.

AJ Currie, Jayden Butler (7) and Aidan Blanco; R. Halaas-Driscoll and C. Hooper.

HITS: Cd’A — Smith, Shepard 2, Dannenberg, Reese, Blanco, Weatherhead 2. GP — Burnett, McKeirnan 2, Halaas-Driscoll, De Leon.

LATE THURSDAY

Cd’A 6

Lewis-Clark 4

COEUR d’ALENE — Zach Garza hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth to score Kyle Bridge and Spencer Zeller as the Lumbermen (25-8) rallied to beat the Twins (5-23) in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series for the Idaho Class AA Area A (district) title.

Cooper Larson had a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game at 2-2 for Coeur d’Alene.

Game 3 is today at 5 p.m. at Harris Field in Lewiston. If the Twins win, Game 4 would follow around 7.

In the first game, Coeur d’Alene scored three in the bottom of the seventh to beat Lewis-Clark 10-9.

“We’ve got some good mojo going right now,” Lums coach Darren Taylor said. “I feel pretty good about closing things out and see what this attitude can garner us.”

Lewis-Clark 101 011 0 — 4 6 0

Coeur d’Alene 000 303 x — 6 9 1

Kayden Carpenter, Elliott Taylor (3), Jose Barajas (4) and Jake Feger; Ryan Schneider, Troy Shepard (6), Zach Garza (7) and Jackson Scherr, James Guyer (5). W — Shepard. L — Barajas. S — Garza.