PREP ROUNDUP: Post Falls baseball wins postseason opener

BASEBALL

Post Falls 7, Lake City 6, 10 innings

POST FALLS - As often happens in the 5A Region 1 baseball tournament, seedings and records meant little as Lake City and Post Falls staged a back-and-forth battle in Monday's postseason opener.

The host Trojans surged ahead with a five-run sixth inning, and Lake City tied it with two in the seventh.

But in the end, Spencer Zeller's sacrifice fly brought home Jerad Tyalor with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th, and Post Falls advanced to host Coeur d'Alene at 4 p.m. today for the regional title.

The No. 3-seeded Vikings won 5-3 in Lewiston to earn a place in today's regional championship, with the winner advancing to state. Lake City travels to Lewiston in a loser-out contest.

"Give Lake City a ton of credit -- they obviously did not play like a fourth-place team today," Post Falls coach Mick Zeller said.

"When it was 4-1 late in the game, I'll admit it was looking a little bleak. But our middle and bottom of the order came through," Zeller added. "This was a total team win - baserunning, hitting, pitching and defense; we turned three double plays, and needed each one of them."

Post Falls' five-run sixth inning included a two-RBI double from Spencer Zeller, RBI singles from Ethan Miller and Tanner Sessions, and a steal of home by Nick Chase on a botched suicide squeeze play.

Lake City tied it in the next inning as Aiden LaPonsey's two-run single brought home Marcus Manzardo and Austin Taylor, a duo that combined for half of Lake City's 14 hits.

"It was a good game; unfortunately, we came up on the short side of it," Lake City coach Paul Manzardo said. "Dylan Hess pitched extremely well for us, and Zach Garza and Nate Weatherhead also pitched well.

"We had some clutch hits, but also left 12 guys on base. And we had five errors, so we'll have to put this one behind us quickly and head to Lewiston."

Lake City 003 010 200 0 - 6 14 5

Post Falls 000 105 000 1 - 7 8 0

Dylan Hess, Zach Garza (5), Nate Weatherhead (6) and Ethan Taylor; Tyson Rutherford, Jerad Taylor (7), Kaden Cripps (8) and Zach Clark. W - Cripps. L - Weatherhead.

HITS: LC, Taylor 4, Manzardo 3, Bumbaugh 2, LaPonsey 2, Conces, Martindale, Coppess. PF, Miller 2, Zeller, Rutherford, Cripps, Chase, Clark, Winters. 2B - Coppess, Zeller, Rutherford, Clark, Miller, Chase.

Coeur d'Alene 5, Lewiston 3

LEWISTON — Coeur d’Alene High senior left-handed pitcher Liam Paddack hadn’t thrown any valuable innings against Lewiston this season leading into Monday’s 5A Region 1 tournament opener.

The six innings he threw gave his team a shot at the state tournament a little later today.

Paddack struck out nine for the third-seeded Vikings in a win over the second-seeded Bengals at Church Field, advancing CHS to today's regional championship at Post Falls High.

“He threw an inning early in the year, right before spring break,” Coeur d’Alene coach Erik Karns said. “It was the one team he hadn’t faced this year. He didn’t have great command, but he just made big time pitches. Anything Lewiston got started, they weren’t able to capitalize on him.”

Cooper Larson and Evan Mallory had key RBI hits for Coeur d’Alene (13-7).

“It was the first time this season we’ve been able to take advantage of some walks,” Karns said. “It’s tough to win down here. But we have a young group that’s never been in this situation and they found a way to win. Both Cooper and Evan came up big for us today.”

Lewiston (13-10) hosts Lake City in a loser-out game today at 4 p.m.

Coeur d’Alene 030 020 0 — 5 8 2

Lewiston 000 200 1 — 3 7 2

Liam Paddack, Troy Shepard (6), John Gwaltney (7) and Wade Mallory; Christopher Ricard, Cole McKenzie (6) and Austin Kolb. W — Paddack. L — Ricard.

HITS: Cd’A — Larson 2, Al. Karns, Paddack, W. Mallory, E. Mallory, Bridge. Lew — Ricard 2, Kolb 2, Edminson, Massey, McKenzie. 2B — Larson 2, E. Mallory, Ricard, Massey, Edminson.

Sandpoint 11, Lakeland 10

MOSCOW - Although the Bulldogs managed only four hits, they scored eight runs in the sixth and seventh innings to rally for a victory in the 4A Region 1 tournament opener.

The Hawks (3-22) opened a 5-3 lead in the third inning on RBI singles from Nick Nowell and Scott Pote, who both had three hits in the game.

Lakeland's lead grew to 10-3 thanks to a five-run sixth inning, but Sandpoint matched that in the bottom of the inning, leaving the Hawks ahead 10-8 going into the seventh.

Lakeland runners reached second and third base in the top of the inning, but couldn't score.

In the bottom of the seventh, Sandpoint's Cameron Garcia belted a triple to right-center field, knocking in three runs to win the game.

"Cam Harris, who had been battling an injury for most of the season came in to pitch for us today and was absolutely lights out. I couldn’t have been prouder of him," Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury said. "He kept Sandpoint at bay and had them guessing the whole time. We also had the offense to back him up. It was the perfect scenario.

"The only problem was that he ran out of pitches. I had to pull him in the sixth inning because of pitch count," Bradbury added. "Sandpoint did a good job of being patient at the plate from then on, and we just couldn’t throw enough strikes to be effective."

Garrett Love and Payden Wysong had two hits apiece for Lakeland, and Cole Strietzel's double was among the Hawks' 13 hits in the game.

Sandpoint advanced to a best-of-three series against top-seeded Moscow for the region's berth in the 4A state tournament.

Lakeland 023 005 0 - 10 13 3

Sandpoint 030 0005 3 - 11 4 2

Cameron Harris, Blaze Day (6), Scott Pote (6), Payden Wysong (7) and Scotty Hocking; Auggie Lehman, Zeke Roop (3), Blake Sherill (6), Max Thielbahr (7) and Trevor Brackett. W - Thielbahr. L - Wysong.

HITS: Lakeland, Nowell 3, Pote 3, Love 2, Wysong 2, Hocking, Strietzel, Pemberton; Sandpoint, Butler 2, Garcia 2. 2B - Strietzel, Butler. 3B - Garcia.

Timberlake 6, Kellogg 5

SPIRIT LAKE — Kenny Wells hit a two-run double in a five-run fourth inning to give the No. 2 seed Tigers the lead for good in a victory over the third-seeded Wildcats in the first round of the 3A District 1 tournament at Timberlake High.

Timberlake (11-9) will play at top-seeded Bonners Ferry (14-8) today at 4 for the district championship. Kellogg (7-11) will play host to No. 4 Priest River (1-18) today at 4 in a loser-out game.

Timberlake trailed 4-0 in the third inning. In the fourth, Wyatt Kitchin singled in a pair of runs to pull the Tigers within 4-3. After Wells’ big hit, Caleb Knight’s run-scoring single gave the hosts a two-run lead.

Logan Jerome went 3 for 4 with two runs scored for Kellogg, and Brody Hoffman was 2 for 3 and knocked in two runs. Levi White’s RBI single made it 4-0 Wildcats in the third.

Kitchin struck out 10, walked three and allowed seven hits for Timberlake.

Kellogg 202 000 1 — 5 7 2

Timberlake 001 500 x — 6 7 2

Brody Hoffman, Logan Jerome (4) and Luke Frolich; Wyatt Kitchin and Caleb Knight.

HITS: Kell — Jerome 3, Hoffman 2, White, Groves. TL — Wells 2, Knight, Allaway 2, Kitchin, Lenz. 2B — Wells.

Bonners Ferry 12, Priest River 1

BONNERS FERRY - An 11-run third inning carried the host Badgers past the Spartans and into today's district championship.

Blake Rice had two doubles in the big inning, and Spencer Eby added a two-run double for Bonners Ferry.

Konner Johnson had a double for Priest River.

Priest River 000 10 - 1 3 4

Bonners Ferry 00(11) 0x - 12 7 3

Everrett Hannah, Brendon Reeves (3) and Tyson Troudt; Elijah Dahl, Teigan Banning (5) and Trey Bateman. W - Dahl. L - Hannah.

HITS: PR, Hannah, Rogers, Johnson; BF, Rice 2, B. Bateman, Banning, T. Bateman, Hammons, Eby. 2B - Johnson, Rice 2, Eby.

St. Maries season comes to an end

GRANGEVILLE — The Lumberjacks went 0-2 in the 2A District 1-2 tournament, finishing the season 3-18.

St. Marles lost 15-3 to Orofino, then lost to Grangeville 12-2.

Further information was not available.

Grangeville beat Orofino 12-2 in the district championship game to advance to state May 20-22 at Halliwell Park in Pocatello. Orofino will face the third-place team from District 3 (Boise area) in a play-in game on Saturday.

SOFTBALL

St. Maries romps to 2A district title

ST. MARIES — Jenna Holder did the damage at the plate and Taci Watkins dominated in the circle in the first game, and the host Lumberjacks went on to capture the 2A District 1-2 title, beating Kamiah 10-1 and Grangeville 13-2.

St. Maries (21-2) advances to state May 21-22 at West Park in Nampa.

Against Kamiah, Holder homered twice, doubled twice and finished 4 for 4 with six RBIs and two runs scored. She hit two-run homers in the third and fourth innings.

Watkins struck out 18 and walked three in a no-hitter, allowing an unearned run in the fifth inning. She also went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

Stacie Mitchell also homered for the Lumberjacks.

Against Grangeville, Kirsten Miller hit a two-run triple and Berkli McGreal added a two-run double in a 12 run fourth inning that broke open a 1-0 game vs. the Bulldogs. McGreal finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.

ST. MARIES 10, KAMIAH 1

Kamiah 000 010 0 — 1 0 1

St. Maries 203 311 x — 10 11 1

J. Ketola and M. Morrow; Taci Watkins and Jenna Holder.

HITS: Kam — none. SM — Telford, Watkins 3, Holder 4, Barden, Mitchell, Fuller. 2B — Holder 2, Watkins. 3B — Telford. HR — Holder 2, Mitchell.

ST. MARIES 13, GRANGEVILLE 2

Grangeville 000 02 — 2 5 3

St. Maries 100 (12)x — 13 14 1

Zahorka, K. Scheuermann (4) and M. Smith; Taci Watkins and Jenna Holder.

HITS: Grange — Vanderwall, Smith, Forsmann, Zimmerman 2. SM — Badgett 2, Telford 2, Watkins, Holder, Barden, Miller 2, Mitchell, McGreal 2, Fuller 2. 2B — Forsmann, McGreal. 3B — B. Vanderwall, Miller.