PREP SOFTBALL: Post Falls wins first regional title since 2010

5A REGION 1 TOURNAMENT

LEWISTON — Returning everybody from 2019, the Post Falls Trojans will return somewhere that they haven’t been since coach Holly Gleaves’ first season at the helm.

The state 5A tournament.

Alyssa Krause hit a first inning grand slam and Kaycie Barber had two RBIs before leaving with an injury as the third-seeded Trojans upset top-seeded Lewiston 9-8 in the 5A Region 1 softball championship game at Airport Park on Tuesday.

It is the first regional title since 2010 for Post Falls (14-6), which opens at state against the runner-up from District 3 (Boise area) next Friday at Mountain View High in Meridian.

Post Falls qualified for state for the first time since 2018.

“We knew that Lewiston had good pitching and some strong bats,” Gleaves said. “It was important to get out strong in that game, and Alyssa had a big hit in that first inning. Our defense was really strong in that game. Lewiston has some players that can do some damage.”

In the bottom of the seventh, Barber was tracking a fly ball and collided with the fence in center field. She was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation, but Gleaves said her tests came back negative and she was later released to return home.

“The one thing about her and all of our outfielders is that they don’t give up on a ball,” Gleaves said. “They put her on a backboard and took her to the emergency room, but the team did a great job of rallying around her. As she was coming off the field, she told me to make sure that the team wins the game.”

Earlier, Post Falls beat Lake City 17-0 in six innings to advance to the championship game after finishing 6-6 in 5A Inland Empire League play.

“We felt pretty solid about this group coming back,” Gleaves said. “We didn’t graduate anyone from last year’s team and were returning all of our starters. Even though we had some players that had played a little bit, they hadn’t seen a lot of game action, so that’s why we started slow. It took us a while, but we started making some adjustments and are playing really well right now.”

Lewiston (20-6), which advanced on a three-run walk-off home run by Taryn Barney to beat Coeur d’Alene 4-3 in an opening round game, hosts Lake City on Thursday at 4 p.m. in the second-place game.

Lake City 2, Coeur d’Alene 1: The second-seeded Timberwolves (16-6) scored the go-ahead run on an error in the second inning and went on to eliminate the fourth-seeded Vikings (7-15) at Airport Park.

“We went out and played as hard as we could,” Coeur d’Alene coach Bobbi Darretta said. “I couldn’t have been prouder of the girls we had. We came out and hit like we could and played hard. I’m proud of them.”

Burke scored on an RBI single by Blankenship for Coeur d’Alene.

Post Falls 17, Lake City 0: McKenna Moak struck out five for the third-seeded Trojans, who scored nine runs in the top of the sixth inning to pull away from the second-seeded Timberwolves in an opening round game at Airport Park.

Kailey Cramer and Moak had three RBIs each for Post Falls against Lake City, which committed five errors.

Lewiston 4, Coeur d’Alene 2, 8 inn.: Makiya McPhedran scored Katelyn Boyer with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning before Taryn Barney hit a walk-off three-run home run as the Bengals got past the Vikings in an opening round game.

Skylar Burke tripled leading off the sixth inning and scored on an RBI single by Alexis Blankenship to tie the game at 1-1.

POST FALLS 9, LEWISTON 8

Post Falls 400 023 0 — 9 11 0

Lewiston 201 020 3 — 8 10 1

Sophie Nungesser, McKenna Moak (7) and Alyssa Krause; Kaitlin Banks, Samantha Mader (3) and Taryn Barney. W — Nungesser. L — Banks. S — Moak.

HITS: PF — Dumas, Cramer 3, Barber 3, Moak 2, Krause 2. Lew — Taylor, L. Barney 2, T. Barney, Ortiz, Purington, Mader 3, Weeks. 2B — Cramer, Moak, Ortiz, Mader 2. 3B — Barber 2, L. Barney. HR — Krause, T. Barney.

LAKE CITY 2, COEUR d'ALENE 1

Coeur d’Alene 100 000 0 — 1 4 2

Lake City 020 000 x — 2 2

Kristine Schmidt and Makiya McPhedran, Alexandra Torres (2); Phoebe Schultze and Hope Bodak. W — Schultze. L — Schmidt.

HITS: Cd’A — Burke, Blankenship, Boyer 2. LC — Stoddard, A. Hill. 3B — Burke, Stoddard.

POST FALLS 17, LAKE CITY 0, 6 INN.

Post Falls 100 529 — 17 14 2

Lake City 000 000 — 0 4 5

McKenna Moak and Alyssa Krause; Phoebe Schultze, Austin Hill (7) and Hope Bodak. W — Moak. L — Schultze.

HITS: PF — Dumas 2, Cramer 2, Moak 3, Krause 2, Solberg, Aldrich, Berg, Donohoe 2. LC — Bodak, Jankay, Begalman, Stoddard. 2B — Cramer, Donohoe, Moak, Solberg, Bodak, Begalman. 3B — Cramer.

LEWISTON 4, COEUR d’ALENE 2, 8 INN.

Coeur d’Alene 000 001 01 — 2 4 2

Lewiston 000 010 03 — 3 6 2

Kristine Schmidt and and Makiya McPhedran; Samantha Mader and Taryn Barney. W — Mader. L — Schmdit.

HITS: Cd’A — Burke, Blankenship, Farrar, McPhedran. Lew — L. Barney, T. Barney, Purington, Douglass, Banks, Weeks. HR — T. Barney.

loser-out game at 4;

4A REGION 1 TOURNAMENT

Sandpoint 8

Lakeland 5

RATHDRUM — Kinzie Ward hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning as the Bulldogs held off the top-seeded Hawks in the first game of the best-of-3 4A Region 1 championship series at Lakeland High.

Sandpoint (9-16), which beat Moscow 10-0 in a loser-out game earlier Tuesday, stole home-field advantage with the win and now hosts Lakeland (11-14) in the second game at Memorial Field on Thursday at 3 p.m. A win will send the Bulldogs to the state 4A tournament May 21-22 at Skyview Park in Nampa. If Lakeland wins on Thursday, the teams will meet again Saturday in Rathdrum at noon in the deciding game.

Harley See had two hits and two RBIs for Lakeland, which swept the season series with Sandpoint 4-0.

Sandpoint 030 020 3 — 8 10 0

Lakeland 010 130 0 — 5 7 2

Jaden Dickinson, Madi Garman (2), Via Barlow (5) and Jaidyn Inman; Devry Busch, Kathryn Wardak (3) and Payton Sterling. W — Barlow. L — Wardak.

HITS: Spt — Cessna 2, Lanie 3, Ward 2, Barlow, Authier, Cash. LL — See 2, H. Gosch, D. Gosch 2, Wardak. 2B — Cessna, Ward, D. Gosch. HR — Ward.

3A DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT

Timberlake 36

Priest River 0

SPIRIT LAKE — Olivia Glemser hit a grand slam in the fourth inning, one of three home runs hit by the Tigers in a win over the Spartans in the opening round of the 3A District 1 tournament at Timberlake High.

Emma Howard hit a three-run home run and Lily Carhart followed with a solo shot in the first inning for Timberlake (20-3), which hosts Bonners Ferry (8-11) in the district championship game on Thursday at 4 p.m. Bonners Ferry beat Kellogg 13-8 in the other district opener at Bonners Ferry. Kellogg (8-7) hosts Priest River (1-19) in a loser-out game on Thursday.

Peyton Lindley had three hits and six RBIs for Timberlake.

Priest River 000 00 — 0 3 3

Timberlake (21)52 8x — 36 23 1

Game called in 5th inning due to 10-run rule.

Zylstra and Rose, Hansen (3); Bernie Carhart, Casey Whaley (5) and Lily Carhart. W — B. Carhart. L — Zylstra.

HITS: PR — Zylstra, Hansen, Davis. TL — Howard 3, L. Carhart 2, B. Carhart 2, Lindley 3, Jessen 3, Grantham 3, Glemser, Pecor 2, Cameron, Rojas, Peterson, Beardsall. 2B — Hansen, B. Carhart, Grantham, Lindley, Pecor. 3B — Grantham. HR — L. Carhart, Glemser, Howard.