STATE SOFTBALL: Three area teams finish fourth
5A
NAMPA — It was a bittersweet ride home for the Post Falls Trojans from the state 5A softball tournament on Saturday.
The Trojans’ run at state ended with an 8-3 loss to Rocky Mountain of Meridian in their first game of the day Saturday morning, in a game moved to Skyview Park when rain made the field at Mountain View High in Meridian unplayable.
Post Falls (16-8) finished fourth, the program’s first trophy since the Trojans won the state title in 2010.
“I'm really proud of the team, we made it this far, we came out of there with some hardware,” fourth-year Post Falls coach Holly Gleaves said. “We’re disappointed, we thought we could have gone farther. We didn’t play as well as we could today.”
Kahlea Dumas hit a solo homer in the seventh and finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs for Post Falls. Kailey Cramer and Kaycie Barber each went 2 for 4 for the Trojans.
Emily Henard hit a two-run homer in the first inning for Rocky, and Rylie Gilbreath added a two-run shot in the fourth, finishing 3 for 3 with three RBIs.
“We had a couple mental mistakes, and Rocky took advantage,” Gleaves said. “And I got a little aggressive, maybe cost us a couple runs. We didn’t play our best game today. They (the Grizzlies) didn’t make a lot of mistakes today, and they took advantage of mistakes we made. They generated some runs that we shouldn’t have allowed.”
It was Post Falls’ second trip to state under Gleaves; the Trojans also went in 2018. Post Falls will lose six seniors, including Dumas and Barber, who started as freshmen on that ’18 squad.
“We feel pretty good with what we’re doing with the program,” Gleaves said. “We don’t feel like there's any reason this team can’t make it to state next year. It was good to come down here and see we can compete with all these teams.”
Skyview of Nampa, which beat Lake City in the state play-in game, won its first 5A title, beating Rocky Mountain 14-8 in the title game. Skyview won the 4A title in 2012.
Post Falls 000 020 1 — 3 9 3
Rocky Mountain 402 200 x — 8 9 0
Sophie Nungesser, McKenna Moak (3) and Alyssa Krause; Megan Dobrev, Abbey Brooks (6) and Rylie Gilbreath.
HITS: PF — Dumas 2, Cramer 2, Barber 2, Moak, Berg, Donohoe. RM — Smith, Hatzenbeller, Gilbreath 3, Henard 2, Brinkman, Davis. 2B — Hatzenbeller, Gilbreath. HR — Dumas, Henard, Gilbreath.
3A
Timberlake
settles for fourth
BOISE — It rained on Timberlake’s potential advancement at state Saturday morning.
The Tigers led Marsh Valley 7-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh in a 3A tourney game at Timberline High.
But in that inning — played in a downpour, finally halted during the inning by a 15-minute rain delay — Marsh Valley scored six runs and went on to eliminate the Tigers with a 10-7 win.
Timberlake (23-5) finished fourth.
Elle Anderson hit a walkoff grand slam for Marsh Valley (16-8), which lost to Filer in the next round and finished third.
“It was just pouring,” Timberlake coach Casi Lupinacci said. “It’s hard; it’s such a good group of seniors. When it's something you can’t control, you feel terrible about that.”
Timberlake finished with 40 home runs on the season, a school record.
The Tigers hit three on Saturday — solo homers by Ashley Grantham, Brooke Jessen and Peyton Lindley. Lacey Peterson and Bernie Carhart each drove in a pair of runs.
Timberlake lost its opener to Gooding on Friday, then won two straight before falling to Marsh Valley.
“Im proud of my kids; we kinda put ourselves in a hole in the first place, then dug ourselves out,” Lupinacci said. “We showed a lot of heart. It’s tough when you know your team is better than how the tournament (played out).”
It was Timberlake’s 21st straight trip to state — excluding last year’s COVID-19-canceled season.
“My seniors showed a lot of great leadership this year, and my younger kids really learned from that,” Lupinacci said. “I’ve got a really good group of young kids, and they were really quick to soak up everything they could from the seniors.”
Timberlake 010 032 1 — 7 8 6
Marsh Valley 200 020 6 — 10 7 2
1 out when winning run scored.
Bernie Carhart, Acacia Pecor (6) and Lily Carhart; Libbie Larsen and Berkley Vincent.
HITS: TL — L. Carhart, B. Carhart, Lindley, Walsh 2, Grantham, Jessen, Peterson. MV — Anderson 2, Campbell 2, Vincent, Larsen 2. 2B — B. Carhart. HR — Grantham, Jessen, Lindley, Anderson.
2A
St. Maries takes
fourth at state
NAMPA — Five errors and assorted other miscues made it a short day at state Saturday for St. Maries.
The Lumberjacks fell 8-2 to West Jefferson in their game of the day at West Park and saw their season come to an end with a fourth-place trophy.
“That was nice,” St. Maries coach Todd Bitterman said of bringing home a trophy. “The sophomores got to experience that, and for the seniors’ first real state experience, to get to bring home some hardware is pretty special — I’m proud of them.”
St. Maries (23-4) finished with its best record, percentage-wise, since fastpitch started in 1995. It was the Lumberjacks’ second-most wins in a fastpitch season — the 2005 squad was 24-6 and took third in 3A.
In a game whose start was delayed an hour by rain, St. Maries struck out 14 times against West Jefferson’s Jordyn Torgerson.
“She really throws down in the zone, and we’re not great low-ball hitters,” Bitterman said. “We battled, but we didn’t get a lot of hits. Our two-strike approach was not very good.”
It was St. Maries’ first trip to state since 2018, when the Lumberjacks were third.
Malad (25-0), which beat St. Maries in the first round, went on to win the state title, extending the Dragons’ winning streak to 40 games.
West Jefferson 011 111 3 — 8 10 0
St. Maries 001 010 0 — 2 6 5
Jordyn Torgerson and Madi Pancheri; Taci Watkins and Jenna Holder.
HITS: WJ — Mechem, Smith 2, Torgerson, Brown 2, Wood, Neville, Calder 2. SM — Telford, Watkins, Mitchell 2, Miller, Peel. 2B — Smith 2, Mechem, Calder, Wood, Torgerson, Mitchell, Telford.