PREP SOFTBALL: St. Maries repeats as district champs
ST. MARIES — Taci Watkins struck out 28 in 12 innings and allowed three hits in two games as St. Maries beat Grangeville 14-0 and Orofino 6-0 on Monday at City Park to win the 2A District 1-2 softball tournament.
St. Maries, which won the district title for the second straight year, and for the fourth time since 2016, advances to the state tournament May 20-21 at Orofino High.
Orofino (15-9), which beat Grangeville in the day’s first game, advances to a state play-in game Saturday at McCall-Donnelly.
Grangeville (6-17) was eliminated.
Watkins struck out 10 and walked two in a two-hitter in the first game against Grangeville, and took a no-hitter into the fourth. She also went 3 for 4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Stacie Mitchell had three doubles in three at-bats, knocked in two and scored three. Addyson Stewart was 3 for 4 and scored twice, and Berkli McGreal was 2 for 3 with an RBI and three runs scored.
Against Orofino, Watkins struck out 18 and walked two in a one-hitter, taking a no-hitter into the fifth. Anna Sande was 3 for 3 with two RBIs for the Lumberjacks, and drove in four on the day.
ST. MARIES 14, GRANGEVILLE 0
Grangeville 000 00 — 0 2 3
St. Maries 545 0x — 14 13 0
M. Thacker and M. Smith; Taci Watkins and Addyson Stewart.
HITS: Grange, Frei, Anderson. SM — Stewart 3, McGreal 2, Watkins 3, Mitchell 3, Sande, Fuller. 2B — Mitchell 3, Watkins, Stewart. 3B — Frei, Stewart.
ST. MARIES 6, OROFINO 0
Orofino 000 000 0 — 0 1 5
St. Maries 401 010 x — 6 6 1
H. Johnson and L. Johnson; Taci Watkins and Addyson Stewart.
HITS: Oro — Noah. SM — Stewart, McGreal, Watkins, Sande 3.
Lakeland 8-2
Moscow 7-20
MOSCOW — Cienna Walls’ grand slam in the top of the sixth inning capped a Lakeland comeback as the Hawks defeated the Bears 8-7 in the first game of a 4A Inland Empire League doubleheader at Moscow School District Community Playfields to clinch the league title and the top seed to the 4A Region 1 tournament starting Wednesday.
With nothing on the line, Moscow won the second game 20-2.
Lakeland also won league titles in 2021 and 2019, and shared it with Sandpoint in 2018. The spring sports season in 2020 was canceled due to COVID-19.
Lakeland (12-12, 6-2 4A IEL) will host the first day of the 4A Region 1 tournament on Wednesday in Rathdrum. No. 3 seed Sandpoint (2-19, 1-7) will play No. 2 Moscow (9-13, 5-3) at 3 p.m. in a loser-out game. The winner will play Lakeland at 5 in Game 1 of the best-of-3 championship series.
Game 2 is Friday; Game 3, if necessary, is Saturday.
Moscow led Monday’s first game 6-1 after two innings. Payton Sterling hit a two-run homer for Lakeland in the top of the third, and Walls’ blast erased a 7-4 Bears lead. Harley See went 2 for 3 with an RBI and three runs scored for the Hawks.
Amanda Pouchnik hit a grand slam in the second game for Moscow.
FIRST GAME
Lakeland 102 104 0 — 8 9 4
Moscow 511 000 0 — 7 6 2
Haylee Smit, Emma Avalos (1), Smit (2) and Payton Sterling; Maya Kees, Amanda Pouchnik (6) and Megan Highfill.
HITS: LL — See 2, Walls, Sterling, Avalos, Smit, Dyer, Hanna, Staudinger. Mos — Pouchnik 2, Highfill, Robertson, Branen, Sparks. 2B — See, Highfill, Pouchnik 2, Sparks. HR — Sterling, Walls.
SECOND GAME
Lakeland 101 00 — 2 8 4
Moscow 729 2x — 20 14 2
Aubry Goncalves, Emma Avalos (2) and Payton Sterling; Kelly Stodick and unknown.
HITS: LL — See 2, Sterling, Avalos, Zeilstra, Byrne 2, Goncalves. Mos — Pouchnik 2, Highfill 2, Kiblen 2, Robertson 2, Branen 2, Sparks, No. 1, Rainer, Fleischman. 2B — Kiblen 2. 3B — Robertson. HR — Fleischman, Pouchnik.