THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Kings of the diamond, for a few days

A few weeks ago, a coach joked that all these kids from the Coeur d’Alene know is playing for championships.

Well, at least I thought it might have been a joke.

Fast forward a couple weeks, and it sure seems like he was onto something.

SURE, THE run that the Lake City High baseball team was something to behold this spring.

But did anyone really think the Timberwolves were going to get hot at the right time and find a way into the state 5A championship game in Caldwell in May?

Probably just those players and parents.

With a handful of those same players this summer in Legion baseball, Coeur d’Alene's class AA team — with a record before the tournament that might not have indicated such at 20-14 — advanced to the championship game of its state tournament at Thorco Field.

Not only that, but Coeur d’Alene, which lost its opener at state, won four straight loser-out games to advance to the championship round before finishing second to Pocatello.

The Lums eliminated Idaho Falls, a team that had won back-to-back American Legion World Series titles in 2019 and 2021 and finished runner-up in 2022.

Eventually, the Lums lost to Pocatello, a team they’d previously beaten to force an if-necessary title game to advance to regionals.

A little farther south, the Lums 17U team captured the state ‘A’ championship in Nampa and put themselves into position to contend for the title again at the Northwest Regional tournament in Havre, Mont.

Two teams from the state tournament advanced to the ‘A’ regional tournament, so Coeur d'Alene had already qualified for regionals by reaching the championship round, but Lums coach Jim Allison decided to play a mind game with his team.

“We weren’t going to regionals on a hand-me-down,” Allison said. “I told our kids we had to earn it. I told them that they changed the seeding, and if they didn’t win the championship game, that we weren’t going to go. I made them believe they had to win, and they did.”

WHILE THE season didn’t end with a first trip to Williamsport since 2018 for the Coeur d’Alene 12U Little League team, it wasn’t without a fight.

After falling in the opening game of the Northwest Regional to Anchorage, Alaska, Coeur d’Alene fought back to Wednesday’s semifinal game before falling again to the Alaskan squad, this time 2-0 on two runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Even in defeat, Coeur d’Alene manager Dave Everson was proud of how his team handled themselves all week.

“San Bernardino, the stadium is unreal and the volunteers are unbelievable,” Everson said. “The game, being on ESPN and the season being on the line, it just came down to the boys performing.”

Everson credited catcher Cooper Fordham for keeping the team calm during those stressful late-inning moments.

“Cooper just caught an unbelievable game and tournament,” Everson said. “He does so much back there that it really goes unnoticed. He goes out to the mound at the right time — and 12-year-old boys, they all have different personalities — and he talks to them like an adult would. Nobody’s coached him to do that kind of thing. And that’s an amazing thing for a 12-year old boy to do.”

WHO KNOWS just what the future might hold for these programs.

With a few more pieces, these teams could be right back in this position to make another run next summer at their respective championships.

Others, they’ll go on to play other sports.

But for a few short weeks, they got to feel like kings, trying to make a dream come true.

Should they continue to work just as hard, those will come true at some point.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @JECdAPress.