April 22, 2005 in Sports

Kreighbaum saves the day

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Jesse Tinsley photo

Lake City’s K.C. McDonald tags out Coeur d’Alene’s Shea Vucinich, who strayed too far off second base on a teammate’s bloop single.
(Full-size photo)

Officially it will go down in the scorebook as a save for pitcher Brady Capaul. Credit Lake City junior center fielder Cory Kreighbaum, however, with the actual save.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Kreighbaum chased down a deep fly ball off the bat of Coeur d’Alene first baseman Mike Estrada. Kreighbaum’s acrobatic catch – he fell as he caught the ball, jamming his right shoulder into the bottom of the fence – helped Lake City to escape with a 3-1 win in an Inland Empire League baseball game Thursday at LC.

The suspenseful finish allowed the Timberwolves to remain atop the league standings at 8-2. LC is 14-3 overall.

LC, which entered the game just percentage points ahead of Lewiston (8-3), now has a half-game lead. Lewiston tightened things up Tuesday when it swept the T-Wolves.

The Vikings slipped to 11-5, 5-4. The win gives LC a tiebreaking advantage against CdA should the teams finished tied when the regular season concludes. The teams meet for the fourth time in a final league game against each other next Thursday at CdA.

“I was running back and I looked to see where the fence was and I saw I was getting pretty close, but then I looked up and the ball was starting to die. I said I’m not going to let that ball drop with a 3-1 ballgame in the top of the seventh,” Kreighbaum said. “I was going to sell out on it. I caught it and then I raised it up – and then pain started shooting into my right arm. At first I thought the ball was out of here. When I dove I landed right into the fence.”

LC junior right-handed starter Beck Roan (3-0) picked up his second win in a week after coming back from double pneumonia. He had several Viks guessing at the plate. Of his seven strikeouts in six innings, four caught CdA batters looking.

CdA had a chance to strike first in the fourth inning. The Viks executed a hit-and-run perfectly when Nic Duman’s high chopper bounded through the hole created at second base when Brent Everson went to cover second as Vik Kody Winter started running on the pitch.

Moments later, Duman took off for second on what appeared to be an attempted steal, but he slowed down trying to coax a rundown and allow Winter to score from third. But LC first baseman Alex Capaul alertly threw back to catcher Travis Harmon, who easily tagged out Winter.

In the bottom of the inning, LC took a 2-0 lead. The first run scored on a single by Harmon and the second came in when Everson hit into a double play.

CdA pulled within 2-1 in the fifth when Travis Georgius hit a run-scoring double to the gap in left-center field. With Estrada at the plate, Harmon picked off Georgius at second when he wandered too far from the bag.

LC added a key run in the sixth. With the bases loaded, Everson hit a blooper over the head of drawn-in shortstop Shea Vucinich, who backed up and fielded the ball that barely hit on the outfield grass and got a forceout at third.

CdA sophomore right-hander Andy Seaman (3-2) was a hard-luck loser for the second time against LC.

Like the two previous games against LC, CdA had opportunities. The Viks left another nine runners on base, pushing their total to 24 in the three games.

“It seems like we’re doing enough to win, but they’re doing just a little bit more,” CdA coach Brian Holgate said. “That’s the frustrating part. We’ve just got to bounce back (today).”

The Viks turn around today and go to Lewiston for a doubleheader. The two teams split last Saturday.

In other IEL games, Moscow swept a doubleheader with visiting Lakeland. The Bears took the first game 3-1, then scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for a come-from-behind, 5-4 win in the nightcap. Moscow’s Ross Steele pitched a six-hitter, striking out five, and had two hits in the second game.

“Sandpoint took advantage of six walks in the fifth inning to score a 16-5 victory at Bonners Ferry in a non-league game. Rick Klontz was 3 for 5 with two RBI and two runs scored for the Bulldogs

Softball

Lakeland and Moscow split an Inland Empire League doubleheader at Moscow. The Hawks scored a 3-0 victory in the opener. In the nightcap, Terah Parkins smacked a two-run triple in the first inning and Sarah Hawley scampered home with the winning run on a wild pitch as the Bears scored a 3-2 victory. … Sean Topp had a hand in both ends of a doubleheader sweep by Post Falls over visiting Sandpoint. In the opener, Topp pitched a three-hit shutout to give the Trojans an 8-0 victory. In the nightcap, she belted a two-run triple to back Lisa Steinbach’s three-hitter and give Post Falls a 4-2 victory. … Coeur d’Alene scored a 2-0 victory at Lake City.

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