LC whips CdA
The Lake City High baseball team hasn’t won nine straight games by accident.
Perhaps the sixth inning Monday was a microcosm of why the Timberwolves finished the regular season on a hot streak and picked right back up in their 5A Region I opener.
Lake City batted around the lineup, sending 13 to the plate, as the Timberwolves scored eight runs on seven hits.
Talk about infectious.
“That game was as evident of that as any game could ever be,” LC coach Cory Bridges said after his second-seeded Timberwolves topped No. 3 Coeur d’Alene 10-3 at LC. “We got it going and we started hitting all through the lineup. One through nine – everybody contributed in some aspect of scoring.”
As it turned out, all nine of LC’s batters scored in the game.
“Hitting is contagious,” said Alex Capaul, LC’s lone senior starter. Capaul, Trent Bridges, Tucker Anderson, Dylan Collinson and Nick Combo each had two hits.
LC (18-6) travels to top seed and three-time Region I champ Lewiston (21-4) today to decide the championship and automatic berth to state. The game is at 5 p.m.
Lewiston rallied from a 4-0 deficit to knock off fourth-seeded Post Falls 8-5.
Post Falls (9-16) goes to Coeur d’Alene (16-9), which has lost seven of its last eight, today at 4 in a loser-out game.
The loser of the title game and the winner of the loser-out game meet Thursday at the site of the highest remaining seed to decide the regional runner-up. The winner advances to a play-in game Saturday against the District III fifth-place team at Lewiston to decide an additional state berth. State will be May 17-19 at Borah High School in Boise.
The LC-CdA game was a pitcher’s duel through five innings before the T-Wolves erupted in the sixth. Nick Combo’s sacrifice fly extended LC’s lead to 3-1, and CdA starter Andy Seaman (6-2) walked the next batter, Kyle Johnson. CdA coach Chris Stangel pulled Seaman, but it would be the first of three pitching changes before the inning concluded.
Bridges followed the walk to Johnson with a run-scoring double. CdA elected to intentionally walk Capaul to load the bases. Zach Clanton made that move backfire when he hit a sharp single up the middle, scoring two runs. After another pitching change, Anderson scored a run with a single. Chris Combo promptly singled in a run. His twin brother, Nick, batting for a second time in the inning, belted a ball over the left fielder’s head that bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double and two RBIs before CdA’s fourth pitcher in the inning, Shea Vucinich, got Kyle Johnson to ground out.
Cory Bridges explained why he started the right-handed Clanton (3-3), his No. 2 pitcher, instead of his ace, Capaul.
“Their seniors have seen Alex for two or three years. Alex has done exceptionally well against them, but I just thought that they’ve only seen Zach once and he threw well against them the last time,” Bridges said. “That last inning I would have liked to have seen Zach finish stronger, but he was sitting on the bench for a long inning and that may have had something to do with it.”
The title game will feature both team’s aces. Both Capaul and Lewiston senior right-hander Tyler Knigge are 5-1.
LC beat Lewiston in three of four league games, including a sweep (14-1 and 7-1) April 24 at Lewiston.
“We’ve got the best in the state on the hill,” Clanton said of Capaul. “When he’s on his game no one can touch him.”
CdA senior shortstop/pitcher Vucinich was impressed with Clanton.
“He mixed it up well and kept us off balance the whole game,” Vucinich said.
Despite the loss, Stangel praised his team’s effort.
“It’s been a tough back half of the season,” Stangel said. “I saw balls getting hit and I tip my cap to them (T-Wolves). But I saw my players flying all over the field and giving everything they had. What more could I ask for as a coach?”
•At Church Field in Lewiston, the Bengals rallied to tie the score at 4-4 in the fifth and took control with four runs in the sixth to knock off the upset-minded Trojans.
Post Falls left-handed pitcher Michael Shaffer helped his own cause with a three-run double in the third inning, giving Post Falls a 4-0 lead.
Lewiston tied it on a two-run single by Beau Balmer. In the decisive sixth, John Rohde had a two-run single and Levi Blinn and Matt Martin each had an RBI.
•In the 4A Region I tournament, defending state champion and top seeded Sandpoint scored seven runs in the fifth inning to send No. 2 Moscow home early in a run-rule-shortened game at Memorial Field.
Bulldogs senior righty Tyler Lichty (7-3) pitched a one-hitter, striking out five and walking two. Lichty also had a hit and three RBIs.
Sandpoint (14-11) advances to the regional title game, which the Bulldogs will host Thursday at 4. Moscow (8-15) will play host to third-seeded Lakeland (6-18) in a loser-out game Wednesday at 4. Moscow defeated Lakeland 13-3 in a regional opener last Saturday.
Just the regional champ advances to state, which will be May 17-19 at Bishop Kelly High School in Boise.
Golf
The Bonners Ferry boys and Kellogg boys and girls qualified for the Idaho 3A state tournament at Prairie Falls Golf Club in Post Falls next Monday and Tuesday at the District I tournament at Twin Lakes Golf Course on Monday.
Bonners Ferry edged Kellogg 350-359 for the district boys title with both advancing to state. Kellogg’s Kyle Finlay won a tight individual competition with an 11-over-par 83. Taylor Garbutt of Bonners Ferry shot 84 for second and Trevor Kolberstein of Bonners Ferry was another stroke back in third. Cory Dickinson of Kellogg and Carey Reynolds of Bonners Ferry shared fourth at 89.
On the girls side, Kellogg’s 463 won the team title and state berth over runner-up St. Maries’ 534. Shelby Hatfield and Holly Martin of Priest River finished 1-2 (102-112), with Kelsey Harden of Kellogg third at 113. Alicia Hess of Timberlake and Alyssa Jarvey of Kellogg shared fourth at 117.
The St. Maries boys and girls will also play at state as host teams.