Teton tops Tigers in opener

The terms “tight game” and “blowout” seem mutually exclusive, but Timberlake came as close as you can to having both in a 13-6 opening-round loss to Teton Thursday at the Idaho 3A state softball tournament in Coeur d’Alene.

The Tigers and junior ace Afton Allred shook off some first-inning jitters and battled Teton to a 4-4 tie through five innings, with Allred allowing just one hit and striking out seven in that span.

But in the pivotal sixth, the Redskins of Driggs caught up with Allred and, with two outs, brought seven runs to the plate to essentially put the game out of reach.

Things don’t get any easier for the Tigers (16-7) as they face first-round upset victim Bear Lake (20-5) in an elimination game this morning at 10 at Ramsey Park.

It proved to be a day of upsets as Mountain View knocked off previously unbeaten Kimberly 2-1, Homedale outlasted Bear Lake 2-1, and Buhl beat Payette 6-3.

In other second-round games today, Homedale (14-12) takes on Teton (15-5), Mountain View (18-12) meets Buhl (19-9), and Kimberly (26-1) clashes with Payette (20-7).

Timberlake coach Mike Menti remained upbeat despite the loss.

“I told them we just have to come back tomorrow and we can still win it all,” Menti said. “Things are the way they are, and you have to play tomorrow anyway, so why not?

“You have to beat Bear Lake, and Bear Lake is a great team – a lot like us – so we’re going to take it one game at a time, 10 (a.m.), 3 (p.m.) and 5, hopefully.”

Things couldn’t have started worse for Timberlake, as Allred walked Teton leadoff hitter Brittany Tharp, and teammate Jessica Ross followed with a sacrifice bunt to third that Tigers third baseman Lacy Tomason fielded cleanly but fell and was unable to make a throw.

As Tomason handed the ball to Allred, Tharp raced to third and Allred’s throw got past Jordan Muhlhauser, who had come in from left to cover. As the ball rolled down the third-base line, Tharp and Ross came around to score.

Timberlake got one back in the home half when Allred knocked in junior shortstop Brittany Amende with a double to right.

The Tigers took their only lead of the game, 3-2 in the third, on Tomason’s RBI double to deep right-center followed by a deep fly to center by junior catcher Natasha Palmer that Teton’s Dayna Hinchcliff couldn’t handle.

Things stayed close until the sixth, which started out well enough as Allred coaxed Shantay Hanson to ground out to lead off the inning. After a pair of singles by Dayna Hinchcliff and Shanae Farmer, Allred struck out Hollie Dewey.

Then the floodgates opened as Allred walked the next two batters and the Redskins pounded out four straight hits, two for extra bases.

“I think what she was doing was trying to get to fine with it,” Menti said of Allred. “When you’re thinking you’ve got to do it all yourself, you start pitching differently.”

Menti, though, pointed to spotty play in the field as the real culprit.

“They got an earful,” Menti said of his postgame speech to his team, which committed five errors in all. “That’s not the way we play ball – when you’re wearing a Tiger jersey, that kind of stuff isn’t supposed to happen.”

Allred, who with Tomason finished 3 for 4, finished with 11 strikeouts and five walks.

Idaho State 5A

Amanda Edwards had a two-run homer in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie and Jessica Craft stroked a run-scoring double in the fifth to lead the Coeur d’Alene Vikings to a 3-0 win over the Mountain View Mavericks in Idaho Falls.

The Vikings (20-7) face Eagle in the semifinals today.

In another state opener, the Twin Falls Bruins managed only two hits against Lewiston pitcher Jessica Ulrich but managed an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to earn a 1-0 win over the Bengals.

Lewiston (13-13) will face Centennial in a loser-out affair today.

Idaho State 4A

Jordan Thomas sparked a three-run sixth with a run-scoring double and the Lakeland Hawks went on to a 4-2 victory over the Burley Bobcats in Twin Falls.

Lakeland (14-12) faces Mountain Home in the semifinals today.

District 6/7 1A regional

The Freeman Scotties (15-7) took advantage of an injury to the Okanogan pitcher and broke open a tie game with 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth in a 14-4 victory at Franklin Park.

Freeman will face Cascade (Leavenworth) on Saturday in the semifinals with a state berth on the line.

Cascade defeated Chewelah 7-4 in the first round – also at Franklin Park – despite a three-run homer by Chewelah’s Kelsey Schalock.

The Lakeside Eagles are also a win away from the state tournament after a 7-1 win over Omak at Sterling Middle School in East Wenatchee.

Heather Hesselgesser was 3 for 4 and scored three runs for Lakeside (19-3), which will face Chelan in the semifinals on Saturday at East Wenatchee.

Chelan beat Colfax 1-0 with a run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Chewelah (11-12) and Colfax (11-9) rebounded from their first-round setbacks to beat Okanogan and Omak, respectively, and will face the semifinals losers Saturday with a state berth at risk.

District 9 1B

At Colfax, the Garfield-Palouse Vikings scored three runs in the top of the seventh to claim a 12-9 victory over the Colton Wildcats, setting up a Saturday matchup at Richland with the Touchet Indians for the No. 1 seed to the state tournament.

Touchet beat LaCrosse-Washtucna 5-1 at Pomeroy in the other semifinal.

Also at Pomeroy, St. John-Endicott beat Tri-Cities Prep 17-4. The Eagles will face Colton in a loser-out game on Saturday, along with Liberty Christian versus LaCrosse-Washtucna.