Don't tell the Lewis-Clark Twins or the Prairie Cardinals that playing for the District I American Legion AA baseball tournament championship is anti-climactic.
Although both teams were already bound for the state tournament, they played as if the district crown carried state-like significance Saturday evening.
The result is both teams will meet again today in the rubber game of the tournament as L-C came out of the consolation bracket to force a final game with a 10-6 victory over the Cardinals at Memorial Field.
Prairie (37-18), which defeated L-C (29-27) 6-4 in the championship semifinal Friday, and the Twins will clash again this afternoon at 1.
L-C, which entered district seeded fourth, was already penciled into the state tournament bracket by virtue of playing host to state last summer.
And No. 3 Prairie earned a state berth after a pair of first-day victories Thursday. And fifth-seeded Sandpoint (20-22), the third team in the six-team field headed to state, secured a berth late Friday in a wild 14-9 win over Moscow.
L-C advanced to the title game earlier Saturday when it handled upstart Sandpoint 10-3.
The district's top-seeded teams, league champion West Kootenay of Trail, British Columbia, and No. 2 Coeur d'Alene, were not around Saturday after both were eliminated Friday.
State begins a four-day run Saturday at Caldwell. L-C will meet host Caldwell in the first round. Opening-day opponents for Prairie and Sandpoint are still to be determined. ,
L-C 10, Prairie 6
Three big innings propelled the Twins.
Prairie was one out away from heading to the ninth inning trailing by just a run. But a two-out double by No. 9 batter Levi Frary started what would be a nightmare finish for the Cards.
But three straight errors allowed three L-C runs, and Twins starting pitcher Ryan Smith went into the final inning with a comfortable fourrun cushion.
A two-run single by James Ownby on an 0-2 pitch in the fifth inning gave Prairie a 5-3 lead. L-C rebounded in the bottom half, scoring four runs for a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The big hit came on a two-run double by Jeremy Frei, a hit that chased Card starter Jake Medlock.
Prairie trimmed the lead to 7-6 in the seventh on Brett DeBoer's fourth homer of the season.
Cardinals coach Darren Taylor doesn't mind playing L-C a third time in the tourney.
"Both teams will be tired; it'll be a game just like this one," Taylor said. "Whoever gets to 10 runs first. . . . The league has become almost comical, but the district title is still important. That's where the hardware is. And you want to go down with confidence and as the best team from the North."
District I AA
Lewis-Clark 10, Prairie 6
Prairie 102 020 100 - 6 13 3 Lewis-Clark 030 040 03x - 10 11 1
J. Medlock, Singer (5) and Ries; Smith and L. Frary. W-Smith. L-Medlock.
HITS: Prairie - J. Medlock 2, Bevacqua 2, DeBoer 2, Rothrock 2, Ownbey 2, Bridge, Singer, Reese. L-C - Kennedy 3, Frei 2, Manyon 2, Baerlocher, L. Frary 2, Squires. 2B: Squires, L. Frary, Manyon, Frei, J. Medlock, Bevacqua. HR: DeBoer (4).
