Patience Key As Lewiston Sweeps Wolves

A patient approach to hitting paid off for Lewiston as the Bengals breezed past Lake City 9-2 and 7-0 in Inland Empire League baseball action Saturday in Coeur d’Alene.

Lewiston raised its league-leading record to 12-2 and 17-5 overall.

”(The Bengals) do a good job of being selective at home plate, so you have to throw them strikes,” Lake City coach Corey Bridges said.

The Timberwolves loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning of the second game, but failed to score. Lewiston pitcher Ryan Baerlocher shut Lake City down after that, recording 13 strikeouts in the five-hitter.

“Lake City was pretty flat on the day,” Bridges said.

Senior Garrett Gosch’s four hits led the Timberwolves (6-8, 8-13) offensively.

In other IEL baseball action, Post Falls split its games at Sandpoint.

The Trojans stopped the Bulldogs 3-1, and Sandpoint notched a 9-5 win.

Post Falls moves into second place in the IEL standings at 7-7, and is 8-11 overall. The Bulldogs are 5-9 and 9-11.

Moscow (4-2, 12-9) swept Bonners Ferry (2-8, 12-9) in an Intermountain League doubleheader. Wallace (13-2) defeated Potlatch 8-4 in a non-league game.

Softball

Lakeland upped its record to 15-4 with a nonleague sweep of host Post Falls, winning 6-4 and 28-1. The Hawks used the four-hitter pitched by junior Jenni Borg on their way to the first-game win. Sophomore Monica Hall yielded one hit and struck out eight for Lakeland in the late game. The contest was called after five innings.

The Hawks got three hits apiece from Borg, Melissa Holt and Angie Tweedy in the second game. A combination of Post Falls errors and wild pitches helped Lakeland to a 12-0 lead after one inning. Post Falls fell to 6-13 overall.

St. Maries jumped on Priest River early in an Intermountain League doubleheader at St. Maries, winning 18-0 and 16-0. Both contests were called by the 10-run rule after five innings.

St. Maries scored eight runs on five hits in its first at-bat to set the tone in the 18-0 opener.

Freshman pitcher Alicia Adams hurled a onehitter.

Brianne Badgett pitched a no-hitter with six strikeouts in the late game.

“The defense today played like we are capable of,” Lumberjacks coach Todd Gilkey said.

St. Maries sits 6-3 in league and 12-3 overall. The Spartans are 0-7 and 1-12.

Bonners Ferry beat Moscow 11-10 in the opener of an IML doubleheader, scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning at Moscow. The Bears rebounded for a 10-2 nightcap win.

The Bears scattered 13 hits in the late game.

Moscow is 4-5 in league and 7-11 overall. Bonners Ferry moves to 3-4 and 5-7.

Track and field

Jump specialist Jim Noble powered the Lakeland boys to the Priest River Invitational title, while Sandpoint sprinter Amber Lauritzen did the same on the girls side.

Noble won the high jump, triple jump and long jump to help the Hawks score 131 points. Sandpoint and Moscow tied for second with 96.

Lauritzen won the 100 and 200 meters, plus ran legs on the first-place 800 medley and 400 relays. The Bulldogs ran away from the field with 124. Lakeland was second with 68 and Bonners Ferry third with 57.

Moscow’s Tony Smith was a triple-winner in the boys’ distance races.

Soccer

Five different players scored for Lake City in a 6-0 shutout of Lewiston at Hayden Meadows Elementary.

The Timberwolves led 4-0 at halftime and outshot the Bengals 16-4.

Lake City ran its North Idaho League record to 9-1 and overall record to 12-1-2. Lewiston dipped to 0-10 and 1-11-1.

The Timberwolves secured at least a tie for the top seed in this week’s North Idaho Cup playoffs. Sandpoint (8-1, 12-2-2) closes the regular season Monday at home against Coeur d’Alene (5-4, 8-7).

First-round Cup pairings send No. 6 Lewiston to No. 3 Coeur d’Alene and No. 5 Bonners Ferry (2-6, 2-9) to No. 4 Moscow (3-5, 9-5) on Tuesday.

Tuesday winners travel to meet Lake City and Sandpoint. The champion will be decided Saturday night in Sandpoint.