Lake City Moves Into Title Game Behind Kelly

A-1 softball

See Kelly pitch. See Kelly hit. See Kelly score the winning run.

Lake City High softball was fairly elementary on Friday. Senior Kelly Nelson pitched a three-hitter and slapped a seventh-inning double to fuel the Timberwolves’ 2-1 semifinal victory over Nampa in the State A-1 fastpitch softball tournament at Gabiola Field.

LC (25-3) players poured onto the field to celebrate after Nelson scored to end a cleanly-played game ruled by pitching and defense.

“This is the most excited I’ve seen the team all year,” said Nelson, who could see an even bigger celebration today if LC prevails in the noon PDT title game against Centennial (22-6), which smoked Lewiston 19-0 in five innings.

“That (Nampa) is a wonderfully coached team,” LC coach Dwight Wilson said. “We snuck away with one. We got the breaks. When you play a good team, usually the one that wins is the one that gets the breaks.”

Coeur d’Alene rebounded from Thursday’s loss to down Caldwell (10-12) 7-4. The Vikings (14-15) meet Capital (22-3) in the consolation final at 10 a.m. Lewiston (14-17) and Nampa (19-6) will play for third place.

Lake City 2, Nampa 1

The final inning had a bit of everything, including strategy and controversy.

Tied at 1, Nelson doubled to right and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Nampa coach John Gregory conducted a huddle at the mound and, against the wishes of his players, intentionally walked Laura Tolzmann and April Duthie to load the bases.

Regan Long grounded to shortstop Rachelle Ketterling and Nelson hesitated before breaking toward home. Ketterling’s throw one-hopped past the catcher and the sliding Nelson scored.

Nampa coach John Gregory adamantly argued that Ketterling was interfered with by Tolzmann, who was en route to third.

But Ketterling said, Tolzmann “didn’t hit me. She was right in my face when I threw and I didn’t have a clear view of the catcher. I think it did affect me, but I’m not going to blame it on her because I could have thrown it better.”

LC had just two hits, but made the most of both as each runner scored. The T-Wolves evened the score at 1 in the third when Sherrie Holzer singled, moved to second on a groundout and third on a wild pitch. She scored on Tonya McLeod’s flyout.

Nampa pitcher Cara Zehanoviz matched Nelson’s effectiveness. She wasn’t as dominating, but she often enticed LC batters to chase high pitches.

Nelson worked both corners of the plate and snuck in several nasty changeups.

“Against teams that play a lot fastpitch, a changeup is more effective because they’re sitting on the fastball,” Nelson said.

Coach Wilson likes LC’s chances against Centennial, which features freshman pitcher Courtney Todd.

Wilson worries not about Nelson’s pitching but her health.

“She needs lots of rest. She has lupus and she needs to keep her strength up,” Wilson said. “We’ve been pretty lucky so far.”

CdA 7, Caldwell 4

Thursday’s tough 2-1 loss to Nampa lingered with CdA for two innings before the Vikings’ bats awoke. CdA finished with 11 hits - two each by Kellie Olson, Stacy Dawson, Kim Sigler and Mikin Gatten.

“We had a little talk about why we’re down here and about our intensity,” CdA coach Larry Bieber said.

Olson fired a four-hitter, despite an injured finger on her throwing hand.

“I don’t know, I sprained it or something,” she said. “Yesterday was kind of a letdown, but this was one of our last games and we want to finish strong.”

Jenny Lee’s two-run single in the fifth helped CdA to a 5-2 lead. The Viks were limited to four hits on Thursday, but broke out on Friday by waiting on Lacy Redmond’s pitches.

“I told ‘em to count to 20 before swinging,” kidded Bieber. “We had to get our hands back. For a while there we were lunging and popping the ball up.”

Centennial 19, Lewiston 0

The speedy Patriots ran wild and pitcher Todd hasn’t allowed a run in the tournament.

Capital 11, Boise 3

The Eagles slugged three homers to bury Boise.