Bengals Eliminate Vikings

The Coeur d’Alene High School baseball team’s season came to a disappointing end Monday.

Lewiston earned the right to defend its state title with a 5-0 shutout over the Vikings at Lewis-Clark State College’s Harris Field in the completion of the A-1 Region I Tournament championship game suspended because of rain Saturday at North Idaho College.

The decision to move the game to LCSC was made early Monday morning as fields in CdA were soaked. Officials decided it was necessary to finish the tourney Monday so the pitchers on the team qualifying for state would have time to rest.

The game was suspended with Lewiston ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the second inning.

Things didn’t get any better for the Viks when the game resumed. In fact, Lewiston pitcher Ryan Heitman no-hit CdA the final five innings while striking out five.

CdA’s lone hit came Saturday, a triple by Todd Hughes.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t swing the bat better,” said CdA coach Paul Mather, whose team finished the season with an 18-9 record.

Mather said it was a strange end to a strange season.

“It’s disappointing because our seniors didn’t get a chance to go back to the state tournament,” said Mather, whose Viks fell to Lewiston in the state title game last year. “That’s what is disappointing the most.”

For Lewiston (14-9), it was a sweet victory in a season when the Bengals, gutted by graduation, were picked to finish tied for last in league.

Lewiston opens state Thursday in Boise. Pairings will be announced today.

Monday’s George Gee Pontiac District 8 high school baseball playoff game at Seafirst Stadium between Mead and Central Valley was postponed because of wet conditions.

The winner-to-state game has been rescheduled for today at 1 p.m. at Seafirst Stadium.

Track and field

University of Idaho redshirt javelin thrower Jill Wimer of Grangeville, Idaho, has qualified for the United States Olympic Trials in June.

Wimer won the event at the Whitworth Invitational this past weekend with a personal best throw of 174 feet, 6 inches. Her previous best was 160-5 thrown two weeks ago at Spokane Falls Community College.

Wimer’s throw would be ranked in the top ten in the nation according to the latest list printed in Track and Field News.

The first round of the javelin competition will be held on June 14 in Atlanta with the finals June 17.

Basketball

Idaho men’s basketball coach Kermit Davis announced that Kevin Byrne, a 6-foot-9 forward from North Idaho College, has signed a national letter of intent to attend UI this fall.

Byrne, who played just one year at NIC, is a native of Costa Mesa, Calif.

“Rollie (Williams, recently retired NIC coach) has had a lot of great inside players in his program and he believes (Bryne) could be another one of those,” said Davis. “He has three years left to play and he’s a great student.” , Byrne averaged 6.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, shot 61 percent from the field, 70 percent from the free-throw line.

Byrne is the sixth new Vandals player to sign since Davis was named head coach in March.

Tennis

Idaho tennis coach Greg South is one of six coaches selected to participate in the NCAA’s Youth Education through Sports Clinic at the NCAA Division I Championships in Athens, Ga., today.

South will be joined by Vandal Katrina Burke in the clinic for 10-18-years-old.

Skaife released

Popular Spokane area basketball player and coach Jerry Skaife was released from Sacred Heart Medical Center on Monday morning.

Skaife, 52, who is also softball coach at Community Colleges of Spokane, suffered a heart attack two weeks ago tonight while playing rec league basketball.

, DataTimes