Lewiston Wins Three

The Lewiston High baseball team clinched the No. 1 seed in the regional tournament by taking three from visiting Post Falls in Inland Empire League action Tuesday.

Three? The teams played a doubleheader before completing an earlier game suspended by darkness. The Bengals had no problem completing the hat trick.

By so doing, Lewiston clinched no worse than a share of the league championship. Coeur d’Alene could still grab a share of the league title, but Lewiston earned the right to play host to the final day of the regional tourney because it took three of four league games from the Vikings.

Behind sophomore phenom pitcher Clay Johnson, Lewiston blanked Post Falls 6-0 in the opener and held off the Trojans 4-2 in the second game.

The teams then resumed the suspended game that was tied 5-5 after six innings. After a scoreless inning, Lewiston scored six runs for an 11-5 victory.

Johnson (7-0) struck out seven and allowed just two hits.

Post Falls pitcher Andy Mikles took a no-hitter into the fifth of the second game before Lewiston scored all four of its runs. Clay Stout’s two-run single highlighted the inning. Lewiston also had all four of its hits in the inning.

In the eighth inning of the completed suspended game, Scott Wimer’s two-run single broke things open for the Bengals (18-3 overall, 12-2 in league). Two other Bengals hit sacrifice flies.

Post Falls dropped to 9-10, 6-9.

Coeur d’Alene kept its hopes alive for a share of the league title by sweeping Sandpoint 15-9 and 12-3 in a league doubleheader at Sandpoint.

CdA moved to 13-9, 10-4. Sandpoint fell to 10-11, 5-9. No details were reported.

Moscow swept visiting Lakeland to capture the Intermountain League championship.

The Bears (18-5, 11-0) took the opener 7-5 before jumping all over the Hawks (12-4, 7-2) 18-4 in a run-rule shortened nightcap.

Moscow earned the No. 1 seed into the district tourney, which will be held the final day at Lakeland on May 9.

The Bears recorded history by handing Lakeland senior right-hander Kurt Reese his first loss in his career (26-1) in the opener.

Lakeland played without two starters who were suspended indefinitely for violating the school’s athletic code.

Visiting Bonners Ferry upset St. Maries 11-9 in an IML game.

St. Maries (7-12, 3-7) led 8-5 going into the top of the sixth inning, but Matt Clark hit a grand slam for the Badgers (10-8, 3-7).

The Lumberjacks tied it in the sixth, but the Badgers took the lead for good in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Colin Gause.

Softball

It’s still tight at the top in the Inland Empire League, but Coeur d’Alene used an easy sweep to leapfrog into first. The Vikings blasted Sandpoint 18-0 in five innings before recording a 10-4 victory in the second at Sandpoint.

In a key doubleheader at Quad Park in Post Falls, the Trojans did itself and CdA a favor by splitting with Lewiston.

The Trojans rallied for a 6-5 win in the opener before the Bengals kept their league title hopes alive with a 10-2 win in the second game.

CdA (13-8, 10-4) used the big bat of Kelli Babcock and some solid relief pitching from usual starter Blake Hoorelbeke to handle the Bulldogs (0-22, 0-14).

Babcock led off the seventh inning of the nightcap with her fourth homer of the season. She went 3 for 6 with 4 RBIs. Patti Stranger scored five times in the doubleheader.

Hoorelbeke struck out seven of nine batters in relief after a shaky start.

At Post Falls, the Trojans fell behind 4-0 in the opener. But an attempted sacrifice bunt by Mary Gorman in the fifth turned into a run-scoring hit to key the win.

The Trojans (10-10, 8-6) couldn’t put together any hits in the second game. Lewiston (14-8, 9-5) remained a game behind CdA.

Michelle Bausch had a two-run homer to lead Lewiston in the second game.

At Moscow, the Bears broke a tie for first by shutting out Lakeland 5-0 in an Intermountain League game.

Moscow (15-6, 10-0) visits Lakeland (10-3, 7-1) in a doubleheader Tuesday that should decide the league title and top seed to district.

Kasey Kinziger led off the fifth inning with a homer to set off a three-run, five-hit inning. Bears pitcher Amy Sorbel had three strikeouts but most importantly allowed no walks.

Track and field

Post Falls’ girls earned the Inland Empire League title by downing Lake City 77-67 in a dual at Post Falls.

Lake City’s boys prevailed 81-65 to capture second behind league champ Lewiston.

The Trojan girls’ 400- and 800-meter relays scorched the track on a sun-baked day. The foursome of Jennifer Swanstrom, Carmi Eberle, Trisha Wagner and Tawny Moore dashed to a time of 50.8 seconds in the 400 and took two seconds off their previous best in the 800 (1:48.5).

Swanstrom added victories in the short sprints, taking the 100 (12.8) and 200 (26.4).

Durable Mike Keith led LC’s boys with wins in the 400 (51.8) and 1,600 (4:43.9), while Chad Troxel was victorious in the 100 (11.4) and 200 (23.6).

Post Falls’ throwers warmed up. Scott McArthur put the shot a career-best 50 feet and Steve Gustin heaved the discus 153-4, also a career best.

The Trojans’ Joe Getchius improved his personal best in the pole vault by an inch at 13 feet, 7 inches

Soccer

Lakeland gave Lake City one of its closest matches all season before succumbing to the undefeated Timberwolves.

LC got goals from Philimon Tudor and Brian Landers in the opening 28 minutes. Wes Sabo scored Lakeland’s lone goal 2 minutes into the second half.

Lakeland played without four starters who were suspended for violating the school’s athletic code. The Hawks had the minimum 11 players to use.

LC raised its overall record to 16-0-0, 12-0-0 in league. Lakeland is 5-6-1, 5-5-1.

At Coeur d’Alene, Kyle Chambers scored two goals to lead the Vikings to a 3-1 win over Moscow in a North Idaho League match.

All the scoring was done in the first half. Chambers scored his goals 3 minutes apart to put the Viks ahead 2-0.

CdA improved to 9-5-1 overall, 9-2-1 in league. Moscow fell to 9-4-2, 7-4-2.

A goal by Brandon Creed in the 64th minute gave visiting Post Falls a 2-1 win over Bonners Ferry in a North Idaho League match.

Bonners Ferry’s Jacob Pluid tied the match with a goal 5 minutes into the second half.

Post Falls improved to 2-11-1 overall, 2-10-1 in league. Bonners Ferry is 1-12-2, 1-11-1.