Upstart St. Maries Claims Title
A-2 District I-II baseball
Whoever said things even out in the end could have been talking about the St. Maries High baseball team.
The third-seeded Lumberjacks chopped down yet another top seed, upsetting Moscow 6-2 in the A-2 District I-II tournament championship game Saturday morning.
St. Maries, which wallowed through an eight-game losing streak during the regular season, lost seven games by a run, one by two runs and three by four.
The Lumberjacks picked an opportune time to wake up. They opened the district tourney Thursday by knocking off second-seeded Lakeland before capping what’s beginning to read like a Cinderella story with their victory over Intermountain League champ Moscow.
Saturday, Moscow bounced back to earn the district’s second state berth, shutting out two-time state champ Lakeland 2-0.
Lakeland (15-6) earned the right to play Moscow by eliminating Priest River 4-3.
St. Maries (10-13) will meet District VI champ South Fremont (14-8) in a state opener Thursday at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore. The game, the first of the tourney, begins at 9 a.m. PDT.
In the final game of the first day, Moscow (21-6) will meet District III champ Vallivue of Caldwell.
“This team did something different,” St. Maries coach Jeff Andersen said of the Lumberjacks’ first district championship. “We’ve always had to come through the back door. This is the first time for us to get to the championship game. We’re feeling proud and happy - almost overwhelmed.”
Overwhelmed might be an understatement taking into account the team’s early season losing streak.
The Lumberjacks gathered just five hits against Moscow, but those proved to be enough as the Bears committed seven errors.
There weren’t any extra-base hits, and most hits by either team didn’t leave the infield.
Moscow pitcher Jeff McPhie stunned the Lumberjacks in the first three innings, striking out five of the first eight batters.
But it didn’t matter that the Lumberjacks weren’t hitting the ball because when they did, the Bears couldn’t make the plays.
Slow-rolling ground balls, wild pitches and routine plays seemed to stymie Moscow’s defense. When the Bears did field the ball, their throws were often wild and in the dirt.
In the fifth inning, Lumberjacks second baseman Skyler Willard walked and first baseman Brian Lounsbury singled. Both moved into scoring position on wild pitches.
Willard then scored on another wild pitch to put St. Maries up 4-2. Galen Holdahl followed with a single that scored Lounsbury.
Tony Rinaldi and Francis Reyes led Moscow with two hits apiece. Rinaldi’s first-inning single scored Reyes to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.
St. Maries turned in a fine performance defensively. Freshman shortstop Jake Adams led the errorless infield, displaying wide range and completing key plays.
Lumberjacks pitcher D.J. Eberlin said he used a slider he developed just a week ago to force the Bears to hit ground balls.
As many as a dozen pro scouts watched Moscow’s Josh Yarno and Lakeland’s Kurt Reese duel in their loser-out game.
Yarno silenced the Hawks’ bats, striking out nine and allowing just three hits. The scouts consistently clocked his fastball in the low 90s with their radar guns.
Lakeland couldn’t get untracked offensively. In the end, spotty defense and inconsistency at the plate doomed the Hawks.
Lakeland coach Ken Busch told his players they had nothing to be ashamed of.
“Yarno did a heckuva a job,” Busch said. “Sometimes you just have to hand it to the other team. We battled some adversity, losing kids in the season. But we ran into a buzzsaw today.”
Lakeland lost two starters for the season last week because of an activities code violation.
Reese, a senior who entered his final high-school season with a 21-0 career record, finished 28-2 overall, with Moscow accounting for both losses.
“It would have been nice to have had a shot at three straight state titles,” Reese said. “But I’ve had more than my share of success.”