Area teams split in 3A
A thunderclap directly overhead caused a delay about an inning into the opening-round games of the 3A state softball tournament Thursday afternoon at Ramsey Park.
There was no visible lightning, though, in that resounding boom.
A half-hour later, there were plenty of visible bolts – all coming off the right arm of Lakeland ace Jessie LaPlante.
LaPlante struck out 18 – one short of her career high – en route to a 4-0 victory over Sugar-Salem. District I champ Timberlake didn’t fare as well, hitting the ball but not getting many breaks in a 10-2 loss to Fruitland.
In later first-round action, Buhl junior ace Whitney Ordonez had 10 strikeouts to lead the Indians (21-6) to a 5-1 win over Bear Lake in a rain-shortened, five-inning contest. Middleton (19-3) was up 11-0 over Teton (16-12) in the third inning before the rain became too much to contend with. That game is scheduled to resume at 8 o’clock this morning.
Next up for Lakeland is a scheduled noon start against the Middleton-Teton winner. Timberlake (18-10) faces Bear Lake (11-8) in a loser-out game slated for 10 a.m. Buhl, with not a senior on its roster, takes on Fruitland (17-11) in the winner’s bracket at noon.
Lakeland 4, Sugar-Salem 0
The Hawks and coach Jim Pizelo have perfected the art of small-ball.
And why not, when you have the likes of LaPlante roaming the circle halfway between home plate and second base.
Sacrificing runners to second and then to third no less than three times in the contest, Lakeland scored single runs in each of the first, third, fourth and sixth innings.
One was all LaPlante needed, allowing just two hits and only one of the Diggers to even make it to second base.
LaPlante, no stranger to the big dance with a state titles under her belt as a freshman and a sophomore, was understandably psyched following the victory – despite the early appearance by Mother Nature.
“I was really antsy to get going,” she said of the time spent bouncing off the chain-link dugout while tournament officials ensured the safety of the 350 or so souls on hand for the event. “But it didn’t seem to affect us too much.
“I’ve never won my first game at state before – the last two years at state we lost our first game and the last two years at districts we lost our first game, so this is a pretty good feeling.”
Pizelo, despite a couple of errors, said he liked what he saw from his team in the field, but expects more from the bats in Round 2.
“We had the jitters,” Pizelo said. “The rain delay took us out of some things, but we got the win, so it doesn’t matter.”
Hawks shortstop Aimee Fitting, who delivered the game-winning RBI before the weather hit, seemed to have to secret to avoiding the first-game-at-state yips; now if she could only bottle it and sell it.
“I just kind of keep my cool and I just take deep breaths and go for it,” Fitting said. “I don’t really like to let the tournament get me all shook up.
“State is no big deal to me – it’s just another game.”
Fruitland 10, Timberlake 2
The Tigers, who struck out just three times, made decent contact against Grizzlies starter Stephanie Preheim, but most of the contact was in the direction of one of the defenders.
Senior Amber Wells led the way at the plate for Timberlake, going 3 for 4, while teammate Kala Allred went 2 for 3. Only two other Tigers made it into the hit column.
Timberlake coach Mike Menti pointed to first-game jitters, but kept the faith in his young Tigers, who put three runners on base in the seventh inning.