Vikings steal state victory in eighth inning

POCATELLO – For seven long innings, Coeur d’Alene coach Larry Bieber watched his sophomore pitcher, Heather Helmhout, battle Borah’s flamethrowing Heather Dixon to a draw.

Nobody could score, or even get a runner past second base, as the pitching foes took turns making short work of their opponents. It wasn’t until Jessyca Le dashed across the plate in the eighth inning that Coeur d’Alene was able to breath a collective sigh of relief with a 1-0 victory over the Lions in a State 5A softball opener Thursday.

“I’m glad I took my blood pressure pills,” Bieber jokes after the heart-stopping win. “These kids; we worked all day long. They bend, but they don’t break.”

Now the band of Vikings advances to face Timberline in a winners’ round matchup today at noon. Timberline beat Idaho Falls 7-0 to advance.

With the score knotted at 0-0 entering extra innings, the Vikings got a stellar pitching performance from Helmhout. The pint-sized sophomore got an out on a sacrifice bunt to open the inning but found the hurry-up runner on third.

That wasn’t a problem, though, as Helmhout struck out the next two batters to prevent a run from scoring.

Le, the second baseman playing the flex position so designated player Kylie Chandler could bat, started the bottom of the eighth on second as the Vikings hoped to take advantage of her speed.

Coeur d’Alene’s strategy, however, was disrupted by a popped-up sacrifice bunt that left Le on second with an out instead of at third. Bieber decided to challenge the Lions with a bold move.

Le sprinted to third on a fake bunt and was safe when the throw got past the Borah third baseman. Le scurried home with the winning run, preserving the Vikings’ 26-0 record.

“I knew Jessyca could beat them to third because of the way they were playing her,” Bieber said. “But I didn’t dream we’d get home, too.”

The close game was hard to handle, Le said, especially from the bench as she saw her team struggle to get runners into scoring position.

When she got her chance, though, Le made the most of it.

“I was ready to go,” Le said. “I was confident and had a good feeling that I’d get third. But it was great to go home, too.”

Though the Vikings eked out only two hits, Bieber said he wasn’t concerned since Helmhout was so strong on the mound.

He credited Borah’s Dixon with giving the Vikings a serious scare.

“I don’t know if she’s the best pitcher we’ve seen this year,” he said. “But she’s probably the fastest. She got to us pretty good most of the game and really took away our short game.”

On the other side of the bracket, two-time defending champ Eagle knocked out Highland, 5-1, and Twin Falls came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Meridian 3-2.

Should the Vikings beat Timberline, they’ll face the winner of the Twin Falls vs. Eagle game at 5 p.m. If Coeur d’Alene loses to Timberline, the Vikings will face the winner of the Meridian vs. Highland game in a loser-goes-home game at 3 p.m.

4A

Tiana Siddoway pitched a one-hitter and struck out 11 as the Madison Bobcats of Rexburg defeated Post Falls 7-0 to open State 4A play at Blackfoot High. Senior Megan McClanahan had the lone hit for the Trojans (11-16). PF will play a loser-out game this morning against Bonneville.

•Ashley Parker scattered four hits to guide Caldwell (19-8) to an 8-2 win over Moscow. Jenny McMillan had two hits for the Bears (6-23). Moscow meets Century of Pocatello this morning in a loser-out game.