Masters’ masterful hurling gives Bengals top seed to region

Lewiston earned the No. 1 seed to the 5A Region I baseball playoffs by splitting an Inland Empire League doubleheader with Lake City in Lewiston on Saturday.

The Bengals (13-7, 10-5) took Game 1 to wrap up the top spot, with Nick Masters twirling a complete-game three-hitter in the 7-1 win. Kyle Miller added a fifth-inning, two-run homer for Lewiston.

In Game 2, LC’s Alex Capaul struck out 10 in a complete-game effort, allowing five hits in a 5-3 Lake City (15-6, 9-5) win.

Elsewhere in the IEL, Lakeland got a pair of dazzling pitching performances in a 5-2, 4-0 sweep of visiting Sandpoint (8-14, 5-12 IEL) in Rathdrum. David Carlile allowed five hits and two runs while striking out six in the opener. Lance Carr provided an offensive charge with a two-run triple in the sixth inning. Game 2 belonged to Ryan Stewart, who fired a two-hitter for the Hawks (6-11, 6-9), striking out three.

“Priest River’s Chris Johnson ran his record to 6-0 with a complete-game five-hitter in Game 1, and homered as part of a tiebreaking inning in Game 2 as the Spartans (17-2, 11-0 Intermountain League) defeated visiting Bonners Ferry 10-2, 9-6. Casey DeLan drove in three runs in the opener, including a two-run homer, his sixth of the year. In the second game, Joey Hoepfer‘s two-run shot in the sixth broke a 6-all tie and Johnson followed with his sixth homer of the year to send PR to the sweep. Zach Alaga homered twice for the Badgers in the loss.

Softball

Angela Pegram‘s squeeze bunt in the bottom of the eighth scored Stevie Stajkowski and sparked Lewiston to a 4-3, 6-5 sweep over visiting Lake City (14-7, 10-4 Inland Empire League). Pegram had three doubles in the second game. The Bengals (11-7, 9-6) nearly squandered a two-run lead in the seventh of the second game, but hung on for the victory.

“Bonners Ferry picked up its first win of the season, winning the second game of a doubleheader at Priest River 11-9. Amanda Johnson had a two-run double and picked up the win for the Badgers (1-10, 1-10 Intermountain League). In Game 1, Tammi Cox had three hits and Amanda Campbell added two as the Spartans (7-15, 4-8) beat BF 11-5.