Timberlake breaks through in opener

It was one up, one down for local teams on the opening day of the State 3A softball tournament Thursday at Ramsey Park in Coeur d’Alene.

District I champ Timberlake of Spirit Lake didn’t necessarily bring its “A” game, but junior ace Kala Allred tossed a two-hitter and knocked in a pair of runs in a 3-1 victory over Snake River.

St. Maries gave up three runs in the first inning to Middleton and could never catch up, falling 4-1 to the two-time defending state champions.

In other first-round action, Homedale got an RBI double from Jessica Hansen and scored three runs in the first inning of a 4-2 win over Kimberly, and Bear Lake ace Karen Packham struck out eight in a 3-2 victory over Teton.

Timberlake (20-4) takes on Bear Lake (13-6) and Middleton (13-9) faces Homedale (14-10) in a pair of winner’s bracket games at noon today. St. Maries (12-13) battles Kimberly (21-3) and Snake River (10-10) squares off with Teton (17-5) in loser-out action beginning at 10 a.m.

Timberlake 3, Snake River 1: In the second inning, Allred, who struck out the side in the fourth and whiffed seven Bears in all, provided all the offensive punch the Tigers would need.

With one out and runners on second and third, Allred hit a high fly that appeared to fool Panthers left fielder Kady May, who backpedaled and couldn’t get a glove on it.

When the dust settled, Allred was on third and the damage was done.

Allred, trying to cool down from the scorching conditions, breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s nice to get here and finally win the first one,” said Allred, referring to Timberlake’s recent drought at the state tourney. “That hit probably should have been caught, but sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”

Tigers coach Mike Menti was happy about the victory, and that was about all.

“We haven’t won the first one for quite some time, so it was good for the girls,” Menti said. “But we’re not happy with the way we played defensively – I mean Kala was having to throw four or five outs an inning and that can’t happen.”

Menti also wasn’t thrilled about his team’s offensive performance.

“I don’t think we hit the ball hard all day. I think we had just one hard hit, up the middle,” Menti said. “Kala hit that one pretty good, but it was basically a pop up … we need to be a lot better, or it’s still going to end up being a short tournament for us.

“The good news is that we have plenty of room for improvement.”

Freshman leadoff hitter Brittany Amende, who beat out a pair of bunt singles and scored the eventual winning run, said she was a little bit overwhelmed – but only temporarily.

“It’s really cool,” Amende said. “I knew we’d do well, but you don’t really understand what it’s about until you get a win.

“I was really nervous coming in, but I got over it after my first hit.”

Middleton 4, St. Maries 1: The Lumberjacks may have been suffering from the first-round first-inning jitters and the Vikings, keyed by Hannah Lyons’ two-run single, jumped up early.

St. Maries coach Nicole Guthas credited Middleton and said her team remained upbeat despite getting only three hits, two from senior Kelsi Lee.

“A couple of hits our way and it would have been a whole different ballgame,” Guthas said. “I told the girls I was really proud of them – defensively, they played incredible.

“There were a few things that weren’t necessarily errors (that hurt us), but we held them I don’t know how many times with runners on second and third.”

Junior catcher Sam Siron knocked in the Lumberjacks’ lone run on a second-inning groundout.