Vikings rout Post Falls

Woe be unto batters who face Coeur d’Alene ace Jenna DeLong when she has something to prove.

DeLong, the Vikings senior stalwart pitcher, tossed a neat three-hitter on Thursday, striking out 12 in an 18-1 Inland Empire League rout of visiting Post Falls shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule.

The victory all but clinches a league title for Coeur d’Alene (15-1 overall, 9-1 IEL) and makes the road a little tougher for the Trojans (9-5, 5-3), who have been hot and were looking to bag some more big games after a huge win – their first in nine years – over Lake City last week.

For DeLong (9-1), it was about re-establishing her confidence – and reputation for dominance – following her team’s lone loss April 12 to Lake City.

“I’ve been working pretty hard since we lost to Lake City – I’m taking that on my shoulders,” said DeLong, who also led an 18-hit Coeur d’Alene onslaught, going 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs.

“I just wanted to prove to myself and my team that I’m going to be fine – maybe I had one off day, and it’s not going to happen again.”

The contest was over nearly before it began.

After Post Falls freshman Brianne Joseph led off with a looping single to center, DeLong struck out the next three Trojans.

In the home half, Coeur d’Alene batted around and put up seven runs, punctuated by Kylie Chandler’s two-run single and Lauren Horton’s two-run triple off the base of the left-field fence.

“I told the girls, ‘We need to be aggressive at the bat,’ ” said CdA coach Larry Bieber. “I said, ‘These guys were on a roll – they’ve won six in a row, and we barely beat them the first time we played them, so the thing to do was put the ball in play and make sure we be aggressive at the bat and be aggressive on the bases.’

“Just score early and keep it rolling (seven runs in the first) was a great way to start – I guess I should use that speech a lot more.”

Post Falls coach Jack Foster gave all the credit to Coeur d’Alene.

“They just hit the ball,” Foster said. “Other than that, it’s not like we made too many mistakes or anything – they just hit the ball. And they kept doing it.”

Heightened expectations made the loss that much worse.

“We’re all fired up – we win this ballgame and we’re tied for first,” Foster said. “For some reason, we come to Coeur d’Alene and it seems like we just kind of … I don’t think we’re piddly, I just don’t think we haven’t figured out how to get a win out of these guys.”

Chandler ended up with four RBIs and senior shortstop Lindsey Stark had three hits for Coeur d’Alene, which plays host to Lake City Saturday at noon.

Sean Topp (4-2) took the loss for Post Falls.