Vikings strike in seventh, eighth to topple LC

Down two runs with one at-bat left is not an enviable situation in upper-echelon fastpitch softball.

Nonetheless, after Coeur d’Alene watched its 1-0 lead over Lake City turn to a 3-1 deficit in the bottom of sixth inning Wednesday, coach Larry Bieber said he told his Vikings they had the Timberwolves “right where they wanted them.”

As if on cue, CdA promptly pulled even with two runs in the top of the seventh, held LC to force extra innings, and scored five runs in the eighth to defeat the Timberwolves 8-4 in a battle of unbeatens at LCHS.

“I absolutely did say that,” said a beaming Bieber – going as far as offering witnesses to the fact – following his team’s victory in the first of four Inland Empire League meetings between the crosstown rivals. “And the reason I said that is because when a team like that, that you’ve been pounding on and pounding on, and then they come back on you, all of the sudden, in their minds, they’ve got the game won. … In my mind, and in my kids’ minds, that game is never over until the last out … it was one of the best shows of heart I’ve ever seen.”

CdA (7-0, 5-0) got on the board in the first when ace/cleanup hitter Jenna DeLong (5-0) singled in Jessica Kraft, who reached with a one-out double.

That score held until the sixth, when Lake City (5-1, 3-1) loaded the bases on a double, a walk and an error and junior Jordanna Walker delivered a bases-clearing double, running the count full before lining a rope to right-center field.

DeLong reached on an error to lead off the Vikings’ half of the seventh and Kylie Chandler followed with a hard single through the shortstop hole. After both advanced on a wild pitch, Danielle Erickson knocked in DeLong with a groundout to short before Lauren Horton plated Chandler with a liner to right-center to tie it at 3.

The rally deflated the T-Wolves, who tacked on one in the eighth.

“We came in to win, and we weren’t going to take no for an answer,” said Chandler, who had three hits in the contest, including a two-run single in the eighth. “They never had the momentum – we felt confident the whole game.”

DeLong allowed four hits, struck out 10 and walked two.