Vikings state case
Something striking occurred moments after the Coeur d’Alene High softball team captured its sixth straight 5A Region I championship Tuesday afternoon.
To a player, the Vikings walked through the postgame line after downing Post Falls 5-1 and retreated to the dugout as if it were just another win.
The Vikings acted as if they had been there before, and it’s certainly true. Coeur d’Alene (24-2) returns to state where it hopes to defend its championship.
CdA will meet Meridian (17-10), the District III fourth-place finisher, in a state opener May 17 at Post Falls High School.
Post Falls (15-11) will go to Lake City (17-9) in a loser-out game at 4 p.m. Thursday. The winner advances to a play-in game Saturday against the District III fifth-place team at Fruitland to decide another state berth.
In first-round games earlier in the day, CdA rallied to stop Lewiston 3-1 and Post Falls tripped LC 9-6 in eight innings.
LC bounced back to eliminate Lewiston (13-13) 5-3.
The collective lack of celebration by the Vikings didn’t surprise their leader, senior pitcher Jenna DeLong.
“We don’t need to jump around and prance and cheer,” DeLong said. “We’re so excited to be there (at state), but we expected to be there. It was all down to business.”
Workmanlike, in fact, best describes CdA’s approach in the title game. DeLong (15-1), who had 14 strikeouts and limited Lewiston to two hits in the first game, handcuffed the Trojans in six innings before giving way to sophomore Amber Coburn. DeLong struck out 10, allowing two hits and walking none.
CdA scored all five of its runs in the first three innings. DeLong opened the scoring in the first with an RBI single.
Lauren Horton added a run-scoring double in the second and the Vikings gave DeLong all the cushion she’d need with three more runs in the third – the big blast coming on a two-run double by Danielle Erickson.
“I’m really happy with how they took (the title) game to heart and just said, ‘Let’s get this workmanlike job done,’ ” CdA coach Larry Bieber said. “That’s what it was – it was workmanlike.”
DeLong liked the looks on her teammates’ faces throughout the two games.
“The girls were so focused,” DeLong said. “They’ve never been like that – that focused. I knew we’d pull it out.”
Post Falls’ run came in the seventh when Lauran Nagrone, who reached on a leadoff triple, scored on Lisa Steinbach’s sacrifice fly.
Trojans coach Jack Foster was pleased his team advanced to the title game in its first year in 5A. He was particularly tickled that his team gave a much better account of itself after getting swept by the Vikings in four league games, including an 18-1 spanking.
“We definitely wanted to be here,” Foster said. “If we could just get off the schneid against Coeur d’Alene somehow. I don’t know how to figure out how to do that mentally, I guess.”
The Trojans couldn’t get anything going on offense.
Most of that was because of DeLong. Foster wondered how much of it carried over from a big win over LC in the first round.
“We were a little bit drained,” Foster said. “Emotionally, we got so high and then it’s kind of hard to come back and play again right away – especially against a team like Coeur d’Alene.”
Earlier, Lewiston scored an unearned run in the third inning and held that lead until the sixth against CdA. Bengals pitcher Jessia Ulrich did a nice job, limiting CdA to four hits. Two of those hits, coupled with a key error, came in the sixth when the Vikings scored three runs. Coburn and Kylie Chandler had RBI singles. … LC and PF split four regular-season games. Nagrone’s bat was largely responsible for PF’s wins. She hit two homers in a 4-3 win and had a grand slam in a 5-4 decision. So LC’s strategy was simple: The T-Wolves intentionally walked Nagrone five times. In the eighth inning, the Trojans did their damage with two outs. Steinbach lifted a blooper over first base to score a run and Giselle Kaufman followed with a two-run single. The Trojans had to overcome themselves, committing six errors. LC’s Haley Petersen had RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings. The second hit gave the T-Wolves a 5-3 lead.
“Darbie Shelden hit a two-run double in St. Maries’ five-run sixth inning as the Lumberjacks (10-11, 7-5) topped host Kellogg 10-5 in the final Intermountain League game of the season. Christina Turbak hit a solo home run in the third to lead the Wildcats (10-11, 6-6).