Trojans, Hawks, Tigers in hunt for state berths

The Post Falls High softball team came within a victory of qualifying for the State 5A tournament last year in its first year in the state’s biggest classification.

The four 5A Inland Empire League teams, including Post Falls, will be in the chase for two state berths this season.

Lakeland returns the core of a young team and will battle Moscow and Sandpoint for a 4A state berth.

Timberlake, which advanced to the 3A state championship game last year, will be heavily favored to return to state.

Here’s a look at Post Falls, Lakeland and Timberlake.

Post Falls

The Trojans (16-12 overall, 10-8 IEL) return six starters from a team that defeated traditional league power Lake City four out of six games. The Trojans advanced to a state play-in game by eliminating LC in a loser-out Region I game.

Mountain View blanked Post Falls 3-0 in the play-in game for a state berth.

“(Mountain View) wasn’t any better than us,” Post Falls coach Jack Foster said. “We had a chance to win. We just didn’t play well.”

Two of the Trojans’ returning starters are senior catcher Lauran Nagrone and sophomore pitcher Blake Meredith. Both were first team all-IEL selections.

“Top to bottom, we’re as good as we’ve ever been in terms of athletes,” Foster said. “We have good athletes all the way through the lineup.”

Nagrone, a three-year starter who has signed to play at North Idaho College, hit a team-leading .400 last year. But she’s made the biggest impression as a power hitter. She hit eight home runs – all over-the-fence shots – last year to move her career total to 15. She holds the school records for single-season and career homers.

Meredith posted a 9-7 record with an earned run average just over 2.00 last year. Sophomore Richelle Ashburn, the ace on the junior varsity a year ago, will also see some time pitching.

“We’re in pretty good shape with our pitching,” Foster said.

Meredith had 19 strikeouts and no walks in throwing a one hitter in Post Falls’ season-opening 9-0 win over Moscow last Friday. Meredith, who had the second-best average last year (.368), had two triples in the opener.

The Trojans’ other returning starters are juniors Monze Kaufman (right field) and Stephanie Peugh (shortstop) and sophomores Brianne Joseph (second base) and Kadie Booth (center field). Joseph, who had four hits in the opener last week, was a second team all-league pick.

“We’re young overall in terms of age, but all these kids have played varsity,” Foster said. “Overall we should hit better this year. We have three of our top four hitters back (Nagrone, Meredith, Joseph).”

Although defending state champ Coeur d’Alene and Lake City are the proven teams in the league, Foster sees the Trojans and Lewiston challenging the powers.

“The league is about as even as I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said Foster, who is beginning his 11th season as head coach. “Coeur d’Alene is still the favorite until somebody beats them.”

Lakeland

The Hawks (9-18, 4-12) had some growing pains last year. They started four freshmen and had the predictable ups and downs that come with playing youth.

The good news is Lakeland returns nine lettermen, seven of whom were starters.

“They got a lot of experience last year,” said Colleen (Nave) Bevacqua, who married former Lakeland High multiple-sport standout Al Bevacqua last fall. “They played a lot of summer ball together and worked hard in the offseason.”

The returning starters are seniors Erin O’Hara (catcher), a three-year starter, and Jessica Bruner (right field), junior Alisha Watson (second base/pitcher) and sophomores Jamie Klopatek (pitcher), Alyana Watson (shortstop), Chelsea Campbell (third base) and Jordan Thomas (center field).

Senior Bonny Biggs is battling for a spot at first base and sophomore Alexis Jacobson will start in left field.

O’Hara, Bruner and Biggs are the only seniors on the team.

“This is my favorite group of girls I’ve worked with,” said Bevacqua, who is beginning her fourth season. “They love the game. They’re more of a team than individuals. I’ve seen some leadership and that’s been positive. Last year we were lacking leadership.”

O’Hara led the Hawks at the plate last year and she’ll be counted on to carry much of the load from the clean up spot this season.

Bevacqua expects the race for the lone 4A state berth to be a tight race between her team, Moscow and Sandpoint. Moscow came on at the end of the season last year, placing third at state. Sandpoint has made strides the last two years.

“I think we’re all on an even playing field,” Bevacqua said. “I don’t see a favorite.”

Timberlake

The Tigers (24-8, 12-0 in Intermountain League) fell just short of winning a 3A state championship last spring, losing 3-1 to Kimberly.

Timberlake graduated their outstanding battery of pitcher Kala Allred and catcher Holli Edelblute, both four-year starters.

So it would be easy to say the Tigers are facing a rebuilding season. The word rebuilding, though, isn’t allowed in Timberlake’s vocabulary.

“We’re not rebuilding, we’re just reloading,” said Tigers coach Mike Menti, who is beginning his ninth season as head coach. “We’re putting some new kids in (the lineup) and we’ll continue the tradition. Rebuilding is not an option.”

Menti admits he has big shoes to fill in replacing Allred. She was 22-6 last year with a 0.67 ERA. She pitched all but 19 2/3 innings. Allred, a two-time IML most valuable player, signed to play at NCAA Division I Cleveland State.

What Menti plans to do initially is use three players at pitcher. Allred’s sister, Afton, a junior who started at second base last year, senior Anastasia Graham, who started at first base, and junior Brittany Amende, who started at shortstop, will share the pitching duties. All three were all-league picks at their positions last year.

Menti figures he’ll use a combination of the three in most league doubleheaders.

He won’t know exactly how they’ll fare until they play a game let alone practice outside. Timberlake still had more than a foot of snow on its field going into the week, and the Tigers’ season-opening games at the Lewiston Invitational were rained out last weekend.

“(During preseason) we’re going to give them a couple of innings each game and play it by ear,” Menti said. “They were all starters in the infield last year so a lot of what we do will depend on what it does for us defensively and who is most effective on the mound.”

Timberlake’s other returning starters are junior Tasha Palmer, who will move from third base to catcher, and sophomore Megan Hill, who returns in center field and was honorable mention all-league last year.

Amende was Timberlake’s top hitter last year. She hit .473 and led with 33 stolen bases. Allred hit .409.

Timberlake has won three straight league titles and five consecutive district crowns. The streaks aren’t likely to be threatened. The league is expected to be down overall. Kellogg and St. Maries figure to have the best shots at challenging the Tigers.

“We can be every bit as good as last year. It’s going to be different without Kala and Holli,” Menti said. “Instead of being a pitching-dominated team we’re going to have to do some of the other aspects of the game.”