Tigers finish fourth
Timberlake coach Mike Menti’s prediction of winning games at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Friday at the 3A state softball tournament was going pretty well for a while.
The Tigers, after playing subpar ball in an opening-round loss Thursday, turned it around on Friday at Ramsey Park, eliminating Bear Lake 6-3 then ousting Marsh Valley 11-1.
But then came the Kimberly Bulldogs, 26-0 coming into the tournament and salty after an opening-round upset at the hands of Marsh Valley.
When all was said and done, Timberlake couldn’t match the Bulldogs bats – or catch up to freshman ace Nellie Makings – and the Tigers fell 8-3 to earn a fourth-place trophy.
“We expected to do better than we did on Thursday,” said Timberlake first baseman Anastasia Graham, one of just two seniors on the roster. “Sometimes we just wait too long to get started – nothing has been easy for us this year, so of course we had to come back through the whole (loser’s bracket).”
In winner’s bracket action, upstart Homedale knocked off Teton 11-0 and Buhl handled Marsh Valley 5-0. Buhl then advanced to the championship game with an 8-5 win over Homedale. Kimberly advanced by eliminating Payette 11-0 and then Teton 2-0 in 8 innings.
Kimberly (29-1) faces off with Homedale (15-13) this morning at 10 for the right to take on Buhl (21-9) in the noon championship with an if-necessary contest to follow at 2.
After a big inning cost Timberlake its first-round game Thursday, the Tigers turned the tables with a five-run third against Bear Lake that included three Bear errors and RBI singles from Afton Allred and Lacy Tomason. Allred, Timberlake’s junior ace, struck out the side in the first, fanning seven for the game, and junior shortstop Brittany Amende led the way with two hits.
Against Marsh Valley, another big inning keyed the victory as Timberlake batted around and brought six across in the sixth including back-to-back-to-back RBI singles by Amende, sophomore center fielder Megan Hill and Allred. Hill and Allred, who scored three runs, each had two hits in the victory.
In the fourth-place game, Kimberly jumped up early with two in the second and five in the third and stayed on top, pounding out 14 hits, including four triples, off Allred and Graham, who came on in the third to spell the starter.
Timberlake spiced it up a bit with three runs in the sixth, and had the bases loaded in the seventh, but Makings, who struck out seven, had the final say. Amende, slapping in the leadoff slot as well as she has, finished with a team-high three hits and Allred added two for the Tigers, who finish the year 18-8.
“We ran out of gas there a little bit at the end, but we still battled those last two innings, got some runs, put some people on,” Tigers coach Mike Menti said. “To battle back and get a trophy out of this, we’re extremely happy – obviously, only one team is going to leave this tournament totally happy, so, you know we did what we could, rode Afton as long as we could.”
State 5A
At Idaho Falls, Coeur d’Alene lost twice and was eliminated. Lewiston won two loser-out games, including a 5-3 victory over Coeur d’Alene, then was eliminated in an 8-5 loss to Timberline. Lewiston’s Jessica Ulrich went 3 for 4 with a double and two-run home run against Coeur d’Alene.
State 4A
At Twin Falls, Pocatello eliminated Lakeland with a 14-2 victory to advance to the third-place game. Earlier in the day, Lakeland lost to Mountain Home 1-0, then defeated Emmett 12-10.