Work’s pitching helps Lake City blank CdA

It’s a tried-and-true winning formula when it comes to high school softball.

Nearly flawless pitching, timely hitting and air-tight defense. It all added up to a 3-0 victory by Lake City over Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday in the first of four Inland Empire League showdowns between the crosstown rivals.

Lake City pitcher Lela Work (10-0) flinched less in a duel with Amber Coburn (7-2). Work piled up a season-high 14 strikeouts while allowing just two hits, both to Vikings shortstop Jessica Kraft. Coburn managed eight strikeouts but allowed eight hits – two apiece to Jamie Hall and Jessica Ross.

The Timberwolves (11-1, 5-0) maintain a two-game lead over Post Falls in the loss column, and the margin is slightly bigger considering LC swept the Trojans in the first half of conference play. The Vikings (8-4, 2-4) slipped further behind the T-Wolves and must make a charge in the second half as the four 5A teams battle for the league title and jockey for postseason seeding but also the right to play host to the regional tournament.

Work pitched masterfully, striking out seven of the first eight batters she faced. She had at least two strikeouts in five of the seven innings and three twice in the first and second.

“Lela owned the mound,” LC coach Laura Tolzmann said. “Her head is there and she wants it.”

CdA coach Larry Bieber gave credit to Work, but he thought his team didn’t play as well as it should.

“We had no bats today,” Bieber said. “She’s a good pitcher, we’ve seen that kind of pitching, (but) we just didn’t come to play.”

Work said the first half of league play has built some confidence.

“I had a lot of confidence,” she said. “It worked for me and for us as a team. We’ve got to take the momentum and carry it through to the rest of the season.”

LC scored its first run in the second. Kallie Neal led off with a single to right field. After Jennifer Robertson sacrificed Neal to second, Kory Kritz followed with a run-scoring single.

In the third, Hall and Ross smacked back-to-back doubles to the fence as Ross’ liner to the gap in left center scored Hall.

A bases-loaded walk of Work in the fifth forced in the T-Wolves’ final run.

“I thought we played hard and we weren’t intimidated,” Tolzmann said.

•Also in the IEL: Visiting Post Falls (12-2, 6-2) took a pair of league games, sweeping Moscow 8-1 and 15-4. Pitcher Blake Meredith limited Moscow to a combined six hits. Jordan Schoening and Richelle Ashburn each had four hits.

•Greater Spokane League: Visiting Mead (8-1) needed just five innings to dispatch Rogers (1-8) 13-2 in a game featuring teams on opposite ends of the league. Jordan Hardy went 3 for 3 with two RBIs and Breanna Lookabill had a two-run homer in the third as the Panthers won by the mercy rule. … Led by Dakota Schiermeister’s three hits, University (6-1) held off Lewis and Clark (2-5) 2-1 at Hart Field. Schiermeister scored the go-ahead run in the fifth. … Central Valley (6-1) scored four in the sixth to stop visiting Ferris (3-6) 10-0 in six. Alyssa Erickson threw a one-hitter, striking out 10. She also had two doubles and two RBIs. … Visiting Mt. Spokane (4-5) shut out Gonzaga Prep 7-0. All seven runs were unearned. … North Central (3-6) tripped East Valley (4-5) 4-3 at NC. Kasara Wise had an RBI double in the fifth, then scored the winning run on a groundout.

•Intermountain League: League-leading Timberlake (8-4, 6-0) breezed past Kellogg (1-4, 0-3) 12-2 and 15-0 in a doubleheader at Kellogg. Afton Allred led the Tigers with six hits, including a homer and seven RBIs in the two games.

•Non-league: Lakeland (7-3) pounded out 15 hits to top visiting Sandpoint (0-8) 14-7. Six Lakeland players had two or more hits.