Xtreme ’97 captures ump tournament

There were just nine of them, but coach Travis Smith’s North Idaho Xtreme ’97 girls fastpitch team ganged up on the opposition in winning the top-tier Red bracket in the high school division of the 26th annual 4th of July Shootout Umpires’ Memorial Tournament during the holiday weekend at the Merkel Complex.

The Amateur Softball Association-registered 18U team, the core group of the Coeur d’Alene High School team that placed second in the Idaho 5A state tournament in the spring, marched through the combined 16U-18U division before running into an equally dominant 16U Spokane Scream team in the finals.

Smith, an assistant at CHS, saw his small group of players battle from behind against Scream and Greater Spokane League MVP pitcher Jaya Allen (Shadle Park), who had pitched a perfect game in the semifinals. Xtreme tied the championship game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and won 6-5 in the eighth.

After Xtreme shut down Scream in the top of the eighth, Kylie Smith started the bottom half of the tie-breaker inning on second base. She advanced to third on Abby Howard’s bunt single. When Howard took second on the play, Scream walked the bases loaded to set up a force. But Breana Burke, who did the majority of the pitching for North Idaho, thwarted the strategy by lifting a game-winning sacrifice fly to left field.

Xtreme finished the tournament 5-0, outscoring its opponents 54-13. The team received a major contribution from Martha Tooly, who played on the Eagle High team from Boise that beat CdA in the 5A title game. Tooley went 8 for 14 with two home runs as Xtreme batted over .600 as a team in the tournament, Smith noted.

Scream finished 4-1 with a 40-10 scoring margin. Allen struck out 14 in her seven-inning, 6-0 semifinal win over Helena Silver Storm.

In the White bracket final, pickup player Mackenzie Brittos (Lakeside) drove in five runs, three with a sixth-inning double, as Liberty Lake Lightning defeated North Idaho Xtreme ’98 10-7. Rachael Valdez (Gonzaga Prep) handcuffed Xtreme on four hits over six innings with eight strikeouts.

In other high school division finals, Jackie Adams, a recent Ferris graduate, had two singles and drove in three runs as Spokane Stealth ’97 defeated Montana Avalanche-Hermes 5-3 for the Blue title; Montana Avalanche-Miltko won the Sparkler 9-7 over the West Plains Bandits; and the Kelowna Heat beat Tri-City Thunder ’99 11-1 in five innings to capture the Firecracker.

A two-run double by Payton Erickson (Deer Park) in the bottom of the fifth capped a comeback by Spokane Diamonds-Butler in an 8-7 victory over clubmate Spokane Diamonds-Tutt for the White Division championship that highlighted the 14U finals. Sophia Henson, who will be a freshman at West Valley, pitched four innings of one-hit relief with three strikeouts as Butler rallied from a three-run deficit.

In the other 14U title games, Lady Osprey shut out Montana Eclipse 8-0 in an all-Montana Red Division final, and Electric City Heat defeated Billings Force Red 4-1 for the Blue championship.

• The Spokane Crash 16U team has qualified for the ASA nationals, which will be held July 26-Aug. 2 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Crash qualified by taking fourth at a qualifier in Selah. Crash beat Kaos from Camas 9-1 to advance.

Here are the Crash team members: Meredith Clark (Mead), Jesse Depuis (Mt. Spokane), Ashley Hammond (Mead), Ciara Harding (Mead), Madison Kallsen (Cheney), Mikaylie King (Mead), Meghan Krantz (Cheney), Elise Peck (Central Valley), Emma Profili (Crowe HS, Trail, B.C.), Macie Reynolds (CV) and Carolyn Wendel (Mead). Crash is coached by Gary Blake.

Soccer

The Coeur d’Alene Sting girls 18U soccer team fared well at the U.S. Youth Soccer Far West tournament in Boise last week.

The Sting, coached by North Idaho College coach Dan Hogan, went 2-0-1 in pool before being eliminated in their quarterfinal opener in bracket play. The Sting fell 4-0 to La Roca FC of Layton, Utah. La Roca went on to win the championship.

“We played very well,” Hogan said. “We had a bunch of girls from different high schools. They came together really well. There wasn’t one player that made us successful. We had different players at different times that were standouts.”

The team members were: Aitana Vernon (Lake City), Zoie Cloutier (LC), Bekah Brendis (Coeur d’Alene), Nora Kennedy (LC), Josee Bassett (CdA), Kelsi Grinde (LC), Corinne Ariss (Sandpoint), Natalie Wheelock (LC), Caitlin Barber (LC), Kenna Frantzich (Lakeland), Carleen Simpson (Timberlake), Sydney Quimby (LC), Cydney Roop (LC), Monique Queen (LC), Maggie Vietri (CdA), Sadie Schmeling (Post Falls), Meaghen Bare (LC), Meg Lowery (CdA), Tiegan Horton (LC), Nan Kiebert (Sandpoint) and Julia Roach (CdA).

• Gabe Grabowski , a senior defender, and JD Hauenstein, a junior forward, both of Central Valley, were named to the Washington State Soccer Coaches Association 4A first team.

Kelly Kyllo of Lakeside was named to the 1A second team . Alex McNeil of Lewis and Clark and Nathan Grinalds of CV were named honorable mention in 4A.