A patient approach to hitting paid off for Lewiston as the Bengals breezed past Lake City 9-2 and 7-0 in Inland Empire League baseball action Saturday in Coeur d'Alene. Lewiston raised its league-leading record to 12-2 and 17-5 overall. "(The Bengals) do a good job of being selective at home plate, so you have to throw them strikes," Lake City coach Corey Bridges said.

Doug Clark had two-run doubles in both games and pitched a complete-game six-hitter in the opener Saturday as Cheney eliminated Colville and West Valley in Frontier League baseball playoffs at WV. Cheney (12-5) advanced to a bestof-three playoff with league champion East Valley (11-4), starting Tuesday at EV. The winner moves on to regionals. Cheney, seeded third in the playoffs, opened with a 10-1 win over fourth-seeded Colville (7-9). Cheney's T.J. Albin had a two-run homer in the first inning and Clark had his two-run double during a five-run fourth.

University clinched a tie for its second Greater Spokane League baseball title by beating host Rogers 8-6 in nine innings Friday. U-Hi (11-4), which won the title in 1991, completes its league season Tuesday against North Central. A three-way tie for first would occur if the Titans lost to NC and Central Valley (10-5) closed with a win over Gonzaga Prep. Shadle Park (11-5) ended its regular season with a 15-5 win over Prep. Prep (8-7), Rogers (8-7) and Ferris (10-5) have already earned spots in the District 8-AAA Tournament, which begins Friday at Seafirst Stadium.

No Art

When East Valley's Todd Hughes kicked in a penalty shot at the 70-minute mark of the Knights' 2-2 tie against Riverside/Deer Park on Tuesday, he gave his team the No. 2 seed for the Frontier League playoffs that begin on Saturday. The Knights will take on No. 3 seed West Valley. The Eagles dumped Pullman 4-0 at Pullman with the help of assists from fullbacks Jake Clark and Jason Roberts. Clark had one assist and Roberts had two assists.

Coeur d'Alene's Brett Fink sliced and diced his way through the Bonners Ferry defense as he finished with four goals and an assist in CdA's 10-2 non-league soccer win on the road Tuesday. Teammate Darren Baune scored two goals and had an assist as well. Softball

Gonzaga Prep soccer player Ben Lambert gave new meaning to the term "flying by the seat of your pants." The senior midfielder was hit so hard while scoring the game's third goal 16 minutes into the second half that he was knocked off his feet into the air and he landed on his back with his shorts at his ankles. The host Bullpups (13-1-0-2) finished second in league with a 4-1 victory over North Central (7-5-2-2), Joey Ascolese scoring twice to give him 18 goals.

For the second time in four days, Medical Lake pitcher Jeremy Thomas has pitched a no-hitter. Thomas fanned nine in a 9-0 Northeast A baseball triumph over visiting Newport, allowing only three baserunners. He also hit a double and triple to drive in three runs. Tuesday against Colfax, he struck out 10 and allowed only two runners, both of whom were thrown out.

Lake City and and Post Falls split an Inland Empire League doubleheader Thursday afternoon. Host Lake City won the opener 4-1 as Ryan Scharnhorst pitched a three-hitter, striking out five. Luke Anderson and Travis Whiteside each had RBI doubles for the team, which scored three runs in the third inning.

Coeur d'Alene catcher Jessica Varney runs down Lake City's Jenny Owen in an Inland Empire League game Tuesday. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

The GSL baseball race became a bit cloudier Friday as four teams moved within a game of the first-place University Titans (7-3). Ferris, Shadle, Rogers and Central Valley are in a four-way logjam for second place at 6-4, one game back. Mead (5-5) came from behind to beat Shadle 5-3, Ferris toppled University 12-8, CV stopped Rogers 8-1 and Gonzaga Prep beat North Central 7-2.

Lakeland and Lake City split a non-league softball doubleheader Thursday at Lakeland. Lakeland won the first game 1-0 before Lake City rebounded to win the nightcap 7-3. In the opener, Lakeland (7-2) pitcher Monica Hall threw a onehitter and struck out seven to hand Lake City its first loss of the season.

The Clarkston boys established themselves as early favorites to win the Frontier League track championship by defeating West Valley Thursday afternoon. Adam Johnson captured wins in the 200 (24.1 seconds), 400 (52.2) and 1,600-meter relays (3:37.5) as the visiting Bantams cruised to an 81-64 victory.

In the Frontier League's battle of the Valley, West Valley defeated East Valley 16-10 Wednesday at East Valley to move within a game of the first-place Knights. WV (6-3) jumped out to a 5-1 lead early before the Knights (7-2) came back to tie the score at 5-5.

Mead pitcher Holly Vanwert threw a no-hitter while striking out six batters as the Panthers defeated visiting Lewis & Clark 19-1 in Greater Spokane League softball action on Tuesday. In other GSL games, Rogers beat Ferris 6-0, University beat North Central 6-0, Shadle Park beat Lakeside 10-3 in a non-league contest and Gonzaga Prep and Central Valley were rained out. The Bullpups and the Bears will play at 3:45 p.m. today at Central Valley.

Coeur d'Alene's most successful prep soccer coach has resigned to spend more time developing youth teams. Lake City High boys and girls coach Bill Eisenwinter gave school officials his resignation Thursday, effective at the end of the boys' season. He announced his resignation Monday. Eisenwinter will focus his attention as head coach of the sprawling Lake City Sting Soccer Club.

The race for third place tightened Monday night in Greater Spokane League soccer as North Central beat University for the second time this season, winning 2-1. NC won 2-0 in the first round. Also, Lewis and Clark beat Rogers 4-0, Gonzaga Prep earned a 2-0 victory over Central Valley and Shadle Park defeated Ferris 2-0 to keep its hopes alive for the fifth and final playoff spot.

Lakeland didn't score until the fifth inning of the first game but outscored host Bonners Ferry 23-2 thereafter in an Intermountain League baseball doubleheader sweep, 8-3 and 15-0, Saturday that included a no-hitter by Brett Deboer in the second game. Deboer struck out eight.

Aaron Jelinek's first-place mark in the triple jump (39 feet, 4 1/4 inches) gave visiting Clarkston a 72-point tie with Cheney in a Frontier League track meet Thursday afternoon. The defending league-champion Blackhawks took a one-point lead into the final event after winning the 1,600 relay with a time of 3 minutes, 34.4 seconds. Jelinek responded with a leap which easily outdistanced secondplace finisher August Parker of Cheney (38-7).