COEUR D'ALENE - The Lewis-Clark Twins used a late surge to defeat Coeur d'Alene 12-7 and claim the district title Saturday in the Idaho Class AA American Legion district baseball tournament.
The Twins, on a six-game winning streak, had already clinched a spot at State the night before.
And since Coeur d'Alene will play host to State next week, the Twins automatically snagged the No. 1 seed out of their district. The tournament host isn't allowed to be a No. 1 seed at State.
But that didn't diminish the Twins' focus at the plate, as they tallied 21 hits in the championship game.
Austen Jones smashed four of those, including three doubles, Tyler Gay tallied three hits, two of them doubles, and Josh Moore collected a pair of doubles as the Twins nearly doubled up Coeur d'Alene despite trailing after seven innings.
That's when the Twins got to work, scoring six runs and taking the lead on a two-run double by Gay that gave the visitors an 8-7 edge and "broke the game open," in L-C coach Allen Balmer's words.
Balmer lauded the effort of his two pitchers, Kade Woods and Gay, and noted that his team has "been hitting the ball (well) the past six games."
L-C will begin its state tournament on Tuesday at 10 a.m. vs. Nampa at Coeur d'Alene.
Coeur d'Alene 020 101 300-7 10 2
Lewis-Clark 310 011 06x-12 21 3
Cody Garza, Devin Kluss (4), Elliott Sparks (7) and Grant Wade. Kade Woods, Tyler Gay (4) and Cole Grijalva, Dalton Stamper (8).
Coeur d'Alene hits - Conigliaro, Kluss 2, Garza, Green 2 (HR), Vaudreiul 2, Gabrielson 2 (2B).
L-C hits - Scott, Gay 3 (2-2B), Moore 2 (2-2B), White 2 (2B), Tibbits 2, Jones 4 (3-2B), Phillips, Grijalva, Stamper 2, Olson 3.
Cubs battle to title game
MOSCOW - The Lewis-Clark Cubs defeated Coeur d'Alene 6-5 and then Sandpoint 12-11 in the Idaho Class A district tournament to move into today's title game at 1 p.m. against Moscow.
Using a three-run sixth to survive their first game of the day, the Cubs rallied thanks to the top of their order, said coach Cody Weiss, who feels like his team plays with a chip on its shoulder offensively.
"We knew the later we got into this tournament, we were going to have to hit, so we knew we were going to have to outhit everybody," said Weiss, who actually pointed to his team's defense as the key to Saturday's success.
Mitch Miller hadn't thrown all summer, but, with the Cubs trying to rest their arms for today's title game, should they get there, Miller was inserted onto the mound in the second inning of the first game against Coeur d'Alene with the Cubs trailing by three runs early.
"He came out and dominated," Weiss said of Miller, whose steady performance allowed the Cubs to claw back into the opener.
Ceding just one run the rest of the way, "he's really the reason we played that second game against Sandpoint," Weiss said of Miller. "He got us there."
Against Sandpoint, Cubs pitcher Colton Stottlemyre went six innings and "threw a hell of a game," Weiss added, noting the Cubs curbed their tendency to walk, a bugaboo all year.
"We've been fighting walks all summer, and he only had two walks," Weiss said of Stottlemyre, who left the nightcap with his team leading 12-11 after the sixth.
"Walking guys has been kind of our Achilles heel, we've given up a lot of runs on walks. So not walking guys is huge for us."
To close out Sandpoint, the Cubs' Chris Powell retired the only three batters he faced and "did everything we needed him to do," Weiss added. "He came in and shut it down."
FIRST GAME
CDA 410 000 0-5 2 3
L-C 102 003 x-6 8 3
Tom Robinson and Connor Killen. Preston Peterson, Mitch Miller (2) and Jackson Fuller.
Cd'A hits - Nathan Phillips 2
L-C hits - Riley Way, Chris Powell 2 (2-2B), Julian Washburn (2B), Jackson Fuller, Ryder Shoults 3 (2B)
SECOND GAME
Sandpoint 100 046 0-11 11 1
L-C 103 440 x-12 15 4
Patrick Rummer and West Holland. Colton Stottlemyre, Powell (7) and Fuller.
Sandpoint hits - Holland, Logan Maggro 2, Paul Stempquist 2, Aaron Wallers 3, W. Holland, Walker Jamison, Levi Irish
L-C hits - Way 3, Powell (3B), Julian Washburn 2 (HR), Wyatt Baldwin 2 (2B), Fuller, Leyton Wallace 2, Shoults, Garrett Borth, Alex Light 2
Moscow 10, Sandpoint 0
MOSCOW - Moscow's Charlie Lidean limited Sandpoint to one hit and helped the Blue Devils claim a five-inning mercy-rule win in the Idaho Class A district semifinals.
Hoping to earn a district tournament title to match their regular season crown, the Blue Devils will face the Lewis-Clark Cubs today at 1 p.m. in the championship game.
Lidean, who'd closed the night before, struck out four while ceding just one walk against Sandpoint and "he was just awesome," said Moscow coach Griffin Rod, who noted that Lidean did most of his damage with his fastball and location.
"He didn't even have his curveball working."
Rod said Sandpoint had been playing at a really high level.
"So for us to come out and handle them quickly was just huge," he said.
Sandpoint 000 00 0-0 1 4
Moscow 340 3x-10 7 1
TJ Davis, Justuin Dunkel (2), Aaron Wolthers (5) and Nick Holland. Charlie Lidean and Cade Knott
Sandpoint hit - Levi Irish.
Moscow hits - Duke Richardson 3 (2B, 3B), Knott, Devin Carscallen, Taylor Malm, Bryce Mattoon
FM Sports 11, Blues 0
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Held to two hits, the Asotin County Blues absorbed a run-rule loss to FM Sports in the first round of the Washington state tournament.
The Blues face LC Black of Longview at 9 a.m. today as the double-elimination tournament continues.
Asotin County was held to two hits over five innings by pitcher Connor Barison, who was "by far the best we saw all year," Blues assistant coach Perry Black said. "We did hit balls really hard, right at people, unfortunately."
FM Sports, of Redmond, led 4-0 before erupting for seven runs in the fourth inning, capitalizing on a pivotal error and doing much of its damage with two outs.
Jack Vonderhaar tallied three hits and two RBI for FM, and No. 9 Casey Beliel batter drove in three runs.
Asotin County 000 00- 0 2 2
FM Sports 202 7x-11 11 1
Devon Barton, Hogan Heytvelt (4) and Elliott Marks. Connor Barison and Nolan Baudher.
Asotin County hits - Dylan Beeler, Taran Smith.
FM Sports hits - Gavin Forstrom 2, Alex McBain, David Gibons (2B), Jack Vonderhaar 3, Baudher (2B), Matt Rippo, Casey Beliel 2.
BABE RUTH 14
Lewiston enters fray
Lewiston plunges into action today in the Pacific Northwest Babe Ruth tournament for 14-year-olds, an event that got started Saturday at Harris Field in Lewiston.
The host team plays at 3 p.m. today versus West Linn, Ore., which opened with an 11-5 win over Twin Cities of the Centralia, Wash., area.
Johnathan Kelly dominated on the mound for West Linn, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning.
In other games, Hazel Dell Metro defeated Mt. Vernon, Wash., 10-0 in six innings; Glacier, Mont., downed Kelso, Wash., 10-6; and Klamath Falls, Ore., beat the Alberta representative 22-7.
Another Idaho team getting started today is Central Idaho of Orofino, facing Klamath Falls at 6 p.m.
In other games, Kelso takes on Twin Cities at 9 a.m. and Hazel Dell plays Alberta at noon.
All games Saturday and today are pool-play contests. The tournament stretches through Thursday.
SOFTBALL REGIONALS
Montana 3, Lewiston 2
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Despite leading by a run entering the fifth inning, the Lewiston Little League softball team fell to Montana at the Little League West Regional tournament at Al Houghton Stadium.
"The girls played awesome," said Lewiston coach Lonnie Mader, who said his team played "just about as good as you can hope they'll play.
"A 3-2 game means it was a great game," added Mader, who lauded the play of both teams. "The tournament official said that was the best game they'd had all season."
Lewiston pitcher Mikacia Bartosz gave up just two hits all night and Jenika Ortiz went 2-for-3 at the plate. Mader noted that his team had no trouble swinging the bat; "We hit it hard all night long, we had good hits, but they went right to people," Mader said. "Very proud of the girls."
Lewiston continues in pool play today.
Idaho 001 100-2 6 3
Montana 100 02x-3 2 1
