COEUR d'ALENE - What might wind up as the final American Legion baseball tournament at McEuen Field definitely started with a bang on Friday.

In the opening game, the second-seeded Prairie Cardinals rallied from a 5-0 deficit after three innings to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and eventually won it on a two-run, walk-off homer by Darnell Metcalf over the right-center field fence in the 11th inning for a 9-7 win over the third-seeded Lewis-Clark Twins.

"He's had that ability to do it in him," Prairie coach Dustin Frank said. "He struggled a bit during the season, but when the pressure is on him, he's one of the top three guys on our team I'd want to be up there."

Later, the host Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen pounded the Trail Jays 16-2 in seven innings behind a five-hitter from Grant Curtis, who also threw a complete game in a 14-4 win against the Jays in a North Idaho League game on Sunday at McEuen.

“We talked about what his approach was going to be after that last game,” Coeur d’Alene coach Lloyd Duman said. “We kind of had an idea of what their approach was going to be and how to counter it — and Grant executed the game plan well.”

Prairie (24-18) will face Coeur d’Alene (40-9) today at 4 p.m. for a berth into the championship game and guaranteed berth to state starting Thursday at Harris Field in Lewiston.

Lewis-Clark (17-27) will face Trail (11-29) today at 1 p.m. in a loser-out game.

At the district and state tourney level in AA, games are nine innings, with a 10-run rule after seven.

Prairie 9, Lewis-Clark 7, 11 inn.: After trailing the entire game, Prairie evened the score in the ninth as Lewis-Clark pitcher Allen Willey balked in the tying run attempting to intentionally walk Metcalf to load the bases with two out. Metcalf lined out to end the inning.

“I felt the ball was away before he skipped over and threw the ball,” said Lewis-Clark coach Kent Knigge of the umpire’s call. “But he probably should have been working from the stretch there. It’s all a timing thing, but he’s still got to execute.”

For Metcalf, who plays at Shoreline (Wash.) Community College, it was his first home run of the season on a two-strike pitch from Lewis-Clark’s Kyler Brooks.

“I saw he left it up the middle,” the righthanded-hitting Metcalf said. “So I decided to drive it a bit.”

Lewis-Clark took a 7-6 lead on an RBI double by Ryan Roth in the 11th inning and nearly closed out the game before an RBI double by Prairie center fielder Zack Reeder tied the game at 7. Reeder also singled with two strikes and two outs in the ninth to make it 6-5 Lewis-Clark.

“They came up with some key hits,” Knigge said. “Zack Reeder, he’s a tough, tough competitor. We had two strikes on him both times, and he got hits both times. He’s a player.”

Willey had eight strikeouts in nine innings for Lewis-Clark.

“He pitched his heart out and deserved to win,” Knigge said.

“That was one of the best games we’ve seen them play this year,” said Frank of Lewis-Clark. “We struggled early and fought through some adversity, but sooner or later we started to get some clutch hits.”

Willey held Prairie scoreless until the sixth inning and didn’t allow a baserunner until a Tyler Burnett single in the third inning.

“It was nice to see the guys stay positive and fight through some adversity,” Frank said. “It’s easy to have good attitudes when everything is going well, but when you’re struggling at plate, it’s tough. That was a fun game to be a part of.”

PRAIRIE 9, LEWIS-CLARK 7, 11 inn.

Lewis-Clark 311 000 100 01 — 7 13 1

Prairie 000 020 013 03 — 9 14 1

Two out when winning run scored.

Allen Willey, Kyler Brooks (10) and Mickey Smith; Tyler Shaffer, Nathan Collier (4), Joe Schwalbach (8) and Darnell Metcalf. W — Schwalbach (4-2). L — Willey.

HITS: LC — R. Fuller 2, Roth 3, J. Fuller, Martin, Bush, Meachem, Jones, Smith, Brooks, Hirst. Pra — Burnett 2, Metcalf 2, Collier 2, Cooper 2, Reeder 3, Schwalbach. 2B — R. Fuller 2, Roth, Brooks, Metcalf, Collier, Reeder 2. HR — Metcalf (1).

Coeur d’Alene 16, Trail 2, 7 inn.: Curtis struck out seven on Friday and also had two hits for Coeur d’Alene.

“I started to get the ball up in the fifth,” Curtis said. “I just refocused and stuck to the plan.”

Joe Roletto had three RBIs and Sean Sutton and Garrett Cabeza added two RBIs each for the Lumbermen.

“We’ve been working on our approach at the plate all week,” Duman said. “And they came with very aggressive approaches today.”

Coeur d’Alene went 4-0 against Prairie during the regular season and will send Pete Hoffman to the mound in today’s game. Hoffman no-hit the Cardinals in the team’s June 27 game in Coeur d’Alene.

“We’re throwing Pete tomorrow,” Duman said. “We know that’s the one to get us to the championship game. This is just the first game, and we know what’s at stake tomorrow.”

Trail had RBIs from Scott Davidson and Tanner Johnson in the fifth inning.

“It was not our game,” Trail coach Nick Combo said. “The score wasn’t how we liked it, but I think that’s kind of in the way we approached it. Our attitude wasn’t the best and effort-wise, I think we came into the game with a little less effort than normal.”

Combo, a former Lumbermen player who also played at Lake City High, still likes his team’s chances of advancing.

“We’ve still got some pitching left,” Combo said. “We didn’t have our No. 1 going, but he’ll throw tomorrow. All of the games right now are important, but Coeur d’Alene is a tough team to beat. But I still think we’ll be able to make a run at it with the guys we’ve got on the mound tomorrow.”

COEUR d’ALENE 16, TRAIL 2, 7 inn.

Trail 000 020 0 — 2 5 2

Coeur d’Alene 154 330 x — 16 13 1

Jarret Conway, Jake Lucchini (4) and Tanner Johnson; Grant Curtis and Kaleb DeHaas. W — Curtis. L — Conway.

HITS: Tra — Davidson 2, Johnson 2, McDonald. Cd’A — Comack 2, Roletto 2, N. Nyquist 2, Curtis 2, Sutton 3, Cabeza 2.

CLASS AA AREA A TOURNAMENT

At McEuen Field, Coeur d’Alene

Friday

Prairie 9, Lewis-Clark 7, 11 inn.

Coeur d’Alene 16, Trail 2, 7 inn.

Saturday

Game 3 — Lewis-Clark (17-27) vs. Trail (11-29), 1 p.m. (loser-out)

Game 4 — Prairie (24-18) vs. Coeur d’Alene (40-9), 4.

Game 5 — Loser Game 4 vs. Winner Game 3, 7:30. (loser-out)

Sunday

Game 6 — Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 3 p.m. (championship game)

Game 7 — Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 6 (if necessary).