COEUR d'ALENE - In their opening-round game, the Timberlake Tigers could do almost nothing wrong on the way to a 10-3 win over the Buhl Indians at the state 3A softball tournament Friday at Ramsey Park.

In the semifinals, whatever could have gone wrong did as the Tigers fell to the Homedale Trojans 16-3 to move into today's third-place game at 11 a.m.

Timberlake (15-7) will face Bear Lake of Montpelier, which fell to Fruitland 17-2 in the other semifinal.

Homedale 16, Timberlake 3: After a scoreless first inning, Homedale (21-7) loaded the bases and scored six runs, capped by a two-run home run by Destiny Long. Raven Kelly had four RBIs, including a 2-run single in the sixth.

"We battled offensively, but didn't come up when we needed to," Timberlake coach Mike Menti said. "There were innings when we're putting runners on base, but didn't turn the tide. That really hurt us."

Timberlake (15-7) also had six errors in the game after having one earlier in the day against Buhl.

"When you've got a lot of errors in a game, you can't expect to win," Menti said. "Nicole (Cameron) can't pitch four outs an inning. Across the board, we need to play defense behind her. The bad thing is that if we're not playing well defensively, we can still score runs - but we just weren't making plays or clutching up at the plate."

Homedale pitcher Bryce Osborn struck out six.

"We just weren't competing at the plate like we did in the first game or the last couple of weeks," Menti said. "It was just one of those days where we didn't get it done at the plate."

Cameron, who tweaked her knee in the first game on Friday, reinjured it against Homedale, but Menti expects to have her today against Bear Lake.

“I’ve got no doubt she’ll be in the circle for us tomorrow,” Menti said. “She might show up with the dang thing cut off, but she’ll want to pitch. We had an argument out there because she didn’t want me to take her out of the game, so I had to physically take the ball from her. As a coach, that’s what you want from a player.”

“Timberlake’s a good team,” Homedale coach Larry Corta said. “We just had a few more breaks than they did today. We’re swinging the bats well right now.”

Timberlake 10, Buhl 3: After Timberlake first baseman Jenna Hoffman watched a ball roll down the first base line in the second inning — but didn’t immediately pick it up and touch first for the final out — Menti politely asked her to get her head in the game.

Hoffman led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run to center field, then hit a 2-run double in the third inning as the Tigers defeated the Indians in the opening round.

“I just went to the plate with no pressure,” Hoffman said. “He always tells us to step up in big situations. It was just my turn to get a clutch hit.”

Morgan Pearson hit a solo home run in the sixth for Buhl.

“The biggest difference for us was we loaded the bases in the second and fifth inning, and couldn’t get that big hit,” Buhl coach Derrik Brinkman said. “Timberlake did that and that was the biggest difference in the game. (Nicole) Cameron knows how to spot the ball. We needed to come up with the big hit and didn’t.”

In other opening round games: Cheyenne Barger and Jenny Phillips each hit 3-run homers to lead Fruitland past Priest River 10-0 in five innings ... Morgan Nash went 2 for 2 with three runs scored as Homedale beat Teton ... Bear Lake outscored Kimberly 11-6, despite a 3-run homer by Bulldog catcher Jensen Upton.

Later: Kendall Cox struck out 17 as Fruitland advanced to the championship game over Bear Lake ... Ayonna Lentz went 3 for 5 and Brittany Krampert hit a 3-run home run as Priest River eliminated Kimberly for the Spartans’ first-ever victory in their first trip to state ... Kendyl Hamilton went 3 for 4 with two runs scored as Buhl defeated Teton in a loser-out game.

TIMBERLAKE 10, BUHL 3

Buhl 001 011 0 — 3 9 5

Timberlake 014 023 x — 10 10 1

Morgan Pearson and Tyana Weaver; Nicole Cameron and Ashlei Jerome. W — Cameron (15-6). L — Pearson.

HITS: Buhl — Hamilton, Lively, Gabardi 3, Cress, Lauda 3, Pearson. TL — Kuykendall 2, Hoffman 2, K. Malloy, Lastoskie, Jerome 2, Owen, Kalar. 2B — Cress, Kuykendall, Hoffman. HR — Hoffman (5), Pearson.

HOMEDALE 16, TIMBERLAKE 3

Homedale 061 013 5 — 16 13 2

Timberlake 012 000 0 — 3 6 6

Bryce Osborn, Morgan Nash (6) and Tori Nash; Nicole Cameron, Sydnie Malloy (7) and Ashlei Jerome. W — Osborn. L — Cameron (15-7).

HITS: Hom — M. Nash 2, G. Nash 2, Long, Mavey, A. Nash 3, Kelly 3, Aberasturi, Calzacorta. TL — Jerome, Hoffman 2, Owen, Driggs, Kalar, S. Malloy. 2B — M. Nash, Mavey, A. Nash 2, Hoffman. HR — Long, Kelly.