COEUR d'ALENE - In their last matchup, the Coeur d'Alene Vikings softball team used "small ball" to beat the Lake City Timberwolves in the state 5A tournament championship game last May in Chubbuck.

On Tuesday, the Timberwolves used the "long ball" to hand Coeur d'Alene its first loss in 5A Inland Empire League play as three players hit home runs in a 9-1 win over the Vikings at Lake City High.

Coeur d'Alene (9-2, 3-1 5A IEL) opened a 1-0 lead as Brooke Albertson scored on an error in the top of the first inning, only to be answered by a two-run home run to right-center field by Lake City catcher Lindsey Willmon in the bottom of the first inning. Dakota Wilson led off the bottom of the second inning with a home run to left field to give Lake City (11-0, 5-0) a 3-1 lead.

"I thought we were aggressive in the batter's box today," Lake City coach Laura Tolzmann said. "Even though they scored first, I like how our team responded, didn't look back and kept adding on."

Willmon, who transferred to Lake City from Pleasant Grove High in Elk Grove, Calif., this year, also doubled in the sixth inning.

“I think it’s nice to have a new face,” Tolzmann said of Willmon. “A fresh face that doesn’t know any of the background of the rivalry and what happened last year.”

After 10 straight wins by Lake City over Coeur d’Alene dating back to 2010, the Vikings beat the Timberwolves 5-2 in the state title game last year. This year’s state 5A tournament will be held at Ramsey Park in Coeur d’Alene.

“I think it wasn’t so much about us playing Coeur d’Alene today, but trying to get through some of our own things as a team and get to where we’ll need to be,” Tolzmann said. “We’ll get to see them three more times at least this season.”

Willmon — who has signed with Hawaii — also played club softball with Lake City pitcher Casey Stangel on the SoCal Choppers.

“It’s been a dream come true because it’s the last time we can play together before we go off to college next year,” Willmon said. “It’s awesome catching Casey. She’s the best pitcher in the nation in my opinion. Everyone said they were a little more amped up to play Coeur d’Alene, but we just had to treat it like just another game.”

Stangel, who has signed with Missouri, put the game out of reach with a three-run home run in the fifth inning and finished with nine strikeouts for Lake City, which travels to Coeur d’Alene next Tuesday for a doubleheader at Larry Schwenke Field.

“We’re just really dialed in right now,” Tolzmann said. “They’re really focused and I know they’ve got a lot of drive and determination to get back there (to the state title game) again and I hope we meet up with them again.”

Lake City capped the scoring with three unearned runs on two errors in the sixth inning as Coeur d’Alene finished with a season-high three errors in the game.

“We won’t play like this again,” Coeur d’Alene coach Larry Bieber said. “We wanted to score first because the secret to beating these guys is putting some runs on the board and making them press and that’s how we beat them in the state championship. We just didn’t compete today. This is not what we’re about and it was ugly. It wasn’t what we expected at all.”

Lindsie Schowinski finished with six strikeouts for Coeur d’Alene, which travels to Lakeland on Thursday.

“We had a plan going in and she just wasn’t hitting her spots today,” Bieber said. “The one thing I know is, we’re young with only two seniors (Scholwinski and starting catcher Rashell Shaffer), and they’re going to learn from this. The next time we play these guys, we’ll be ready to compete. But you’ve got to give them credit — they hit the hell out of the ball today.”

Coeur d’Alene 100 000 0 — 1 3 3

Lake City 210 033 x — 9 9 1

Lindsie Scholwinski, Kayla Albertson (6) and Rashell Shaffer; Casey Stangel and Lindsey Willmon. W — Stangel (11-0). L — Scholwinski (7-2).

HITS: Cd’A — B. Albertson 2, Parker. LC — Stangel 2, Willmon 2, Wilson, Shippy, Welch, Gay, J. Wilson. 2B — B. Albertson 2, Parker, Willmon, Shippy, Gay. HR — Willmon (4), Stangel (9), D. Wilson (3).