* CLASS AA AREA A TOURNAMENT

LEWISTON - James Prockish went 3 for 3 with five RBIs as the No. 3 seed Prairie Cardinals upended the No. 2 Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen 12-7 in the first round of the Class AA Area A (district) tournament Thursday at Harris Field.

Prairie advances to meet the top-seeded Lewis-Clark Twins today at 5 p.m. The winner earns an automatic berth to state, and moves on to Saturday's 5 p.m. championship game.

Dustin Ceballos held Coeur d'Alene to one run over the final six innings to earn the win in relief.

"James Prockish came up with some clutch hits," Prairie coach Dustin Frank said. "Dustin Ceballos kept us in the game pitching-wise, and offensively we came through."

Coeur d'Alene (15-27) will play the Prairie/Lewis-Clark loser Saturday at 1 p.m., with that winner earning a berth to state as well as advancing to the title game later that day.

"Our Achilles' heel was, we had 15 walks or hit batters," Coeur d'Alene coach Lloyd Duman said. "We ended up with seven runs on 16 hits, just the pitching didn't work for us today. And to Prairie's credit, they took advantage of it."

Brett Robbins went 4 for 5 and Devin Kluss and Derek Griffin each went 3 for 4 for Coeur d'Alene, which led 4-1 after one inning and 6-4 after three.

Prairie 103 220 202 - 12 11 2

Coeur d'Alene 411 010 000 - 7 16 1

James Prockish, Dustin Ceballos (4) and Austin Allen, Prockish (4); Devin Kluss, Colby Kennedy (4), Elliott Sparks (7) and Colton Gray.

HITS: Pra - Jackson, McKinney, Prockish 3, Allen, Marks 3, Denny, Ceballos. Cd'A - Roletto, Robbins 4, Kluss 3, Green, Hicks 2, Chaffin 2, Griffin 3. 2B - Denny, Allen, Marks 2, Kluss, Hicks 2, Roletto.

* CLASS A AREA A TOURNAMENT

Prairie, St. Maries

nab first-round wins

COEUR d'ALENE - Dalton Lozier went 4 for 5 with a double and two runs scored, and the No. 3 seed Prairie Cardinals broke it open with seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat the Priest River Jammers 18-8 in the first round of the Class A Area A (district) tournament Thursday at Ramsey Park.

Dalton Strong, Brian Howell and Kenny Cooper had three hits each for Prairie (27-23), which plays No. 2 seed Lewis-Clark (25-18) today at 3 p.m. in a second-round game.

Leadoff hitter Michel Bodak scored four runs and Chris Kirkeby had a double and three runs scored for the Cardinals, who totaled 17 hits.

Seth Wolfe hit a solo homer in the first for Priest River, and an RBI double in the third. Kyle Jackson hit a three-run homer in the third.

The fifth-seeded St. Maries Savages scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning to erase a 4-3 deficit and beat the fourth-seeded Coeur d'Alene Loggers 7-4.

Tyson Truscott went 2 for 4 with a two-run single in the first inning and an RBI single in the fifth for St. Maries. D.J. Turner went 2 for 4 with two RBIs.

The Loggers jumped out to a 4-2 lead with four runs in the bottom of the first. Stephen Vaudreuil and Conner Strand each had two-run singles for the Loggers. Nathaniel English went 2 for 3 and Parker Gabrielson 2 for 4 with an RBI in the win.

Earlier, the Lewis-Clark Cubs beat the No. 7 Orofino Merchants 6-4. Joe Rigney hit a two-run single in the second inning, and Zack Ricard struck out seven.

For Orofino, Matt Brink went 2 for 3 and scored two runs, and Bryce Pippenger was 2 for 4 with a two-run double in the sixth.

St. Maries plays Moscow, which beat Camas Prairie 7-0, tonight at 8. Coeur d'Alene plays Camas Prairie at 12:30.

Mark Amos struck out five and pitched a three-hit shutout for Moscow against Camas Prairie. Pat O'Sullivan was 3 for 3 with a double and a triple, and Jared Paul was 2 for 2 with two RBIs.