- 5A REGION 1

COEUR d’ALENE — For the third straight postseason meeting, the Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls baseball teams staged a well-played, closely contested game in Monday’s 5A Region 1 opener. And this year, the host Vikings liked the results.

Led by the pitching and hitting of Cody Davenport and Alex Karns, Coeur d’Alene got just enough runs against Trojans ace Jacob Rutherford to beat Post Falls 2-1 at Ted Page Field, the 17th win in a row for the Vikings.

Coeur d’Alene (21-1), which went undefeated through the 5A Inland Empire League, will host Lewiston today at 4 for a trip to the state tournament. The Bengals beat visiting Lake City 2-1 in Monday’s other regional opener.

“We didn’t have the offensive performance we would have liked, but our pitching and defense picked us up,” CHS coach Nick Mahin said. “This is such a tough league ... in my past three years of coaching, all of the (regional) games have been close, including last year, when Post Falls beat us 3-2 twice in the playoffs.”

The second inning gave the Vikings all the runs they would need. Quinton Bunch drew a leadoff walk, and advanced to third on a single by Devon Johnson. Davenport’s single scored Bunch, and Alex Karns followed with a single to score Johnson from second.

“It could have been a bigger inning for us, but Rutherford beared down and got out of it,” Mahin said. “The whole game after that, he always came up with a key pitch or big strikeout when he needed it.

“He threw a great game, but Cody and Alex matched him. It was a really well-played high school game.”

Post Falls pulled within a run in the fifth when Cole Rutherford singled in Jacob Burton, who had led off with a single. But the Trojans stranded runners at first and second after that, and ran into similar frustration in the fourth and sixth. In the fourth, Post Falls had runners at second and third with one out. The batter hit a hard grounder to third, and the Viking third baseman tagged out the Trojan who had strayed too far off third. The runner at second was then picked off.

“It’s that same old execution piece,” Post Falls coach Mick Zeller said. “They got three of their five hits back to back to back, and we couldn’t string ours together. It’s frustrating, is what it was.”

Davenport, who struck out five and allowed three hits in six innings, gave way to Karns after throwing 103 pitches for Coeur d’Alene. The sophomore allowed a walk and a strikeout en route to securing the final three outs and the save.

Rutherford struck out six and allowed five hits in six innings for Post Falls (6-14), which travels to Lake City for a loser-out game today at 4.

Post Falls 000 010 0 — 1 3 0

Cd’A 020 000 x — 2 5 2

Jacob Rutherford and Derek Pearse; Cody Davenport, Alex Karns (7) and Carter Friesz.

HITS: PF — C. Rutherford, J. Rutherford, Burton. Cd’A — Chatfield, Friesz, Johnson, Davenport, Karns. 2B — Friesz.

Lewiston 2, Lake City 1

LEWISTON — Brock Sween took a shutout into the sixth inning for Lake City, but Lewiston punched across a couple of runs in the inning to edge the Timberwolves in a first-round game of the 5A Region 1 tournament at Church Field.

Lake City (7-12) took a 1-0 lead in the second when Dylan Brum singled in Brennen Schuelke, who had reached on a fielder’s choice.

In the sixth, Dawson Bonfield hit a two-run double to put Lewiston (12-7) ahead to stay.

“It spoiled a great outing by Brock Sween,” Lake City coach Paul Manzardo said. “He threw 71 percent strikes, and only threw 65 pitches in a complete game. We left a lot of runners on base; we just couldn’t get the key hit when we needed to. And they got the key hit when they needed to. That’s the story.”

Lake City 010 000 0 — 1 6 1

Lewiston 000 002 x — 2 5 1

Brock Sween and Jackson Scherr; Dalton Hart and Connor Stamper.

HITS: LC — Childers, Rinaldi, Reid, Smith, Sween, Brun. Lew — Van Boeyen, Bonfield 2, Stamper, Ricard. 2B — Sween, Bonfield.

- 4A REGION 1

Sandpoint 12, Lakeland 4

RATHDRUM — The third-seeded Bulldogs, coming off a 10-5 victory over No. 2 Moscow in a loser-out game earlier in the day, upended the top-seeded Hawks in Game 1 of a best-of-3 series for the 4A Region 1 title at Gorton Field.

Sandpoint (9-14) took home-field advantage away from Lakeland with the win, and will host the Hawks (8-11-2) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Game 2 with a chance to go to state. If Lakeland wins, Game 3 will be Friday in Rathdrum.

“It just wasn’t our night tonight,” Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury said. “We couldn’t do anything right and certainly didn’t play the way we were capable of playing. You’ve got to hand it to Sandpoint, though. They capitalized on all our mistakes and had some real timely hitting.”

Lakeland managed just three hits and committed five errors against Sandpoint. Max Thielbahr drove in four runs, three on a bases-clearing triple in an eight-run fifth.

Moscow finished 8-10.

Sandpoint 000 282 0 — 12 13 4

Lakeland 011 020 0 — 4 3 5

Tyler Lehman, Caleb Davis (5) and Connor Dodd, Trevor Brackett (2); Justin Dennison, Scott Pote (5), Tristan Clift (6) and Colton Aragon.

HITS: Spt — Thielbahr 2, Lehman, Garcia 2, Brackett 2, Arroyo 2, Stockton, Bocksch 2, MacDonald. LL — Bell, Taylor, Hegbloom. 2B — Bocksch, Arroyo. 3B — Bocksch, Thielbahr.

- 2A DISTRICT 1-2

St. Maries goes 1-1, lands in state play-in game

ST. MARIES — The host Lumberjacks sent Orofino home with a 7-3 victory in their first game, then fell to Grangeville 13-7 in the championship game of the 2A District 1-2 tournament at St. Maries Legion Field.

Grangeville, which beat Orofino 7-3 in the first game on Monday, advances to state May 16-18 at Orofino.

St. Maries (9-4) will play the third-place finisher from District 3 on Saturday in a state play-in game.

Against Orofino, Brayden Brusseau hit a two-run double in the first inning for St. Maries. Hayden Villa hit a two-run single in a five-run second, and Kaden Hammond was 2 for 4 and scored twice.

In the title game, Thomas Reynolds went 4 for 5 with a solo homer, two RBIs and three runs scored for Grangeville. Villa had two hits and drove in three runs for St. Maries, and Derek Larson also knocked in two runs.

Orofino finished 2-13.

ST. MARIES 7, OROFINO 3

Orofino 100 010 1 — 3 4 2

St. Maries 250 000 x — 7 8 5

Sparano, Turcott (5) and Turcott, R. Carson (5); Ethan Hill, Shaun Anderson (6) and Cade Truscott.

HITS: Oro — Barton, Hueth, Carson, Daily. SM — Larson, Hammond 2, Turscott, Villa, Brusseau, Baog, Lohman. 2B — Brusseau, Larson.

GRANGEVILLE 13, ST. MARIES 7

Grangeville 401 610 1 — 13 14 0

St. Maries 000 133 0 — 7 11 5

Chase Adkison, Hunter Schoo (6) and Tori Ebert, Adkison (6); Kaden Hammond, Jacob Mills (4), Hayden Villa (4), Shaun Anderson (7) and Cade Truscott.

HITS: Grange — Adkison 2, Reynolds 4, H. Schoo 2, Garman 2, Kennedy, Woods, Wimer 2. SM — De. Larson, Hammond, Truscott 2, Villa 2, Dy. Larson, Hills, Lohman, Anderson 2. 2B — Adkison, Villa, Dy. Larson. 3B — De. Larson. HR — Reynolds.