SPIRIT LAKE – The Bonners Ferry Badgers finished the year with a 6-14 record after dropping four of five against a highly competitive Timberlake Tigers squad, which advances to the 4A state tournament after finishing the regular season 14-3. 

The District 1 tournament series took place on April 29 and 30 at Timberlake High School, where the Badgers fell short in the first game 0-10 and in the second game 2-7. 

In the crucial game one, the game was tight, with a score of 0-2 going into the fifth inning. But that’s when the Tigers rallied for eight runs to break the game open and ultimately seal it. 

The Badgers struggled to get on base against Tigers pitcher Eric Wylie, who pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks. Bonners Ferry was able to put the ball in play well, though, only striking out once in the entire game. 

For the first four innings, Timberlake was held to two runs on four hits. But the Tigers uncorked half of their hits and almost all of their runs in a sudden fifth inning rally. 

In game two of the best of three series, Timberlake got the scoring started in the third inning with a few singles and a triple and went up seven runs by the fifth inning. 

Despite the Badgers coming up short on their state tournament aspirations this year, the team had a thrilling finish to the season for their home fans.

On April 25, in the team’s final home game of the season, Bonners Ferry mounted an eight-run comeback in the final inning against Timberlake to win 11-10. 

It took only one hit for Bonners Ferry to win in walk-off fashion after beginning the bottom of the seventh inning down 10-3. Four batters walked, two were hit by pitches and the final blow was delivered by three runs scored off a Timberlake error via a groundball put in play by Maddox Mertzweiller. 

Early in the game, the Badgers had scoring opportunities, but they were unable to convert with runners in scoring position in the first two innings. 

Then in the third inning, Keenan Maas and Jack Woods broke the scoring drought for the Badgers with back-to-back doubles to drive two runs home.  

Though Bonners Ferry won the second game in the double header, they dropped their other regular season matchups against Timberlake, so the team traveled to Spirit Lake to begin the district championship series. 

DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME ONE 

Bonners Ferry 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 1
Timberlake 2 0 0 0 8 – 10 8 1

PITCHING: BF – Liermann: 4.1IP, 7H, 9R, 5BB, 1K. Rice: 0.1IP, 1H, 1R, 1BB, 0K. TL – Wylie: 5.0IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K. 

BATTING: HITS: BF – Bateman 1, Hanson 1. TL – Brennan 4, Perkl 1, Pecor 1, Wylie 1, Moore 1. 2B: TL – Brennan 1, Wylie 1. RBI: TL – Brennan 2, Wylie 2, Perkl 1, Blansfield 1, Moore 1, Van Tassel 1, Haines 1. 

DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TWO 

Bonners Ferry 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 – 2 9 3
Timberlake 0 0 4 3 0 0 X – 7 8 2

PITCHING: BF – Rider: 3.1IP, 8H, 7R, 0BB, 1K. Woods: 2.2IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 2K. TL – Brennan: 6.1IP, 7H, 1R, 2BB, 3K. Pecor: 0.2IP, 2H, 1R, 0BB, 0K. 

BATTING: HITS: BF – Liermann 2, Hanson 2, Bateman 1, Maas 1, Woods 1, Rice 1, Burt 1. TL – Wylie 2, Beardsall 2, Haines 2, Brennan 1, Perkl 1. 3B: TL – Beardsall 1. 2B: BF – Hanson 1. RBI: BF – Rice 1. TL – Beardsall 2, Perkl 1, Pecor 1, Wylie 1. 

FINAL HOME GAME 

Timberlake 3 1 1 0 0 4 1 – 10 12 5
Bonners Ferry 0 0 2 0 1 0 8 – 11 8 4

PITCHING: BF – Woods: 0.2IP, 2H, 3R, 3BB, 1K. Liermann: 3.1IP, 3H, 2R, 2BB, 0K. Rice: 3IP, 7H, 5R, 0BB, 0K. TL – Brennan 6.1IP, 7H, 4R, 2BB, 8K. Beardsall: 0.0IP, 1H, 4R, 2BB, 0K. Blansfield: 0.1IP, 0H, 3R, 1BB, 0K. Van Tassel: 0.0IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K. 

BATTING: HITS: BF – Liermann 2, Bateman 1, Maas 1, Woods 1, Rice 1, Burt 1, Mertzweiller 1. TL – Pecor 3, Perkl 2, Moore 2, Van Tassel 2, Brennan 1, Wylie 1, Haines 1. 2B: BF – Maas 1. TL – Wylie 1, Van Tassel 1. RBI: BF – Maas 2, Woods 2, Rice 1, Ostberg 1. TL – Van Tassel 3, Pecor 2, Moore 1.