6A DISTRICT 1 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: Post Falls breaks through

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

POST FALLS — The Post Falls Trojans are going where no Trojan team has gone since 2018. 

Junior Marshall Tomlinson homered for the second straight game and senior Michael O’Connor and junior Caden Perkins pitched out of a game’s worth of trouble as Post Falls held off the top-seeded Coeur d’Alene Vikings 4-3 to sweep their best-of-3 series for the 6A District 1 title on Thursday afternoon. 

Post Falls (12-8) advances and will host a three-team state regional series next week.  

"This means everything to me. It’s what I’ve always wanted since freshman year,” said Tomlinson, a three-year starter at catcher, who had hit one home run all season before going yard twice this week. “This team is special; everybody fought for each other. It just made it amazing, just the connections we have on this team.” 

Tomlinson, who homered for the game’s only run in Tuesday’s 1-0 victory at Coeur d’Alene, hit a two-run homer over the right-field fence in the first inning Thursday for a 2-0 lead. 

“I didn’t think it was going to go, so I put my head down and started running,” the righty swinging Tomlinson said. “And then it went over; everything just kinda went quiet.” 

Post Falls scored two more in the second to go up 4-0, then held on. 

"It’s been eight years since we’ve been to state,” fourth-year Post Falls coach Kurt Reese said. “And so this is a huge victory for the boys, and for the program, the community, the high school, everything. We’ve been looking forward to this, battling hard for the last couple years to get here, and we’re finally here, which feels amazing.” 

"Mike and Caden put it together,” Reese said of his pitchers. “It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough.” 

Coeur d’Alene (9-8), ranked seventh by MaxPreps, drops into the mix for an at-large berth to one of the four regional series, and will find out this weekend if its season continues.

"We’ll see,” second-year Viking coach Brandon Williams said. “We’re in limbo right now, and we’ll deal with that when it comes. I don’t see us staying here (like last year, when Coeur d’Alene lost to Lake City at districts, but was assigned to the Lake City site for its regional series). If we do get somewhere, we’re going south.” 

In the second inning, Beckett Beyer singled, stole second and scored on a throwing error for Post Falls, and Caden Reese’s sacrifice fly made it 4-0. 

Coeur d’Alene then started chipping away. 

Bam Fenter reached on an error with one out in the third, and after Dylan Cook was intentionally walked, senior Ryder Bishop followed with an RBI single. 

In the fourth, Beckett Larson doubled and Seth Stevens singled him home with one out to pull the Vikings within 4-2. 

Coeur d’Alene had a run taken away in the fifth. With the bases loaded and nobody out, a Viking batter hit into a 5-4-3 double play. And since the runner heading to second didn’t get down, the other runners had to return to third and second. The next batter flied out to right. 

In the sixth, two walks and a single loaded the bases with one out. Cook hit a ground ball to second and reached on an error, and Stevens scored. 

But Perkins struck out the next two batters. 

In the seventh, a single and a walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Colton Nordman put runners at second and third with one out. 

Perkins struck out the next batter, and Post Falls chose to intentionally walk the dangerous Fenter to load the bases. 

Gavin Helms hit a chopper to third, and Trojan third baseman Ben Carrasco barely beat the Viking runner to the bag, ending the game. 

“Just pure joy,” Tomlinson said of feeling after the final out. “Can’t believe we did it. Just a group effort, for sure. Great group of guys. Going in, I knew it was going to be a tough battle, but I knew if we fought hard, we could come out on top.” 

“Bam’s the best player in the league,” Reese said. “Best hitter, best pitcher in the league. We’re not going to take our chances on that one. And Gavin was the league MVP last year. It was a tough choice, but that just made more sense for this moment.” 

Coeur d’Alene left 13 on base. 

"We had every chance in the world to blow that game open, and we just didn’t take advantage of it,” Williams said. “I’ve got to figure something out (if Coeur d’Alene plays next week). I’ve got to figure out how to get these guys motivated to hit.” 

Post Falls is ranked 13th by MaxPreps, and likely would have been on the fence for an at-large berth. 

“For us to get to state, this was a must win,” Reese said of districts. “We weren’t going to take chances on the seeding, or anything else. There was a slim chance (of an at-large bid), but we didn’t want to leave it up to that chance.” 

Coeur d’Alene     001    101    0    —    3    8    0 

Post Falls     220    000    x    —    4    5    3 

JD Davenport, Tyler Kernkamp (5) and Colton Nordman, Thomas Pickens (6); Michael O’Connor, Caden Perkins (4) and Marshall Tomlinson. 

HITS: Fenter, Helms, Cook 2, Bishop, Foulk, Larson, Stevens. PF — Wienker, B. Carrasco, Tomlinson, Beyer, Berend. 2B — Larson. HR — Tomlinson.  

    MARK NELKE/Press From left, Coeur d'Alene third base coach Mike Borowski, Post Falls third baseman Ben Carrasco (15) and Coeur d'Alene's Beckett Larson await the umpire's call on a force play at third base with two out in the seventh inning Thursday at Post Falls. The runner was called out.