STATE 5A SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT: Big third inning lifts Blackfoot past Lakeland ... Zimmerman homers early, but Hawks face long road back

By JASON ELLIOTT 

Sports writer 

POST FALLS — Lakeland’s still up for the challenge, albeit the road in the state 5A softball tournament got a little tougher on Thursday afternoon. 

Lakeland, seeded sixth, fell to the third-seeded Blackfoot Broncos 9-4 in an opening round game on Thursday at Post Falls High.

Lakeland (21-6) will face Burley (17-11) in a loser-out game today at 9 a.m. Burley, the seventh seed, lost to second-seeded Vallivue of Caldwell 8-7 in an opening round game later on Thursday.

Blackfoot (18-9) faces Vallivue (22-6) today at 11:15 a.m. 

Lakeland jumped out to a 2-0 lead three batters in the game after senior Delilah “Dizzy” Zimmerman hit a two-run home run on the eighth pitch of her at-bat over the left field fence. 

“In my head, I was really thinking that I needed to get this going,” said Zimmerman, who has signed with Division II Montana State-Billings. “I knew I had to set the tone for everyone. At the time, it seemed a little iffy because we hadn’t seen that team before. I was just trying to tap it and find a hole somewhere.” 

“I think that was probably Diz’s best at-bat of the season,” Lakeland coach Dwayne Curry said. “She fouled off four or five pitches and hit a home run off a mistake. It’s what we preach and she did everything correct in that at-bat. It was nice to just sit and watch that.” 

As the wind howled in Post Falls, the ball landed well over the fence. 

“I didn’t know it was gone,” Zimmerman said. “Inside pitches aren’t normally my thing. When I saw it, the next thing I knew I saw my girls stepping out onto the field, and I realized it was gone.” 

Blackfoot loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the third inning and took its first lead of the game on a two-run double by junior Emma McGuire. Junior Traylee Reid followed with a two-run single to make it 5-2 Broncos after the third. 

“They got some legit base hits and had some balls fall in for them,” Curry said. “I don’t believe we had an error and they had some legit hits and we can’t defend those. We had one bad inning and they put up five. After that, we’re right there.” 

“They’ve got four kids that can really hit the ball,” Blackfoot coach Tammy Sorenson said. “Their pitcher (Abby Helmholz), we struggled a little bit off her in the first couple of innings. She’s got a different rotation on the ball, and they’re a solid defensive team.” 

Senior Kiersten Drake, who has signed with North Idaho College, doubled down the left field line to score two runs and cut the deficit to 7-4 for Lakeland in the top of the fifth inning. 

“We’re right there,” Curry said. “Our big saying is to be a goldfish. Whatever happens, you’ve got to forget about it within five seconds and move on with our day. This is why we played so hard all season was to have this kind of pressure against really good teams like these."

McGuire finished with five RBIs, hitting a two-run home run in the sixth to put the game out of reach.

“We want to test ourselves against the best that Idaho has,” Curry said. “We know that all these games are going to be hard-fought games. We’re not expecting any 25-2 games. Our girls, they’re heads are up and ready to go again tomorrow.” 

“Coming from this, we know we’re not like that,” Zimmerman said. “We know we’re better than that. It was good competition and going into that, we weren’t that bad. But the team that wanted it got it. We’re not down for tomorrow, we’re up for it as well.” 

Blackfoot has won seven straight games. 

“That’s kind of been our story,” Sorenson said. “We’ll have one big inning and get things going. The kids are playing good right now and peaking at the right time.” 

Lakeland    200    020    0    —    4    7    0 

Blackfoot    005    202    x    —    9    11    0 

Abby Helmholz, Reese Dutton (4) and Delilah Zimmerman; Traylee Reid, Brianna Reynolds (6) and Emma McGuire. 

HITS: LL — Blakemore, Zimmerman, Drake 2, Re. Dutton, Corbey, Gonzales. Black — Evans, McGuire 3, T. Reid 2, K. Reid, Aguayo 3, Olsen. 2B — Drake, Corbey, McGuire. HR — Zimmerman, McGuire. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lakeland senior Delilah Zimmerman is greeted by her teammates after hitting a two-run home run in the top of the first inning of Thursday's state 5A softball tournament game against Blackfoot at Post Falls High.