Timberlake wins league, hosting softball and baseball districts
Bonners Ferry 12, Timberlake 1
BONNERS FERRY — Timberlake may have clinched the top seed to the 3A District 1 tournament with a double header sweep of the Badgers on April 26, but the Tigers fell 12-1 Wednesday to the Badgers, making a sweet end for Senior Night at Bonners Ferry High.
Timberlake (10-9-1, 2-1 IML) will host Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series on Wednesday.
Thomas Bateman drove in five runs, including a three-run home run in the fifth inning and Trey Bateman had four RBIs and four runs scored for Bonners Ferry (4-18, 1-2).
“Trey had a great day on the mound and at the plate,” Bonners Ferry coach Tom Turpin said. “I was proud of our approaches at the plate. We were swinging at good pitches and Trey was consistent as he normally is. We feel good about how we finished the season. Anything can happen in a three-game series.”
“Great day for Senior Day, as all seniors got hits,” he said. “Trey finished the game with an over the fence homerun, the first over the fence home run. Thomas Bateman, hit the first inside the park homerun that I can remember in the 25 years I’ve been here.”
“When [Thomas] rounded second, Timberlake was just getting to the ball, so that was exciting,” he said. “We played a solid game offensively, defensively and on the mound. It doesn’t change where districts are going to be, but creates momentum for us going into the tournament.”
With only a two-team league, the Badgers have faced 4A and 5A competition in the pre-season.
“In March we faced a pitcher that was throwing 90 mph, his partner was throwing 85 mph, so we’ve seen quality pitching and quality teams,” he said, noting none of that mattered the past week as they were facing Timberlake to see who would host districts.
He said the two-team league is a change because typically throughout the season, coaches will compare their opponent's competition against shared opponents, but with this year's schedule the mindset of winning the best of six. He is hopeful that a third team will join the IML in the coming years.
“I told the boys, they woke up the sleeping giant. They gave us the opportunity to have the bats work and get some runs on the board and we’ll see what happens Wednesday,” he said.
Bonners Ferry faces Timberlake in Spirit Lake on Wednesday and Thursday at 4 p.m. If needed, a third game will be scheduled for Friday.
Timberlake 000 01 — 1 7 1
Bonners Ferry 113 43 — 12 12 0
Game called with no outs in bottom of fifth inning due to 10-run rule.
Cooper Lenz, Riley Brennan (3) and Nate Beardsall; Trey Bateman and Jesse Fess.
HITS: TL — Lenz, Brennan, Allaway, Moore, Blansfield 2, Beardsall. BF — Tr. Bateman 3, Fess, Th. Bateman 3, Woods, Bliss 2, Smith. 2B — Tr. Bateman. 3B — Fess. HR — Tr. Bateman, Th. Bateman.
• SOFTBALL
Timberlake 17, Bonners Ferry 1
BONNERS FERRY — Junior Jesi Kitchen homered and drove in four runs, and the visiting Tigers wrapped up their fifth straight Intermountain League softball title, and 16th since 2005 on Friday, May 3.
Kitchin hit a three-run, inside-the-park homer in the second inning, and singled in a run in the fourth.
Acacia Pecor struck out eight, walked one and pitched a two-hitter for Timberlake (12-8, 2-0 IML).
“Jesi had a huge day at the plate for us,” Timberlake coach Casi Lupinacci said. “Acacia pitched well, and we played rock-solid defense.”
Ava Frederickson tripled and scored in the fourth inning for Bonners Ferry (4-13, 0-2).
Bonners Ferry head coach Cynthia Sumpter said she was informed of the change from a three-game league series to two on the morning of Thursday, May 2. The IML rivals were supposed to play a doubleheader on Friday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to round out the league.
Timberlake resolved to only play two games in the league and won 2-0. However, at the time, Timberlake baseball had defeated the Badgers earlier in the week in a doubleheader, but still traveled to Bonners Ferry on May 3 for the third game, which Bonners Ferry won.
“I’m still not sure why [the game was canceled],” Sumpter said, noting Timberlake did not want to play a doubleheader, but Bonners Ferry traveled to Spirit Lake last year to play a doubleheader.
“Our issue was getting hits off the pitcher,” she said. “The pitcher we had last time was faster, we could hit off her, but we weren’t confident, so there went half of our game.”
She said at bat once the Badgers finally got the timing down, if they'd had more innings to play the results could have been different.
Sumpter said the team is better than the score shows and is looking forward to facing Timberlake again for districts. She added Bonners was disappointed that on Senior Night, instead of captains shaking hands before the game, Timberlake players were playing hacky sack on the diamond.
Bonners Ferry will travel to Timberlake on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Game 1 of a best-of-three series for the 3A District 1 title. Game 2 is Thursday at 4 p.m., and Game 3, if necessary, is Friday.
The games had been scheduled for earlier in the week
Timberlake 132 74 — 17 9 0
Bonners Ferry 000 10 — 1 2 3
Game called after 5 innings due to 10-run rule.
Acacia Pecor and Logan Walsh; Taylor Sumpter, Jodee Curtis (5) and Ava Frederickson.
HITS: TL — Dykes 2, Kitchin 4, Pecor, Cameron, Allaway. BF — A. Frederickson, Petersen. 3B — Kitchin, A. Frederickson.
Badger senior softball players at Senior Night (left) Jada Fairchild, Taylor Sumpter, Ava Frederickson and Jodee Curtis.