Timberwolves pound Vikings
So much for the notion of early-season form.
Lake City looked like it spent the last five months honing its softball skills in a winter league as the Timberwolves rolled past Coeur d’Alene 7-1 Friday at CHS.
Sophomore first baseman Amanda Krier went 3 for 4 with a three-run homer for LC (3-1-1), which was not only errorless, but made sparkling defensive plays throughout.
“This team has come a long way already and everyone is playing their position well,” said Krier, whose first-inning blast came off Vikings ace Jenna DeLong. “In the late season, we’ll be even better.
“Our confidence level right now is high – very high, and beating them by six runs makes it even sweeter.”
Coeur d’Alene committed its only error on the first at-bat of the game as Richelle Fenenbock reached on an errant throw after a ground ball to third. DeLong then walked Kelli Bridges and Chantal Waide sacrificed both runners up a base.
Krier then stepped to the plate and, after fighting off a couple of pitches with a 1-2 count, ripped a high shot over the left-field fence.
The Vikings (3-5) got on the board in the bottom of the first, when, with two outs, Jessyca Le singled down the left-field line and DeLong promptly doubled her in with a towering shot off the base of the left-field fence.
LC got the run right back in the second on Kathleen Capone’s RBI grounder to the left of shortstop, scoring Haley Tate.
The score held at 4-1 until the fifth, when a hit batsman and a mental error on a fielder’s choice put Fenenbock and Bridges on for Waide. Both runners advanced on a double steal and Waide wasn’t fooled by an off-speed offering from DeLong, grounding it hard through the box to score a pair.
Krier finished out the scoring with her fourth RBI, singling in Waide on a soft liner up the middle.
Overshadowed somewhat by the offensive outburst and defensive wizardry was a tidy five-hitter by LC senior ace Stephanie Saadoun, who faced only five batters over the minimum.
“I have an awesome team behind me,” Saadoun said. “And it’s encouraging when you’re pitching out there and you know that they’re going to get the out for you.”
T-Wolves coach Laura Tolzmann attributed her team’s performance to pent-up energy after a soggy, rainout-filled trip to Boise last weekend.
“I think it was just that we’ve had so many practices, and we haven’t had many games,” Tolzmann said. “We were just excited to play a game finally. Our defense came up with some big plays.”