Bringing their three-day total to 59 runs, the Lewis-Clark Twins left absolutely no doubt: the panhandle will be represented, and represented well, next week at the Class AA Idaho state tournament.
Saturday, the Twins wrapped up a district title and proved for the third time in many days that the regional tournament, for them at least, was more of a formality than a qualifying procedure. L-C squashed the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen 12-1 in a mercy-rule-shortened finale at Harris Field that was called after only 61/2 innings.
Now, L-C will vie for a state crown. It'd be the 39th in program history, but nothing has been more elusive to this group in recent years.
Last summer, the Twins set themselves up with a two-for-one shot to win the title, but the Boise Capitals came away with bragging rights after knocking off the Twins in consecutive games. That was L-C's best chance to win State since the Twins last did it in 2009.
Of course, many of the same players have been knocking on the door at the high school level. Fifteen of the 18 Twins suited up for Lewiston High last spring and watched their season come to an agonizing end just one game shy of the title round.
"It helps with motivation, absolutely," Twins coach Kyle Blackwell said. "This is a good team. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it."
Saturday, a Clarkston High grad with his own motives took the hill for L-C. Tyler Poe was a district champion with the Bantams this spring, but a promising season took a turn for the worse in the regional round, when Clarkston dropped a loser-out game to Ephrata. Poe's prep career finished one game short of a trip to the state tournament.
"It feels good being able to make (State)," Poe said, "because we didn't really come through on the season this year for high school, so it's nice knowing that I'll get a chance to go down and win State with this team."
Rather than blow his fastball by the opponent, Poe mostly pitched to contact and let his infield, made up exclusively of LHS Bengals, get the job done. They were solid aside from three defensive errors, two of which came in the seventh inning with L-C already nursing an 11-run lead.
Poe struck out only three batters in five innings of work, but conceded just three base hits and only one run, although that was unearned. Dalton Stamper entered in the sixth and tossed two innings of scoreless relief.
L-C pitchers conceded only 10 runs in three games at the district tournament.
"It's a good staff," Blackwell said.
The Twins continued to hum on offense, squeezing out 15 hits after securing 14 on Friday and 22 on Thursday. Three-hole hitter Chandler Tibbits picked up where he left off, securing three hits for the third consecutive game while picking up his third triple of the tournament.
Leadoff hitter Riley Way was relatively quiet, by his own standards, in L-C's opening games, but the LHS senior-to-be went 3-for-4 with a double on Saturday and crossed the plate three times.
"Just playing baseball," Way said. "No mental, just come out here and hit the ball."
All nine of the Twins who stepped to the plate on Saturday had at least one hit.
"I think our (offensive) potential is through the roof," Blackwell said. "They've got to be smart hitters and they showed that this weekend. I was pretty impressed with our at-bats, especially when we weren't up by a pile. We had some good at-bats."
It begs the question: Can the Twins keep up their torrid hitting at State?
"Yeah, the potential's there," Blackwell said.
The state tournament will start Tuesday in Boise.
Coeur d'Alene 000 100 0- 1 4 0
Lewis-Clark Twins 140 070 x-12 15 3
Brent Stapleton, Nate Phillips (6) and Zach Sensel. Tyler Poe, Dalton Stamper (6) and Cole Grijalva.
Coeur d'Alene hits - Dom Conigliaro 2 (2B), Stapleton 2.
Lewis-Clark hits - Riley Way 3 (2B), Luke White (2B), Chandler Tibbits 3 (3B), Jaden Phillips, Cole Grijalva 2, Alex Light 2, Josh Moore, Jake Munoz.
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