Legion tourney kicks off in Sandpoint

SANDPOINT — The No. 3 seed Sandpoint Riley Creek Lakers took on the No. 6 Cranbrook (British Columbia) Bandits in the late game Thursday night to wrap up the first day of play at the class AA Area A (district) American Legion baseball tournament at Memorial Field.

The game was completed after the Daily Bee went to press.

The Sandpoint-Cranbrook winner will play No. 2 seed Lewis-Clark today at 1 p.m. The Sandpoint-Cranbrook loser will play at 4 p.m. against the loser of today's 10 a.m. game between No. 1 seed Coeur d'Alene and No. 4 Prairie.

Prairie defeated Trail (B.C.) 15-10 in Thursday's tourney opener.

The championship game in the double-elimination tournament is scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m. Lewis-Clark and the top other two teams qualify for state Aug. 2-7 at Harris Field in Lewiston. As host team for the state tournament, Lewis-Clark earns an automatic berth to state.

Prairie 15, Trail 10

Nate Douglas drove in five runs and five Prairie hitters finished with multiple hits to lead the Cardinals past the Jays.

Douglas hit a three-run double in the bottom of the first inning to help the Cardinals erase a two-run deficit. Douglas also drove in a run in the fifth and sixth innings.

Brandon Brubaker had two hits, including a double. Scott Carr, Brandon Haas and Cam Garcia also had two hits apiece for Prairie, which broke open a 7-4 game with four runs in the fifth inning. Garcia finished with three RBIs. Layne Stopanski went 3 for 4 to lead Trail.

Trail 202 010 203 — 10 12 1

Prairie 412 043 01x — 15 14 0

Jesse Batch, Nick Ripken (6) and Kellon Jones; Brandon Haas, Cory Rohrenbach (8), Ryan Burnett (9) and Kelly Hall. W — Haas. L —Batch.

HITS: Tra — C. Jones, K. Jones 2, Curlew 2, Stopanski 3, Stone 2, Larmour, King, McLeod. Pra — Brubaker 2, Carr 2, Haas 2, Hall, Bruner, Douglas 3, Marks, Garcia 2. 2B — Curlew, Stopanski, Stone, King, McLeod, Brubaker, Hall, Douglas, Marks.

CLASS AA AREA A TOURNAMENT

At Memorial Field, Sandpoint

Thursday

Prairie 15, Trail 10

Game 2 — No. 3 Sandpoint (23-10) vs. No. 6 Cranbrook (4-31), late

Friday

Game 3 — No. 1 Coeur d'Alene (35-13) vs. Prairie (19-23), 10 a.m.

Game 4 — No. 2 Lewis-Clark (27-18) vs. Sandpoint-Cranbrook winner, 1 p.m.

Game 5 — Loser Game 2 vs. loser Game 3, 4 p.m.

Game 6 — Trail (17-29) vs. loser Game 4, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Game 7 — Winner Game 3 vs. winner Game 4, 1 p.m.

Game 8 — Winner Game 5 vs. winner Game 6, 4 p.m.

Game 9 — Winner Game 8 vs. loser Game 7, 7 p.m.

Sunday

Game 10 — Winner Game 7 vs. winner Game 9, 10 a.m. (championship)

Game 11 — If-necessary championship game, TBA