Hawks use the long ball to top Bulldogs

RATHDRUM — It was a slugfest for Lakeland as four players homered to lead the Hawks to a 14-7 victory over the Sandpoint Bulldogs Tuesday in nonleague softball action.

Jordan Thomas, Alisha Watson and Shelby Kunas all homered in the first inning, with Watson and Kunas going deep on back-to-back at bats. Jamie Klopatek, the winning pitcher, belted out two homers — first in the third inning and again in the fourth to lead the Hawks (7-4).

Sandpoint (0-8-1) scored four runs in the first inning off of Lakeland’s ace, a sign that the bats are starting to heat up.

“We came out aggressive and jumped on them, the bats came alive,” said Bulldogs coach Derek Dickenson. “Lakeland deserves the credit. They were hacking and attacking, and took the game to us.”

Molly Givens and C.J. Semones each went 2-4 with an RBI to pace the Sandpoint offense, which also plated three runs in the fifth inning. Dickenson admits that right now Lakeland is the team to beat in 4A, but that his team is gaining ground, and they’ve got two home games against the Hawks to see how they measure up before districts.

Sandpoint is at Lake City on Thursday.

Sandpoint  400 030 0 — 7   8   2

Lakeland   403 511 X — 14 15 2

Kym DaVault, Molly Givens (4), Meghan Hamilton (5) and Sierra Rodriquez; Jamie Klopatek, Alisha Watson (5) and Alia Cox. W — Klopatek. L — DaVault.

HITS: Sandpoint — Semones 2, Givens 2, Adams, Hamilton, Tucker, Marienau. Lakeland — Thomas 3, Campbell 2, Ali.Watson 2, Kunas 2, Klopatek 2, Cox 3, Neelon. 2B — Thomas, Watson, Cox, Givens. HR — Thomas, Watson, Kunas, Klopatek 2.