Johnson rips two home runs to lead Spartans in blowout
(Photo by ERIC PLUMMER) The 2018 Priest River golf team, pictured front row, from left to right: Ben Zapfe, Kody Salesky, Logan Millward, Trent Gritts, Leona Brown, Olivia Hoepfer, Heather Pound, Maddi Rusho and Brittney Millward. In the back row are coaches Dan Buttrey and Josh Salesky. The Spartans’ first meet of the season will be after spring break, as they go about honing their short game, dropping strokes and making a run at qualifying for state.
(Photo by ERIC PLUMMER) Cole Thompson fires a pitch in the Spartans’ season opening loss to Sandpoint last week.
PRIEST RIVER — Emma Johnson drove in five runs and clouted two home runs, and Tawny Nichols scored three times and drove in a pair of runs, leading the Spartans to a 19-1 win over the Grizzlies in nonleague softball action recently.
Natalie Randolph allowed three hits, struck out five and walked none in five sharp innings of work to pick up the win for the Spartans (1-4), who exploded for 10 runs in the fourth inning.
Liann Kren, Adrie Minish and Karah Fink all drove in two runs and scored twice, and Kren and Samantha Kendle each swiped two bases in the first win of the season.
Kren, Tabitha Richey, Nichols, Johnson, Minish, and Fink each had RBIs in the 10 run frame.
n Spartans fall to Bulldogs
Playing against the reigning 4A third place team is no easy task, but the young Spartans put up a spirited fight in an 18-7 loss to Sandpoint last week in the softball home opener at Priest River Junior High.
The Spartans scored three runs in the fourth inning. The offensive onslaught came from doubles by Jasmine Martin and Emma Johnson and a sac fly by Tabitha Richey.
Tawny Nichols took the loss for Spartans. She surrendered 11 runs on eight hits over four innings, striking out two. Johnson and Martin each had a pair of hits to lead the Spartans.
The Spartans are at Troy on Thursday.
n Spartan baseball team falls to Sandpoint, Newport
The Spartans bounced back from a tough 26-0 opening loss shutout to Sandpoint and improved defensively and offensively, falling 8-1 to Newport recently.
“Being our first game of the year and only being on our outfield grass once, facing an opponent like Sandpoint made for an interesting start to the season,” said Spartan head coach Mark Schultz. “We wanted to throw a lot of pitchers, just to get a feel for where we are. We need to cut down on our walks and get ahead in the count early. Sandpoint is a good team and you have to give them credit.”
Against Newport, Jantzen Lucas pitched well in relief of starter Caden Brennan, allowing just two runs over the final four frames and striking out six after Newport took a 6-0 lead in the third. Brennan struck out five in his three innings, but also walked five, which proved costly.
“We played better this game,” said Schultz, noting the four-run second inning came via errors. “Our pitchers really pitched well.”
Coal Stevens led the Spartans (0-2) with two hits, but the lineup had trouble stringing them together. Schultz admitted seeing a ground ball in a gym and on a field is two totally different balls, and the more his team gets outside and plays, the mistakes should get cleaned up.
Ditto for hitting off a machine indoors vs. hitting live pitching. As the reps come, the Spartans should see improvement.
“We need to cut down on our strikeouts. The more live pitching we face, the better we will get at putting the ball in playm” said Schultz. “It was nice to see how the boys played against Newport and how they bounced back from our first game. We will get back out of the field and work hard in practice and get better with every game. We are a young team and we need to get out and play.”
The Spartans doubleheader against Deer Park on Saturday was canceled.
Newport 141 101 0 — 8 9 1
Priest River 000 000 1 — 1 6 4
Kirkwood, Peterson (4), Skipper (7) and Cummings; Caden Brennan, Jantzen Lucas (4) and Brendan Reeves. W-Kirkwood. L-Brennan.
HITS: Newport — Smith, Weber, Miller, Kirkwood 3, Leslie, Bradbury, Peterson. Priest River — Best, Shockey, Lucas, Reeves, Stevens 2. 2B — Kirkwood.
n Parks leads Spartan harriers in Colfax
Cameron Parks won the 3,200 (10:41), was third in the long jump (18-9) and tied for fifth in the high jump (5-4) to lead the Priest River boys to a 5th place finish among 27 teams at the MacDougal Invite recently in Colfax.
It was cold and very windy, and despite missing six kids, a total of 25 of the 26 Spartans achieved season or lifetime bests, a strong sign moving forward.
“Once we get a nice day for a track meet, we should see even better results across the board,” said head coach Jared Hughes. “Until then we will be working hard at practice to prepare us for down the road when we hit league, districts and state competition.”
Top finishers for the Spartan boys included Colby Poe second in the shot put (45-11) and Teagun Holycross second in the 300 hurdles (43.95). Holycross ran an 11.8 in the 100 meters to finish 10th. Drayven Ayers was solid once again as he finished tied for 5th in the HJ (5-4) and ran a PR in the 200 (24.29) to finish 10th.
Tanner Cochrane threw a 13 foot personal best in the discus (104-09) for an 8th place finish one spot ahead of Poe.
Annika Rantala finished 6th in the 1,600 with solid early season time of 6:04, and Alaina Guevarra finished in 8th place in the PV at 6’6” again to lead the Spartan girls.
n Current Spartans ranked in the top 10 in Idaho 3A Classification:
Teagun Holycross — 4th in the 300 hurdles, 6th in 100, 6th in the 200.
Colby Poe — 3rd in the shot put, 6th in the discus.
Drayven Ayers — 7th in the 200, 8th in the high jump.
Cameron Parks — 7th in the 3,200.
Noah Martiniez — 7th in the 110 high hurdles, 8th in the 300 hurdles.
Boys 4x200m relay — 7th, Holycross, Ayers, Robbie Anselmo, Evan Barnes.
Boys 4x400m relay — 7th, Holycross, Ayers, Martinez, Poe.
Annika Rantala — 5th in the 1,600, 9th in the 3,200.