Sandpoint All-Stars can earn spot in district championship this weekend
COEUR d'ALENE — The Sandpoint Little League All-Stars control their own destiny this weekend.
By going 2-1 during the opening weekend of pool play in the District 1 Tournament, Sandpoint is sitting in a good spot entering its final two games on Friday and Saturday.
If the All-Stars finish first or second in pool play, they will earn a spot in the district championship series that starts on July 16.
Sandpoint faces Lewiston at 5:30 p.m. Friday and wraps up pool play at noon Saturday against Hayden. Both games will be played at the Canfield Sports Complex in Coeur d'Alene.
This past Friday, the All-Stars opened tournament play against Post Falls and cruised to a 17-1 victory. The game was called after three innings due to the mercy rule.
Carson Resso hit a grand slam in the third inning. Andrew Aexel pitched a complete game, allowing just one hit while striking out three.
Sandpoint continued its dominance at the plate in its second game Saturday, scoring 19 runs in the first inning against Lakeland. Resso blasted his second grand slam of the tournament in the inning.
The offensive outburst allowed the All-Stars to grab a 23-1 win over Lakeland in three innings. Logan Iverson, Chase Miller and Benson Brown all pitched an inning for Sandpoint in the victory.
On the Fourth of July, Sandpoint battled its bitter rival Coeur d'Alene, who went to the 2018 Little League World Series and made it to regionals in 2019.
It was a showdown and both teams brought their best to the field. The game quickly became a pitcher's duel as both teams struggled to get on base.
Daniel Vincent started on the bump for the All-Stars and gave up no runs and two hits over four innings while striking out eight.
In the top of the fifth, Coeur d'Alene scored the first run of the game on a passed ball. Sandpoint tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning when Vann Tate scored on an error.
The squads were unable to break the tie in the sixth and the game headed to extra innings.
Both teams had runners reach base in the seventh, but couldn't breakthrough. The game headed into the eighth inning where each team got to start with a runner on second base and no outs.
Coeur d'Alene scored two runs in the top of the inning before Landon Day was able to get out of a jam. Trailing 3-1, Sandpoint knew they had to produce something special in the bottom of the inning to earn the win.
Day started out on second base and Aexel singled to advance him to third. Aexel then stole second and Resso stepped to the plate looking to be the hero with two runners on and no outs. Unfortunately, he popped up.
It was now Bode Eacret's turn to see if he could bring home his teammates. During his at-bat, a ball got away from the Coeur d'Alene catcher and Day attempted to score, but he was tagged out at home. Eacret then struck out to end the game.
"The boys on both sides played a fantastic game with strong pitching and incredible defense, with each team only allowing three hits to their opponent over eight innings of great baseball," Manager John Aexel said about the thrilling game. "... The coaches are so proud of how hard the team played."
