Hawks sweep Bulldogs; SHS battles Moscow in loser-out game Tuesday

SANDPOINT — The Hawks walked onto War Memorial Field on Thursday and silenced Sandpoint softball.

Across the doubleheader, Lakeland held the Bulldogs to just seven hits and three runs en route to a pair of victories to wrap up the No. 1 seed to the 4A Region 1 tournament.

Coming into the series, SHS still had a chance to grab the No. 1 seed with a sweep of Lakeland, but the Hawks dashed those aspirations.

The Bulldogs (7-16) head into regionals as the No. 2 seed and will play No. 3 Moscow in the loser-out game 3 p.m. Tuesday at Lakeland High. The winner will advance and battle the Hawks in Game 1 of the best-of-3 regional championship series at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

In the first game, the Bulldogs were able to hang around early with the help of pitcher Jaden Dickinson, who started on the mound. She went through 3 1/3 innings and allowed just one run.

The Hawks scored three runs in the fourth inning to cling to a 4-0 lead. But in the sixth and seventh, Lakeland scored nine runs to break the game open and cruise to a 13-0 win.

Lakeland's Devry Bursch was dominant on the mound. She went the distance while allowing just two hits and striking out 12.

Head coach Elizabeth Hawkins-Williams said her team wasn't aggressive enough at the plate in the first game.

"We just didn't swing the bat," she said, "so we were letting a lot of really good pitches go by and getting behind in the count and then trying to battle back from there, and that's never an easy situation for a batter."

Madi Garman made her return to the mound in the fourth inning of the first game. The senior had been out since April 24 when she took a line drive to the head during the series at Lewiston.

"It was great to get Madi Garman back and she got to throw some innings today and knock some dust off," Hawkins-Williams said.

Garman didn't hold back either.

"She wasn't afraid," Hawkins-Williams said. "Whenever a pitcher is hit by a line drive, a lot of times when they come back out they're a little gun-shy ... but she wasn't."

The Bulldogs were able to get the bats going in the second game. Kinzie Ward blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the first.

Unfortunately, Lakeland was able to score five runs in the top of the first to take control and secure a 12-3 victory.

Lily Gammon, Shelby Lanie, Riley Cessna and Garman had hits in the game.

Hawkins-Williams said she thought her team did a much better job of making contact in the second game.

"We were putting the ball in play," she said. "We had a lot of line drive outs, we had a lot of ground ball outs and we were hitting the ball really hard, it was just going to them, they're making good plays on defense and you can't do anything about that. So, I was glad we were at least giving ourselves a chance."

During the series with the Hawks, Hawkins-Williams felt her squad played really solid defense.

Heading into regionals, Hawkins-Williams said her team needs to improve their mentality and believe in themselves.

"What we really need to work on is self belief," she said. "I mean so many people; the fans, the parents, the coaches; we all know that we can win, we all know how great we can play, but the girls they're not all bought into it because we've had such a rough season, they're not sure that they can win and so they really need to buy into that."

All season the Bulldogs have been inconsistent, Hawkins-Williams, and she knows they can change that.

"We've had one game this year where we played defense well, pitched well and hit well, so we need to put those three things all together to win districts," she said.

FIRST GAME

Lakeland 001 304 5 — 13 11 0

Sandpoint 000 000 0 — 0 2 4

Devry Bursch and Payton Sterling; Jaden Dickinson, Madi Garman (4) and Dickinson.

HITS: LL — Sterling 4, See 2, H. Gosch, D. Gosch, Wardak, Dyer, Smit. SHS — Cessna, Tuinstra. 2B — Dyer, Smit, Sterling 2.

SECOND GAME

Lakeland 501 104 1 — 12 15 1

Sandpoint 100 001 1 — 3 5 0

Kathryn Wardak and Delaney Gosch; Cresanna Authier, Jaden Dickinson (6) and Lily Gammon.

HITS: LL — H. Gosch 3, Smit 3, Walls 3, Staudinger 3, Dyer, Smit, Byrne. SHS — Gammon, Lanie, Ward, Cessna, Garman. 2B — Smit, Byrne, Cessna, Garman. HR — Ward.