Spartan baseball on to Super Regionals

PRIEST RIVER — The Priest River Spartans baseball team won when they had to and are headed to the Super Regional tournament after beating St. Maries 6-2 Friday, May 1 at Orofino.

Priest River had been shut out 19-0 by Orofino earlier that day in the district championship game, so the Spartans had to win to continue on.

At home Wednesday, April 29 against Kellogg, the Spartans used a big first inning and consistent scoring to win the first-round district game.

They then travelled to Orofino Friday, May 1, for a district championship game with Orofino. They were shut out by the Maniacs 19-0 in five innings.

The Spartans went up 3-1 in the bottom of the opening inning and scored a run in each of the next four innings, while holding Kellogg to just the 1 run.

Brayden Elder, Broden Collins, Brady Hatton and Jacob Best all hit doubles.

Elder got the win on the pitcher’s mound, striking out three in the three innings he pitched. Best pitched the next four innings, striking out 14.

The Spartans were put in a must-win game against St. Maries that same Friday. After tying the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning, the Spartans scored 5 more runs over the next two innings to advance the State Super Regionals with a 6-2 win.

St. Maries scored first but Priest River evened it up in the second inning. They held the Lumberjacks scoreless in the third, then scored 3 runs in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead. They added 2 more runs in the next innings and left with the 6-2 win.

Best got the win pitching for Priest River, striking out seven. He also hit a double.

That puts the Spartans (14-5, 8-4), the number two team in the Central Idaho League, in a Super Regional tournament game with Wendell (1-3, 14-11) at 3 p.m. Friday, May 8 ) at Salmon. Wendell is the number three team in the South East Idaho Conference.

The Spartans enter the tournament ranked number five by MaxPreps among 3A schools in the state. Wendall is ranked nine and Salmon four.

The Super Regionals are a double elimination tournament. The top 12 3A teams will compete in four three-team tournaments, with the winner of each tournament advancing to state. Salmon (20-4, 8-0), the number one team in the Nuclear Conference, is the other team in the tournament.

Orofino, the number two-ranked 3A team in the state, will host one of the other four Super Regional tournaments, facing the winner of the Delco, New Plymouth game Saturday at Orofino.