Redmond advances to regional championship

Even after four days of the Northwest Regional Tournament at Legion Field, the championship game still had not been set. The Service Cougars had punched their tickets, but another spot was still to be decided.

So on Tuesday afternoon, the Redmond SunWest of Oregon and the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen of Idaho faced each other to decide who would advance to the tournament's championship game. With the season on the line, Redmond defeated Coeur d'Alene 12-7.

The SunWest struck first in the top of the first inning. With a runner on second base, Aiden Gebhard hit a triple to right field to drive in the run and give Redmond the 1-0 lead.

The Lumbermen responded by getting on a roll in the bottom of the second. After loading the bases with no outs, Tanner Franklin hit a triple to center to clear the bases and give the Lumbermen a 3-1 lead. Franklin then scored on a wild pitch to add onto the lead. A Redmond error later in the inning allowed another Lumbermen to score to extend the lead to 5-1.

In the bottom of the third, the Lumbermen continued to add onto their lead. With two men on base, William Robson hit a double to center to clear the bases and extend the lead to 7-1.

But the SunWest responded in force in the top of the fourth. Tatum Aeschliman got it started by scoring on a sacrifice fly. Aiden Cooley then hit a single to center to drive in another run for the SunWest. Another sacrifice fly brought in another runner to cut Redmond's deficit to 7-4.

Redmond kept it rolling with an RBI single from Tyden Whitfield. Later in the inning, a walk with the bases loaded brought in another run to cut the deficit to one run. A SunWest runner then scored on a passed ball to tie the game, 7-7, after trailing by six runs at the beginning of the inning.

Even then, the SunWest were not done in the top of the fourth. With the bases loaded, a walk drove in another run to give Redmond the lead. Wyatt Horner then hit a single to right to drive in another pair of runs to extend Redmond's lead to 10-7.

And the SunWest just kept adding onto their lead. In the top of the sixth, a Lumbermen error allowed a Redmond runner to score. Later in the inning, a sacrifice fly allowed another Redmond runner to score to increase the lead to 12-7.

After allowing seven runs in the first three innings, the Redmond defense played well the rest of the way as the Lumbermen were unable to comeback.

With the win, Redmond advanced to the Northwest Regional championship game to face the Service Cougars of Alaska later on Tuesday at Legion Field. Coverage of that game will be in Thursday's edition of the Havre Daily News.

Redmond 12, Coeur d'Alene 7

RED 1 0 0 9 0 2 0 - 12 7 1

CDA 0 5 2 0 0 0 0 - 7 6 1