Coeur d'Alene rallies past Twin Falls, stays alive in state tournament

Jack Pierce scored when Twin Falls threw away a pickoff attempt at second base, and Coeur d'Alene rallied in Lewiston to beat the Cowboys and stay alive in the state tournament. The win moved the Lumbermen to 16-15 and into a final-round matchup with the Idaho Falls Bandits.

The turning point came in a game Coeur d'Alene had to win. A July 26 sports index item had already put the Lumbermen in a loser-out matchup with Twin Falls, and that made Pierce's run home on the throwing error even bigger than a single late-inning break. It was the kind of play that can end a season or extend one, and Coeur d'Alene took the latter path.

The result kept the Lums moving through a bracket that had little margin for error. American Legion baseball has long been one of North Idaho's summer fixtures, and the state-tournament setting in Lewiston gave the game added weight for Kootenai County readers following a hometown team far from Coeur d'Alene. The Lumbermen's record had hovered around .500, but the Twin Falls win showed they could still answer in a pressure spot.

Idaho Falls was next, and the Bandits were no easier an opponent. LocalNews8's July 27 tournament roundup also tracked the AA state bracket and later noted Idaho Falls' own championship-game result, underscoring how deep the field had gotten by the end of the weekend. For Coeur d'Alene, simply reaching the final round meant the season was still alive and the lineup had bought itself one more chance to keep playing.

The same Coeur d'Alene Press sports page that framed the Legion game also highlighted another baseball title game involving Coeur d'Alene's 11U team in Hayden, a reminder that late July baseball was spread across North Idaho. In a stretch when the county had multiple teams in big games, the Lumbermen's comeback in Lewiston kept one local season moving forward and put the final round within reach.