Romrell sisters power Bear Lake to slugfest victory over Keller, Preston

MONTPELIER — Having already cemented their second-place conference finish, Bear Lake welcomed conference champion Preston to town Thursday with their eyes on establishing some momentum heading into this weekend’s district tournament.

The Bears (19-4, 7-1) did precisely that with an impressive power display, homering four times in a 14-11 victory. Preston (19-2, 7-1) put on their own light show, hitting three bombs in the loss.

Bear Lake head coach Quin Pope talked about the significance of his team beating Preston to end its regular season.

“It’s huge,” he said of the victory. “We’ve lost four total games this year, three by one run in the last inning. … All of our losses have made us better, and led us to this point. And it’s huge to beat Preston … moving into the district tournament, it’s big.”

The Bears fell into a quick hole when Preston sophomore Ellie Keller hit a two-run homer as part of three-run top of the first. Keller would add another home run later as part of a three-RBI game.

Bear Lake senior Kambria Romrell got her team right back into the game in the bottom half, hammering a two-run homer, her first of two long balls on the day. Fellow senior Peyten Crockett also homered for Bear Lake, as did Kambria’s younger sister, freshman Brielle “Elle” Romrell.

Kambria, who celebrated her senior day Thursday, spoke about how special it was to catch her sister, who came on in relief and finished the win, on the special afternoon.

“That’s the best thing that’s ever happened,” she said. “We never thought it would be this way. I didn’t start catching until my sophomore year, and now I get to catch for my sister, and that’s the greatest experience ever, and I love every second of it.”

Preston pushed its lead in the top of the second, when Keller and junior Averie Madsen each went deep.

But, again, the Bears had an answer, scoring two in the second and four in the third, taking their first lead of the game.

Elle, who had already contributed to her team’s lead with several running catches in left field, came on in relief of senior starter Lindsay Fisher to start the fifth. She immediately escaped a jam with an assist from sophomore right fielder Madi Michel, who came in hard on a shallow liner to make the catch, then doubled off the Preston base runner at first.

Pope spoke about his team’s all-around play, but specifically on defense, where they looked much more comfortable in the windy, overcast conditions than Preston.

“It would be hard to beat,” the coach said when asked if this was the exact type of performance he could have asked for. “There’s a couple little things we did that we’ll work on, but overall, defensively, offensively, our pitching, everything is kinda peaking at the right time. It’s maintaining that when it matters, that’s the hard part.”

The Bears gave themselves some breathing room, taking a 14-7 lead on the strength of a six-run fifth — which featured homers from both Romrell sisters.

Kambria joked that Elle learned how to hit from her. Elle agreed that she has learned a great deal from her older sister, adding that she has leaned heavily on Kambria’s veteran leadership all season.

The elder Romrell said that she is Elle’s biggest fan and has enjoyed every moment of their first season ever playing together.

Bear Lake used almost all of that insurance when Elle hit her first speed bump of the afternoon in the form of a four-run top of the seventh.

The first seven batters of the frame reached, on four walks, two doubles and an error, cutting the deficit to three and loading the bases for the heart of the Preston batting order.

The rally cry all season long for the Bears, according to Pope, has been “Pressure makes diamonds.”

Even after getting her first out of the game, the freshman Elle felt all the pressure a situation could offer, facing Keller, who had already homered twice, as the go-ahead run.

“I was just like, ‘Don’t float it down the middle,’ because I knew that if I did that she’d smoke it,” Elle said with a giggle.

Her entire focus was on executing the pitches her coach called.

Kambria made two trips to the pitching circle during the seventh inning. She said after the game that she was just reminding her little sister that everyone on the field believed in her.

Elle got Keller to fly out, then coaxed a game-ending groundout two pitches later.

“I was very impressed (with Elle),” Pope said. “As a freshman, she’s got the head for it, she’s got the physicality, she’s got the athleticism. It’s a big ask for a freshman to come into a game like this, but we have all the faith in the world in her.”

With the victory, Bear Lake takes positive momentum, as well as the confidence of having handed Preston its first conference loss of the season, into the district tournament. They will open their playoff run at 2 p.m. Saturday, hosting American Falls (12-11, 4-4).

Preston will not play again until Tuesday, when they face the winner of Saturday’s matchup between Marsh Valley (6-15-1, 1-7) and Snake River (4-16, 1-7).

“We’ve just got to believe in each other,” Kambria said when asked what it will take for Bear Lake to make a run at a state championship. “This year, our biggest thing has been to believe and have each other’s backs. I think that’s what is going to take us all the way.”