The Bears fell tonight 4-1 to Puyallup at Safeco Field in the second semifinal game of the day in the 4A state tournament.

While Tahoma lost its bid to win the state title, the team will play Newport High tomorrow, 1 p.m. at Safeco, for third place in state.

In the earlier semifinal game, Richland beat Newport 6-2. Puyallup and Richland play at 7 p.m. tomorrow for the title.

The Bears lost for only the third time this season.

The Tahoma hitters had trouble with Puyallup’s ace, Adam Cimber. The Viking pitcher’s sidearm delivery had more movement and he had better location than May 9 when the Bears beat him 11-2.

Chris Marangon pitched a solid game giving up nine hits and striking out eight with no walks.

Three errors in the field and a tough night at the plate spelled trouble for the Bears. Tahoma notched four hits.

Puyallup took the lead in the third, added two in the fourth and Rob Ingram pulled a home run into left field to cap off the scoring for the Vikings.

Jerad Casper and Cory Ferguson hit singles in the top of the seventh to spark a rally, but Cimber closed down run.

Despite losing, the game had its highlight-reel moments for the Bears.

In the top of the second Marangon had given up a hit to the Viking lead runner, Joe Leinweber, and Justin Troger reached on an error.

Coach Russ Hayden put the designated hitter, Neal Bitlow on to load the bases. Marangon dug down and struck out the next two to get out of the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth the Bears flashed the defense that got them to the final four.

Casper, playing second, ran down a hard shot that appeared out of his range and threw to first. The throw was off and it looked like the runner would advance, but the catcher, Ferguson, followed the play and got to the ball with a diving stop, holding the runner to first.

Check the Web site for live updates during the Bears game against Newport and a slide show.