Here are our prep baseball and softball notebooks.

Ouch! Ughh! The Columbia Basin Big Nine baseball teams swept Ferris, Mead, Gonzaga Prep, Mt. Spokane and University in regional games Tuesday.

Click the tab below to read the roundup.

Spencer Ansett tossed a five-inning no-hitter as Ferris handled Mead 10-0 in the District 8 4A championship game Friday.

Click the tab below to read my story.

The University Titans captured the District 8 3A baseball championship Thursday, topping Mt. Spokane 11-4 at Avista Stadium.

Click the tab below to read my story.

The Mead Panthers held off the Gonzaga Prep Bullpups 18-17 in not a football game but a District 8 4A baseball game Wednesday at Avista Stadium.

Click the tab below to read the story and roundup of other games.

University downed Mt. Spokane 12-6 in Game 1 of the teams' best-of-3 series to decide the District 8 3A baseball championship Tuesday at Avista Stadium.

Click the tab below to read our roundup which will be longer here than in our Wednesday newspaper because of space issues.

BASEBALL: Ferris coach Jim Sharkey (pictured above) pulls rare double duty.

SOFTBALL: Shadle Park benefits from transfers, fresh arms.

Here's our first prep baseball notebook that will be in our Tuesday newspaper and appear weekly thereafter through the season. Danny Rowton of Shadle Park (pictured above during American Legion last summer) is hitting .818 after a week.

Here's our first prep softball notebook that will be in our Tuesday newspaper and appear weekly thereafter through the season.

Tim Hulett will be returning to manage the Spokane Indians next summer for his fifth season here. More below from the Indians’ press release.

Mike Redmond, the former Gonzaga Prep and Gonzaga University star, will make his managing debut with the  Lansing (Mich.) Lugnuts of the Midwest League, a Single-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The 39-year-old played last season with the Cleveland Indians, appearing in 22 games. The former catcher spent 13 seasons at the Major League level, with three different clubs –  Florida, Minnesota and Cleveland – batting .287 with 13 home runs and 243 RBIs in 764 career games.

A source has told the Associated Press that the Mariners have traded Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers for Justin Smoak and three minor leaguers.

Spokane Indians outfielder Guillermo Pimentel was promoted Wednesday to the Hickory (N.C.) Crawdads, the Texas Rangers’ Low-A team in the South Atlantic League. Pimentel hit .344 in nine games with the Indians, playing center field and right field. He made an impression on Everett on Tuesday during his final appearance with the Indians. Entering as a pinch hitter in the seventh, Pimentel scored the first of three runs in the inning by bowling over AquaSox catcher Steven Baron. The fourth-year pro is from the Dominican Republic.

Sunday’s Spokane Indians game against the Tri-City Dust Devils has been postponed because of rain.

The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on July 25 with the gametime to be announced.

The Texas Rangers on Friday signed third baseman Mike Olt, their top collegiate pick from this month’s first-year draft, and assigned him to Spokane.

Olt, who set the career home-run record at the University of Connecticut, was selected in the supplemental first round and the 49th pick overall.

The Indians expect Olt to arrive in Spokane Saturday from Texas, but he’s not expected to play Saturday..

Texas also signed left-hander James Reyes and assigned him to the Indians. Reyes, a seventh-round choice from Elon (N.C.) University, isn’t expected in Spokane Saturday.

Arkansas ended Washington State’s season Monday night at Baum Stadium, defeating the Cougars 7-2 in the winner-take-all championship game of the Fayetteville Regional. Click here for our story out of Fayetteville.

Here are Friday’s state tournament results and Saturday’s schedule.

I know nearly every post on this blog is basketball-related, but I staffed the GU-LMU baseball game Friday night and witnessed an outstanding game.

GU won 4-3, taking a one-game lead in the best-of-three WCC Championship Series. My unedited game story is below.

Billy Moon pitched University top its second straight Greater Spokane League title with an 8-0 no-hitter at Mead. The Titans can become the first to win 19 league games, I was told by coaches, if they beat the Panthers at home on Friday. Moon’s breaking pitches were nearly unhittable and he offset it with a fastball judicious use of the plate to stifle what may be the best hitting team in league. The Panthers didn’t help themselves on defense.

Here’s a look at tomorrow’s story:

League championships will be determined this week in Greater Spokane League and Great Northern League baseball. University (17-1), which is assured a title tie and was ranked No. 1 in the Washington State baseball poll this week, hosts Mead (15-3) tomorrow with a chance to lock up another undisputed title at home. U-Hi’s high ranking is flattering, but is probably unrealistic given the GSL’s baseball history. Still, being league champs and a regional participant is an accomplishment enough.

Cheney (11-1) leads Clarkston (10-2) and Pullman (9-3) in the GNL race and hosts the Greyhounds Friday in a doubleheader to determine the titlists. For more on the Blackhawks, check out my weekly prep notebook.

Having sat through countless college softball games this spring and witnessing the Mead-Central Valley Greater Spokane League baseball game Thursday afternoon, I remain mystified how impatient hitters can be. Panther Cody Lunt had been brilliant for five innings against the Bears, but his relief, Kramer Kembel, was struggling in the sixth, hitting two batters in succession to force in a run. Rather than wait Kembel out, the next Bears batter took his hacks on the first pitch. Kembel got out of the inning and Mead won 7-4.

It’s happened so often at the college level in softball (and in high school where batters chase the high rise ball) that it makes you wonder if hitters think it a crime to walk. At certain times in a game, working the count and accepting a base on balls is the appropriate thing to do.