Legion Baseball Play Begins Friday Night

The Inland Empire American Legion Baseball season kicks off Friday night with eight teams taking the field at three area sites.

Spokane Athletic Supply (Central Valley) will play Washington Trust Bank (Gonzaga Prep) at 6 at Al Jackson field at Shadle Park, followed by Maxwell House (North Central) vs. Hillyard Boosters (Rogers) at 8:30.

At Central Valley at 6, the East Valley Boosters (East Valley) will play St. George’s. Spokane Federal Credit Union (Cheney) will go against the West Valley Boosters (West Valley) at 6 at Gonzaga University’s Pecarovich Field.

This season, the Friday night doubleheaders at Al Jackson will be broadcast on KAZZ (FM 107) with Matt Brown doing the play-by-play and Bill Diedrick Sr. doing the color commentary.

Also, there are some new wrinkles in league play. The league has been divided into two divisions.

The South Division is Spokane Athletic Supply, Spokane Federal Credit Union, P.A.C. Baseball (Clarkston), East Valley Boosters, Kimmel Athletic Supply (Ferris), Washington Trust Bank, Global Federal Credit Union (Lewis and Clark), Medical Lake Boosters (Medical Lake) and the Pullman Patriots (Pullman).

The North Division is the Chewelah North Stars (Chewelah), KC Stars (Colville), M & L Construction (Mead), Hillyard Boosters (Rogers), Maxwell House, Shadle Boosters (Shadle Park), St. George’s, Olympic Sports (University) and the West Valley Boosters.

The top three teams in each division will meet in postseason action. The No. 1 seed in each division will receive a bye on the first day of the division playoffs.

The No. 2 and 3 teams will play a loser-out game with the winners advancing to play the No. 1 seeds of the opposite division in a best-ofthree series for the division championship.

The district championship will be a best-of-three series between the division champions. The winner of the tournament advances to the state tournament to represent the Inland Empire American Legion League.

The playoffs are scheduled to start on July 27.

The Athletic Round Table remains the major sponsor of the American Legion league. Becker Buick will sponsor the July Fourth Tournament July 1-3.

Stars-studded summer

The first half of the summer is filled with all-star contests in a variety of sports.

The first is June 16 at Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene. It’s the second Eastern WashingtonNorth Idaho Girls AAU All-Star Basketball Classic. The game begins at 7:30.

The Washington team won the first game last year at Central Valley.

On June 17, it’s the first Whitman County vs. Bi-County in a senior boys basketball game at St. John’s.

The next week is the all-state basketball doubleheader at Gonzaga. The two games are on June 21. The A-B City team plays the A-B state team at 6 p.m. with the AA-AAA city and state teams meeting at 8 p.m. The teams play on the West Side the next night.

On June 24 in Yakima, it’s the first East-West all-star football game for Class A and B-11 players.

On June 30, the annual East-West football classic will be played in Spokane for the first time in 15 years. The game at Albi Stadium has been limited to Class AAA and AA players. The B-8 all-star game is the same night in Odessa.

The Mizuno all-state high school volleyball series will be held in Spokane at North Central High on July 20 and at Fife High two days later. Two matches are played at each site.

A/B players from the East will square off against West participants in a best-of-five match. That will be followed by the AAA/AA East/West best-of-five matchup. The A/B match will be played at 5 p.m. and the AAA/ AA match at 7 at both sites.

The 10-year-old series was the first such event for high school seniors in the nation.

Speaking of stars

The Greater Spokane League will send a boys team to the Basketball Congress International (BCI) tournament in Phoenix the last week of July.

This is the second year the GSL has put an all-star type of team together with at least one player from every school.

The 10 players named are Joe Baune, Shadle Park; Nathan Smith, Rogers; Jerry Holdren, North Central; Damian Long, Mead; Paul Sweeny, Gonzaga Prep; Scott Stocum, Ferris; Corby Schuh, Central Valley; Eric Carlson, University; and Paul Mencke and Mike Homer, Lewis and Clark.

Glenn Williams of LC and Mike Haugen of Gonzaga Prep are the coaches. Hoopfest is sponsoring the team.

Weighty issue

Washington high school wrestling coaches are being surveyed to determine what the weight classes will be next season.

Weight classes in Washington are slightly different than those the National High School Federation recommends.

At the last Washington Interscholastic Activities Association representative assembly, a 215-pound weight class was added, bridging the gap between 190 pounds and the 275-pound heavyweight limit.

The 13 current weight classes in the state are 101, 108, 115, 122, 129, 135, 141, 148, 158, 167, 178, 190 and 275.

The national weight classes put more emphasis on middle weights, where there are more wrestlers. The national weights are 103, 112, 119, 125, 130, 134, 140, 145, 152, 160, 171, 189 and 275.

The rep assembly will make a decision on which weights to use at its fall meeting.

, DataTimes