Spokane’s Best Swing Away Area’s Softball Dream Team Takes Aim At National Tourney

Call them softball’s version of the “Dream Team.” Fifteen players assembled specifically to win the men’s major modified national championship in Miami during Labor Day weekend.

They’re called Brymile (bry-mih-lee) and they consist of some of the best baseball and softball players in the Spokane area in the last 15 years.

“The most important thing is for us to have fun,” said outfielder Mike Peterson, owner of Brymile, a real estate firm named after his three children - Bryan, Mitchell and Leah - and an NCAA Division I basketball official. “(But) we will be disappointed if we don’t win the national championship.”

Two years ago, Peterson and coach/pitcher Fuzzy Buckenberger, who triples as the local Amateur Softball Association commissioner, began putting this group together.

They started by building around a nucleus that won the national championship in 1987 as Western Truck Brokers. Along with Peterson and Buckenberger, who have 12 All-American selections between them, that team included current shortstop Kurt Krauth, that year’s tournament MVP.

Also from that team are Peterson’s brother Tim, also an outfielder; second baseman Dan Schaffer; pitcher Wade Liberty; and Barry Shook, whom Buckenberger and Peterson call the best designated hitter in the United States.

Then they went out and lined up the three Rypien brothers - Dave, Tim and Mark, the St. Louis Rams quarterback. Dave Rypien played for the Canadian national baseball team. Tim, third base, played in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.

Dave and Tim Rypien, the Peterson brothers and Buckenberger were members of the 1991 Western Truck Brokers team that finished 13th at the national tournament. That team also included current catcher Don Santos, who played baseball in the Cleveland Indians organization.

Mark Rypien, a terrific softball player in his own right, is the utility man. According to Mike Peterson, he and Mark have promised each other since they won the intramural softball championship at Washington State University they would be on a team together when they got older.

“He’s a guy who remembers his roots and always has the time,” Buckenberger said.

Rypien, who will not be able to play at nationals because he will be in the midst of the NFL season, is also playing for a different reason. “This is the first time all of us (Rypien brothers) have ever played together on any organized team,” he said.

Buckenberger’s brother, three-time AllAmerican Jerry Buckenberger, plays as a utility infielder.

“We have three sets of brothers on this team,” Fuzzy Buckenberger said. “The whole team is a big family and we’re all great friends.”

Rounding out the team are pitcher Dave Maxwell, first baseman Brad Harken, who played baseball at the University of Washington, and outfielder Mark Arland, who spent four years in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

So far this season, Brymile is 10-0 in league, 16-0 overall. It has outscored all opposition 192-53 and has beaten defending A modified national champion Stoneway Electric three times - 18-2, 7-2 and 7-6.

Nine of the 11 regular players are batting better than .400. The three pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.27 while holding opponents to .270.

In August, Brymile travels to Waverly, N.Y., for its first test before nationals. The tournament will feature up to seven past national champions.

“I think we’ll do good,” Mike Peterson said. “We are as strong as we’ve ever been.”