Legion Baseball Tournament In Full Swing
The first in a series of American Legion baseball tournaments is under way.
Tony Roma from Shadle Park plays McDonald’s from Mount Spokane tonight in the second of two single-elimination games at Whitworth College. Panorama from Colville played Food Rainbow/Carsten’s Marine Wednesday.
Winners begin a best-of-three series Friday at Whitworth with a 6 p.m. game.
On Saturday there is a 10 a.m. game and, if necessary, a 1 p.m. game to determine the league champion. Tony Roma and Carsten’s shared the South Division title with 14-2 records.
McDonald’s shared the North Division title with Panorama at 10-4.
“That’s the end of the season for them,” said league President Dennis Thompson. “We’re the only ones who (have an A league), and there’s no place for them to go.”
Not so the AA and AAA leagues, whose playoffs begin July 23-28. Winners will qualify respectively for the Junior State tournament in Mount Vernon and the Senior State tourney in Selah.
The top four finishers in the Senior league will play a series of three best-of-three playoffs to determine the state entrant.
Included will be current league third placer, the Browne Mountain Bandits, which fields players from Ferris and Freeman high schools.
The Bandits lost three of four games to the league-leading Blue Devils but beat the Cannons 6-3 to stay close.
Josh Sheffield had six hits for the team.
Remaining in the playoff picture were the Royals, who won two of three from the Blue Devils.
In the Junior League each division winner receives a bye, and the second and third place teams meet in a loserout game followed by three best-of-three series to decide a state entrant.
Steelers place second in Colorado
The U-14 River City Steelers recently finished second in the sixth annual Colorado Triple Crown soccer tournament in Denver.
The tournament included teams from 20 states who had won state-level competition.
During the event, the Spokane team outscored its opposition 31-3, winning pool games 11-1 over Minnesota, 5-1 over New York, 4-0 over South Dakota and 8-0 over Wyoming.
It beat Fresno 3-0 in the semifinals before losing to Sacramento 1-0 for the championship.
Team members include South Side resident Josh Proctor who, along with Jake Moug, was invited to join a travel team to Mexico.
Other members are Matt Trainor, voted the team’s most valuable player, Jay Estey, Justin Hanks, Ryan Loft, Joey Meier, Spencer Ramsay, Sam Stoner, Jesse Volesky, Kevin Walters, Ryan Hartshorn, Steven Wells Tommy Basenberg and Ronnie Sanders.
Coaches are Bryon Walters and Randy Stoner.
The Steelers have been invited to the Florida Triple Crown tourney in October.
, DataTimes