Softball star Ingalls dies

Don Ingalls, 75, a member of the Inland Empire Softball Hall of Fame, died last Thursday in Spokane.

Ingalls was a star catcher and played on two state championship softball teams in the 1950s with the Rainier Brewery team.

Ingalls and the late Dick Phelps teamed up as one of the most potent batteries in city softball history.

“He was the best catcher I ever saw,” said family friend Mike Sanborn. “Fastpitch softball is more of a slap/bunt type of game. If you bunted in the front of the plate, he was so quick he would jump out in front of the plate, grab the ball and tag you out.”

His quickness also applied to his speed up the basepaths.

“In those days, the catcher always backed up the throw at first,” said Sanborn. “He was so quick he’d beat the hitter down the line.”

Sanborn said Ingalls, a lifetime resident of Spokane, was also an All-City football player at Rogers High School.

A funeral service will be held Friday at Hennessey-Smith Funeral Home, 2203 N. Division, at 10:30 a.m.