Chris Derrick

They began the Northwest League season on the same field Friday, but Spokane’s Alex Gonzalez and Everett’s Carlton Tanabe are worlds apart when it comes to professional baseball. Tanabe, a fifth-year professional catcher, went 3 for 5 with one run and one run batted in to help guide the AquaSox to a 6-4 win at Avista Stadium.

They began the Northwest League season on the same field Friday, but Spokane’s Alex Gonzalez and Everett’s Carlton Tanabe are worlds apart when it comes to professional baseball.

During Tim Hulett’s first six years as Spokane Indians manager, he strived to guide his players to a Northwest League East Division title over challenges from Boise, Yakima and Tri-City. Hulett won’t operate with that directive this season.

During Tim Hulett’s first six years as Spokane Indians manager, he strived to guide his players to a Northwest League East Division title over challenges from Boise, Yakima and Tri-City. Hulett won’t operate with that directive this season. The Indians skipper still has an appetite for winning, but his goal will be different after the NWL’s dramatic shift. The Yakima Bears have moved to Hillsboro (Ore.) and become the Hops after 23 consecutive seasons in Yakima. The NWL responded by splitting the league North-South rather than East-West, shaking up the divisions.

New Spokane Indians outfielder Jamie Jarmon earned recognition as Delaware’s player of the year as a senior at Indian River High School. That was as a quarterback in football. Jarmon’s heart belonged to baseball. He was set to play both sports at South Carolina, with a scholarship in baseball, when the Texas Rangers came knocking one year ago.

Conventional wisdom suggests that it’s a warning sign when a Northwest League baseball team returns a big chunk of players from the previous season. Spokane Indians manager Tim Hulett and returning Indians infielder Cam Schiller would like to dispel that notion.

The 2013 Indians took the field at Avista Stadium for the first time on Tuesday, beginning a three-day minicamp that leads up to Friday’s Northwest League opener against visiting Everett.

Tim Hulett was 48 hours away from arriving in Spokane, but he was more than happy to talk about the impending Northwest League baseball season.

Marco Gonzales’ modest baseball cap collection includes the St. Louis Cardinals. On Thursday, the Cardinals included Gonzales in their collection.

Renee Stewart delivered rosebushes and a request to her softball players this year. Plant this in a special place, she said. Follow its progress through the years and think of our time together whenever you see it.

The St. Louis Cardinals selected Marco Gonzales in the first round, with the 19th selection overall, during the first day of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. The left-handed junior pitcher became the highest draft selection in Gonzaga history under the current format. Clayton Mortensen was drafted 36th overall in 2007, also by St. Louis.

MIAMI — There will be no win-or-else Game 6 in the Eastern Conference finals for the Miami Heat this season. LeBron James saw to that, and now the reigning champions are one victory from a third straight trip to the NBA Finals.

Bailey Bergdahl soaked up the scene as Central Valley claimed its first regional softball title last Saturday, realizing that the memory would mean more than the win itself. “My favorite moment of the year was just the looks on all of our faces when we won the regional game,” CV’s senior shortstop said. “The win was good, too, but just looking over at our coach and him jumping high in the air, and all the girls hugging each other. It’s just the cool feelings and moments like that that really make everything worthwhile.”