Dave Trimmer

Reardan is looking for quarterback Rhett Soliday to put up some big numbers as the Indians shoulder the role as favorites in Bi-County League B-11 football in 1997. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

8-man football Like most small towns, LaCrosse and Washtucna have been accused of being in the middle of nowhere. When it comes to football, the LaCrosse-Washtucna Tigercats literally are in the middle of nowhere.

Okay, we're going to play the preseason recruiting game with you. Who are the top potential college football recruits in Washington?

If there had been any doubt Jim Eppard knows baseball, it was erased Monday night. A night after predicting his team would shake off a seven-error, 14-1 thrashing by Spokane, the Portland Rockies rebounded with a 12-3 rout.

Dan Reichert was starting to get a little nervous, but his teammates took care of the butterflies. Reichert, Kansas City's first-round draft pick in June, picked up his first victory as a professional Sunday night when the Spokane Indians clobbered the Portland Rockies 14-1 before 5,061 fans at Seafirst Stadium.

Jim Eppard had no idea his team had finally turned its fifth three-game winning streak into its first four-game winning streak. "I don't pay attention to it," the Portland Rockies manager said after a 5-4 win over Spokane on Saturday night. "I look at it each day and I care about it, but I don't worry about it. I think the team looks at it the same way. They're there every day and kind of grind it out." That's the perfect description of the win before 6,437 at Seafirst Stadium. The Rockies rallied from a 3-0 deficit, four different players drove in runs, five scored, six shared nine hits and four pitchers kept Spokane in check.

Craig Waibel of the Shadow works the ball against San Gabriel in last week's championship match. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Allison Beatty, former Mead athlete and current Stanford javelin thrower, participated in the Junior Pan-Am Games in Havana, Cuba, last month. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Bob Nelson has been a basketball referee for 44 years - and he's still going strong - but there aren't a lot of newcomers coming along to replace him and his peers when they step down. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane's Dave Berto and San Gabriel Valley's Grigor Mesropian head feet-first into a crossroad during a first-half battle for possession. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Joe Ascolese, right, and the Shadow hope to trip up San Gabriel Valley tonight. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

It won't matter how good the San Gabriel Valley Highlanders are, the Spokane Shadow players are going to have a far easier time Saturday night than a couple other people at Albi Stadium. The Shadow take on the Highlanders at 7 p.m. in the USISL Premier League Western Conference playoff. The winner advances to the National Championship Tournament next weekend in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Don Anderson is second-winningest coach in state history. File/The Spokesman-Review

Joe Ascolese and Pete van de Ven were given a chance and they made the most of it. Sort of like the Spokane Shadow. After starring in an unconventional shootout earlier in the day, Ascolese set up both goals and van de Ven earned the shutout as the Shadow blanked the Yakima Reds 2-0 Sunday night at Albi Stadium.

The sun was baking the artificial turf in Albi Stadium at high noon on Sunday, but Jack Swanson was cool. That's about as big a compliment as there could be after his soccer team lost a controversial shootout moments earlier in a single elimination tournament. The Spokane Shadow stayed alive in the USISL Premier League Northwest Division tournament when Joe Ascolese blasted a shot through the legs of Bellingham Orcas goalkeeper Travers Enslow and then Spokane keeper Pete van de Ven foiled Scot Swanson.

1. Spokane's Jeff Rose, left, tangles with Bellingham's Shane McCorkle in second half. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. Spokane's Zane Higgins, left, battling Bellingham's Caleb Connell, suffered an apparent broken left leg in the second half. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

At first glance, it would appear the Spokane Shadow would have an easy weekend on the road to the USISL Premier League soccer championship. However, an inside look at the records of the four teams converging on Albi Stadium tonight for the Northwest Division tournament shows records can be deceiving. The Shadow won the Northwest with a 14-2 record, the best mark among the 30 Premier League teams, winning the title by a whopping 21-point margin. Spokane was 4-0 against Bellingham (6-10), tonight's opponent at 6, and 3-1 against Yakima (7-9) and Cascade (8-8), the teams in the other semifinal at 8.

Even in practice, Josh Fouts plays for keeps. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

1. Golfing legend Lee Travino celebrates a perfect pitch shot while the crowd at his Pro Classic clinic follows flight of the ball. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Ken Still of Fircrest, Wash., doesn't appear to like what he sees of his tee shot on No. 11. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Rosauers victor Jeff Coston waves to the crowd after sinking an eagle putt on the 18th hole. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

Shadow coach Sean Bushey

The weather remained perfect and the storm continued to blow at The Fairways golf course Sunday afternoon. Storm Gleim, a veteran from Phoenix, took advantage of perfect conditions to scorch The Fairways with a 64 to finish 22-under par and win the 38th annual Downtown Holiday Inn Express Lilac Invitational by three strokes. Gleim set a tournament record of 266, erasing the 21-under 267 Tom Costello III and Bill Porter shot in 1990 when Costello won in a playoff.

The weather was perfect at The Fairways Saturday afternoon, except for the storm that blew through. Michael Charles weathered the storm with a birdie at 17 for a 7-under 65 that put him at 15-under 201, one shot ahead of Storm Gleim, after three rounds of the Downtown Holiday Inn Express Lilac Invitational. "I just tried to enjoy myself out there," said Charles, a 23-year-old rookie from Portland. "It was nice and sunny and warm. In between shots, I just sat and enjoyed myself."

In theory, when the Spokane Shadow end their league season against the Puget Sound Bigfoot tonight, the soccer game should be no more than a practice game. In reality, the Shadow are worried.