Greg Lee

Inland Empire League 5A and 4A football is anything but simple to figure out this year. The three 4A teams finished in a three-way tie last year, prompting a Kansas playoff to decide the lone state playoff berth that Sandpoint eventually won. A similar scenario could occur this season.

John Werhas spent 12 years, including five seasons in Spokane, playing minor league baseball. Ten of those years were at the AAA level. But he never got the opportunity to prove he could play in the big leagues.

What’s the cure to breaking what had become a bad habit of losing close games, especially late? The Spokane Indians offered their answer early and often Tuesday, and they never let the game be in doubt in a 10-3 Northwest League win over the Eugene Emeralds before a crowd of 3,285 at Avista Stadium.

Miguel Velazquez is trying to make the most of a second chance to fulfill his father’s dream for him. The Spokane Indians right fielder was a highly touted prospect going into his senior year of high school in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when stupidity trumped common sense. He made a rash decision that cost him much money, too.

It’s nice to have a pitcher who can put the brakes on a losing streak. Whether he likes it or not, maybe Spokane Indians pitcher Robbie Ross is in the process of earning a reputation as someone who begins winning streaks.

It may have been the 20th Hoopfest, but two of the three elite division finals were full of new flavor Sunday. The lone defending champ to prevail was Associated Messenger, which captured a third consecutive title in the men’s 6-foot under division. The Spokane-based team beat the Pterodactyls 20-18.

If it wasn’t for the fourth player they picked up, they could be called Team Redden. After the first day of the 20th Hoopfest, the Redden triplets are thankful that Hayden Burris – at 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds – is on their team.

Lakeland High seniors Kyle McCrite and Camille Reynolds are two of the smallest athletes among their peers, but few can match their athletic and academic accomplishments. McCrite, who defended a state championship in wrestling and was a two-way, two-year starter in football, and Reynolds, a three-sport standout who led the basketball team to state for a fourth straight year, have been named The Spokesman- Review’s North Idaho Male and Female Athletes of the Year.

I’m nearing the end of my 25th year with The Spokesman-Review. I could list here a number of things in life that have become tiresome in recent years. I suppose I chalk that up to age. One thing that hasn’t become stale, though, is watching high school teams win. And in the process of watching teams win, others must lose.

Region tops Metro

The Region finally broke through Monday. Winless in the first 15 games against the Metro in the Jack Blair Memorial Girls Basketball Classic, the Region not only ended the drought but did so in impressive fashion, leading from start to finish in a 92-74 runaway at Lake City High School.

Marshall Fryberger stopped short of saying he and his friends were fooling around, but the Lind-Ritzville junior’s involvement in the pole vault initially as a freshman was well short of genuine. “Early in the season I hit 10 feet,” Fryberger said. “I thought, ‘Huh, I can probably do pretty well in this.’ Up to that point we were just a couple of guys with big sticks running and jumping. At that point I started to take it seriously.”

Perhaps Coeur d’Alene softball coach Larry Bieber summed up the emotions best after his Vikings collected their sixth State 5A runner-up trophy Saturday afternoon. “Finishing second is tough because you get to that very last game of the year (and) the prize is much bigger than the loss, because nobody remembers who was the state runner-up,” Bieber said. “It’s the toughest game of the year to lose. It’s the greatest game of the year to win.”

Lela Work knew she was pitching well. She just didn’t know how well. That’s because when the Lake City senior pitcher is in the circle, she gets lost in her own little zone.

Idaho preps