Bullets Discover Silver Lining Spokane Stop A Part Of Historic First Year

Their summer of content winding down, the Colorado Silver Bullets arrive in Spokane on Saturday with something to consider.

The 20 members of the professional women’s baseball team are no doubt pondering a once-impressive 44-game schedule that is suddenly down to three.

But many of the players - who took leaves from occupations such as deputy district attorney, TV producer and insurance broker - are aware of something more disturbing. Their careers don’t stretch beyond a Sept. 3 game at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium.

There have already been seven nationwide tryouts for next year’s team. Another is scheduled next week in Everett, coinciding with the Bullets’ game there Wednesday. The current team’s .137 batting average and 6.74 earned-run average proved the need for new players.

Team director of media relations Kathleen Christie said from Seattle that current players will be invited to next year’s camp and probably won’t have to try out.

So Shannan Mitchem’s teamleading batting average of .216 is the standard that future Bullets must try to eclipse.

The Silver Bullets play a seveninning exhibition game against the Spokane All-Stars at 4:30 p.m. today at Seafirst Stadium. A ticket to the game also admits fans to the 7:05 Northwest League game between the Yakima Bears and Spokane Indians.

The joyride for this first-year team began more than three months ago in Charlotte, N.C. The first game was anything but joyful, a 19-0 clobbering from the Northern League All-Stars.

Revamping their schedule, the Silver Bullets became more competitive as they gained experience and went head-to-head with less daunting talent.

In their 40 games (No. 41 is tonight in Tacoma), the Silver Bullets have won five, including a 6-0 no-hitter by under-hander Lisa Martinez against the Summerville (Charleston, S.C.,) Yankees on July 8.

Staff ace Lee Anne Ketcham, who will start Saturday, has pitched the Bullets’ other four wins. The Birmingham, Ala., native has 57 strikeouts in 66 innings.

All along, fans have supported to team at a rate of nearly 7,000 per game. More than 33,000 attended the Bullets’ July 3 game in Denver.

Spokane pitching coach Dave Smith will start for the Spokane AllStars. Smith saved 216 games during a 13-year major-league career.

No other Spokane All-Stars have experience in the majors. Infielder Scott Pyle played Triple-A ball in Oakland’s organization, outfielder and Indians pitching coach Tim McWilliam reached Class AA in San Diego’s system, and catcher Don Santos played Class A for the Cleveland organization.