First Assembly Starts Slow, Finishes Strong
The First Assembly of God women’s slowpitch softball team reminds coach Larry Ewert of a train. Chugging slowly to start and finishing fast.
Every game won was the result of a late-innings rally. Last weekend’s season-ending 18th annual Church of Nazarene Invitational in Coeur d’Alene was no different.
First Assembly reached the B finale with a dramatic three-run, eighth-inning rally, including four consecutive hits, against Bethel.
Host Nazarene led 10-0 in the championship game after one inning, and 25-5 when the “mercy rule” was evoked in the fifth.
Darkness forced the if-necessary rematch from Ramsey Park downtown, to the lighted McEuen Field in the sixth. First Assembly led 9-7 when it packed up, then scored 13 runs in the bottom of the sixth.
“(Nazarene) decided to make a comeback, but couldn’t do it,” Ewert said. “The girls went ballistic. For them (to win), it was like uncomprehendable.”
The team’s average age is 28-30, and many are first-year players.
Right fielder Vanita Hardy, the tournament’smost valuable player, typifies First Assembly, which carried 16 players. She was errorless in the field and hit .850.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Hardy said. “During the season, I was standing different. I pulled my legs together and started to step into it.”
An MVP adjustment? “No way, I wasn’t even on the list,” Hardy downplayed. “My mouth fell open, I was excited. This is the first thing I’ve ever won. I’m 35.”
Pitcher Jodi Birdsall walked only two in the tournament’s four games. “We never had one big play,” Ewert said. “We just played real conservative ball.”
They also had an attentive scorekeeper, who made three outs from the bench as opponents batted out of order.
Church champs
Men’s A - Tri-Cities Christian Center 8, Coeur d’Alene Nazarene 7; B - Kent Church of Nazarene (Wash.) 4, Berean Bible II of Spokane 3; C - Spokane First Nazarene-SDS Realty 15, Spokane First Nazarene 5. Women’s A - Hayden Lake Friends 8, Redeemed by Christ of Rathdrum 6.
National qualifiers
Area slowpitch teams not already qualified for their respective 1995 Amateur Softball Association national tourneys get one last chance this weekend at the Northwest playoffs.
The top three placers advance.
Say no to national qualifier bids
That’s what Idaho ASA commissioner Red Halpern of Coeur d’Alene will tell the state’s player representatives for 1996.
“Next year, Idaho will not bid for any (national) qualifying tournaments,” Halpern said. “The reason: there is an advantage in a qualifying tournament, but yet there’s a disadvantage. The team gets to know early (it has made it). Those teams have an opportunity to raise money. Then, they probably don’t want to spend money to go to a state tournament.”
National returners
NAPA Auto Parts and the Heartbreakers of Coeur d’Alene returned Sunday from the women’s Plus-35 national slowpitch tournament in Portland. It had been 21 years since NAPA, formerly Coeur d’Alene Auto parts, competed in nationals.
Casa Mia of Portland eliminated NAPA 12-8 in 10 innings.
Tournaments
Western Truck Brokers of Post Falls drew 26 coed teams for its fourth annual fundraiser tournament at Quad Park in Post Falls. … French Cleaners of Post Falls won the upper division; Yacht Club of Coeur d’Alene took the lower division. … Pub 41’s Last HOO-RAH men’s C and D slowpitch tournament is the final summer event scheduled at Quad this weekend.