Spokane Family Baseball’s Best

Spokane claims Washington’s “Youth Baseball Family of the Year” as proclaimed by French’s Mustard and USA Baseball.

Bob and Anna Downs and their children, Kristi, Tami, Marc and Chad, were selected to represent the state in competition to find America’s Youth Baseball Family that will be honored at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Bob Downs has been involved in baseball for 45 years. He is the area commissioner for the Spokane Senior Babe Ruth program.

Anna has made a strong contribution behind the scenes as a “second mom” to the boys with whom her family comes in contact; Marc has been an umpire in the Spokane Youth Sports Association program the last three years and coached a 14-15-year-old Babe Ruth team this summer; Tami has coached a SYSA youth team; and Chad has been a bat boy at Whitworth College.

Baseball

Twelve teams from throughout the world will be in Grand Forks, British Columbia, from Wednesday through Sept. 4 for the 20th annual Grand Forks International tournament.

The field includes Team Japan and Taiwan’s Olympic team, five-time Grand Forks winner Seattle Studs and the Lewiston Warriors.

Synchronized swimming

Two 13th-place finishes were the top showings by five members of Spokane’s Silver Mermaids in the 14-15-year-old division at the XXIX Junior Olympics earlier this month in Des Moines, Iowa.

The team of Karissa Crossley, Beth Moore, Megan Murphy, Nikki Velategui and Becky Weaver was 13th, as was the trio of Moore, Murphy and Velategui.Moore and Murphy were 19th in duet, and Velategui was 21st and Crossley 23rd in solo. Moore’s 32nd among 140 competitors was best of the locals in the figure competition.

Meetings

The Coeur d’Alene/Lake City high school booster club holds its first weekly luncheon Monday at noon at the Ironhorse Restaurant.

Featured guests will be the fall sports coaches. The public is invited.

, DataTimes