2nd Place Lands Maxwell House In State Tourney

Being No. 2 wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It didn’t prevent team Maxwell House from qualifying for this week’s AA state American Legion baseball tournament in Spokane.

Games during the eight-team double-elimination event are at Shadle Park’s Al K. Jackson Field.

Maxwell House finished second in the North Division of the league and second in the playoffs to earn Spokane’s second spot in the event.

First-round games were Wednesday and continue today for Maxwell House, either at 7:30 p.m. if they won or 12:30 if they lost, and through the weekend.

Maxwell House, from North Central High School, beat third-place Strike Zone 6-5 in a loser-out game, then swept South Division champion B&P Pac of Clarkston 5-4 and 11-2 to claim the state berth.

In a seeding game Maxwell House lost 12-1 to Olympic Sports.

“After the Fourth of July tournament the kids started to gel,” said Maxwell House coach Jeremy Naccarato.

The key to beating Strike Zone was laying off the high heat of its pitcher, Jason Phillipe.

The first time they faced him, he struck out 16. This time he fanned only two.

To beat B&P, which lost just twice in league, Maxwell House pitchers had to keep them off balance.

Andy Grigsby and Matt Schwarzer pitched Maxwell House to the initial win, and Nat Sampson pitched a four-hitter to complete the sweep.

“I knew they hit the fast ball real well and took a chance throwing Grigsby, who was our number one pitcher through the summer,” said Naccarato. “He threw a lot of off-speed pitches and curves and struck out 12.”

Schwarzer and Sampson showed more of the same.

“It was a team you could tie in knots if you throw breaking balls,” said Naccarato.

Offensively, Aaron Farr, Nick Froscheiser, Mike Caballero and Schwarzer led the team.

Froscheiser and John Forness played freshman ball at NC, and the others were either junior varsity or varsity players. Caballero, injured in wrestling, didn’t play baseball last school season, nor did Damion Johnson, a club volleyball player.

“He’s a remarkable athlete with a good arm and great speed,” said Naccarato, NC’s freshman coach. “We’d like to get him.”

Legion AAA teams in playoffs

Two North Side AAA American Legion baseball teams are in the middle of best-of-three series to determine a state entrant.

League champion North Stars (Mead, Rogers, Deer Park and Riverside) played fourth-place Valley team, the Cannons, in a double header. A third game, if necessary, is at Whitworth today at 6 p.m.

Co-second place finishers Blue Devils (NC, Shadle and Northwest Christian) and Bandits complete their series today at Central Valley.

Survivors meet in another best-of-three playoff with the winner qualifying for state.

Pony team wins city tourney

Pacific Data Products Indians, a North Side team that finished second in the South Division of Spokane Pony Baseball, won the end-of-season city tournament.

The team, coached by Jess Martin and Marty Hare, went 4-0 in the tournament.

Steve Hare threw a 10-0 no-hitter against Mead. Jason Hanson went the distance during an 8-1 win over Wash World, a team that had 10-runned Pacific Data during regular season.

In the semifinals, Pacific Data beat Pattison’s 6-3, another team that had 10-runned the team during the year.

The finals win was 14-4 over Wash World. Pacific Data finished the season with an 18-5 record.

“We were one of the hotter teams in town at the end of the season,” said Marty Hare. “We had beaten (league champion and state qualifier) Morris Clark Siding 3-2 in eight innings late in the season. That’s what sparked us.”

Team members are Justin Belyea, Jacob Williams, Dane Blanchat, Scott Barkdull, J.J. Zacher, Justin Hare, Adam Farr, Jason Wederspahn, Zach Lange, John Petrie, Jeremy McVay, George Bell, Hare and Hanson.

They hail from Glover, Salk and Garry middle schools and Lakeside.

, DataTimes