Valley Baseball Tournament Action Puts Teams To The Test

It took the flip of a coin and a tiebreaker to complete seedings for the first round of Spokane Valley Baseball Giant League playoffs.

Giant and Pee Wee tournaments got underway Monday and the Midget tourney started on Tuesday.

Games continue throughout this week and next before champions are determined on Saturday, July 27.

Spokane Olympic Sports lost the battle but won the war against National Division co-titlist Les Schwab Tire in securing a bye through the Giant first round.

Les Schwab forced a title tie with an 8-3 win then lost the coin flip and top seed.

Adam Stultz continued to dominate on the mound, striking out 14 and allowing only one earned run.

Leading just 4-3 in the seventh inning, Les Schwab got a two-run single from Tim Hammer and RBIs by Jamie Quirk and Brandon Strobel to pull away.

Jason Paul was 7-for-9 with six runs batted in during the week. Tyler Winkleman pitched a five-inning shutout two games earlier over fourth-place George Velis DDS.

In the American Division, Leo’s Photography forced a tie for second place on Yoshio Packard’s 6-0 13-strikeout shutout over Valley Firefighters. He also scored the tiebreaker run that gave the team a second seed in the tournament.

American Division champion Jim Frazier Pro Shop, Les Schwab and Leo’s moved into the double-elimination portion of the tournament with opening round victories.

Jim Frazier plays George Velis DDS, which topped Spokane County Deputy Sheriff’s Assoc, 7-1.

Les Schwab beat Happy Hatter 20-3 and plays Valley Firefighters which ousted Food Rainbow 15-0.

On the other side of the bracket, Leo’s Photography plays Greenacres Gypsum, a 10-9 victor over Autocraft.

Olympic Sports meets Valley Electric, 10-0 winner against Perfection Tire.

Top eight Midgets begin today

Top four finishers in each Midget League division begin tournament play tonight.

They awaited the survivors of Tuesday’s initial eight games.

Regular season unbeatens Ashco Insurance and Norma’s Burger Barn play George Velis DDS and Tom’s Barber Shop respectively.

Second-placers Ethan Allen plays Valley Kiwanis and Spokane Indians plays Olympic Sports.

Third-placers Adams plays McDonald’s and Broadway Eye Care plays Conley’s Place.

Fourth-placers Greenacres II plays Gibson’s Nursery and Broadway plays Medicine Shoppe.

During regular-season games, Broadway Eye Care finished with a flourish winning twice, including 8-4 over Ethan Allen.

Ryan Hite hit two bases loaded doubles good for six RBIs and K.C. Little pitched four no-hit, no-run innings, striking out eight.

In Eye Care’s season finale, Vaughn Haas drove in three runs with two hits.

In a game between Chester teams, Ethan Allen won 13-12 on Brent Fox’s steal of home.

In first round games, George Velis eliminated Northwest Fence 11-7, Gibson’s beat Spokane Valley Baseball 7-0, McDonald’s beat Trentwood 7-3 and Valley Kiwanis beat Les Schwab Tire 6-5 in eight innings.

Olympic Sports ousted Valley Construction 18-6, Conley’s Place upset Dollar Rent-a-Car 19-6, Medicine Shoppe beat Golden Knights 13-4 and Tom’s Barber Shop beat Food Rainbow 11-4.

Ten teams join top Pee Wee seeds

Ten Pee Wee League teams won Monday playoffs games to advance and join six teams that received first-round tournament byes.

Ethan Allen beat May-Davis Inc. 14-1, Opportunity beat Syncor 18-16, Food Rainbow beat Valley Electric 11-3, Spear’s Used Cars beat Progress 12-2 and Dr. DeCounter beat CXT 26-8 on one side of the bracket.

Svedala beat Action Charter 9-7, Godfather’s Pizza beat Shrine Circus 29-2, White Elephant beat Adams 16-12, Neurosurgery Assoc. beat Olympic Sports 16-0 and George Velis DDS beat Greenacre II 6-5 on the other side.

Valley Instant Printing’s National Division championship made their coach, Ray Riggin, the answer to a trivia question.

Whose teams won both a high school and youth league championship in the same year?

Dring three wins last week, VIP’s Luke Raynor drove in the winning run against Broadway Eye Care in the fifth inning, struck out nine in three innings and had three hits against Golden Knights.

Neurosurgery Assoc. knocked Jim Psomas DDS out of first place, 5-2, in the American Division as Jeremy Kline and Matt Johnston allowed but two hits and struck out 15.

In an earlier Neurosurgery win, Ryan Herring and Jimmy Schjodt each had three hits.

Norma’s Burger Barn wound up the winner by beating Les Schwab Tire, Kenny Zachow going 3-for-4 with four RBIs.

Other teams with first round byes were Screen Tek, Dave’s Grill and Pizza Hut.

, DataTimes