Cheney Hammers West Valley With Lopsided Baseball Victories

Floods, by their very nature, are excessive. So is the Cheney Blackhawk’s batting order, which rained - no, hailed, sleeted and, in general, stormed - RBIs against West Valley pitching in a lopsided doubleheader last Saturday. The Blackhawks won 12-2 and 20-6.

“Anytime you can be successful against (West Valley) is nice,” said coach Randy Elam. “To have it fairly easy is extra nice.”

Tucker Urdahl improved his record to 4-0, despite a late start because of the extended basketball season. He has allowed only a single earned run in 13 innings.

“He’s real close to being ready to go seven innings,” Elam said. “We cut him off at 90 pitches on Saturday. His arm is more important than finishing a game.”

Rightfielder Matt Conrath has been everywhere for Cheney, hitting a grand slam on Saturday, throwing a player out at the plate and making a game-saving, bases-loaded catch against Clarkston with the score at 10-9 in the bottom of the seventh. Scott Randall, the team’s backup catcher, has stepped in to play well.

Cheney has a doubleheader at Pullman on Saturday.

State gymnastics champs

Kevin Olson, a 13-year-old at Chase Middle School, his brother Isaac Olson, a 10-year-old at Moran Prairie Elementary, and Jefferson Elementary sixth-grader David Baum, 12, each beat back strong fields in their age divisions to win the Washington State Gymnastics Championships at Seattle’s Snohomish High School.

The March 15-16 victories marked the third time Kevin Olson has won the championship. For Isaac, it was the second straight year he’s captured the Class-5 gymnastics title.

In Baum’s first-ever championship, he won all six events - including the rings, high bar, parallel bars, vault, floor exercise and pommel horse.

The three Lilac City Gymnastics team members now are set to compete Friday and Saturday in the Pacific Northwest regional championship in Anchorage, Alaska.

Ferris baseball dominates

Two games into the season, one thing seems clear: The Ferris Saxons won’t have any trouble putting runs on the scoreboard.

Now that you mention it, their pitching isn’t half bad either.

After a 10-0 win over University to open the season, Joel Soter went 3-for-5, Chris Schuchart 2-for-4, Marcus Molett hit safely three times and thrower Jim Gewalt allowed only three hits and no earned runs in the Saxon’s 17-2 pounding of Central Valley last Friday.

“We’ve had a few more games, a few more opportunities now to see live pitching,” said coach John Thacker. “I think it’s too early to give an accurate assessment, but it’s nice to start off with a couple of wins.”

Cheney soccer powers to 5-0

There are plenty of area soccer players who would give their left foot to post season numbers like Nick Reynolds has. The irony is, Reynold’s impressive stats come after just five games.

The Blackhawks’ junior striker is on track to break just about every scoring record in sight in the Frontier League but, according to coach Mark Belstad, Reynolds is passing up opportunities to score.

“He’s on fire,” Belstad says. “And that’s just the ones he’s putting away. He’s been unselfish, setting the other players up as well.”

Cheney has scored 26 goals for an average of more than five a game. Pullman was the latest victim, succumbing to the Blackhawks 5-2. If there’s a secret, Belstad isn’t giving anything away.

“I just think we’re getting some good breaks,” he says.

A pair of midfielders, junior Paul Malisani and sophomore Chris Oyoloker, have shone in a support role. Ryan “Wally World” Waller, who led the team in goals a year ago, has tallied five times.

Even though the high-powered offense has been garnering most of the praise, Belstad was quick to point out that defenders Travis Skeman and Bentley Wolfe, both seniors, and Timmy Donnelly, a junior, along with junior goalkeeper Tyler Stitt, have given up less than two goals per game, on average.

“Without a doubt, I’ve got the funnest group of young people I’ve ever been around,” Belstad says.

Medical Lake evens record

Feast or famine has been the rule of the day when Medical Lake shows up on the softball diamond.

Last weekend, the Cardinals dropped the first game of its doubleheader with Colfax 19-2, then turned around and beat them 24-11. Against the same pitcher.

“That’s kind of the way our season has gone,” said coach John Higgins. “We’ve had trouble with the first game in the doubleheaders.”

After less-than-enviable volleyball and basketball seasons - ML couldn’t put together a half dozen wins between the two sports, whose teams were made up of many of the softball players - it may just take awhile for the Cardinals to get into the winning groove. The team is full of tested, returning talent, Higgins says.

Amanda Monroe, the Cardinal’s junior pitcher, has opened the season with a 4-2 record. Junior centerfielder Kim Erickson went 5-for-9 at the plate during Saturday’s doubleheader, and junior leftfielder Jessica Muelkin has already drilled six home runs.

Catcher Michelle Early has also started the year off well, batting over .400 to lead the team, while senior transfer Katherine Connolly has provided a measure of stability.

The Cardinals have a doubleheader this Saturday at Medical Lake against Southridge High School from Kennewick.

LC wins its first of season

After losing a pair of close ones, the Tigers cut out their middle-inning errors and dropped North Central 6-3 in a game played last Friday.

Mistakes cost the Tigers their early leads in games against Central Valley and Shadle Park, who both went on to hand LC one-run setbacks earlier in the week. It was a different story against the Indians.

“We came up with some good defensive plays,” said Jim Travis, pointing to a particularly critical sixth inning double play with runners at first and third bases. Nobody scored.

Chris Flatt, a lefty, threw five innings and allowed just three hits, while Jared Strasser blanked the Indians in the final two innings for the save.

Juniors Chris Wheaton and Jim Travis both had doubles, while Derek Johnson had an RBI single to spark a three-run fifth inning that made the difference.

“I think it’s coming together slowly,” coach Travis said of his team, most of whom played junior varsity ball last year. “Our pitching has been pretty good.”

Three Tiger hurlers have ERAs below 2.0, with Strasser’s 1.17, Geoff Carson’s 1.40, and Flatt’s stingy 1.90 providing a glimpse of what GSL foes can expect as the season unfolds.