Splash Guaranteed Spot Among Top Four

The Spokane Splash 18’s volleyball team lost its first match of the National Volleyball Festival in California on Thursday but is still poised to make history.

Heading into today’s championship pool wrapup, the Splash is seeded third and can finish no lower than fourth, the highest finish ever for a Spokane team in the bracket for 18-year-olds.

Many of the players on the Splash 18s were on a 16-year-old team that finished fourth two years ago.

The Splash played five times Thursday, winning four matches. After beating Santa Barbara in two games, the Splash lost to top-seeded Orange County Nike 15-8, 15-9. Then they rebounded to beat Arizona in three games, Bakersfield in two and Orange County 17-1 in two games. On Wednesday, the Splash went 3-0.

No other Spokane team at any level, including the younger Splash teams and the River City Rush, is in the running for a top finish.

Legion baseball

The Falls that didn’t fall until the final last year, fell early this year in the Senior American Legion Fourth of July tournament.

Idaho Falls, which lost to Great Falls for the 1998 title, lost to the Spokane Blue Devils and Gresham, Ore., on the first day of this year’s tourney.

Josh Taylor had two doubles and drove in four runs as the Blue Devils beat Idaho Falls 11-2. Justin Karle scattered five hits for the win.

Gresham defeated Idaho Falls 6-4. The Oregon squad then came back to beat the Prairie Cardinals 5-1 as Brian Burres allowed two hits while striking out 17. He was also 3 for 3 at the plate, with two doubles, and three RBI.

Prairie, from Post Falls, also dropped a 4-3 decision to Olympia. All those games were at Jackson Field.

Meanwhile, at Gonzaga, the Great Falls Stallions won their first game and were tied in the second when darkness fell. The defending champions edged the Spokane North Stars 2-1 and were tied at 4 with the Tacoma Senators after eight innings.

The North Stars also lost to the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen 7-3, but the Spokane Valley Cannons beat CdA 9-4.

Jeff Crouch and Chris Hilsabeck executed back-to-back squeeze plays for the Cannons in their six-run fifth inning. Rob McGlothin had two hits and drove in four runs for the Cannons.

The Cannons then dropped a 13-6 decision to El Segundo, Calif. Each team had eight hits, but the Cannons committed five errors. McGlothin had two doubles, driving in two runs, for the Cannons.

Pool play in the tournament continues today. The tournament concludes on Sunday.

The Junior Legion portion of the tournament is being held at Central Valley and University.