Legion Royals Get It Together

The Spokane Senior American Legion Fourth of July baseball tournament became a Royal surprise on Saturday.

The Spokane Royals, who entered the tournament with a 2-15 record, won twice to win the Red pool with a 4-1 record and make today’s championship game.

The Royals play Tacoma, which went 3-1-1 in the Blue Division, at 2 p.m. at Shadle Park.

In the 11 a.m. game, for third place, El Segundo, Calif., meets Black Hills of Olympia.

The Royals got a strong performance from pitcher John Langan to defeat Olympia 4-1. Both teams finished pool play at 4-1.

Langan scattered five hits and struck out nine. Landon Johnson went 2 for 3 with a double and a triple. He had an RBI triple in the fifth to break a tie and scored an insurance run on a passed ball. All five Royals hits were for extra bases.

Langan then had a big game at the plate as the Royals earned the championship game with a 6-0 win over Gresham, Ore. He had three hits, including a two-run double in the second and a RBI single in the fourth.

Aaron Madison only allowed five hits in the shutout.

“I always knew the kids had the talent,” Royals coach Adam Smith said. “I think they came out relaxed and played how they can play.

Smith said his team had about 10 games stopped by the 10-run rule.

“It’s really awesome for these kids,” he said. “A lot are from smaller schools (Reardan, Davenport, Odessa and Cheney), plus five from Lewis and Clark. They haven’t played against this caliber of baseball. To come up and play this way, they’re ecstatic. As a coach, you can’t be more pleased to see a team come together like this.”

El Segundo, which was 3-0 after two days, dropped a pair of decisions in the Blue Division. They finished tied with the Spokane Valley Cannons and Coeur d’Alene but won the tiebreaker.

Great Falls scored two runs in the top of the seventh to defeat El Segundo 6-4. Jared Swartz was 2 for 2 with an RBI and Drew McManus was 2 for 4, including a double, with an RBI.

Coeur d’Alene scored three runs in the seventh to top El Segundo 3-1. Brad Gors scattered four hits for the win.

The Cannons handed defending champion Great Falls a 1-0 loss. Shae Lamphere, who had one of three Cannons hits, scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth. Josh Bauch gave up just two hits for the win.

Tacoma came back to belt the Cannons 13-3, scoring 10 runs in the top of the seventh.

Tacoma reached the title game with a 9-4 win over the North Stars. Trailing 4-3, Tacoma took charge with a five-run third. Todd Patterson had three singles for Tacoma and Jake Carvitto and Justin Gonzales drove in two runs apiece.

In the Red Division, Olympia rebounded from its loss to the Royals with a 6-4 win over Idaho Falls, scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth inning. Walt Simpson struck out eight for the win. Clay Johnson went 3 for 3 with three RBIs for Olympia. Keith Gemart went 3 for 4 with three RBI for Idaho Falls, which finished at 0-5 after reaching the title game last year.

Gresham used a seven-run first inning to beat the Blue Devils 11-6 despite being out-hit 12-9. Five players had two hits for the Blue Devils.

The Prairie Cardinals of Post Falls finished the tournament at 3-2 with a three-game winning streak with a 13-4 win over the Devils. Pat Eberlin drove in four runs, including three with a basesloaded triple in a seven-run fourth that iced the game.

In the Junior Legion tournament, Lakeside Recovery Gray of Issaquah faces Kimmel Athletics for third place at 11 a.m., followed by Black Hills of Olympia against the Kennewick Dusters for the championship at 2 p.m. Both games are at CV.

Basketball

Five players scored in double figures as the Spokane Stars 18U team opened the AAU girls basketball National Tournament in Dallas with a 106-46 romp over Ohio.

Emily Autrey of Kamiakin scored 20 points to lead the Stars, who play Oklahoma City this morning and Tennessee this afternoon to finish pool play. Spokane needs to win once to advance.

The Stars shot 63 percent and outrebounded Ohio 51-40. Carey Sauer of Newport led Spokane with 11 rebounds.

Shaylia Davis of Coeur d’Alene came off the bench to score 18 points on 9 of 10 shooting.

Loree Payne of Havre, Mont., who will play at Washington with Autrey, scored 16. Andrea Lalum, from Bozeman, Mont., had 14 off the bench and Janelle Ruen of Post Falls added 10.

Baseball

George Petticrew, who has had a successful career at Lakeside High School and Community Colleges of Spokane, broke his pitching arm throwing a baseball two weeks ago.

Petticrew has signed with Lewis-Clark State, the NAIA national champion, and should be able to play next spring.

Petticrew, after taking about a month off following the community college season, was pitching for the Spokane Red Sox.

This sidebar appeared with the story: TRACK AND FIELD LAGAT SHINES Bernard Lagat ran his last outdoor track race in a Washington State University uniform last month, but he’s still rewriting the record book. The senior from Kenya, who will return to run cross country and indoor track next fall, lowered his own WSU record for 1,500 meters to 3 minutes, 33.32 seconds in a meet Saturday in St. Denis, France. Lagat, who finished third in the race won by countryman Laban Rotich in 3:32.73, shaved 1.16 seconds off his old record set last year in a race in Stuttgart.

Craig Kent of Spokane had a successful trip to the Youth Athletic National Championships track meet at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. The 13-year-old won the shot put in his age group with a throw of 48 feet and was third in the javelin at 141 feet, 6 inches.