North Idaho Dominates All-Border Teams

Nine of 13 players named to the all-Border League baseball and softball teams are from North Idaho.

In baseball, league champ Coeur d’Alene had five selected, the most of any team. They are: Seniors Brad Ross (catcher), Robert Green (first baseman) and Ryan Holland (second baseman) and juniors Matt Brown (shortstop) and Blake Whiteman (outfielder).

Also named to the first team were: senior Tim Gittel (third baseman) of Lake City; senior Joe Spears (pitcher) of Colville; seniors Adam Busch (pitcher) and Trent Baysinger (utility) of Moscow; senior Chad McCall (pitcher) and junior Jason Clovis (designated hitter) of Clarkston; junior Ben Woodard (outfield) of Cheney; and junior Neil Litchfield (outfield) of Lewiston.

Junior shortstop Derek Bruce of Lewiston was named player of the year. Sophomore pitcher Julius Smith of Lewiston was named newcomer of the year. Troy Schrenk of Moscow was named coach of the year.

In softball, league champ Coeur d’Alene and Lake City had five and four players picked to the first team respectively.

First-team players are: Kari Lenz (infield), Patti Stranger (outfield), Cassandra Vig (outfield) and Stephanie Ferro (utility) of CdA; Brandi Brumley (infield), Alex Tice (outfield), Megan Carpenter (catcher) and Bobbi Darretta (pitcher) of LC; Heidi Lyman (infield) and Kristy Alberts (catcher) of West Valley; Jayme Smith (infield) of Post Falls; and Ellen Shaw (infield) and Brooke Brown (outfield) of Colville.

CdA senior pitcher Blake Hoorelbeke was named player of the year. CdA freshman pitcher Devlin Dougherty was picked newcomer of the year. CdA coach Larry Bieber was named coach of the year.

Hoorelbeke was 20-4 for the state runner-up Viks. She finished with a 73-16 career record and a 1.16 ERA. She struck out 683 in 574 innings.

First and second team selections and honorable mention for baseball and softball are listed in the Stat Sheet.

Basketball

Former Idaho Vandal Kaniel Dickens has an individual workout with the Seattle SuperSonics today and Vancouver Grizzlies on Sunday, Dickens’ agent Ben Pensack said.

Pensack said he has received considerable interest in Dickens, who declared himself eligible for the NBA draft rather than return for his senior season at Idaho.

San Antonio and Houston have shown the most interest, Pensack said.

At present, Dickens probably isn’t on the list of 60 players who will be invited to a pre-draft camp in Chicago from June 6-12, Pensack said.

But that could change, the agent said. “Vancouver GM Billy Knight is on the pre-draft selection committee, so I’m hoping Kaniel can really make an impression on him,” Pensack said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Coach hired

Lori Harris has been named volleyball coach at Post Falls High School.

Harris, 32, replaces Karla Merrill, who resigned after 13 years.

Harris moved to Post Falls from Kennewick in August. She coached previously in Kennewick and Ephrata, Wash., but had taken the past two years off from teaching to spend more time with her two young children. She will just coach initially at Post Falls.

Harris graduated from Columbia High in Burbank, Wash. She played volleyball two years at the University of Washington before transferring to Western Oregon, where she was an NAIA All-American for two years.