Tourney Wins Reverse Bandits Woes

The two Spokane Senior American Legion baseball teams were polar opposites entering Wenatchee’s Apple Valley Invitational tourney.

The Silver Lanes Bandits, with five University High players, had entered the tournament with a 2-13 record. The Northwest Athletics Blue Devils were 9-4.

The teams had played each other three times previously with the Blue Devils winning all three.

But you wouldn’t have guessed it from the results of their final game Sunday, an 11-10 victory by the Bandits in the game for third and fourth places.

The wild ending produced 17 runs in the last 1-1/2 innings. The prevailing Bandits finished with a 4-1 record that tripled their season win total.

They scored three times, including on an RBI double by Jared Vlahovich for a 6-1 lead. But two hit batters, a walk, and two infield hits opened the floodgates on a 9-run seventh inning by the Blue Devils.

Not to be outdone, the Bandits scored five runs in the bottom of the inning to win.

Three walks and two hit batsmen in succession made it 10-9. Keith Christensen singled to tie the game before the Bandits won it on a check-swing sacrifice fly.

His team’s turnaround in Wenatchee pleased Mark Machtolf.

The team got timely hits throughout the tournament including by Christensen and Vlahovich, who hit .500 with four RBIs.

The Bandits had opened the tournament behind the pitching of Titan Kenny Florence who shut down Everett 5-1.

Following a hard-luck 7-1 loss by Erik Wiberg to tourney runner-up Vancouver Cardinals in a game closer than the final score, the Bandits bounced back with a 5-1 and 7-5 wins over South Kitsap and the Stilly River Rapids.

Liberty’s Eric Smith pitched a two-hit complete game in the former. The team scored seven first-inning runs on five hits against the Rapids, enough for victory.

More impressive, said Machtolf, was the ability to come back from a four-run deficit in its last at-bat.

“It was frustrating early,” said Machtolf of the dearth of wins. “The challenge was seeing them improve and watching them get better individually. We have seen that.”

Cannons keep booming

A week after winning the tournament in Kalispell, the Spokane Valley Cannons finished second in a tournament in Coeur d’Alene.

The Cannons went 4-0-1 in their pool to advance to the finals where they lost to Marysville 9-4 for the title.

“I want the kids to feel good about themselves for winning. At the same time we’re not playing consistently,” said coach and Gonzaga University assistant Travis Jewett. “If we’re more so we can go on a run from here.”

The Cannons beat the North Stars 9-6 in a game that also served as a league counter. They beat Snohomish 6-4 and a team from Trail, B.C., 10-0 on Will Murphy’s 65-pitch two-hitter.

They tied Marysville 11-11 in a game in which they made nine errors. Thank goodness for Matt Risley who hit two home runs, a 3-run and grand slam.

“We just stunk it up, but kind of rode his back that day,” said Jewett.

Seth Gemar pitched the Cannons past host Coeur d’Alene 12-2 on 75 pitches in the semifinals, setting up a rematch with Marysville.

By then Risley had left for a baseball showcase in Nevada. The team was also missing players because of Hoopfest and for other reasons.

After sweeping the North Stars Tuesday night, the Cannons are 18-6 overall.

“We’ve got to be playing our best baseball when the end-of-season tournament comes around,” said Jewett.