Kimmel Athletic, Spokane Athletic in thick of Legion

Valley teams are in the middle of their American Legion baseball season and both Kimmel Athletic (University) and Spokane Athletic Supply (Central Valley) are in the thick of the Junior (AA) League South divisional race.

Kimmel trailed Lewis and Clark by a game, and SAS was 1 ½ games back going into Tuesday night contests.

Spokane Athletic (7-2) beat LC on Monday 7-2 with a five-run fourth inning for winning pitcher Scott Froelich, and Kimmel (9-3) topped SAS (West Valley) 10-2, as four players had two hits each.

The CV team has had a strong tourney season as well, winning at Cheney and finishing third in another.

Fifteen different players have hit safely, led by catcher Stuart Harris who has hit safely in nearly every game, mostly with multiple hits in each.

Kyle Renz and Eric Peck are among six others who have provided consistent offense for the team.

Kimmel dropped a couple of early games to LC but has won nearly everything else, including 4-3 over CV. Like Spokane Athletic, Kimmel has had strong hitting efforts from six athletes, led by Ken VanSickle and Seth Englebert.

West Valley and East Valley have a couple of wins each and Freeman is winless so far in the division.

University’s 16-U team, made up of incoming freshmen and sophomores, was unbeaten entering the week, two games up on the rest of the league.

In the Senior American Legion, the Valley Cannons, a CV/WV/EV combine, started slow. But a 7-5 win Monday over the Pullman Patriots continued a move that included last weekend’s second-place finish in a Kalispell, Mont., tournament.

The Cannons lost 14-13 to Bozeman in the title game that went 10 innings and included 17 hits by Cannons players. Mike Marlow led the team with three hits and drove in seven runs, and Marlow and Tyler Hauschild had two home runs apiece in the title game.

The Cannons are fourth in the five-team senior league, behind the Bandits (7-2), who include U-Hi players J.D. Peterson and Casey VanSickle.

Peterson pitched a win during the Bandits’ third-place finish in a weekend tournament in Missoula.

Locals win in track championships

Several Spokane Valley track athletes won championships during the Inland Empire Junior Olympic Championships in Cheney.

West Valley athletes Kevin Lemieux in the discus (144-0) and Jon Jeffreys in the javelin (172-5) were victorious in the Young Men’s Division. Missy Neuman threw 119-10 in the javelin for a Young Women’s win.

Pole vaulter Joshua Maulolo (12-11½), and EV shot putter David Howard (51-1) were also winners in the division.

Spokane Stealth 400 relay team of Cam Severns, Derek Schuh-Beem, Miles Massong and Tasheen Garry won in 45.47.

In the Intermediate class, Spokane Stealth sprinter Jared Kynaston won the 100 and 200 in 11.08 and 24.32 and teamed with Kiel Bowers, James Adams and Nick Severns for the 400 relay win.

Academic kudos for golfers

Golf must be a sport of intellect, not a good walk spoiled as Mark Twain once wrote.

Both Central Valley’s boys and University’s girls were the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 2004 spring academic state champions.

CV’s boys compiled a near-perfect grade point average (3.91), and the U-Hi girls weren’t far behind with a 3.78 composite.

They were among five Greater Spokane League teams, in nine sports, to win the WIAA Academics award.