Cannons sitting atop AAA Legion

Thanks in part to a forfeit victory, the Spokane Valley Cannons, made up of baseball players from East Valley, West Valley and Central Valley, found themselves atop the standings early in the American Legion AAA League season.

The Cannons, who lost a couple of games during last week’s Cranston Memorial Tournament in Coeur d’Alene, improved to 5-0 in league with a 12-2 five-inning romp and 10-9 wins over Pullman on Monday before losing Tuesday to the North Stars 3-1 on TuesdayTeam offensive leader Bret Riggin, and Justin Marlow had three hits apiece, Riggin with a home run in the opener with the Patriots. Kyle Renz, among the team’s season hitting leaders, was one of three others with two hits in game one and also had a hit in game two.

Against the North Stars Mike Hauschild and Gary Jones hit safely giving them three each in the latter two games.

The Cannons had lost to the North Stars 5-1 two weeks earlier, but the North Stars forfeited because of an ineligible player, altering the standings.

The North Stars also forfeited twice to the Bandits, moving them into second place. The Bandits then lost to the North Stars 8-3 before topping the Blue Devils 11-1 to improve to 7-2 in league for second place.

Bandit catcher Ken VanSickle, from University, had a hit in the games, giving him hits in the team’s last seven, for a total of nine.

Earlier in the week the Cannons won 11-6 over the Bandits, winning pitcher Riggin, Marlow and Michael Stewart with two hits each.

The Bandits made the finals of last weekend’s Cranston Memorial Tournament in Coeur d’Alene, beating the Patriots, Bitterroot (Mont.) 12-4 and the Boise Gems 5-2 before losing to the Boise Senators in the title game 11-8.

The Cannons lost to the Gems 14-4, beat Bitterroot 7-6 and lost 5-4 to Trail, B.C. Riggin and Brian Dagon had three hits each and Jones homered against Bitterroot. Renz had three hits against Trail.

Kimmel leads in South

Kimmel Athletic Supply (University) has moved to the head of the pack nearly halfway through its AA American Legion baseball schedule.

The Valley team is 7-1 in the South Division of the 21-team league, to remain ahead of Whitman County and Lewis and Clark by three games in the win column.

Other Valley teams are at least two games back. East Valley is 4-3, Spokane Athletic Supply (West Valley) is 3-4 and Spokane Athletic (Central Valley) is 2-4.

U-Hi, in a Saturday doubleheader, beat Kimmel Athletic (Ferris) 4-3, rallying from an early 2-0 deficit, despite managing just three hits in the game. The team then beat Shadle Park 8-2.

Tom Peterson, a sophomore-to-be, continued on an offensive tear with three more hits, and his second home run. It gave him nine in four games.

On Monday, Adam Smith blanked Ferris 2-0, and Seth Englebert had two hits and Tuesday Nick Burger topped West Valley 6-0 on a two-hitter.

Peterson leads Kimmel with a dozen hits in 10 reported games. Sixteen U-Hi players have hit safely for the season, four of them with seven hits each.

SAS-WV blasted Ferris 12-2 in five innings earlier in the week to even its record. Casey Sherrill had three hits, including a double, and Matt Peterson had two.

Peterson leads West Valley in hitting with 10 in nine games, nearly double the next best on the team.

East Valley beat Shadle 11-6, Skyler Schiller with three doubles and Ryan Campbell with three singles. The team managed just two hits during Monday’s 11-4 loss to LC, both by Zach Kurtz, but bounced back to beat Cheney 12-1 on Tuesday.

SAS-CV lost 7-5 to Medical Lake on Monday despite a three-hit effort by Trevor Nearing.

Nearing has nine hits for the year, second to Nick Lallier‘s dozen in 11 games.

U-Hi leads 16U Legion

In reported 16U A American Legion League baseball, University’s No. 1 entrant in the East Division has a 4-0 record and the No. 2 U-Hi team evened its mark at 4-4

The division leaders are a game ahead of Lewis and Clark after two weeks of play. Freeman-Liberty’s combined team is 5-3 and in third place in the division.