Ahead of the curve

There’s a magic about spring and baseball.

Once the snow melts and the weather warms, once the grass begins its transition from brown to green, the game begins its season in eternal optimism.

Every team has a shot at the title. Every team is loaded with promise.

Like everything that grows in the spring, high school baseball coaches watch and wait for something wonderful to blossom.

Inevitably, someone always does.

Those coaches will begin to find out this week, as all four Greater Spokane League teams in the Spokane Valley begin play with a slate of nonleague games.

“We’ve just had great weather,” East Valley coach John Phelan said. “I’ve been going over practice schedules from past years and we’re way ahead of where we’ve usually been at this point.”

“We have all this great weather, then it turns nasty for (last Saturday’s) jamboree,” new Central Valley assistant coach John Seefried said. “It does that just to remind us all that we’re playing baseball in Spokane, Washington and not somewhere in Arizona.”

East Valley drops down to Class 3A this season after winning its first Class 4A GSL regular-season championship a year ago, although the Knights were upset in the league tournament and did not advance to the state playoffs.

Central Valley debuts under a familiar face in first-year coach Barry Poffenroth, who takes over after 25 years as a teacher and coach at CV. Joining Poffenroth as an assistant coach is Seefried, who played baseball at CV and Washington State.

University and West Valley, both, enter the season with solid squads.

Central Valley Bears

Poffenroth worked as an assistant coach under Harry Amend and Ed Garcia at Central Valley and has coached numerous sports during his quarter-century tenure at the school, but coaching baseball is the job he’s wanted.

“For both of us,” Seefried said. “We’re both really excited about coaching here and building the program.”

Don’t be misled by the eight seniors on the Bears’ roster – only three saw any significant playing time last year.

The pitching staff should be solid, but without an overpowering No. 1. Senior Kris Henderson will start and play first base.

“I think you could say our pitching is above average,” Seefried said. “We don’t have any one guy who’s an out and out stopper. We’re going to have to execute pitches and actually pitch to guys.”

Senior Stu Harris, who caught on the Bears’ junior varsity a year ago, steps up to start behind the plate. Junior Ray Sheldon, recovering from a sprained ankle, will share time.

Junior Brad Johnson moves from first base to anchor the infield at third. Senior Kyle Renz will play shortstop while three players, juniors Zach Evans and Eric Peck and sophomore Ryan Simmelink all are vying for the job at second base.

“Kyle Renz is a definite prospect,” Seefried said. “We’re looking at maybe moving Zach Evans to the outfield. He has lots of speed, and we’re going to have to find a spot for him. He can definitely be a lead-off hitter at some point.”

Seniors Scott Froehlich and Ryan Maynes and junior Dale Beach will start in the outfield. Froehlich and Beach also pitch, with Evans the likely choice to fill in.

East Valley Knights

Phelan welcomes back his entire infield from last year, as well as starting pitchers Bret Riggin and Bryce Hoekema, both seniors.

Seniors George Hamilton and Grant Bruscoe were All-GSL honorable mention infield picks last year while junior Jye Lanphere and Riggin were first-team picks.

“You like having experience in the infield,” the coach said. “They keep things under control, and they’re closer to the action. They know how we want them to play the game – they can be more verbal and help out our pitchers.”

Still, Phelan isn’t above breaking up the old gang.

“We feel so good about our young infielders that we moved Grant to the outfield,” Phelan said. “I’ve got seven kids who can all play the outfield and do a pretty good job. They can run the ball down, hit the cut-off man and get the job done. The challenge right now is to find the four or five who will get the job.”

Juniors Jake Labelle and Brady Brunelle have been impressive in the outfield, as have seniors Cameron Rippee and Hoekema.

Riggin should again be one of the top pitchers in the league. Seniors Brice Parker and Nik Weiler join Hoekema as starters while the bullpen will be a committee-operation.

Replacing last year’s starting catcher is a priority.

“We’ve got two guys back there who are working hard, and I think they’ll be okay,” Phelan said. “(Senior) Spencer Shaw and (junior) Gerry Kelley both are looking pretty good, and I don’t know if one’s ahead of the other right now or not. We’re going to have to figure out who’s going to start, but they’ll both play quite a bit.”

University

Coach Don Ressa summed it up best:

“With exception of a couple three guys, we look like we’re from the land of the Smurfs.”

The team may be a contradiction to its nickname, but the Titans can play ball.

“We have great team speed,” Ressa said. “The key for us will be to get guys on base. If we can get ‘em on base, we’ll be scary.

“We’re going to be a team that uses the hit-and-run and the bunt-and-run and manufactures runs.”

With a fleet outfield, the coach said, teams will have to hit line drives into the gap if they want extra base hits.

“Let me put it this way,” he said, “if they get under the ball at all, we’re going to run it down.”

A key for U-Hi will be junior catcher Ken VanSickle, who gave up football this season to concentrate on baseball.

“He’s a great receiver, and he’s great with the pitchers,” Ressa said. “You just don’t have passed balls with him. He’s worked really hard in the weight room, and he went to a winter camp to get better. He’s really dedicating himself to baseball.”

The University pitching staff is solid, but not likely to dominate.

Seniors Calvin Jurich and JD Peterson and juniors Cody Bricken and Nick Burger will likely start.

“We don’t have an overpowering guy, but we’re going to have a pretty solid group of pitchers,” Ressa said. “The important thing for us is going to be how well we can change speeds and keep hitters off balance, and how well we can throw a curveball for strikes.

“We have six guys who can all pitch. The nice thing is they’re all position players so they field their position real well and help themselves out with the glove.”

Ressa has been pleased with the way his team has practiced defensively.

“These guys have played the game, and they are seldom in the wrong place,” he said.

Peterson will play third base when he’s not on the mound. Sophomore Kyle Barker and junior Conor Brooks will play short. Senior Alex Yerges and Burger will divide time at second.

West Valley

The Eagles have two starters entering their third straight season in the everyday lineup and both are just juniors.

Michael Hauschild starts at shortstop or second base, depending on who pitches, and Greg Bradley doubles as a first baseman and starting pitcher.

“Greg has some of the left-handed best stuff I’ve ever seen,” coach Don O’Neal said. “He already has colleges like Stanford looking at him, and he’s only a junior. He throws four pitches, all for strikes, including the best curveball I’ve ever seen.”

The Eagles have eight players who started a year ago, including junior Matt Peterson, who started at shortstop last season at Yelm High and moves into O’Neal’s starting lineup as Hauschild’s counterpart in the middle infield.

All-GSL honorable mention outfielder Mitch Phillips hit a clutch .412 a year ago and returns, as does left fielder Phillip Gannon, who missed part of last season with a knee injury. Craig Johnson, the team’s lone senior, starts in right field.

Justin Marlow, who started at first base last year as a sophomore, moves to third. Michael Helmberger, last year’s starting third baseman, moves behind the plate.

“He has some big shoes to fill back there, but he’s working hard and doing well,” O’Neal said. “He has a good arm, and we’re working with him a lot on the mental aspects of the game. The neat thing about him is he’s a super hard worker, and he’s determined.”

O’Neal approaches the start of the season the same way every year: as a point of departure.

“The thing we do is teach and teach and teach – right up until the start of the playoffs,” he said. “We try to teach the whole season.”