Greenslitt powers Saxons
Andy Greenslitt had not hit a home run in his Ferris High School baseball career.
His first, hit into a howling cross-wind, picked up the Saxons and led them to a 9-3 victory at Central Valley on Monday.
Ferris (14-2) needs one win in its final two Greater Spokane League games Wednesday and Thursday to assure a top-two finish among 4A schools.
Ferris’ Beau Brett had broken a 1-1 tie against the Bears (8-10) with a lead-off home run to left that got up into the jet stream of a blustery afternoon.
But when the Saxons’ Caleb Rath was called out for missing third base on Scott Ward’s apparent RBI one-out base hit, CV had a chance to dodge a problem.
But enter Greenslitt, who whacked his shot over the fence in right-center field for a 4-1 Saxons lead.
“That was the hardest ball he’s hit in is career at Ferris,” said coach John Thacker, a CV alumnus. “It was quite a bolt.”
Enough of one that it even caught Greenslitt by surprise.
“I thought it was deep,” he said, “but I’d never hit one that far and wasn’t used to it.”
It gave pitcher Bud Kittredge a lead the Bears could not overcome, and brought an end to their regular season with playoff fingers crossed.
“Bud threw a great game,” Thacker said. “He had his breaking ball over when it needed to and located it pretty well.”
A five-run sixth inning, the product of three straight walks, a two-run single by Pat Burke and double by Kittredge, put the game out of reach.
Also Monday, University (13-3) was a 7-1 victor over visiting Lewis and Clark. Travis Lewis went the distance, scattering five his and shutting out the Tigers the final six innings. He had two of his team’s six hits. … Mead (12-4) defeated visiting Cheney (1-17) 14-4. Leadoff hitter Andy Mattingly was 2 for 4 with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three times and driving in four. Batting behind him, Connor Moore was 3 for 3, scored three runs and drove in two. … North Central (10-6) benefited from eight errors, three during a nine-run seventh inning at West Valley (12-4), to win 13-3 and keep alive hopes of being the GSL’s top 3A sub-regional tourney seed. … Clarkston (7-9) upset Mt. Spokane (11-5) 3-2, capitalizing on four errors for two unearned runs, and remained a game ahead of East Valley for the third 3A playoff spot. … Knights (6-10, 6-10) pitcher Mark Lengyel scattered eight hits and was 3 for 3 with three runs scored and three RBIs in a 10-1 home win over Rogers (7-11, 5-11). … Gonzaga Prep (7-9) edged Shadle Park (1-15) 6-5 scoring the winning run in the top of the sixth when Michael Stockton reached on an error and Brendan Cunningham doubled him home.