Bandits sweep annual Legion tourney

The Bandits, with players from University, won last week’s AAA American Legion Fourth of July wood bat baseball tournament during four days of annual competition in Spokane.

The team swept undefeated through the tournament, beating the Kalispell Lakers 5-4, Prairie Cardinals 11-1, Bethell 11-3, Wood River 5-0 and Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen 9-5 in pool play.

They topped the Lumbermen 6-1 in the semifinals and won the championship over the Meridian (Idaho) Rangers 9-2.

Titan Danny Jordan pitched two of the wins, including the title victory over Meridian. He also had six hits, three of them doubles, during the four-day event. U-Hi teammate Billy Moon pitched another victory and had nine hits, including four doubles. He hit safely in six of the Bandits’ seven wins.

The Bandits currently have a three-game lead with five to play in the American Legion league. League champion earns an automatic berth to state.

“University’s AA Legion team reached the semifinals of its tournament winning its pool with five victories.

U-Hi beat Rogers 7-1 and Shadle Park 3-1 on Paul Hyndman‘s no-hitter. The team then topped Silver Valley 3-2 and Coeur d’Alene 4-1 and blanked Mountain View 15-0

But the Titans lost to eventual champion North Central 8-4, despite four hits by Travis Clark, in a game to play for the title. Clark hit safely in five of six games and totaled nine for the tournament.

University leads the North Division of AA Legion with a 12-1 record and will host state play in August. Freeman (12-2) and Central Valley (10-4) are tops in the South Division of the league.

Softball at mid-point

Spokane Valley Girls Softball season has reached the halfway point of its season with four undefeated teams.

BNSF (5-0) broke a 16U League first-place tie with a 5-2 victory over Home Run Construction.

Spokane Transfer (5-0) remains half a game ahead of two teams in the 14U League.

And in the 12U League, McCoy’s Pitching and Towey Ecological (both 7-0) now have a three-game advantage over the rest of the field.

Highlights in the 16U League included a four-hit game by Brietta Buechler in BNSF’s latest win, 9-3 over Tri-Diamond. Buechler hit three doubles and a triple.

Home Run Construction’s Danica Hanley drove in four runs, Allie Riggin doubled twice and drove in three runs and Kelly Nelson also had three RBI’s in one win and Dominique Reagan drove in three runs during another for the 4-1 team.

“Spokane Transfer won twice to maintain its 14U League lead. Hailey Wesselman hit two triples and Hailee Toles struck out eight and allowed one hit in three innings of a 14-6 victory over Old Country Buffet.

Arby’s (5-1) had three wins, Megan Steilen with a grand slam home run in one victory. Several others hit doubles during the run.

BNSF (5-1) had a pair of wins, Jessica Smith with a bases loaded triple during a 15-9 victory and Melissa Schierman and Miranda Morden with home runs in the other.

Katlynn Moles and Catherine Garcia hit home runs for Kim Hotstart and Brooklyn Bellomy had a triple for Old Country Buffet in other games.

“In the 12U League, Towey Ecological won three recent games. Pitcher Jessica Mitchell had 20 strikeouts in her three three-inning performances, hit two home runs, two doubles and a triple. Bailey Towey struck out 22 in her three pitching stints and Bailey Castor homered in two of the wins.

Other highlights included a grand slam homer by BNSF’s Brook Wayman and a three-hit game by Alayna McCarty of Commercial Battery. Rowand Machinery swung hot bats scoring 54 runs in three games producing a 1-1-1 record. The team allowed 53 runs in three exciting one-run decisions.

“U.S. Zinc (5-1) has the lead of the 10U League. Among recent highlights, Haylee McCoy of McCoy’s Pitching (5-2) pitched and batted her team to three wins. She allowed two runs in five innings in two games and had three hits in the third win. Aubrey West, Kelsey Odekirk and Shayden Clark each had two-hit games. Clark doubled in another game.

Panther Printing pitcher Madison Sipes struck out five in a game, Megan Hills of Kim Hotstart hit a three-run triple in one win and Kaylee Sturgis drove in the winning run in another.

Farrell Spray, despite a 15-14 loss to F&F Foundation, had a three-run triple by Reilly Lucas and two-run homer by Madison Wheeler. F&F’s

Crescent Ebel

had two hits. In a Farrell Spray win, Joslyn Streng tripled.

BNSF’s Lexi Green had two RBIs during an 11-8 win.