Area roundup: Locals head to all-star games

Some players, if lucky, are selected for one summer All-Star football game.

East Valley’s Caleb Gillespie and Mead players Nick Proen and Emilio Sulpizio, for instance, are the few and the proud from the Greater Spokane League who get to play in Saturday’s 1 p.m. big-school East-West All-Star game in Everett’s Memorial Stadium.

St. John-Endicott standout Phillip Luft, however, is playing in his second all-star game in as many weeks tonight, when eight-man 1B athletes square off at 7 in the North-South game in Odessa.

While the GSL trio will go on to play in college, it will mark the end of a career for Luft that included his 3,210-yard rushing season, punctuated with an 84-yard touchdown during the Eagles’ State 1B championship victory.

“All good things come to an end,” said Luft last week from Yakima while preparing for the 2A-1A-B East-West game. “I didn’t get asked to play in college or anything. I may as well get in as much football as possible. These are probably the last two games of my life.”

On his way to water slides Wednesday in Ephrata as part of the B-8 week in Odessa, he was looking forward to tonight’s contest. He’s in a more familiar environment, playing for his SJE coach with and against players he knows.

“Personally, it’s a lot more fun here,” he said. “The other game was a bummer because we got our butts kicked (32-7). Hopefully, this will be a different outcome.”

Both Gillespie and Proen said they thought there would be more GSL players in Everett.

Defensive back/receiver Proen will continue his career at Central Washington. Linebacker/running back Gillespie has committed to Eastern Washington, but first will spend two years on a church mission. Lineman Sulpizio will play at Whitworth, Proen said.

The three will play on the East squad. They are among just eight of 64 players from east of the Cascades.

Over the past two seasons, Proen caught 49 passes for 868 yards and four touchdowns at Mead. He had five interceptions as a junior, but his defensive numbers were down last fall because of a knee injury.

“I missed a game-and-one-half and played the rest of the year with a brace,” he said. “I had high hopes until the knee held me back.”

Gillespie said the all-star game has been an eye opener.

“I was used to being one of the biggest kids in the GSL,” he said. “Here, I feel like I’m the tiniest linebacker. I’ve been dealing a lot more with linemen than before, partly because I’m playing inside. It’s been fun, though.”

Hockey

The Spokane Chiefs named former Chiefs defenseman Hardy Sauter as assistant coach, the Western Hockey League team announced Thursday.

Sauter scored 13 goals in 66 games with the Chiefs in the 1991-92 season.

Sauter joins the Chiefs after a two-year stint as general manager/head coach of the Nipawin Hawks of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. He was named coach of the year in 2006 and compiled a 74-29-6-4 record with the Hawks.

Baseball

Shawn Wayt went 5 for 5 and A.J. Proszek worked seven innings as the Spokane RiverHawks (5-8) held off the West Division-leading Corvallis Knights 9-8 in West Coast Collegiate Baseball League play at Gonzaga University’s Patterson Baseball Complex.

Casey Brett’s RBI single capped a three-run third and gave Spokane a 5-1 lead.

The Knights (9-4) drew within one run in the ninth on RBI walks by Jim Murphy and Erik Ammon, but Jake Hiatt struck out Clayton Shaw to end the game with the bases loaded.

Murphy had a two-run homer in the sixth.