Ferris boys finish second in Las Vegas

What happened in Vegas for the Ferris basketball program was a second-place finish in the high school division during the Reebok Summer Championships.

It was, coach Don Van Lierop said, the school’s first finals appearance there.

“We made the semis before, but had years when we played in the open class,” he said. “This was good for us because we were without Riley Stockton and Connor Halliday. The guys had to stretch themselves.”

The Saxons went 6-1 during the tournament, winning their pool by an average of 33 points per game, and won three bracket games before losing to Positive Direction of New York, 62-55, in the High School Championship division.

There were more than 100 teams at the tournament July 23-25 competing in both Open (select traveling teams) and High School divisions.

Ferris beat the North Texas Cowboys 72-33, the Villa Park Spartans 62-38 and the Boulder Titans White 63-26 in pool play. They beat Texas Bluechips Blue 49-35, Branch West 16s 71-53 and Hope Christian 75-70 in double overtime in the semifinals.

Rays of hope

Two former prep pitchers from the Spokane area in the Tampa Bay Rays organization have gotten off to solid baseball starts.

As of last week Rogers graduate Jacob Partridge, playing for the Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays in Florida, had a 1.42 earned-run average in five appearances. He’d thrown 12 2/3 innings with three starts and no decisions, striking out 14 and walking one.

Central Valley grad Trevor Shull, in his second year with the Princeton Rays in the Appalachian League, was 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA and 25 strikeouts with one walk in 28 innings.

Blazers undefeated

The Northwest Blazers 15U girls basketball team recently won two highly coveted championships – the EA Sports Adidas Summer Showcase Invitational in Las Vegas and the MSNM Western Championship in San Diego – to finish the summer season undefeated.

Both tournaments serve as summer NCAA evaluation tournaments.

The Blazers won the All-Star divisions at the EA Sports Adidas Summer Showcase Invitational, defeating the Orange County Elite of Southern California 85-53 and at the MSNM Western Championship by defeating the Nevada Basketball Academy of NV 49-41.

The 15U Blazers finished the NCAA summer viewing tournament schedule 25-0 while winning five tournaments and one national championship.

The Blazers 15-U roster: Devyn Galland (Lewis and Clark), Nikia Arquette (LC), Hayley Hendricksen (LC), Tia Presley (Gonzaga Prep), Chelsea Waters and Abby Quinette (both Moscow, Idaho), Jaime Weisner (Walla Walla), Ellie Tinkle (Missoula), Channel Cambronero and Sophie Reicheldt (both Seattle).

The Blazers are coached by

Steve Klees

of Spokane.

Stars buzz-sawed

The opposition, in the words of Spokane Stars Blue coach Ron Adams, proved too athletic, strong and quick at the Nike Nationals in North Augusta, S.C.

The Stars failed to get out of their pool, losing four of five games in the 24-team event, bringing their summer travel to an end.

They lost 44-34 to New York Essence and 64-47 to Cal Storm on the first day. After beating Indiana Family 55-46 and leading RingCity from Louisiana 30-29 with 6 minutes, 10 seconds remaining, they were outscored 90-24 during the rest of their stay.

RingCity went on a 20-4 tear and 49-34 victory Wednesday evening, and Thursday morning Tennessee Flight took flight for a 70-20 triumph.

“We just got shellshocked,” Adams said.

Central Valley’s Brooke Gallaway scored 12 points against Indiana and Post Falls’ Katelan Loper had games of 11 and 10 against Cal Storm and RingCity.

Joining forces

Grant Fink and Seth Peterson from Mead High School and Nic Fowler and Tyler Jackson from Mt. Spokane have all signed baseball letters of intent to attend Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore.

Outlaws in P.R.

A Spokane-area select 12U baseball team, Club Spokane Outlaws, is in Puerto Rico for the Pee Wee Reese World Series, beginning Wednesday through Monday.

The Outlaws played in 11 tournaments beginning in March and have a 29-12-4 record, culminating with 6-5 and 9-3 wins over Maple Valley for the West Coast regional title.

Team members are Bryce Williamson, Spencer Miller, Alex Bowdish, Zach Day, Jordan Rathbone, Brett Rypien, David Mickey, Austin Lee, Tanner Parker, Braeden Weber, Graham Thompson and Nick Cain. Coaches and staff are Jeff Williamson, Merrell Ligons, Jeff Miller and Josh Bowdish.

Post Falls to regional

Post Falls 11-12 baseball players team are six wins away from the Little League World Series. The group, winners of the Idaho state championship, play in San Bernardino, Calif., Saturday-Aug. 15 in the Western Regional tournament.

They open Saturday against Wyoming in the Northwest section that includes teams from Oregon, Montana, Alaska and Washington.

Flight win nationals

The Spokane Flight, a 14U AAU boys basketball team, won the championship of the Jam On It Academy’s West Coast National tournament in Las Vegas.

Players, coach Jon Daniels said, raised $10,000 for the trip that included five straight wins after an opening loss to the Illinois Explorers from Chicago. They beat San Francisco Crusaders, Mater Dei , Yorba Linda, a team from Oakland, and the Bay Area Aces by more than 20 points for the title.

Flight won several tournaments, Daniels said, after finishing third in the eighth grade Spokane AAU League tournament this year and took third at the Pacific Northwest Championships before winning in Las Vegas.

“They’ve grown in the last six months,” he said.

Team members are Kionte Brown, Dakota Winward, Amaujae Daniels, Austin Friedly, Austin Garza, Beau Lockmer, Khalil Stickelmeyer, Jordan Weems and Jared Weeks. Also coaching are Brady Kingrey and D.J. Potter.