Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Blue Devils earn No. 2 state seed

From Staff Reports

The Spokane Blue Devils earned the No. 2 seed to state and the Northstars were eliminated during AAA Legion baseball super regionals Sunday.

The Blue Devils played a pair of games Sunday in Colfax, losing to Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak 3-1 in the first game and beating Bellevue Baseball Club 15-5 in the second game to earn the second seed. The Blue Devils will face Twin City on Saturday at 9 a.m. in their first game of the double-elimination tournament at Heidelberg Field in Tacoma.

In the first game, Yakima scored three unearned runs to beat the Blue Devils and earn the top seed to state. In the second game, Bellevue scored four runs in the first inning, but after that Kasey Sargent held the Baseball Club to one run on five hits. Thomas Townsend went 4 for 5 with three runs scored and Jake Graham went 3 for 5 with two RBIs for the Blue Devils.

The Northstars missed out on state after losing twice in Yakima, 19-9 to the Kennewick Bandits and 14-3 to the Vancouver A’s. Against the Bandits, the Northstars scored all of their runs in the fourth inning. Jake Schrader drove in six of them with a three-run home run and a three-run double.

Against the A’s, the Northstars again did all their scoring in one inning. Tanner Knutson hit a two-run home run in a three-run sixth.

•In AA Legion baseball Monday, University beat Cheney 7-5 at Jackson Field to earn the No. 3 seed to state. Cheney is the No. 4 seed for the 16-team double-elimination state tournament, which begins Saturday at Cheney and University high schools.

Mt. Spokane and Ferris played late Monday to determine the top two seeds to state.

Midsummer madness

The Spokane Stars Blue won the Elite Division and Northwest Blazers 15U won the All-Star Division during last week’s MSMN National Championships in Seattle.

The Stars went 6-0, and beat Cal Stars Elite 62-43 in the quarterfinals and Tree of Hope 45-42 for the title.

Locals Katelyn Loper from Post Falls (8.7), Pullman’s Shelby Cheslek (7.3) and Coeur d’Alene’s Carli Rosenthal (6.2) were three of the top four scorers.

An older Northwest Blazers team and Spokane Sandpipers reached the quarterfinals of the 55-team event.

For the 15U Blazers it was their second championship, coming on the heels of the Adidas Summer Showcase Invitational in Portland. They beat the Memphis Bobcats 68-33 for that title.

In Seattle they were 6-0 and beat the Rocky Mountain Fever from Colorado 53-31 in the championship game.

Little League state

Spokane South 10-11 Little League baseball all-stars qualified for the state baseball tournament over the weekend in Oak Harbor. The team came from the loser’s bracket to beat Spokane North twice for the District 13 title, 19-16 and 11-1, after losing to the team previously. They won five of six games during the seven-day tourney.

Team members are Blake Bonham, Jack Paukert, Jake Ochoa, Nelson Cantrell, Chancey Garigan, Ian Johnston, Clayton Novotney, Michael Thew, Dylan Thompson, Evan Weaver and Kazden Lee. Bret Bonham, Rob Paukert and Rick Ochoa coach.

•The Tri County Little League 11-12 year old All-Stars qualified for last weekend’s Little League state softball tournament in Vancouver. The team is made up of players from Riverside and Deer Park and defeated Lake Spokane 11-1 for the District 13 championship after beating Mead/North Spokane and West Plains.

Junior Olympic tennis

Sarah Swider, 8, of Hayden, Idaho has advanced to the national finals of the U.S. Junior Olympic Tennis Skills competition, the official youth skills competition of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), which will take place in Chula Vista, Calif., Thursday-Sunday.

Swider will be competing for the national championship in the 8-9 girls division of USTA Rapid Rally Tennis. This basic tennis skills event calls for competitors to compete against themselves, hitting a low-compression tennis ball against a wall (above the net line) while standing behind the rally line (15 feet from wall) as many times as possible in 30 seconds.