Two enough for Sagendorf
Nick Sagendorf didn’t have much of a chance to showcase his stuff, but it didn’t take much.
Despite a 20-minute bullpen session before pitching to just two hitters, the senior-to-be at Mead was selected to play for the Northwest team in the national Area Code games in Long Beach, Calif., next month.
“Words can’t express how I feel about it,” Sagendorf, a right-hander who was a second-team All-Greater Spokane League pick for the Panthers.
He’ll be joined on the team, which is sponsored by the Kansas City Royals, by Coeur d’Alene shortstop Mitch Bevacqua.
“I kind of thought I wouldn’t make it,” Sagendorf admitted. “It’s hard to beat out the best because they’ve already been nominated by pro scouts, so they have a reason to be there. Most are throwing 90, and I don’t, so I focused on what I could do, the little things, like hitting my spots, throwing curveballs for strikes.”
Sagendorf was voted to have the best breaking ball at the tryouts in Pasco.
“I’ve always known I had a good one I could use as my out pitch but I never really understood how good it was,” he said. “That was good for me to have a little reassurance, get my confidence up.”
He said playing for the Dodgers this summer and working on his breaking pitches with coach Jeff Semilink prepared him for the quick tryout.
Although it was a long day, Sagendorf only threw in the bullpen for a short time before facing two hitters. He got them with a groundout and strikeout.
“I was surprised we just got to throw to two batters,” he said. “There’s pressure there, we wanted to prove what we had. It was a difficult situation to compete with just two batters.”
The 25th Area Code Games are Aug. 5-10 with eight teams participating.
“There was a lot of happiness,” Sagendorf said. “My mom was overjoyed and my dad was super proud. Oh my gosh.”
• Gosh could have been the operative word on Sunday when the Spokane Northstars beat Realty Sports out of Tacoma at an American Legion tournament in Walla Walla with a walk-off grand slam home run by Flex Wolf.
It was the second slam of the day for the Northstars, who won the game 17-15. The first was by Danny Mattingly.
The big blast was meaningful for Wolf, who gave up two runs in the top of the inning and was in danger of being the losing pitcher.
It is the second time in his life that Northstars coach Jim Wassem saw two slams in the same game. The first was a minor league game he was playing in, when he was walked twice to set up consecutive slams by his teammate.
• The Spokane Heat 19U team won the Wilkenson Classic Wood Bat tournament in Seattle over the weekend with a 6-0 record. The team rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the fifth inning for an 8-7 win over the Capital Senators.
Levin Pereira, who will be a senior at Coeur d’Alene HS, was named the Most Valuable Player.
The Heat have won 10 of their last 11 games for a 25-8 record. They face the Dodgers Friday night at Gonzaga’s Patterson Stadium.
Softball
One run in the first inning was enough but three more in the seventh made it easier as the Spokane Mudhens defeated the Washington Explosion 4-0 in the 18U championship game of the ASA state tournament in Moses Lake.
Kelli Peckham, who will be a senior at West Valley, scattered four hits for the win.
The Explosion, out of Tri-City, had eliminated the Spokane Diamonds 11-1 as it battled through the losers’ bracket.
• Two Washington teams were among the six that qualified for the Amateur Softball Association ASA/USA Girls 18-U Gold National Championships in San Diego July 24-30 from the 30-team 18-U Gold West Territorial Championship held at Merkel Sports Complex during the weekend.
Absolute Blast from Bellevue and Washington Lake Breeze from Monroe joined the Arizona Desert Thunder from Phoenix and three California teams – USA Athletics from Long Beach, American Pastime from Upland and California Thunder from San Dimas – in qualifying.
Golf
Stephen Thoen of Mead High School shot a 69 to win the Washington Junior Golf 16-17 age division by three strokes at Liberty Lake on Monday.
Michael Baldeck of Clarkston won the boys 14-15 division by two shots with a 67.
Alyssa Maine of Freeman topped the girls 16-17 field by a stroke with a 79, while Lewiston’s Amy Hasenoehrl won the girls 14-15 by three strokes with a 75.
• Brennan Stillinger of Coeur d’Alene had rounds of 74 and 75 to capture the Northwest Junior Golf Liberty Lake Classic by three strokes.
Joel Christensen of Liberty Lake had the best round of the tournament with a 72 on Sunday, eight strokes better than his first day score.
Connor Ramm of Spokane went 90-81 to win the boys 12-14 while Hailey Warren of Spokane won the girls 12-15.
The next event for the first-year program is the Battle of the Border at the Coeur d’Alene Resort August. 24.