Locally: Spokane Indians help restore field in Wellpinit
Members of the Spokane Indians front office teamed up with community members in Wellpinit on June 16 to restore that city’s War Veterans Memorial Field.
Joining the Indians were members from the Boys & Girls Club of Wellpinit, Spokane Tribe fuels department, Spokane Tribe maintenance department, Tribal Department of Natural Resources, Tribal water department, the Wellpinit High School girls softball team and community members Gladys Rhoads and Billy Shawn Flett Jr.
The project, which had the approval of the Spokane Tribe Business Council, included planting four large autumn blaze maple trees for shade and installing new bases, dugouts and players benches on the field, signage, trash cans and a new main water line.
They also repaired the perimeter fence, repaired and painted the bleachers, and installed a new gravel pathway and entrance thanks to contributions from Wittkopf Landscape Supply of Spokane.
In total, 120 bags of infield Turface mix, 25 yards of bark and 12 tons of gravel were used.
“We’re obviously proud of our partnership with the Spokane Tribe of Indians and are always looking to do projects together,” Otto Klein, senior vice president of the Indians baseball team, is quoted in a release.
“The field renovation project was a fun, collaborative effort to improve a youth sports facility in the heart of the reservation.”
In 2019, the Indians’ front office helped refurbish Redband Field in Spokane’s Peaceful Valley.
Football
Forty-nine sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from North Idaho participated in the 17th annual middle school All-State All-Star Football Games June 16-19 in Twin Falls. Four seventh-graders from Post Falls were on the team that brought home a championship.
The format pitted teams of players from the Treasure Valley in southern Idaho against those from the rest of the state in the three age divisions.
The event was designed to have a broader outreach, bringing awareness to children in foster care.
Sponsors said there are roughly 1,800 in Idaho and they collected hundreds of backpacks, clothes and gift cards that will go to foster children.
Alex Dean, Skyler Hance, Josh Hasty and Xander Scholes from Post Falls were on the Team Idaho seventh-grade team that defeated Treasure Valley 25-12 for the championship, reportedly the first state team to win a title in that division.
Other North Idaho seventh-graders: Brandon Felix, Post Falls; Brody Slawson, Priest Palmgren, Colt Robertson, all Coeur d’Alene; Tyson Ruggiero, George Mitchell, Radley McDonald, Jace Plummer, Rylan Peterson, all Lake City; Braden Buckout, Lucas Garrison, Jeremiah Palmer, all Sandpoint; James Borg, Jace Taylor, Dreyden Smith, all Lakeland; Gavin Griesemer, Priest River.
Eighth-graders: Carter Hanson, Blake William Rossi, Elijah Miller, Brett Myers, Grayson Roope, Christopher Zabel, William Fairbanks, Blake Haynes, all CdA; Matthew Lopez, Dylan Huber, both Lake City; Carter Vanek, Lakeland; Alex Garrison, Andrew Lehman, both Sandpoint.
Sixth-graders: Britton Johnston, Lake City; Ayson Simcox, Colton Kuprienko, Jacob McCaffery, Nathan Fegert, all Priest River; Marshall Tomlinson, Andrew Zazuetta, Cole Moorman, Kash Kreaman, Jordan Carlson, all Post Falls; Ben Murray, Gibson Comstock, Bear Coleman, Thomas Taylor, Brock Armstrong, Jackson Hackett, all CdA.
Letter of intent
University of Mary (North Dakota) wresting: Roddy Romero, Post Falls, 5A Idaho state 106-pound runner-up in 2020.
Softball
Carl Durr, who has been involved in softball umpiring for nearly three decades, has been named the 16th umpire in chief in Spokane.
USA Softball of Idaho District 8 (Spokane) Commissioner Jamie Stewart appointed Durr to fill the position left vacant when Dennis Keys died Jan. 8, after three years in the role.
Durr, who has been the umpire-in-charge in the Spokane Valley Girls Softball Association since 1992, was a USA Softball of Idaho District 8 Deputy Umpire in Chief since October 2017, serving under Keys and Ken Mathia and two interim UICs.