Medical Lake members of team play crucial part in runner-up finish
The Spokane Blue Devils were in a funk following their 0-3 week in Spokane American Legion AAA play that ended June 24.
They lost three straight contests to the Cannons, 1-0, 6-4 and 8-0, evening their league mark at 3-3 and fell into the dogfight for one of the three playoff berths the five-team league receives in state play.
“I felt we had every opportunity to win some games against the Bandits, but we just didn’t put things together,” head coach Steve Hare.
A seven-hour van ride to Montana hardly seemed like it would help the situation.
“Honestly, after our three-game series against the Cannons I was a little worried,” Hare said. “My initial thought was let’s make the best of it, we’re going to get in at midnight and have the guys up by 6 a.m. for an 8 a.m. game.’”
The Blue Devils responded with a 4-1 record in the Belgrade, Mont. tournament and a runner-up finish. And it was Medical Lake’s Brayden Hale who helped pick up the team with his complete game 6-1 win over the Billings Halos in the opener. Hale also went 1 for 4 at the plate and was 4 of 13 with three runs scored and a pair of RBIs in the tournament.
“He pitched just a wonderful game,” Hare added. “We just saw the life in our team slowly change.”
The Blue Devils followed with wins of 12-8 over the Bitterroot Red Sox A and poundings of 11-1 over Burley, Idaho and 12-1 over host Belgrade before losing 10-1 in the title game versus Bitterroot.
Hare saw his team take advantage of every opportunity presented them versus Billings. “Whether it was an error in the field, or the pitcher walking guys around, we’d find ways to score them.” Hare said.
Pitching for the Blue Devils was a little spotty, but defense picked up any slack during the rest of the tournament.
“That first game took off and all of a sudden you just see the next games kinda’ go the same route,” Hare said. “Even the one where we were down 8-1 (in the third),” that being their second contest against Bitterroot.
Win or lose Hare told his players, they were playing a game the following day to see who goes to the championship. He told his guys to relax and they rallied to a 12-8 victory in five innings. “It was quite the impressive thing,” Hare said. “We just went after it and saw the other team fold.”
Bitterroot quickly erased any memory of its meltdown in the title game.
“They weren’t going to let up on us when we played that championship game,” Hare said. “We were making errors that were mental and physical. We haven’t seen that in a couple of weeks.”
It was a good trip for team bonding and getting the ship righted, Hare said. “We’ll look to see how this leads into this week (and the Wood Bat).”
Hare hopes to keep the Montana momentum alive this weekend. “I treat it like any other game when it comes to league games,” Hare said. “I’m going to play my best nine.”
The Blue Devils host the Mead Pod in the AAA division of the Fourth of July tournament, opening versus N.W. Premier at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Hare will start the other member of the team from Medical Lake, Cory Wagner in the opener, confident of both his arm and bat.
“I have Cory (Wagner) starting on the mound,” Hare said. “He’s become my ace throughout the summer.”
Wagner’s bat has blossomed, Hare said. “This past five games, he has hit the ball so well.” At Belgrade, Wagner went 7 for 11 with six RBIs and four runs scored.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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