It's a great time for fresh beginnings with American Legion Baseball

It’s spring — or so the calendar says — and time for fresh beginnings.

Count that as the guiding light for Medical Lake’s American Legion baseball team which started their season, elevated back to AA play in the National Division, this past Tuesday.

There’s need to refocus after they closed out 2016 with a decidedly sour taste in their collective craws in a season of single-A play.

As described last summer in this column space, a very-much overachieving crew from Medical Lake found themselves on July 18 with a perfect 3-0 record in pool play that rewarded the victor with a trip to the coveted state tournament.

Poised for an automatic berth into the championship game later that day against either Mt. Spokane or Ferris, Medical Lake discovered a hastily drawn revised bracket with them having to face Mt. Spokane — a team they had beaten — again.

Medical Lake did what they had to and topped their opponent in the elimination game, 7-6 before being beaten by Ferris 13-1 and eliminated — with a single loss.

It took days for any league official to offer an explanation, and still, like those adept members of Congress, they kicked the can down the road writing, “The Spokane ALB board does not have input in regards to postseason tournament rulings.”

As for head coach Kerry Kelly, who was out of town that weekend at the funeral of a family member, 2016 “Is all water under the bridge,” and it’s a fresh start.

But from an initial perusal of the make-up of Spokane’s AA American Legion teams there’s curious imbalance with 15 teams, including Cheney, in the American Division and just five in ML’s National.

Tournament trouble seems to be brewing before the first pitch is thrown.

And if Kelly understands things, it will take another overachieving bunch who wear maroon and gold to play into mid-July. The likelihood of postseason will rest entirely on winning their regular season title in the National Division, Kelly said.

But that’s weeks down the road and Medical Lake needs to first mesh their young roster that featured seven sophomores, and figure out what to do without stalwart seniors such as Philip Murray and Kyle Thompson who are likely slotted for roles with the Spokane Cannons AAA team.

That’s where Kelly and his staff gets to do what they love: teach the game of baseball.

“My vision of summer — I of course want to compete — I want to put out the best product we can,” Kelly said.

However, “It’s not about wins and losses, it’s not about how far I went in the playoffs,” Kelly said.

Summer, he believes, is a time to focus on player development for the following spring. And not turning away any kids who want to play.

“I have a kid from Liberty, I have a kid from Lakeside, I have two from Odessa this year,” Kelly said.

He takes great pride in the teaching-learning opportunity, but also in the fact that the Medical Lake doors are routinely open for all.

“Word is out that A, you can come to Medical Lake and you’ll have an opportunity to play and B, it’s a pretty good coaching staff (with Rob Beamer and Austin Sharp) and it’s a pretty good program,” Kelly said.

That’s the good — make that great — part for a guy who lives and breathes baseball.

Playoffs, however, are sold as the real reward, and end up being “Not a pleasant experience,” as Kelly can, and did attest last summer.

New blooms will eventually show themselves. And perennials will soon have their heads poke through the super-saturated soil and show off bright and beautiful colors.

Hopefully that also holds true in what lies ahead for the great summer tradition of American Legion baseball?

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.