Medical Lake's Sam Gallohon applies the tag to a Ferris runner who was caught in a rundown last Monday with teammates catcher Sam Griffey (left) and pitcher Phillip Murray. The out was too little, too late, however, as Medical Lake lost the game 13-1 and despite suffering its first tournament loss, the team was eliminated from the tournament that sent two teams to state.
A surprising season for the Medical Lake American Legion A-League team came to a very strange ending.
After qualifying for the league playoffs in a season that was viewed simply as a time when young players were going to be learning the game and gaining experience, the team emerged from pool play 3-0.
Thinking they might have earned a little easier path to the state playoffs following wins of 7-6 over University, 5-4 against host Lewis and Clark and a 9-4 clubbing of Mt. Spokane, a team that amassed 18 wins on the season, surprise, surprise, there was nothing of the kind for Medical Lake.
They took the field for a 12:30 p.m. rematch versus Mt. Spokane, winning again, 7-6 and then faced Ferris, which sprinted past a weary ML team 13-1. The tournament was played at Hart Field.
With head coach Kerry Kelly away on personal business, assistant coach Todd Soliday took the reins for the final two games. And he's scratching his head a lot.
"When we got here this morning there was a new bracket and us playing Mt. Spokane, who we had already beaten on Friday," Soliday said. "I'm not sure how they got back into the final-four."
The scenario that greeted Medical Lake was after going 3-0 and winning their bracket they had to play Mt. Spokane and win, and then Ferris and win to make it to the state tournament.
"Instead of the No. 1 seed getting a bye, and Ferris playing Mt. Spokane, for some unknown reason we got stuck with being the odd-man out," Soliday said of the team that finished 4-1 for the tourney.
Medical Lake played five games in four days. "You can only play so many games and we had only so many arms," Soliday said. "We ran out of arms and got tired."
An email request for clarification sent to Spokane American Legion Baseball president Dave Wiggins was not answered before deadline.
No box scores or statistics were for the tournament.
The primarily sophomore lineup finished the season with a 10-4 league record.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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