The Spokane Cannons would like to use a dominant Area 3 AAA American Legion regular season to launch a successful playoff run.
The team stocked largely with Cheney and Medical Lake players seek a perfect 15-0 record with games against the Bandits and Pullman to close league play. After that comes hosting a first-round playoff game Friday, July 14 at Holliday Field in Medical Lake.
Saturday’s AAA playoffs will switch to Shadle’s AK Jackson Field with three teams playing at Avista Stadium on Sunday, July 16. The top two will advance to state in Centralia July 22-25.
The Cannons, 25-12 overall, come off a 2-2 weekend in Whitefish, Montana at the Ed Gallo Tournament, losing their final game in walk-off fashion 7-6 to the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen in a six-inning time-limited contest.
“It was a good tourney, we won a big game Saturday night (3-0 vs. host Glacier Twins) and Friday we beat the previous state champ (Gallatin Valley Outlaws),” head coach Austin Sharp wrote in a text message.
Notable efforts out of Whitefish included Luke Dickey’s six-inning, two-hit, eight strikeout game against the Glacier Twins.
Carson Jeffries was 4-for-4 with three runs scored while Eli Chabot drove in four runs against Gallatin. Issac Nessbitt threw a complete five-inning time limited game giving up three hits and striking out seven.
Cannons this week:
July 14 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 15 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 16 vs TBD, league playoffs
__
AA
Summer Hawks are streaking
The Cheney AA Summer Hawks appear to be playing some of their best baseball — and at the right time, too.
“We really have been pitching and playing great defense lately,” head coach Rob Beamer wrote in a text message.
That overall solid play has actually been happening all year, Beamer added, and it has paid off. “When that happens, you are going to be in a lot of games and then a couple timely hits and next thing you know we grabbed the No. 1 seed in the South Division.”
Cheney (10-3) are the Southern Division champions and host an as-yet-to-be-determined opponent Friday.
In the lead up to playoffs, the Summer Hawks raced past Ridgeline 15-2 and 14-1 in a July 7 doubleheader in Liberty Lake.
Game-one saw Cheney start fast — leading 6-1 after three innings — and finish even stronger scoring four more times in the fifth and five in the sixth of the 10-run rule shortened game.
Tate Heuschkel threw six innings, struck out 11 and allowed just four hits. Greyson Burton went 4-for-4, scored four times with three RBI.
If the finish was bad for Ridgeline in the opener the start was worse in the second game as Cheney scored 10 runs in their first trip to the plate.
The game went just three innings before the 10-run rule was invoked. Cheney had just three hits but used 11 walks to rack up the runs, the biggest blow being a double from Dawes Hanson that drove in three.
Summer Hawks AA this week:
July 14 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 15 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 16 vs TBD, league playoffs
––
Cheney A’s set for playoffs
The Cheney Summer Hawks A team take a 14-2 final league record into American Legion Baseball district playoffs that start Thursday and may lead to the state tournament.
Competition will feature four three-team pods, playing at as yet unknown locations.
In the team pods each team plays each other and one of the three goes home based on win/loss and tiebreakers if needed.
“If you make it out of Thursday, eight teams will play a two-loss elimination tournament starting Friday through Sunday,” Summer Hawks head coach Aaron Rockey wrote in a text message.
Four “A” teams from districts will go to state which will be played in Spokane at AK Jackson July 22-26.
The Summer Hawks come into playoffs with a pair of big wins over Mead, 18-3 and 19-4, July 7.
In the first game Eli Ulrich (2-for-3), Lucas Eckhardt 2-for-3, 3 runs). Stevie Rasmussen (2-for-2, 2 runs) and Tucker Nicol (double, 2 runs) had big days at the plate.
Notable batting efforts in the second game came from Eckhardt (2-for-2, double, 4 runs), Rasmussen (2-for-3, triple), Nicol (1-1, double, 2 runs), Eli Ulrich (2-for-3, double), Carter Owens (1-for-1, 3 runs) and Kobe Hunter (3-for-3, 2 runs).
Summer Hawks A this week:
July 13 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 14 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 15 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 16 vs TBD, league playoffs
––
A
Dirt Dawgs win 9 of 10
The Medical Lake Dirt Dawgs get ready for American Legion post-season having won nine of their last 10 games with one final non-league game before this weekend’s playoffs.
Medical Lake scored a pair of one-sided wins over Mead 12-4 and 14-0 following a 4-3 loss to Mt. Spokane.
Ian Thompson had a pair of hits against Mt. Spokane, which scored all of its runs in the first inning.
In the sweep over Mead, the Dirt Dawgs a seven-run fifth proved to be the difference in game-one. Zach Boyd, AJ Michaud, Ian Thompson and Emilio Resendiz each had multiple hits.
Game-two saw ML in control from the start as they led 5-0 after two innings, paced by three-hit outings by both Ian Thompson and Cooper Danekas.
The Dirt Dawgs enter post-season with a 14-6 league record in the Area 3 single-A American Division.
They will be seeded into a 12-team tournament — four three-team pods — competing against the Area-3 National Division.
Sites and matchups had yet to be finalized until the completion of league play July 12.
Dirt Dawgs this week:
July 13 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 14 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 15 vs TBD, league playoffs
July 16 vs TBD, league playoffs
––
Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)