Blue Devils out to prove they belong

Tony Byrne knows that people will wonder, beyond the obvious, why his Spokane Blue Devils baseball team is playing in the Northwest Regionals American Legion tournament.

Seven of the eight teams earned regional berths the old fashioned way – by winning their respective state tournament.

The Blue Devils earned their berth by winning the Spokane AAA regular-season title. They didn’t qualify for the state tournament.

The Spokane Bandits, who placed third in league, finished second at state, falling 17-14 in a slugfest to regional qualifier Kelso.

The Blue Devils went 3-2 against the Bandits, taking two of three in the final week of regular-season play to secure the league title.

So Byrne gave his team a motivational speech and history lesson the other day, telling his players that they could repeat history.

In 1988, the Yakima Beetles were the regional playing host. They didn’t qualify for state, but advanced to the World Series.

Perhaps that would be a reach for the Blue Devils. But it’s something Byrne hopes his players dream about this week.

“At this point I don’t know how much you have to motivate them,” said Byrne, an assistant coach at Community Colleges of Spokane. “Some kids might wonder if we belong in this deal. But I’m not concerned with our guys for that reason. We earned it. We’ve won back-to-back league championships. This isn’t a fluke.”

The Blue Devils were disappointed not to qualify for state.

At their state-qualifying area tournament at Centralia two weeks ago, the Blue Devils opened by thumping the Yakima Beetles 18-0. The next day, they lost to Centralia 8-6 and were eliminated by the Beetles 15-9. Both Centralia and Yakima advanced to state.

The Bandits, meanwhile, played well at state, opening with a win over defending state champ Lakewood Recovery of Bellevue. In the end, though, they ran out of pitching.

“They were playing good at the end of the season,” Byrne said. “It was a surprise to me how well they did at state because that hasn’t happened often for a Spokane team. It’s about getting hot and on a roll. We were disappointed we didn’t get to state because we wanted to redeem ourselves after going 0-2 last year. We felt we could make a run at state.”

The Blue Devils’ regional opener will be their first game in 11 days.

“We’re healthy now,” Byrne said. “My main concern is can we get back to that high level of baseball we were playing before the break.”

The Blue Devils draw players from Cheney, Shadle Park, North Central and Lakeside. It’s been a summer of bonding.

“I like our team chemistry,” said Tyler Pfeffer, a Shadle grad who is headed to Whitworth next year. “Everybody is a blast to be around. Everybody wants to be out there.”

Pfeffer, who played third base at Shadle, switched to catcher this summer out of necessity.

“We didn’t have a catcher. He’s done a great job,” Byrne said.

Taylor Hustad, a NC grad, was a second-team Eastern Region pick at CCS in the spring. He’s confident the Blue Devils will fare well at regionals.

“We’ve got to play with a lot of intensity and need to be focused,” Hustad said. “If we get our first game, I think we have a good chance. I think we can get hot.”

Tommy Townsend, a Cheney grad who plans to walk on at Washington State University, agrees.

“We just need to play like we did the first game (at area) against Yakima,” Townsend said. “If we hit like we did then we’ll be fine.”

The Blue Devils (34-21) meet Cheyenne, Wyo., (63-10) in the final of four games tonight at Gonzaga University. The teams faced off at the Senior Wood Bat Classic tournament in Spokane over 4th of July weekend. Cheyenne won 9-3.

“They’re a well-coached and talented team,” Byrne said. “We feel like we’ve got a chance because our kids know we didn’t play well.”

Pfeffer agreed.

“You can’t play with anything less than your ‘A’ game against any of the seven state champions that will be here,” Pfeffer said.