Prairie Sweeps Montana Foe; Atlas Nears Finals In Kalispell

Kurt Reese was the man of the day for Prairie, as the Lakeland-Post Falls American Legion baseball team swept a doubleheader from visiting Mission Valley, Mont., Friday.

In a 6-2 first-game win, Reese pitched six innings with six strikeouts. As the catcher in the second game, he had three hits and five RBIs in a 10-3 triumph for Prairie (8-1).

Atlas of Coeur d’Alene moved a win away from the championship game in Kalispell (Mont.) AA Tournament with a 12-4 win over the Calgary Blues.

Atlas, 2-0 in the tournament, plays Billings this morning. A win earns it a spot in the title game on Sunday.

Ben Johnson’s two-run double triggered an eight-run sixth inning that broke open a 4-3 game. Scott Ross was 3 for 4 with three runs scored. Travis Lovejoy also had three hits and scored twice.

Basketball

Michael Gembala from Dayton, Troy Nealey, Lacrosse-Washtucna, and Isaac Hall of Orofino were named to the 14-member Idaho Summer Prep Team that will participate in the John Farrell’s Nike National Prep Championships.

The 64-team tournament will be held July 16-23 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Inline hockey

Twenty teams from Spokane, Seattle and four Oregon cities are entered in the inaugural USA Hockey InLine Northwest Zone championships this weekend and next weekend at Eagles Ice-A-Rena.

Bladin’ Inc. of Spokane, the host team, has entries in all four divisions.

Competition today and Sunday will be in the pee wee (12 and under) and bantam (14 and under) divisions. Games begin at 8 a.m. Championship games will be Sunday afternoon.

Next weekend will be the midget (17 and under) and adult (18 and over) divisions.

Division winners qualify for the national championships against nine other regional winners Aug. 13-18 in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

, DataTimes