WV freshmen mark starts

Greater Spokane League baseball has seemingly always been a 50-50 proposition, and for Valley teams this year is no exception.

After spring break doubleheaders, eight of the league’s 14 teams are either 3-2 or 2-3 and with 13 league games remaining, only a couple of teams appear to hold an upper hand.

In third place behind unbeatens Mt. Spokane (5-0) and Ferris (3-0), West Valley (2-1) has a slight edge over Central Valley (3-2), East Valley and University (both 2-3 after splitting their Wednesday doubleheader).

The Eagles have only one senior on the roster and a couple of freshmen made varsity bows, joining fellow frosh Brian Peterson, during a Tuesday doubleheader split at Shadle Park.

”Jeremy Fernandez looked good behind the plate,” coach Don O’Neal said of a catcher who played four innings and went 1-for-2. “That was really the first time for him playing at the varsity level. And Andy Vennum threw one pitch and got one out in his varsity debut.”

Vennum’s pitch was the last of the day during which the Eagles won 5-3 before losing 7-1.

Junior Alex Stanley had turned in a yeoman’s pitching effort. He earned a save in WV’s first game victory before working five innings of the loss.

Stanley is back after an injury cost him his sophomore season.

“The day after our jamboree he caught a cleat, blew a knee and underwent pretty major surgery,” said O’Neal. “He rehabbed hard and is about 120 percent compared to what he was.”

The right-hander’s off-speed pitches kept Shadle at bay in all but the third inning of game two when three hits and a couple of errors and wild pitches produced four runs.

He had come into game one with two batters on and no outs, but after an error on what would have been a tailor-made double play, got out of the jam to preserve Greg Bradley‘s victory.

Bradley, another junior, had pitched five solid innings, allowing but one run before walking both batters to open the sixth.

He also went 3-for-4, including an RBI double in the fifth. It was one of four doubles by the Eagles who got two in the first inning and two more in the fifth.

Yelm transfer Matt Peterson hit two and scored twice. Justin Marlow had an RBI double in the first. Phil Gannon drove in a run with the second of his two hits. Peterson, Bradley and Gannon also hit singles in game two.

Peterson filled in at shortstop during the injury absence of Mike Hauschild, who has a sprained ankle.

“He’s changed the dynamics of this team a little bit,” said O’Neal. “It’s made us a lot stronger.”

But he wasn’t happy settling for the doubleheader split.

“I’ll take a win any way we can get,” O’Neal said. “But I felt we didn’t play well in either one. We didn’t play as hard as we possibly could have.”

Knights, Titans split

During a Wednesday double-header split with University, EV’s Bret Riggin did his best to impersonate Minnesota pitcher Johan Santana’s performance against Seattle the night before.

He spotted the Titans four runs, giving up three in the first inning on an RBI single and a two-run double by battery mates, catcher Ken Van Sickle and pitcher J.D. Peterson.

Riggin allowed back-to-back doubles by Alex Yerges and Nick Burger in the second and doubles by Matt Fuller and Adam Smith, though failing to yield a run in the third.

Then Riggin set down seven straight batters and 14 of the final 15 without a hit in the Knights 7-4 first-game win.

EV pecked away, with solo runs in the third-through-sixth innings and three runs in the seventh. Jye Lanphere homered and doubled, scoring twice and driving in a pair. Mike Stewart had hits in his final three at bats, including two triples and an RBI single. And Todd Matsuda was 2-for-2 with a double and run scored.

As in game one, the Titans took an early 3-0 lead. But they scored three times in the seventh inning of the second game for a 6-3 victory. Travis Lewis scattered six hits and fanned five, running into difficulty only in the fourth when he gave up all three runs, including Lanphere’s second solo home run of the day.

Fuller had four hits during the doubleheader, including for the game-winning RBI. Brandon Kelley was 3-for-4 in the second game, scoring the go-ahead run.

U-Hi had earlier split one-run games with Shadle Park, losing 4-3, winning 3-2. EV had lost a pair to Central Valley.

CV comes back to pack

After a hot start, tough 2-1 and 7-1 losses to Mt. Spokane on Wednesday brought the Central Valley back to the rest of the field.

The typically hot-hitting Bears managed just five hits in 17 innings of baseball, Matt Rodriguez with two. He and Kyle Renz each doubled during a day of lost opportunity.

“That’s facing better pitching,” said coach Barry Poffenroth of the outcomes. “But the kids have to get used to it. There’s no way we shouldn’t have come off it without a split.”

Beginning next week teams will try to find ways to gain some degrees of separation.

Gymnasts succeed at state

Northwest Gymnastics Academy competitors earned their way to regional tournaments with high finishes at Levels 10, 9 and 8 during recent club state championship meets.

Amy Brandle, a junior at University, was third all around in the Senior C division, scoring 36.85. She finished second on vault and floor exercise with 9.375 and 9.675 scores.

Teammate Kaylee Boyd placed second on floor exercise with a 9.4. Both will compete at the Regional Championships in Montana April 16-17 vying for the Junior Olympic Level 10 National Championships in Ontario, Calif., May 12-15.

Level 9 gymnasts Meghan Ballou and Kaylin Greene also both qualified for regionals. Ballou won balance beam at 8.75.

The NWGA Level 8 team had three regional qualifiers. Renee Messling, an eighth-grader at Horizon, won the state vaulting championship with 9.525. She also tied for second on balance beam at 9.075, was second on floor exercise with a 9.2 and finished third all around with a 36.625.

Seventh-grader Katya Finta, finished second on floor with a 9.475 and on balance beam with a 9.2 in her age group. Lianne Walker finished third on vault with a 9.2.

Northwest Gymnastics Academy coaches are Mike and Nancy Armstrong.

Golf begins with Liberty Cup

A pair of Liberty Lake Ladies 18-Hole Club golfers, Jody Cantrell and Donna Ogilvie began the season with a first-place share in the monthly Liberty Cup at net 73.

Putting winners were Jill Grover with 26 and Patsy Lynn with 27 in A flight. Connie Hatfield took 28 in B.

C flight winner Alice Shattuck also had a 28, three fewer than Marie Nelson and Marion Jordan. Myrna Neubauer won D with 30.