Sandpoint Legion team caps season at Moses Lake tournament

SANDPOINT — Thirty-one combined runs secured the top bracket seed for the Dawgs in Saturday’s triple-header pool play series at the 16U Moses Lake Smash N’ Splash tournament last weekend. Solid wins against North Seattle’s Rainiers (10-4), Kennewick’s Sluggers (10-0), and the Spokane Expos (11-8) set an early tone on Saturday, guaranteeing the Dawgs a minimum 3rd place finish at the nine team tournament.

The Dawgs started the series with a 10-4 win against the NSB Rainiers. Thomas Riley started on the bump for the Dawgs, pitching two full innings, followed by Tristan Authier, who pitched the middle three, and Sydney Bottomley, who closed out the final two innings. In 7 innings of play the trio gave up only four walks and five hits.

Behind the dish catcher Nick Holland gunned down four runners attempting to steal second base, shutting down any opportunity for the Rainiers to establish momentum in the game.

Tomas Riley, Garrett Connolly, Caleb Edlund, Billy Brackett, Nick Holland, Austin Greene, Jacob Cometto and Alex Christensen all had hits in the game contributing to the 10-4 win.

Against Kennewick it was all Dawgs, scoring six runs in the first inning, a pair in the second inning, and two more in the fourth that led to the Dawgs 10-0 win. Nick Holland pitched the opening inning, followed by Garrett Connolly, who helped keep the Sluggers scoreless through four.

“In tournaments like this you end up playing four or five games in a two or three day period. Teams that usually have the most success are those that have a bunch of guys that can pitch. To prepare for the tournament we brought out ex-Phillies pitcher Matt Squires, who worked with all of our players, and one of the arms that really stood out to us that day belonged to catcher Nick Holland,” said Dawgs coach Ken Oler. “Up to that point Nick had only pitched a handful of games in his career. I gave Nick the start against Kennewick because I wanted to see what he was capable of under a little pressure. Short story, I saw all I needed to see after the first inning as Nick struck out three of the first four batters he faced. His velocity and command of the strike zone were amongst the best I have seen all season.”

Offensively the Dawgs amassed another 14 hits compared with Kennewick’s two hits for the game. Caleb Edlund, who batted .727 for the series with a 1.364 slugging average, collected his 2nd triple of the day with a deep shot to left-center field.

“That second game was a big win for us,” said Oler. “It was a lot of fun watching our bats come alive and it cinched our position as the number one seed in our bracket.”

Oler called game three a perfect win for his team. Two weeks prior the Dawgs lost to the Expos 2-1, in the final innings of the game, on a questionable baulk enticement call that scored the winning run for the Expos from third.

“To say that this win wasn’t important to the players and coaches would be an understatement,” said Oler.

The Expos put the pressure on early scoring three runs in the first. The Dawgs answered back in the first, winning the inning by scoring two runs on a Caleb Edlund double, two more on Nick Holland’s single and a fifth run on a Sydney Bottomley single.

The Dawgs were tested a second time in the bottom of the 3rd when the Expos put up two more runs, coming within one run of the Dawgs. Nick Holland, Sydney Bottomley, Jacob Cometto, Austin Greene and Alex Christensen all singled in the inning while Thomas Riley followed with a base clearing bomb to left field that resulted in a triple and brought the score to 10-5 Dawgs.

Sydney Bottomley pitched the final three innings of the game sealing the win for the Dawgs, striking out five of nine hitters and forcing infield ground outs for the other four outs.

“Sydney was lights out on the bump. He found a gear today that I that I knew was in there and he pitched the best game that I have ever seen him throw,” described Oler. “Very proud of Sydney and his teammates.”

Going into Sunday the Dawgs (3-0) would face off against the 17U Cheney Summerhawks (2-1) for the opportunity to play against NW Premier (3-0), who had received the bye, for the Championship game.

Nick Holland started on the hill throwing five full innings for the Dawgs before being relieved in the sixth inning by lefty Wes Holland. Nick threw 61 pitches, struck out two and gave up one unearned run and two hits. Austin Greene, who had made several great catches in left field throughout the tournament, made several flying and diving highlight reel quality catches to take away base hits from Cheney.

Going into the 6th Cheney held the lead 1-0. In the top of the sixth Cheney added two more runs giving them a 3-0 lead. In the bottom half Joey Oler-Crosby started the inning with a single, stole second base and scored on a two out single up the middle from Garrett Connolly. With two outs and Connolly on first, Caleb Edlund, for the fourth time in the tournament, drove another deep shot to the left field fence, scoring Connolly from 1st before getting thrown out at third on the attempted triple.

“In baseball there are rules and there are judgment calls. The field umpire made a judgment call, on a close play at 3rd that really should have been made by the home plate umpire. Call didn’t go our way. It happens but never feels good. I think that single call was the factor in the game as it deprived Caleb from what should have been his third triple of the tournament, took away our opportunity to tie the game with Nick Holland, who hit .750 for the tournament, coming to the plate,” said Oler. “And most importantly took away some momentum that we were building that inning. In the bottom of the 7th, with no runners on, Nick picked up his 9th hit of the series with a single to left-center.

Cheney scored two more runs to win 5-2.

“Game four was a tough loss for us. We reminded them of the significance that, as a team comprised of 100 percent SHS students, they outperformed a lot of club teams this season that had players from multiple schools and towns,” claimed Oler. “Having not one, but two players hit over .700 for the tournament and a .395 team batting average isn’t something many teams there can probably say. We played a lot of baseball in a day and a half and our guys played hard all tournament. They battled back from some adversity at times and finishing 3rd, in a 9 team tournament, with a 3-1 record for the series is something they should be proud of.” .

Top batting averages for the tournament: Nick Holland .750, Caleb Edlund .727, Sydney Bottomley .500, Alex Christensen .500 and Garrett Connolly .444, Jacob Cometto .364 and Austin Greene .333.

Sandpoint added a 3rd Short A team, that finished 14-3 in league play, to the Legion program. For the first time teams combined resources and players bringing the Lakers and Dawgs together as one American Legion program. Also for the first time, Sandpoint brought a 12 team 16U tournament to Sandpoint in July, and built upon a sustainable foundation for future 19U, 16U and 14U American Legion teams here in Sandpoint.

The team wished to thank Mike Peak and George Eskridge for their leadership and support this season; Jeff Johnson, who volunteers countless hours preparing and maintaining the fields; team moms Dana Reed, Lori Cometto and Mary Bird for their many contributions this season; coaches Josh Edlund, KC MacDonald, Brian Riley and Shane Brackett for their leadership and work preparing our young men for the next level.

Thank You to sponsors American Legion Post 15, Peak Sand and Gravel, Coleman Oil Company, Interstate Concrete and Asphalt, John and Mary Snedden, Northern Lights, Inc., Slaughter Wholesale, Les Schwab Tire Centers, George and Jenise Eskridge, Jack and Mary Jo Ambrosiani, Lightning Lube, Anderson’s Autobody, Sandpoint Building Supply, Litehouse Inc., Second Avenue Pizza, Cliff Irish Trucking, Jim Hutchens PA, Sandpoint Furniture/Carpet One, The Hoot Owl, Melody Muffler and VeriFunds.net.