Cheney A baseball folds for 2014 summer season

The Cheney A American Legion baseball team cut short their season after folding earlier this month.

According to Cheney American Legion Baseball general manager Mike Cagle, one factor that led to the Cheney A team shutting down their season was the lack of players.

“If you don’t have 12-13 guys on a roster, it’s hard to compete,” Cagle said. “The dynamics of summer has changed in the last decade.”

Cagle added that many players had other commitments outside of baseball.

Cheney A coach Kent Weatherbee said he postponed a couple of games prior to the team folding.

“Day by day, we weren’t certain that we would have had all nine guys for a game,” Weatherbee said. “It’s unfortunate that it had to happen.”

Some players had the chance to play on the Cheney AA team, but Cagle said they declined the offer.

“They were concerned with the price and how much playing time they were going to get,” Cagle said. “I understand their position, but it would have been nice for them to play.”

The Cheney A team is not the only American Legion team that folded this summer. Central Valley’s AA team and Mead’s A team also ended their seasons early.

In an email Andy Franklin, Spokane American Legion Baseball board president and treasurer, wrote that the board can charge teams a penalty fee for folding during the season, but will choose to waive the fee in most cases.

“It is tough enough for parents and teams to raise money for kids to play,” Franklin said. “We don’t want to add an additional burden on them.”

Cagle said he might have to evaluate how Cheney’s A program is run next summer.

“We have several options and I’m going to discuss that with Randy Elam,” Cagle said. “We may have to change what we’ve done in the past. Hopefully we can get back into the swing of things.”

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].