Lack of players sinks American Legion Baseball in Medical Lake

The sound of bats connecting with the ball, the smack of baseballs hitting leather mitts, and intermittent announcements and music over the public address system will be silenced this summer at Holliday Field in Medical Lake.

Summer baseball in the form of Medical Lake’s AA team, and the appearance of traveling teams at the Fourth of July Wood Bat tournament, will not happen in 2015.

“It’s very disappointing to me that we were not able to pull something together,” Medical Lake High School and American Legion baseball head coach Kerry Kelly said. “But, you know, things have a way of working themselves out.”

Turnout — or rather lack of it — was the culprit for Kelly who for the past several summers has had to rely on players from Lincoln County to help stock his summer roster.

Medical Lake was unable to draw players from surrounding areas such as Wilbur, Odessa, Davenport and Reardan as in the past. “I had one kid from Reardan, I had one kid from Davenport,” Kelly said.

“We probably could have fielded nine or 10 but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough to sustain a separate program,” he said. “We need about 14.”

Driving long distances for several games a week, plus practices, was the key factor in no longer being able to attract players from outside the area.

Kelly also attributes the recent significant growth of independent traveling club teams to the problem fielding an American Legion program.

Phillip Murray and Dylan Vercoe plan to play for the Spokane Crew, Kelly said. And Cory Wagner and Brayden Hale will suit up for the AAA Spokane Blue Devils.

All is not totally lost, however, as Kelly and his coaches plan to hold regular Friday night clinics and practices, plus a handful of practice games — “controlled scrimmages,” Kelly calls them — with both Lakeside and Riverside, other programs hit with diminishing numbers.

The clinics and drills are geared for players, including junior varsity and eighth-graders looking to improve their skills. “We’re going to keep working, with these younger guys in particular,” Kelly said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].