AAA Legion team has now won 11 of last 13, clinched playoff berth
Medical Lake Blue Devils' player Brayden Hale easily beats the throw as he legs out a bunt in his team's July 3 game versus the Lee Johnson Battlecats in the 2015 Wood Bat Classic. The Blue Devils rallied to win the game played at Mead High School 6-3 and went on to have a 4-0 record in pod play but lost their quarterfinal match up to AAA rival Spokane Bandits 7-2.
Spokane Blue Devils' AAA American Legion head coach Steve Hare had hoped the recent success he had seen at a tournament in Belgrade, Mont. would provide a springboard for the Wood Bat Classic, but more importantly, his team's finish in the regular season.
So far his wish has played out well as the Blue Devils swept three critical games in Spokane league play, 7-0, 12-1 and 13-3 wins over the Northeast 49ers, and then ran their win streak to seven in Wood Bat play, making it to within a game of reaching last Sunday's championship round.
"You know, not a bad week at all," Hare said. "We win three league games against the 49ers, which we all kind of set the tone that we were not going to lose to them."
That helped going into the Fourth of July tournament, Hare said. "We played pretty well."
The Blue Devils went 4-0, reaching the quarterfinals Saturday against their league nemesis, the Bandits, losing 7-2.
Spokane, hosting the Mead Pod at Mead High School, opened the Wood Bat Classic with a 2-1 win over Northwest Premier July 2 and followed with a 3-2 victory over the Spokane Crew. In day two they rallied, scoring five runs in the fifth inning to defeat the Lee Johnson Battlecats 6-3 and held off LaGrande, Ore. 5-4 before falling to the Bandits Saturday at Hart Field.
The team has lived off the mindset from the beginning of the year that if they play solid defense they would be competitive.
"We even had a couple of games in there where we had some errors that really were hurting us," Hare said. But they were able to overcome that and get wins.
The Blue Devils got their winning run in the opener in the fifth inning from Medical Lake's Brayden Hale who singled, stole second and scored on a single by Kodee Riendeau.
A more exciting finish capped the Blue Devils' win over the Crew as in the bottom of the seventh, Matt Keenan reached on an error and Dylan Greenwald doubled him home for the walk-off win. Medical Lake's Cory Wagner drove in the Blue Devils' first run in the second inning with a single.
Spokane struggled against Lee Johnson, falling behind 3-1 before scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth to stay in the title hunt. "These type of teams will find a way to win, bring you down with them," Hare said.
The better effort came later Friday against LaGrande, Ore., Hare said. "They were a solid team."
That set up a match-up with the Bandits, the Spokane league-leaders. The teams battled in a one-run game through five innings with the Blue Devils trailing 3-2 before things unraveled and the Bandits scored twice in both the sixth and seven for their insurance runs.
The Bandits were eliminated in the first round of Sunday's championship round 8-0 by the Spokane Expos.
In the loss to the Bandits it was "costly errors, ones that would be on the field, or even pitching, walking guys," Hare said.
"That's been our kryptonite, those errors out in the field that were routine plays, or pitchers doing well the first two outs then walking a guy and giving up a base knock," Hare said. "You know walks find a way to score."
The Blue Devils, 6-3 in league play, faced the Bandits (8-1) twice in the final week of the regular season.
How this final week of league play shakes out will put the Blue Devils in either second or third place. Sweeping the Bandits will get them the No. 2 slot. Anything short and they are third.
"No matter what we'll be in the playoffs following the Boise trip," Hare said.
Earlier in the week in the crucial sweep of the 49ers, the Blue Devils got what Hare called, "A lights out" performance from Wagner on the mound who pitched a one-hitter in the 7-0 win.
The No. 1 team earns an automatic berth to the first round of the playoffs and the remaining four teams battle it out for two additional slots to regionals.
The Blue Devils head to Boise for a tournament that features some of the top teams in the Intermountain West, Hare said. After the five-game tourney that takes place July 10-12, they return home to open the AAA playoffs, Monday, July 13 at Al Jackson with teams and times TBD.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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