American Legion Baseball is back under lights in Medical Lake

Avista Utilities is going to add some money to its coffers this summer, which ought to come in handy following the Nov. 17 windstorm.

Baseball under the lights, American Legion style, returns to Medical Lake and Holliday Field after a one year absence.

Others who are happy are ML’s baseball had coach Kerry Kelly and Legion Baseball Commissioner Dave Wiggins. “That’s really exciting,” Kelly said. “I call it ‘summer under the lights.’”

It was hard not fielding a team in 2015 Kelly said. “I don’t want to say it was nice having the summer off, it was different.”

Legion Baseball in Medical Lake and elsewhere is not just a way to enjoy summer nights but also to build programs.

“The big thing (about) having somebody like Kerry back is our league is built around the coaches,” Wiggins said. “Medical Lake is a great place and a great host.”

It’s two-fold gratitude, Wiggins said. “We’re happy to have the boys back, but also, again, it’s (Medical Lake) an asset to our league.”

Kelly recently visited Medical Lake Athletic Director Chris Spring prior to the start of the Northeast A baseball season and Spring told Kelly not to enjoy two summers in a row without American Legion.

In 2015 the program lost Cory Wagner and Brayden Hale to AAA American Legion with the Spokane Blue Devils. “That just took the wind of the sails of the other boys,” Kelly said. The kids wanted to play if Wagner and Hale were, but if not the decision was go get a job or take the summer off.

“When we got back together this spring I said ‘Guys, I’m going to be honest with you, I was disappointed, because there were 20-plus games we could have had to get better,’” Kelly said of the lost opportunity to play during the summer in 2015.

Despite not having that added time for practice, back in March the Medical Lake players said they would make a run, and they have, reaching the state playoffs in the round of 16.

“I know how important summer ball is and it’s going to be extremely important this summer because I’m losing two-thirds of my team and young kids are going to need some valuable time playing within my structure,” Kelly explained.

Wagner and Hale will be returning to AAA ball, this time with the Spokane Cannons following the disbanding of the Blue Devils.

Last time they fielded a team in 2014, Medical Lake was in the AA Federal League, populated predominantly with schools of similar size such as Deer Park, Colville and Freeman.

“They moved us to A ball but it was still all the teams that were in the Federal League,” Kelly said. “We’re a high A developmental AA in my opinion.”

Legion officials told Kelly that despite it being classified an A-league it was more AA in terms of talent. “I just want my kids to play,” he said.

The team will likely consist of six freshmen and probably four or five juniors and seniors, Kelly said.

“It will be a mix of kids who need experience at the lower levels and even the kids that are juniors (that have not had) a lot of playing time,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be starting from scratch.”

Once again the Medical Lake team will truly have a great deal of west in its makeup, drawing players from Reardan and Davenport, two very supportive communities that do not have stand-alone programs.

While things are returning to familiar territory in Medical Lake, Cheney will remain independent.

“I met with (Cheney coach) Mike (Cagle) and we were trying to manage this moving forward; we’re leaning towards a more merged system but the cards didn’t line up for this year,” Kelly said.

Final league alignments were being made just days ago, Wiggins said.

“It was great to see, we love having space for kids to play because that’s what we’re all about — kids playing baseball,” Wiggins said.

Especially, when it’s under the lights on a nice summer eve.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].