The Medical Lake summer American Legion baseball program has made its reputation in recent years by tossing out the welcome mat to its dugout to many a player with no place else to go.
It’s a fine gesture, has payback in ways one might not expect, but can provide a few wrinkles, too.
This year’s Medical Lake program elevates itself a notch to the AA level, after spending 2016 as a single-A team.
“It’s a definite balancing act,” said Kerry Kelly, the program’s former head coach who recently stepped aside, but will see things through the season in more of a managerial or teaching role.
The ML program will be run on the field, more-or-less by committee, Kelly said with assistant coaches, Rob Beamer, Todd Soliday and Austin Sharp.
The team is composed of 10 members of the Cardinals’ Northeast A League team with additional roster spots owned by players traveling from fellow NEA school, Lakeside, as well as a pair of players from Odessa and one from Liberty, near Spangle. See roster for full list of players.
Five games into the season — losing their first four — Medical Lake turned an important corner, Kelly said, with a 7-6 win over Ferris on June 2.
That victory was not just big in terms of it being ML’s first in the summer, but because of the stature of the team they faced, Kelly said. “That Ferris team is pretty darn good,” he said. “That was a big win for us.”
It certainly helped erase the bad taste of a season-opening 22-5 loss to East Valley and an 11-1 humbling at the hands of University.
“The Ferris victory was something,” Kelly said. “He could see coming.” And, it was engineered by both his regulars, as well as the “imports.”
Cale Swanson from Lakeside had a pair of hits. And Medical Lake’s Seth Mayer stood out with his bat, delivering a key hit. Mayer didn’t start the game but came in later and had a bases-loaded single that drove in two runs that gave his team the lead in the sixth inning.
Another familiar name from spring ball is Sam Gollehon who pitched the last three innings versus Ferris. “They (Ferris) had the tying run on third base in the sixth inning and (we) got out of it,” Kelly said. The same thing happened in the seventh and Gollehon — and Medical Lake — escaped.
But if it had not been for the players Kelly has recruited over the previous several summers, there might not be games under the lights at Holliday Field.
“We’ve had kids from Wilbur, Odessa, Reardan and Davenport,” Kelly said. “We’re kind of that team (that) we don’t really turn anyone away and give kids an opportunity to play.”
That opportunity does present its share of challenges, both with the mechanics of the game — and the logistics.
“People who don’t understand baseball, if you don’t have the right communication, that’s a huge disadvantage,” Kelly explained. He’s had to develop a whole new array of signals, and get all the players on the same page.
And while the traveling players make the sacrifice on their end with long trips to games, Kelly said there is also a risk to his program. Medical Lake parents have to watch their kids sit on the bench from time to time in order to accommodate the roster additions.
2017 Medical Lake Summer Legion Roster No./Name School Grade
1 Bennett Soliday ML 10
2 Sam Gollehon ML 10
3 Camdyn Weber Odessa 9
5 Jake Carr Liberty 9 7 Liam Lohem ML 11 8 Trevor Hurt-Moran ML 10
9 Gavin O’Brien ML 10
10 Sam Griffey ML 11
11 Weston Thomas ML 10
12 Brent Keith MLMS 8
13 Ben Evans ML 11
15 Seth Mayer ML 10
18 Theron Schlomer Odessa 10
19 Nick Thompson ML 10
21 Cale Swanson Lakeside 11
22 Grant Vercoe ML 10
24 Anthony Griffey ML 10
Coaching Staff Kerry Kelly. Rob Beamer, Austin Sharp & Todd Soliday
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)