Cannons' run at state comes to an end

Lakeside Recovery rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the third inning, scoring six runs over the game's final three innings and earned a 9-4 American Legion Baseball AAA state tournament win over the Spokane Cannons Tuesday, July 25 at Al K. Jackson Field.

The Cannons (2-2) were ousted from state play after suffering their second loss in the double elimination tournament. See a complete wrap up in the Aug. 3 Cheney Free Press.

Spokane head coach Chad Ripke said his team was playing some of its best baseball the last month and that he hoped it would continue. And it did in some of the early going of the tournament that also featured games at Hart Field in Spokane.

Winning 13 of 17 games in the last several weeks, the Cannons were the only Spokane team out of four to make it this deep in the tournament. Regular season champ Mt. Spokane, as well as Gonzaga Prep and the Shadle Shockers all went 0-2 and were eliminated by day-two.

In games played in the Shadle bracket, the Cannons, composed of a number of West Plains players, opened with a 5-2 win July 22 over Twin Cities, a team composed of players from Richland and Kamiakin high schools.

That was followed by a 6-1 loss to the Vancouver (Wash.) Cardinals July 23, but Spokane survived to play Tuesday following a 3-2 victory July 24 over Lower Columbia from the Kelso-Longview area.

In the opener, Spokane got a complete game effort from Connor Grytdal from Central Valley and used just five hits - including one each from Medical Lake's Cory Wagner and Cheney's Dylan Arthur - in topping the Twins.

Spokane broke open a 3-2 contest by scoring single runs in the top of both the eighth and ninth innings to earn breathing room.

Wagner drove in a run in the third inning as Spokane scored twice and led 3-1.

Vancouver got a stellar performance through eight inning from pitcher Kellen Bringhurst in stifling the Cannons and limiting them to six well spread out hits.

With two outs, Spokane had a chance to make a dent in a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the fifth. Jaden Stough reached on a walk and Cheney's Andrew Witt followed with a single to left. Stough, however, was out trying to beat a throw to third and it was inning over.

Arthur got the Cannons on the board with a two-out RBI single in the sixth, but that was it. That was one of two hits on the afternoon for Arthur.

Wagner pitched eight innings before being relieved by Cheney's Julian Chabot, giving up 14 hits. Andrew Witt and Wagner also had hits for the Cannons.

Arthur took to the mound in a must-have "W" on Monday afternoon, pitching "a gem" according to reports. He scattered five hits and had to hang on as Lower Columbia cut into Spokane's 3-0 lead scoring single runs in the seventh and ninth. Wagner had all three of Spokane's hits, two singles and a double. Witt had a game-winning RBI in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.

Lakeside Recovery entered Tuesday's game with a 3-0 record following an 11-1 win over Lower Columbia, a 6-0 victory over Hanford and 5-4 against Vancouver, the lone common opponent.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].