Cannons cruise into state tournament

The Spokane Cannons got a wake-up call last week in an early round of the Area 3 American Legion district tournament pool play and it allowed them to quickly resharpen focus.

The Pullman Patriots scored the deciding run in the top of the seventh inning in a July 14 game and defeated the Cannons, 9-8 at Holliday Field.

The Cannons had opened pool play prior to the Pullman loss with a 12-2 win over the Bandits where they put the game away with a seven-run sixth inning and solid days at the plate from Taylor Oliver (3-for-4) and Tate Nelson (2-for-3, 4 RBI)

That stunning Pullman verdict suddenly made the regular-season champion Cannons, a perfect 15-0 in league play — 31-13 overall — suddenly seem beatable and possibly derail their shot at a third consecutive trip to state.

What followed according to head coach Austin Sharp was a lot of focus and three dominating wins. That sends the Cannons, a team comprised of largely Cheney and Medical Lake players, off to Centralia, Wash. July 22-25 for the state tournament.

Spokane followed the Pullman loss with a 14-2 humbling of Gonzaga Prep and a 3-0 defeat of the Shadle Pipers at Al K Jackson Field July 15. The Cannons unloaded again on Prep, 15-2, the following afternoon at Avista Stadium to claim that third title in a row.

“Because we lost that pool play game to Pullman we talked about that focus, those little things, and man we played three really good games in a row after that,” Sharp said following Sunday’s seventh consecutive win over Prep in summer league play. The win was their eight victory in the last 10 games.

An eight-run first left Prep on its heels July 15 and five more runs in the Cannons’ next plate appearance was the dagger.

Cheney’s Jamel Chabot (3-for-3) and twin brother Eli Chabot (3-for-4) each drove in four runs while another Blackhawk, Isaac Nessbitt notched the complete game pitching win.

The Cannons scratched their way to the win over Shadle later that day, scoring a pair of insurance runs in the fifth when the Shadle pitcher’s control totally went away.

Three hit batters and a walk allowed Tate Nelson to score and make it 2-0 and Jamel Chabot came home on a passed ball. The Cannons had just four hits but got the four-hit complete game shutout from Nelson.

G-Prep’s walk-off extra-inning 9-8 win over Shadle set up a rematch with the Cannons — and nothing much changed for either team from the prior meeting.

Spokane jumped off to an early lead, just 3-0 this time, but the Cannons got even more offensive, making it 10-0 after two and adding five more runs in the third. That made it ever more likely this game, too, would be shortened to five innings and let everyone head home early on the hottest day of the summer in Spokane.

Clayton Wood (3-for-3, 3 RBI), Eli Chabot (2-for-3, 3 RBI), Jamel Chabot (2-for-3, 3 RBI) and Griffin Marshall (3-for-3, 2 RBI) all had big days at the plate. But it was the Cannons’ big game go-to guy on the mound, Medical Lake’s Luke Dickey, who stifled Prep hitters allowing just two hits over five innings.

Overheard before the game vowing to teammates to even his record at Avista Stadium at 1-1 — a reference to a heartbreaking playoff loss he suffered there two seasons ago in a game that would have sent his Cardinals to state — Dickey delivered.

While he had trouble finding a strike zone that appealed to the home plate umpire, Dickey always forced Prep to hit where his defense was, helping nail a crucial late game double play that halted a potential Prep rally.

“That’s a great way to end it,” Sharp said. “Our guys had energy every single game once we got out of pool play.”

The Cannons head to Centralia and will face the best the state has to offer in their opening round game July 22, but Sharp likes how his team is looking.

“Confidence is key,” he said as he senses that hard-to-measure trait up and down the roster.

The Cannons have both hitting and pitching when they need it as certainly demonstrated last week. It’s something that is well planted in their minds.

“I know pitching wins games, but we talked about on Saturday morning and hitting will win a tournament,” Sharp said.