Cannons win twice in ALB play

CHENEY-Baseball is certainly a unique game with no clock and the dimensions of the field often different in every park.

And probably like most sports, the outcomes from one day to another, can be as different as night and day.

That concept was certainly not lost on West Plains Cannons' head coach Austin Sharp last week.

During an unusually quiet week in an otherwise busy time for AAA American Legion play, the Cannons had just two games, winning both, but in decidedly different ways 11-0 and 3-2 over the Spokane Northstars, June 4 and 5

"I don't think we hit a ball out of the infield in the first inning and we scored six runs," Sharp said of the June 4 rout of the Rogers High-based team.

The Cannon's "small ball" strategy allowed them to open the floodgates early in the first game.

"We've always been able to take advantage of them bunting, base, running, doing some different things," Sharp explained.

Still, the Cannons were able to only muster nine hits, but took advantage of seven Northstars' errors in the 10-run run shortened five-inning game.

Cheney's Brayden Martin (2-for-3, double) drove in three runs and AJ Michaud from Medical Lake (2-for-4) with a pair of RBIs were the Cannons with multiple hits. Cy Reeves out of Lakeside had a double - his first hit of the season, Sharp said.

Tate Heuschkel from Cheney allowed just two hits over four innings and earned the win. Former Medical Lake player, Adam Rutland got his first work in relief striking out two in his single inning.

Giving credit to the opponent, Sharp said the Northstars' hit the ball hard, "(But) our defense has played great." The Cannons played errorless ball.

The following night at Holliday Field, things started off well.

"We put up a goose egg (on them) in the first inning and then the bottom of the first we score three and I'm thinking, 'Oh boy, here we go,'" Sharp said. "And nope, that was it."

Reardan's Tate Nelson had six innings as a starter, giving up the Northstars' runs in the top of the sixth. Luke Dickey from Medical Lake - and now Wenatchee Valley Community College - came on in relief in the seventh to close it out, striking out the side.

"It's kind of nice to have him as a closer once a week," Sharp said of Dickey who generally also has a start each week.

The Cannons' offensive punch came with two outs when Rutland walked and stole second before and Andrew Roberts followed with an RBI single. Ian Thompson replaced Roberts as a courtesy runner.

Taylor Oliver from Medical Lake reached on an error and both he and Thompson scored on a Tate Nelson single for the 3-0 lead.

Winners of 25 consecutive league games and a perfect 6-0 (9-1 overall) the Cannons now face both the toughest part of the schedule, and a return to the rigors of nearly nightly play.

They faced Gonzaga Prep in a home-and-home series June 11 and 12 before hosting a Fathers' Day tournament at Holliday Field that includes league teams, Pullman (June 13) and Mt. Spokane (June 14).

Tri City Prep (June 15) and the Columbia Basin River Dogs from Ephrata (June 16) are also part of the ML tournament before a return to league play and the annual Missoula Tournament (June 21-23) help resume the grind.

A quarter way through the schedule, Sharp has been able to assess his team giving high marks to pitching and defense

"I think our ERA (earned run average) is right around two runs a game or something and we haven't given up many runs on errors."

Defensively, Coleman Randles (3rd base) and Martin (SS), both from Cheney, are strong on the left side of the infield while Michaud (2nd) and Marshall (1st base) complete the baseball first responders.

Sharp calls Cheney center fielder Clayton Wood "Our best outfielder" and he is flanked by Northwest Christian's Jacob Bell and ML's Rutland.

Sharp is having concerns about offense, however.

"I think we can compete with anybody, but it's going to come down to can we put the ball in play consistently?" Sharp said. "We don't have a bunch of big bats."