Cannons clinch another crown

MEDICAL LAKE — They accomplished what is maybe most important but the West Plains Cannons fell just short of, perhaps, their prefect week.

A June 25 sweep of the Mount Spokane Wild clinched a third consecutive Spokane AAA regular season title and top seeding in regional play that leads to state for the Cannons.

Later in the week, West Plains played for the championship in the Pepsi Pak Tournament in Selah, but could not find an answer for the CDA Lumbermen who beat them twice.

Taylor Oliver’s one-out single drove home Braden Marshall for the walk-off winning run, 2-1 in the opening game of a doubleheader at Holiday Field in Medical Lake.

Oliver’s hit completed a 3-for-3 evening at the plate for the Medical Lake product. A.J. Michaud of Medical Lake started the game pitching 5-1/3rd innings, but was relieved by Cheney’s Coleman Randles, who had 1-2/3rds innings work for the win.

“Randles has been lights out for us,” Coach Austin Sharp said.

A five-run third propelled the Cannons to a 10-2 win in Game 2.

Leading 1-0, the Cannons opened the inning with back-to-back hits, a single by Clayton Wood and Brayden Martin’s triple drove in a run. Jacob Bell walked and an Andrew Roberts single scored two more for a 4-0 lead. Two more hits, one from Tate Nelson, followed by Oliver’s RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Michaud completed the scoring.

Wood went 3-for-4, while Nelson was 2-for-3.

In the opening game of the Pepsi Pak Tournament, the Cannons had to go to extra innings for what might be considered a signature victory.

West Plains scored the deciding runs in the top of the eighth with two outs.

“It’s just one game, but they’re the standard for Washington Legion ball,” Sharp said.

With Randles on third, Bell drove him home with a double. Roberts was walked to set up a potential double play.

But Tate Nelson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Oliver reached on an error scoring Bell.

Nelson earned the victory in relief for Cheney’s Tate Heuschkle.

Staked to a 6-0 lead, the Cannons started pitcher Oliver and held on for the 6-4 win over the Northwest Blaze. Northwest Christian’s Bell went 3-for-3, including a triple and drove in three runs.

West Plains moved to 3-0 in tournament play with a 6-inning, no-hit 8-0 win by Nelson over the league rivals, Kelly Brady Bagpipers from Shadle Park.

The Cannons scored in all but one inning, including a 3-run fourth. In that frame, Randles reached on an error, scoring one batter later on a Wood single. Martin got on board on an error and Bell’s triple scored both Wood and Martin.

Cy Reeves (2-for-3), Bell and Martin (both 2-for-4) led the offense. Martin and Marshall each had a pair of RBIs.

The Lumbermen put up a roadblock to a tournament title scoring runs in bunches in the final games.

On June 29, Coeur d’Alene had a 6-0 lead through three innings and West Plains was unable to play catch up. The Lumbermen pounded four Cannons pitchers for 13 hits.

That earned West Plains an immediate rematch with CDA in Sunday’s tournament championship.

The Cannons rallied to tie the game 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth, but the Lumbermen broke the deadlock with a four-run eighth to win 8-5. The Cannons were limited to just three hits for a second consecutive game against the Lumbermen.

It proved to be a tournament of toughness, too, Sharp said. On Sunday, Hueschkel was hit by a line drive in the knee but shrugged it off and continued in a relief role. Griffin Marshall was hit in the face while attempting to bunt and needed a trip to urgent care after the game.

“We got hit 11 times, seven times Sunday,” Sharp said.

Next up, the Cannons play the host role in the Fourth of July Wood Bat Tournament. They play the Glacier Twins A at 4:30 p.m. July 4 followed by Hodgen Distributing at 7 p.m.

The next pool play contests are July 5 vs. the Parkland Twins and Crew 18U, both at the same times.

The top teams move into bracket play July 6-7.