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Last year, the University A-2 American Legion squad bore more resemblance to the 1927 stock market than the 1927 New York Yankees.
The team struggled to a three-win season in the Spokane A South division and was bounced early from the district playoffs. As the 2009 campaign began, most of the players from the A-2 roster had graduated to the A-1 level.
Half-a-dozen games into the schedule, the Titans had doubled their win total from last year.
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| The University A-1 American Legion team went undefeated in the district tournament last week, defeating Trail 8-5 in the championship game. The Titans traveled to Moses Lake for the state A tournament over the weekend, going 1-2 to finish fifth overall. Photo by: Lisa Garza |
The winning continued throughout the season, including a run from July 7 to July 28 when the team went undefeated in 11 straight games.
After tying Central Valley for the South division crown with an 11-3 regular-season record, University defeated Ferris 11-0 and 13-3 in the first two games of the Division 5 tournament on July 22-23. U-Hi then dispatched of Lewis and Clark in its next two playoff games by scores of 8-2 and 10-0.
The Titans captured the district championship by edging Trail 8-5 in the title game on July 28.
“Our pitching really carried us in that tournament,” said head coach Brandon Shryrock, a 2008 U-Hi graduate who was part of the first of two consecutive Greater Spokane League titles for the Titan varsity squad.
University traveled to Larson Field in Moses Lake last weekend for the 2009 American Legion Washington state A tournament, hoping to repeat the success of the Titan team from two years ago that brought home the first Spokane area American Legion state championship in 40 years.
In the opening game against Lakeside of Seattle last Saturday, the University offense was stymied in 10-0 loss. Shryrock said the lesson learned from the first-round loss is something he had told the team before the tournament began.
“We talked about how every team from here on out is going to be really good,” he said. “Against Lakeside, we faced by far the best pitching we’d seen all year.”
The Titans would need to regroup quickly as they faced a Lewis and Clark team they had defeated handily in the district playoffs. Shryrock said he knew better than to treat LC lightly after losing twice to the Tigers in the regular season.
Tim McBroom got the call to start last Sunday and delivered with a pitching performance that paved the way for a 15-5 win. Ryan Sutherland led the offense with four hits and two RBIs while Conner Klein contributed three hits and an RBI. Austin Sturgis added two hits and drove in another run.
“We really hit the ball well,” Shryrock said.
On Monday, U-Hi took on South Kitsap in a loser-out contest. The game was close until the fifth inning when the team from Tacoma tacked on to a 3-1 lead, eventually winning 7-1. The Titans managed only three hits for the game, two from Trevor Mitchem and one from Sturgis.
Despite the loss, Shryrock said the team should be proud of the strides it made during a season that saw them finish 29-10 overall and fifth in state.
“Our goal was to win the division and we did that,” he said. “It’s been a heck
of a season. “To have this kind of success after only winning three games last year is pretty remarkable.”
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By
Craig Howard
