Playoff ticket possible in final Legion baseball round

Posse Junior Legion was booked to play Rogers in a twin bill at McDonald Park Wednesday night with the aim of nailing down a slot in the Spokane District playoffs which start next week. Entry to the playoff event will go to the top four teams in each of the three Junior Legion divisions in Spokane.

Posse was in fourth place in the National division at the start of the week and awaiting the final round scores. Rogers, Wednesday night's foe, was in last place in the Nationals with just one win.

One plus for Posse in the final spin was their two-game sweep over Gonzaga Prep during the league run. Gonzaga was in third place at the start of the week, but booked to play Lewis & Clark, the league leaders with just one loss.

If Gonzaga and Posse finish with matching records in the division, Posse will prevail because of their two wins over Gonzaga in the league race.

The Spokane playoffs start next Wednesday with the top teams getting a bye in the first round. Top five teams at the end of the playoff will get a ticket to the 16-team state playoff at Spokane the following week.

Posse returned to league action Wednesday after a 0-5 run over the Fourth of July weekend in the Palouse Summer Series. They again went up against some of the older select teams from around the state who are regulars in the Summer Series events.

Normal local entrant in the series has been the Pullman Patriots Senior Legion team which did not take to the field this year because of a lack of player.

Posse started the series last Thursday at WSU with a 1-7 loss to the Spokane Dodgers, a select club which had a power stop in a non-league pair at Colfax earlier in the season. The Dodgers rolled out a 7-1 win with nine hits.

Two Posse rallies were snuffed out by double plays by the Dodger defense. Lone score of the locals came in the fourth inning with Jeff Davies collecting the RBI on a sacrifice fly.

Griffin Bashaw, Tyler Lincoln, Jake Mendiola, and Evan Vannucci had the hits for Posse.

In the second game, Thursday night at Colfax, Posse and Spokane Crew locked up in a 3-3 tie after three innings. Crew pulled ahead two runs in the bottom of the sixth, and Posse scored one more run in the top of the seventh, but finished with 4-5 loss.

Each team had eight hits in the second game. Brent Becker pitched for Posse.

A big factor in the close loss was Posse's inability to bring in runs after loading the bases three times.

Becker, Garrett Burke and Ryan Vannucci each had two of the Posse hits

Friday, Posse sustained a 0-6 shutout from Woodinville at the Pullman High field. Posse again had trouble getting runners to the plate. They stranded 10 runners.

Burke started on the mound for Posse and gave up just one run in over the first four innings. He struck out three W batters and allowed just one hit.

Three errors by the Posse defense and six walks to Woodinville also took a toll.

Saturday brought another shutout, a 0-8 loss to Bellevue Honda on the WSU field. Posse pitchers allowed the Bellevue team just four hits, but they also allowed nine walks over five innings. Bellevue capped it in the bottom of the fifth with a three run double.

The 0-4 mark after the first three days put Posse up against Kirkland in the Sunday finals. Kirkland posted a 9-4 win.

All four Posse runs scored in the third inning with Davies tagging a bases-loaded double. Each team had six hits in the last game with Ryan Vannucci tagging two of the Posse raps.