Little League coach Bateman wraps up a busy summer
<p>Bonners Ferry’s young crop of Badger baseball players at the Priest River tournament in July. Back row, coaches, left to right: Andy Rice, Cal Bateman, and Gordon Newell. Middle: Bo Bateman, Dillon Mia, Joel Cowley, Blake Rice, David Hammons and Wilson Newel. Front row : Teigan Banning, Eli Newell, Brody Rice, Trey Bateman, Lance Hammons and Aiden Winters.</p>
It has been a busy summer for Bonners Ferry’s Cal Bateman.
The BCSD bus driver and father of six (five of them boys) took over Panhandle Ice Company this summer in addition to helping coach two Little League baseball teams for his sons, and finishing his accounting degree.
The Sandpoint Junior Little League team with both Seth and Brady Bateman, as well as Chris Saban from Bonners Ferry, beat Lakeland in early July to advance to the Idaho state tournament for Junior Little League. July 18 and 19 the Sandpoint team faced the Boise area Eagle West Valley team in a best-of-three series. The north Idaho team won the first two games to advance to the Western Regional Tournament held in Vancouver, Wa. starting July 29.
The Idaho team held their own through the tournament, losing to Hawaii 13-1 in the opening game July 29 but coming back to beat Oregon 11-7 on July 30. Aug. 1 the Idaho team faced Northern California, beating them 8 to 3.
“That was our best game of the tournament,” said Bateman, “We’re the only one that beat them in pool play.” Idaho’s final game was Aug. 2 against Utah. The Idaho team lost 10-0 to the Utah team, who were 4-0 in pool play and moved on to the semi-final round.
“We were 1-0 going into the fifth,” said Bateman, about the Utah game. “We just ran out of pitching. A lot of these teams have real depth in pitching. Overall it was a great time, and fun to spend a week playing baseball.”
Bateman’s younger sons played in a 10U team of 7-10 year-olds, all from Bonners Ferry. Coaching was done by Andy Rice and Gordon Newell, who each had two sons on the team, as well as by Bateman, though his responsibilities to the older team conflicted with the schedule.
The 10U season wrapped up with a tournament in Priest River against Prairie, a well-funded club team made up of players from Rathdrum and Post Falls, Tri-County, Trail and Kettle Falls. The team went 2-2 in the tourney, losing to Prairie and Trail, a team of 10-year old all-stars.
“The Tri-County team had some of the best pitchers we saw all season,” Bateman said. “We scored one run in the first inning and nine in the second before they put them in, though. Our defense held through the best and second-best pitchers, who are only allowed to pitch three innings apiece in this league and we ended up winning 10-9.”
The team was beat by the incredible team from Trail by quite a margin, Bateman said, but ended up beating Kettle Falls by a similar margin.
“It was good,” Bateman said, “the first time kids this age got to experience a tournament.”
With the summer baseball season over, Bateman is trying to catch his breath. With recent power outages, the ice business is crazy, he says. Bateman is also trying to make up for lost time with his school work. In a few short weeks, he’ll be back behind the wheel of a school bus, bringing kids to Boundary County schools.