Montana natives making mark at Washington State

Washington State left-hander, Joe Pistorese, delivers a pitch during the Cougars game on Friday night in Pullman, Wash. against the Cal Bears.

A pair of former Montana American Legion standouts are making their names known while playing key roles on the Washington State University baseball team.

Kalispell native, Joe Pistorese, hurled a complete-game gem on Friday night against the Cal Bears as he shut them out 3-0, allowing just five hits and striking out five as well.

Pistorese, who was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 44th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft in 2011 but opted to play collegiately instead, earned notoriety during his final two seasons with the Kalispell Lakers with a perfect game -- one of four no-hitters he has thrown -- as well as striking out 21 hitters in a game during the 2011 State AA Montana-Alberta American Legion Baseball tournament.

Pistorese improved to 2-1 in eight starts this season and recorded the first complete-game shutout of a conference opponent for the Cougars since Kyle Kawabata did it against Washington on April 15, 1995.

“I’d like to say I don’t think about it, but I was definitely hunting it out,” Pistorese told the Spokesman-Review on Friday night. "I think I got to the seventh – in the fifth inning I was just going to take it one inning at a time -- but by the time the seventh rolled around I wanted it.”

While Pistorese has been opening eyes on the mound, Missoula native Ben Roberts has been doing it with his bat for the Cougars.

Roberts, who was selected in the seventh-round of the 2011 draft, is hitting .333 and has driven in 12 runs in 22 games. He was 1-4 on Friday night as the designated hitter.

Roberts is also 4 for 4 in the stolen base department and has committed just two errors in the Cougars outfield.

Washington State (13-13, 4-3 6th place Pac 12) concludes their three-game series against Cal with games Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

The ultimate perfect game

Every player who has stepped on a baseball diamond has had at least one common dream: To throw a perfect game or no-hitter.

Nobody could have dreamt what a Long Island high school pitcher did on Tuesday afternoon in his first varsity start.

Michael Delio, a junior at Carle Place High School, became a star overnight by striking out all 21 hitters he faced while lead his team to a 15-0 non-conference win over Hempstead.

"I have had dreams of throwing no-hitters and perfect games, but nothing like this," he told Newsday. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Delio, who was on his school's junior varsity team the past two seasons, features a knuckle-curve along with his fastball in the mid-80s.

"I just stayed focused," Delio said. "I wanted to locate my pitches, get my curveball down and just play baseball."

Delio's accomplishment got me thinking about what my greatest achievement was on the base paths and I'm reminded of a perfect three-inning stretch when I was on the hill for my local A & W team in Laurel when I was nine or ten.

Although I did receive the game ball, it wasn't a sign of things to come as my pitching career was short-lived, largely based on my second time through that lineup.

What is your greatest baseball memory? Accomplishment?

It's time for volunteers to step up

There comes a time in life where we as adults need to put our priorities in order.

Unfortunately, a lot of times we fail to do so and in the matter of the Laurel Little League, failing to do so as put a real strain on one of the more successful little league programs in the state.

As I wrote in today's Laurel Outlook, the Laurel Little League program is in dire need of help from volunteers to coach to field repairs/improvements to help organizing fundraisers for those improvements.

League secretary Corey McIlvain said it best when I met with him on Monday afternoon.

"For me it comes down to priorities. If you have to put something off for a weekend or two to help out than so be it. Kids are kids for only so long and then they grow up and move on. This is the time of their lives that you get to help make an impact and help them grow."

I have spent the past seven years volunteering my time every fall to coach either Mighty Might Football or Little Guy Football and it's the most rewarding feeling I could have ever imagined -- and that's without children in the program -- and I will most definitely be finding time to help out the Laurel Little League program as much as I can.

And I challenge at least ONE parent/guardian of each of the nearly 700 players signed up this year to do the same.




Note: There will be a board meeting open to the public at the Old Middle School in Laurel, Mont. on Sunday, April 6 at 7 p.m.