POSTED: Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Local coaches keep baseball, softball dreams alive for area youth

It can be tough to hit an inside pitch, but it's not difficult to find opportunities for Whatcom County hitters or pitchers to practice, regardless of the conditions outside, at Inside Pitch.

That's now the name of the comprehensive indoor baseball and softball facility located at 1750 Moore St. in Bellingham, not far from Geri Fields, and originally known as Extra Innings until new owners took over in July.

Matt Tagman, who served founding owners Bruce and Lisa Tipton as general manager since the facility opened early in 2006, and Brandon Hundt, who was hired fulltime in 2007, feel they have achieved their goal of a "seamless transition."

So does longtime local youth coach Jerry Smoot, who was thrilled to see Inside Pitch's fall league program expand from 17 to 22 teams for its fourth season, which finished up last weekend.

"I'm ecstatic to see the program expand so well in fall baseball," said Smoot, who recalled being one of four local coaches who started with a much smaller program. "Matt and Brandon put their heads together and found a way, so I'm also ecstatic that the facility is still here for the kids and adults in our community," Smoot said.

Tagman and Hundt became co-owners after the Tiptons filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in June.

"There's no doubt in my mind that had not Bruce and Lisa Tipton opened the facility, the level of local youth baseball wouldn't be where it is right now," Smoot said. "But it was just a tough time in the economy. Keeping this facility open makes a huge difference."

Tagman and Hundt, who pitched briefly for the Helena Pioneers in the Milwaukee organization in 2004 before suffering career-ending arm injuries feel, the same way.

"Bruce wanted Brandon and me to take over rather than see the facility go away," said Tagman. "Bruce was a huge part of helping us through the transition. We wouldn't be in this good situation if it weren't for the Tiptons."

Tagman, who batted .648 for Class 3A state champion Capital in 1998 and twice made all-league, and Hundt, a former Washington State University pitcher, needed to pick a new name, even though they continue to offer similar programs.

"Extra Innings is a franchise chain, mostly on the East Coast, and we're now entirely a local operation," Tagman said. "We were fortunate to have family and bank financing."

Tagman, 29, and Hundt, 27, were especially pleased with the growth of the fall league that ran in August and September.

"We play the fall season on weekends and we plan to keep doing it," said Tagman. "We feel it went very well. We sure were happy with 30 percent growth. We had nine high school teams, with six from Whatcom County, and 13 teams for younger players."

Fall league games are more about developing players than wins and losses. Though each game has umpires and final scores, standings are not kept and coaches are given unlimited timeouts to work with players. Pitchers also have a pitch count so more kids can pitch, and half innings are limited to three runs to keep games moving and allow doubleheaders to be played.

Hundt said he felt like the growing fall league "is a big step for Whatcom County." He envisions both competitive and non-competitive divisions to provide maximum flexibility.

As always, Inside Pitch will over a variety of indoor instruction programs throughout the year. Tagman and Hundt said they expect to receive instructional help from former Sehome players Jeremy Hirschkorn and Devin Farlow.

"I'm really excited," Hundt said. "There's a lot of work ahead, but this is a great opportunity."

TO LEARN MORE

For information about the programs available at Inside Pitch, call (360) 647-1600, e-mail insidepitchbellingham@gmail.com or go to www.ipbellingham.com.

LYNDEN 6TH GRADERS AAU HOOPS

Sixth grade boys’ tryouts for the Lynden 6 th grade boys AAU basketball will be Oct. 14 and 21 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Lynden Middle School.

For more information, contact Steve Somers at 815-1399 or Rick Lair at 815-5450.