COMMUNITY SPORTS SPOTLIGHT: Lummi players help Team Washington to silver medal in baseball

"Team Washington had nine players from Lummi Nation and two from Yakima," Jefferson said. "This was the first Team Washington baseball team to play in the games. Now we would like to see other tribes get involved in baseball at the Indigenous Games."

"The opening ceremony (Aug. 3) had us in awe," Fast Horse said. "What a fabulous experience, and what a great growth experience the games were for our players."

More than 9,000 athletes, including several Lummi basketball players who also won medals, participated in the Indigenous Games.

Lummi's only losses were to gold medalist Team Wisconsin, 6-4 in the first game and 4-2 in the gold medal game. Lummi recovered from the first loss to beat Team Alberta 16-4 and Team New Brunswick 9-5.

"The New Brunswick game will always be my favorite memory," said Jefferson, 47, who played baseball and wrestled at Ferndale High School. "We were down 3-1 in the fifth winning, and we put up seven runs in the sixth.

"Our basketball players (in the Indigenous Games) were there cheering us on, and the crowd was just going crazy. I'll never forget that."

The coaches' sons, pitcher/outfielder Paul Fast Horse, 15, and third baseman Matthew Jefferson, 14, were two of the key players along with first baseman/outfielder Lucas Kinley, 14 (the midget division included boys born in 1992 and 1993).

Paul Fast Horse, who had more than 50 games under his belt after playing on Ferndale High's C and junior varsity teams and the Ferndale A American Legion club, was the pitching standout. He threw nine innings combined in two games against Team Wisconsin and allowed two earned runs, including four shutout innings in relief in the gold medal game.

Fast Horse highlighted the comeback win against Team New Brunswick by going 4 for 4 with three doubles.

"Paul was really solid the entire tournament," said Matthew Jefferson, who added that "Paul would have been up there for MVP consideration" had Team Washington won the gold.

Kinley, who will be a freshman at Ferndale, and Jefferson, who will be a freshman at Lummi Nation School, both said just winning the silver medal was the highlight of their games.

"We really had them sweating bullets," Terry Fast Horse said, recalling the tight gold medal game against Team Wisconsin. "But we faced the same great pitcher in both games."

"The team chemistry was really good for us," he said. "One guy would pick up another. Such togetherness was a great pleasure. They really came together as teammates. It was most definitely a growing experience."

Matthew Jefferson said the Indigenous Games success "helped me grow mentally, so I can understand the mental side of the game so much better."

In the second game, Tyton Jamison, Brandon Barrett and Anthony Reyes handled the pitching duties, with Jamison gaining the victory. Barrett claimed the win in the third game, with pitching help from Jamison.

Others who played roles in the silver medal effort were Ashton Greene, Jarett Martin, Murphy Julius, Sebastian Kinley and Cody Nickcloff.

OTHER MEDALISTS

The Team Washington girls' Juvenile (17-18) basketball team claimed the bronze medal with local players Amanda Cultee, Sara Brady, Tawny Julius, Kika Kaui, Shayla Nagle, Kelly Shufflen, Lorissa Cultee and Wanda Wong. Coaches were Kevin Day and Jerome Toby.

Lummi's Dustin Tom and Gale Jefferson helped the boys' Midget (15-16) basketball team win gold and Bonefacio "Boney" Tapia helped the Bantam (13-14) boys' basketball team claim gold. Jordan Wilson played on the boys' Juvenile basketball team, which won the silver.