THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Pitch counts? What pitch counts? Also, former T-Wolves

The subject of pitch counts came up the other day, while we were watching a local high school baseball game. 

The kid for the one team had a nice game going, but was nearing the maximum number of pitches he was allowed to throw in a game. 

As it turned out, he pitched into the seventh, but had to come out before he could get the final out, as he had reached his pitch limit for the day. 

The irony was, the coach of the other team was a star pitcher in high school — back before the days of pitch-count limits. 

BACK THEN, when the state baseball tournament ran Thursday through Saturday, it wasn’t uncommon for the kid who started on Thursday in the first round to come back two days later, in the state title game. 

“My junior year I pitched the Thursday-Saturday of districts and the Thursday-Saturday of state,” recalled Kurt Reese, now the head coach at Post Falls High. 

Then, he was a pitcher at Lakeland High, which won back-to-back state A-2 titles in 1996, his sophomore season, and in 1997. 

He estimated throwing probably 250 pitches over the course of those Thursday-Saturday starts. 

“At the state tournament my junior year I pitched nine innings against (Vallivue), and then seven innings against whoever it was at the time (Moscow, in the title game),” Reese recalled. 

HOW’D YOUR arm feel?  

“Not great,” he said. “The pitch counts are definitely a part of the game, and they need to be, especially for the high school kids.” 

What was the most pitches he ever threw in a game? 

“I don’t even think we were keeping track,” Reese said. “Different era (now), but I think it’s definitely for the health and safety of the athletes; it’s necessary.” 

Back then ... 

“It benefited us,” Reese said. “(Brett) DeBoer had the Thursday-Saturday duty in 1996 and I had the middle game. (In 1997) I had the Thursday-Saturday game(s) and Ryan Banks had the Friday game.”

Any long-term effects? 

"Some arm issues down the road, probably lost some longevity because of it. But was still able to throw,” said Reese, who graduated in 1998, and went on to pitch at Liberty University and at Whitworth College. 

Was it worth it, for a state title — or two? 

“Probably at the time, yes, and now, no,” Reese said.  

COUPLE OTHER notes ... 

• You can’t see her on TV as easily because she’s in the dugout and no longer coaching first base, but watch for assistant coach Vanessa Shippy-Fletcher (the former Lake City High standout) as her Oklahoma State Cowgirls compete in an NCAA softball tournament Super Regional against Nebraska this weekend in Lincoln, Neb. 

Game 1 is tonight at 6 p.m. PDT, Game 2 is Friday at 2 p.m. and Game 3, if necessary, is Saturday at 2 p.m. 

Games can be found somewhere on ESPN, be it ESPN Plus or one of the linear channels. 

The winner advances to the Women’s College World Series.  

• Speaking of former Lake City High standouts, when Kolton Mitchell recently signed to play basketball at Ohio University after playing the past two seasons at Idaho, we discovered another person with Idaho ties, Jake Ness, was director of basketball operations at Ohio U. 

Ness is the son of former Kootenai Health CEO Jon Ness. 

One kid with Idaho ties recruiting another to some place back in the Midwest? What a story! 

Well, not exactly. 

"We are excited to have him in Athens,” Ness said in a recent email to The Press. 

However ... 

“Lamar Thornton (Ohio U assistant coach) was the lead recruiter; I was just on the Zoom calls and around on the visit,” Jake said. 

Still ...

“Now there are two people in the world that have Athens, Ohio and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in their bios,” Jake said.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.