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NORTHWEST NOTES: Aug. 26, 2021

| August 26, 2021 1:00 AM

Spokane Hoopfest canceled

for second straight year

After numerous conversations with the Washington Governor's office, Department of Health, City of Spokane, Spokane Regional Health District and MultiCare Health System, Hoopfest 2021 has been canceled, organziers announced on its website on Wednesday.

"This decision has been excruciatingly difficult, especially because the circumstances have significantly worsened in just the past 48 hours," Hoopfest executive director Matt Santangelo said. "Our priority has always been the health, safety, and wellbeing of our community. It is with that in mind that we are following the guidance of the authorities to cancel the event scheduled for Sept. 11-12.

The 2020 event was canceled. This year's event was moved from June to September.

Registered teams have a choice between donating your registration fees or requesting a partial 20% refund. A separate email will be sent to team captains to determine donation/refund status. Requested refunds will be processed by September 30th.

Hoopfest is scheduled to take place June 25-26, 2022 in Spokane.

David Bellamy promoted to volunteer

assistant baseball coach

Washington State baseball coach Brian Green announced the promotion of David Bellamy to volunteer assistant coach.

Bellamy has spent the past two seasons on the Cougars’ coaching staff, working the 2020 season as a graduate assistant where he worked alongside Green with the hitters and outfielders, and this past season as the Director of Player Development.

“David Bellamy is an absolute winner and an invaluable member of our coaching staff and to elevate him is a proud day,” Green said. “We talk of family, loyalty, trust and work ethic and coach “Bell” exemplifies all of it. He’s a northwest guy who comes from an awesome family and from my perspective has been really fun to watch him grow as a person. He will be our catching coach, will assist me with our offense and hitters, and the team will get a coach who is a tireless worker committed to player development. Coach Bellamy was with us at New Mexico State for two championships and we look forward to having him impact us in getting WSU back to postseason play. It’s a great day for Cougar Baseball!”

This past season, the Cougars finished the season with a winning record (26-23) for the first time since 2015 and the most Pac-12 Conference wins since 2014 (13). The Cougar offense finished second in the conference in hitting (.302) and saw WSU lead the league with 74 doubles during conference play. WSU saw a pair of Cougar outfielders put up big numbers in 2021 as Collin Montez hit .316 with 19 extra-base-hits including seven homers and 36 RBI while Jacob McKeon emerged as one of WSU’s best hitters in Pac-12 play, finishing tenth in the conference with 10 doubles and a team-best .348 batting average.