NORTHWEST NOTES: Jan. 21, 2021

IdahoSports.com to continue with

audio streams at state tournaments

for next five years

IdahoSports.com will continue to provide exclusive audio streams of Idaho state tournaments for the next five years, the Idaho High School Activities announced Wednesday morning during their January Board of Directors meeting.

The contract extension highlights a decades-long working relationship between IdahoSports.com and the IDHSAA. IdahoSports.com hosted and maintained the IHSAA website from 1997 to 2016 and served for several years as the state tournament media coordinator.

IdahoSports.com also held the exclusive state tournament video streaming rights from 2005 until the end of the 2016 school year. That summer, a five-year contract was signed, giving IdahoSports.com the exclusive audio-streaming rights through the end of the 2021 school year.

Those audio-streaming rights have now been extended through the end of the 2026 school year.

"The IHSAA is thrilled to continue our 23-year relationship with IdahoSports.com," said Ty Jones, executive director of the IDHSAA. "They have always done a fantastic job for us and our member schools and we hope to see our partnership continue for years to come."

In the meantime, IdahoSports.com will continue to provide online coverage of regular season and state tournament high school athletics across the Gem State. IdahoSports.com's audio-only streams of the girls basketball state tournament will begin Feb. 18, while the boys state tournament tips off March 4. All 132 state basketball tournament games will be audio-streamed on IdahoSports.com.

"A lot of folks don't realize that IdahoSports.com and the Idaho High School Activities Association have been working together for over 20 years. This new contract does more than just renew the state tournament audio-streaming rights for another five years, it renews that long-standing relationship," said Paul Kingsbury, CEO and Managing Editor of IdahoSports.com. "After such a difficult 2020, we are very excited to start 2021 off with a new contract and look forward to continuing this great partnership."

The Seattle Mariners annual offseason outreach to fans around the Northwest has gone virtual this year with a series of events around the region to connect and interact with Mariners players and broadcasters.

The 2021 Mariners Care “Virtual” Community Tour is presented by ROOT SPORTS. The event specifically for fans in Alaska, Idaho and Montana is Wednesday, February 10 from 5:00-6:00pm, with a live Q&A with Gold Glove first baseman Evan White and third baseman Dylan Moore.

The regional virtual events are available to everyone on the Mariners YouTube channel, but fans in Alaska, Idaho and Montana can sign up to submit questions during the live session. Details of how to access and participate are available at Mariners.com/CommunityTour. The site will be updated with information on additional events as they are added to the schedule including upcoming news on skills clinics for youth baseball and softball players and a virtual story time for kids.

Fans can find the event at youtu.be/9w9_ZKgpLWQ

Boise Hawks bring back

Van Tol as manager

The Boise Hawks announced that former Boise Hawks and Boise State Manager Gary Van Tol will be returning to Memorial Stadium to manage the Boise Hawks for the 2021 season.

Due to the pandemic, Boise was not included with the six other teams that were promoted to High Single-A and will instead play in the Pioneer League.

“Over the past few years, I have had the pleasure to get to know Gary both on and off the diamond," Boise Hawks vice president Bob Flannery said. "His passion for the game is evident; whether it’s his youth program here to him being a manager of professional ballplayers. Gary was popular with the Hawks fan base and continued to be so when he was an opponent of ours. That says a lot about him and how he treats others and I believe his players will enjoy playing for him.”

Prior to his stint at Boise State, Van Tol spent 10 seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization, working as a minor league manager or coach in the Short Season A Northwest League – including the Boise Hawks. Under his guidance, the Hawks came within one victory of capturing the Northwest League title in 2013 and reached the semifinals in 2014. He has also given back to the local baseball community as the owner and president of the Idaho Cubs, a developmental baseball program for youth baseball players in Idaho. His local ties also included managing local minor league players Andrew Ely of Eagle High and Joey Martarano of Fruitland HS.