Narrow loss puts Kennewick’s Leilani Mitchell, Mystics out of the running in WNBA

The Washington Mystics were eliminated for the WNBA playoffs and the bubble this week when they lost a play-in game with the Phoenix Mercury by an 85-84 score.

But Kennewick High graduate Leilani Mitchell had an outstanding game for the Mystics, scoring a game-high 25 points, grabbing two rebounds and dishing off four assists.

Washington, which finished 9-14 on the season, led for nearly the entire game until Phoenix sank a 3-point shot at the final buzzer.

Mitchell now heads back to Australia, where she lives with her family. She’ll get back to playing in the Australian WNBL, the country’s top professional women’s league, when it resumes play for the 2020-21 season in late November.

Mitchell signed a one-year contract last week with the Southside Flyers, the team she played for last season.

Mitchell, 36, also has one year remaining on her two-year, $250,000 deal with the Mystics. And she’ll be playing in Tokyo next summer for the Australian national team in the Olympics.

Sports notes

▪ Richland High School has quite the ace in Troy Molnaa. The sophomore was pitching for the 16U Northwest Blazers in a tournament last week in Boise, and he tossed a five-inning, 11-strikeout perfect game against a team called the Boise Beast. The Bombers’ pitching staff is definitely starting to shape up when Mid-Columbia Conference baseball is scheduled to begin in May 2021.

▪ Southridge High graduate Austin Springer announced last week that he was done fighting in Mixed Martial Arts competitions after the UFC released him from his four-fight contract.

Springer, 33, had a goal of fighting in a UFC competition, and he got that chance on late notice when he competed in Las Vegas as a last-minute replacement in card Aug. 29.

Springer had attended his young son’s birthday party when his agent called him to let him know that there was a chance he could be chosen to step in for another fighter. When that didn’t happen, he continued on with his life. But a day later, he got another call after the replacement fighter backed out.

On two days’ notice, Springer stepped in and fought Alex Caceres at 145 pounds — although Springer missed weight at 151, and lost 30 percent of his purse. Caceres won by submission in the third round, but Springer fulfilled a lifelong dream by competing in a UFC match.

UFC released Springer this past week — UFC has released a number of fighters under contract — and Springer says he’s done. He finished his MMA career with a 12-4 record, most of those events taking place in the Northwest. But he still owns and runs Vancouver Elite Martial Arts in Vancouver, Wash., where he, his wife and two sons live.

▪ Former Tri-City American defenseman Spencer Humphries has signed a one-year plus option contract with Lillehammer of the GET-Ligaen in Norway. Last season, Humphries played for the Kassel Huskies in Germany in the DEL2 league.

For Kassel, Humphries, 28, played in 48 games, had 13 goals and 16 assists — leading all defensemen in the league in goals scored. Humphries played for the American for three seasons, from 2008-11. The bulk of those 38 career contests were played in that final season, where he scored two goals and three assists.

Ex-Dust Devils update

A number of former Tri-City Dust Devils were involved in trade deadline transaction a few weeks ago in Major League Baseball. Infielder Ty France and pitcher Andres Munoz were sent to Seattle in a deal by San Diego on Aug. 30, while pitcher Cal Quantrill was moved from San Diego to Cleveland in a trade Aug. 31.

Former Tri-City starter Walker Lockett was claimed off of waivers by Seattle on Sept. 1 after the New York Mets waived him.

And Pedro Strop, who started as a shortstop in the minor leagues by the Colorado Rockies before becoming a flame-throwing pitcher, was released by Cincinnati on Sept. 2. However, the Chicago Cubs signed Strop to a minor-league contract Sept. 4.

• Quantrill has pitched 23 innings of relief this season for both the Padres and Indians, striking out 24 batters. He also has one save and a 2.74 earned run average. On Aug. 10, Quantrill raised his record to 2-0 by pitching three innings in relief, surrendering just two hits, no earned runs, and striking out three as the Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1.

• Austin Allen has been a backup catcher for the Oakland A’s, and is hitting .196 (6 for 31). Allen has one home run and three RBIs.

On Aug. 7, Allen had an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the 13th, and the A’s rallied to beat the Houston Astros 3-2 in 13 innings.

• Fernando Tatis, Jr., has just been a star all season for the San Diego Padres. Tatis, who plays shortstop, is batting .281 (55 for 196), with 15 home runs, 40 RBIs and 9 stolen bases.

West Coast League expands

The West Coast League, the summer college baseball league that includes the Walla Walla Sweets and the Yakima Valley Pippins, has expanded this summer to three more teams in Canada.

The new franchises are the Edmonton Riverhawks, the Kamloops NorthPaws and the Naniamo NightOwls. The WCL now has five teams in the 15-team league that are located in Canada. Victoria and Kelowna also have squads.

If the Tri-City Dust Devils don’t get a major-league affiliation agreement for next year, the organization could also move into the WCL.

Major League Baseball’s contract with minor league baseball expires at the end of this month, and the two parties are in negotiations into what minor league baseball will look like next year. There’s a fair chance the Dust Devils will get that agreement with an MLB team. But if they don’t, the WCL could be where they end up.