Little Leagues combine on triple play

SANDPOINT — Although they might not have fully realized it at the time, Sandpoint Little Leaguers Tyler Connolly and Wes Smith were part of an extremely rare baseball feat recently when they teamed up to turn a triple play.

According to the Wikipedia web site, the odds of seeing a triple play in a given inning has been less than 1 in 10,000. Since 1876, there have only been 666 triple plays turned in Major League Baseball.

The Devil Rays had loaded the bases with no outs against the Royals during a Rookie League game. Royals' third baseman Connelly, 8, speared a line drive, touched third base, then threw to first baseman Smith for the third out. Both the base runners on first and third had just been picked off their base.

"They were all really happy," said Royals coach and proud father Bill Connolly, noting it took a while for the team to realize what had just happened. "They knew something happened, they just didn't know what happened."