TACOMA – Shadle Park brought two-thirds of its game to Friday's first day of the State 4A softball tournament at SERA Fields. It was enough to send the Highlanders, for the second straight year, into today's11 a.m. semifinal against Woodinville.
TACOMA – Thanks to impeccable pitching by Kelsie Vallies, North Central earned its first State 3A win and seemingly had the formula for reaching the second day of the State 3A semifinals at SERA Fields on Friday. The idea was to scratch out a handful of runs over the course of 21 innings, even one that came without benefit of a hit, and let Vallies do the rest.
We're winding down the 2006-07 sports season and with it my first year as columnist for this Prep Page and blogger for the Web site Prep Report. The one amazing thing has been the response we've had to both. Having spent a career with the print media, I entered the on-line world with a little trepidation, not knowing quite how to approach things or what to expect.
State track and softball beckons this weekend for North Side athletes as the 2006-07 high school season comes to a close. Shadle Park and Mead girls teams are both considered among trophy contenders in the 4A meet, while North Central's boys and Mt. Spokane's girls are possible trophy teams at the 3A meet, both in Pasco.
Central Valley boys are among the 4A state team trophy contenders when track and field takes center stage this week, the final weekend of high school sports competition during the 2006-07 school year. The Bears are led by distance runner Sean Coyle and two sub-50 second 400 meter runners, James Adams and Brad Whitley, who have helped them to a state-best 3:20.46 1,600 relay – less than two seconds faster than East Valley's 3A lead.
Matt Sullivan is seldom at a loss for words, whose discourse when the subject is baseball often ranges wide. He first addressed his Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) Eagles' chances when discussing Friday's upcoming State 1A semifinal game against Naches Valley in Wenatchee.
For some people, softball is a sport. For Shadle Park coach George Lynn and his family, softball is life. The first year Shadle Park qualified for a state softball tournament there was a Lynn in the lineup. In subsequent Highlanders trips there have been two more, both of them coached by their father.
State competition this week will bring an end to the 2006-07 high school sports calendar and area golfers get a jump on things Tuesday and Wednesday. Ninety-five boys and girls will be among the fields for this year's competition on eight golf courses in Bellingham.
RICHLAND – North Central's bats were silent, so they made do with the strong arm of pitcher Kelcie Vallies to get them into Saturday's 3A regional softball title game. There, the hits started coming and the Indians found themselves a regional champion for the first time as well as earning their third straight state trip to next weekend's state tournament in Tacoma.
RICHLAND – This year, stingy Shadle Park took the easy way to state. On Saturday, at Columbia Playfields, the Highlanders completed their three-game sweep of the 4A regional softball tournament while allowing nary a run.
RICHLAND – University's baseball season may have ended in a 15-5 loss to Richland late Saturday afternoon, but say this about the Titans – there was no quit in them. An improbable comeback from an 11-2 fifth-inning deficit six hours earlier highlighted a day in which U-Hi reached the State 4A quarterfinals for the second time in school history.
University baseball coach Scott Sutherland doesn't have to look beyond last summer to understand why the Titans are playing today in the State 4A baseball tournament. "Basically," he said via e-mail, "this year's success started last summer. Going undefeated against high school opponents until the second game of the state tournament gave us amazing confidence."
There are times when the law of "unintended consequences" turns out to have a gratifying ending. Take Saturday, when the Ferris Saxons were facing their third loser-out game of the District 8 4A baseball playoffs, against Mead with a potential state berth on the line, its pitching staff already depleted.
One swing. One run. One more District 8 4A softball championship for the University Titans. Sophomore Ali Warren's fourth-inning tape-measure home run was the difference in U-Hi's 1-0 victory at Whitworth Tuesday over previously unbeaten Shadle Park.
Last Tuesday, following Mt. Spokane's 2-0 loss to Kamiakin in the first round of the 3A regional baseball playoffs, you couldn't blame Wildcats coach Alex Schuerman for thinking, "here we go again." The Wildcats over the past four years have been among the Greater Spokane League's best, reaching the postseason each year with two regular season titles and a division championship.
There are many ways to win a baseball game, as the University Titans proved during Saturday's District 8 4A championship at Avista Stadium. They scored four runs by the bottom two batters in the lineup without benefit of a hit during U-Hi's 7-2 victory over Mead.
Everything, it seems, is going East Valley soccer's way. The Knights reached the state high school playoffs for the first time since 1999, with Wednesday's 3-1 victory over Kamiakin.
For the sixth time since 1999 and third straight season, like Capistrano's swallows, Shadle Park and University have returned to face each other in Tuesday's District 8 4A softball championship game. The unbeaten Highlanders slipped past stubborn Central Valley 4-0 in the second game of Friday's semifinals at Whitworth's Marks Field.
A little good fortune early and a lot of Cole Abramson and company later has East Valley in the first round of the State 3A soccer tournament for the first time in nearly a decade. The Knights defeated Kamiakin 3-1 Wednesday at Gonzaga Prep, scoring on a Braves mistake and adding two goals by Abramson, thanks to some fancy footwork from a trio of teammates.
West Valley baseball coach Don O'Neal said that it is worth the price of admission to watch junior outfielder Bryan Peterson hit. "I want to charge people to watch him take batting practice," O'Neal said. "He's just a beast."
Baseball's outcome, in this game of inches, can hinge on any number of things. For Mt. Spokane, which lost 2-0 at home to Kamiakin on Tuesday's opening day of the 3A regional baseball playoffs, it was a play in the fifth inning.
In any sport, University softball coach Jon Schuh said, speed kills. And it was Shadle Park's speed that killed any chance of a Titans upset in Monday's Greater Spokane League season finale between the league's top two teams.
Last year Shadle Park – with a team featuring seven sophomores and two freshmen – finished second in the State 4A softball tournament, its best finish in school history. Seven of those youngsters and a total of nine players are back with a year's more experience. How far will it take them?
How can perfection be improved upon? Shadle Park softball pitcher Sam Skillingstad tantalizingly raised the possibility with her latest overpowering performance.
University High School's baseball team, with virtually a new lineup, repeated what last year's veterans had done. The Titans, with 13-3 and 3-0 victories over Rogers on Thursday, tied for second in the Greater Spokane League and earned a bye into the double-elimination portion of next week's District 8 4A playoffs.
