Postseason Breaks Into Sprint As Athletes Vie For Springfest

All Springfest qualifying will be completed during district and regional tournaments running through Saturday.

Springfest, May 30-31, will see the crowning of state champions in baseball, softball, track and field, soccer and tennis.

For the most part, Springfest sites are Spokane (Class A and B), Tacoma (AA) and Yakima (AAA). Combined state track meets, however, include the AAA/AA in Tacoma and A/B at Eastern Washington University.

Track and field

The best track meet of the year is at Central Valley, and it has company.

The Eastern AAA regional will run Friday night and all day Saturday in conjunction with the District 7-A meet.

The top three athletes in each event of the combined Greater Spokane League and Big Nine meet advance to state and, if form holds, the competition will be fierce.

In the girls 1,600-meter relay, for example, four teams have broken 4 minutes and they’re all from the East Side. Central Valley leads the way at 3 minutes, 56.2 seconds. Lewis and Clark, Kennewick and Wenatchee are right behind the Bears.

CV, Pasco and Kennewick have the top three 800-meter relay teams and Shadle Park is fifth.

On the boys side, six of the top seven 1,600 relay times belong to East Side teams - Davis, Kamiakin, University, Pasco, Eisenhower and Kennewick. Ironically, Ike didn’t even get out of its qualifying meet.

Every event is that close, if not for the top spot, certainly for third place.

Last weekend, the Northeast A held its subdistrict meet at CV, where many competitors improved their marks. If the weather holds, combined with the excitement of the bigger meet, it should take a great effort to finish among the top two and qualify for state.

The Frontier League finishes its qualifying at Eastern Washington University Friday evening. The top two advance to state.

The two B qualifying meets will be at Colville on Friday for District 7 and Washington State University on Friday and Saturday for District 9. District 7 qualified three for state, District 9 two.

All regional and district meets have state-qualifying minimums. If competitors meet them, they can advance to state, no matter where they place.

Baseball

Mead will play Richland at 11 a.m. and University will meet Kennewick at 2 p.m. in the Region IV-AAA tournament in Pasco on Saturday. Winners will play at 5 p.m. for a final-four berth.

At Seafirst Stadium, West Valley will play Eastmont at 10 a.m. and Selah will meet Cheney at 1 p.m. in Region IV-AA openers. Winners will play for a final-four berth.

Chewelah will face Kiona-Benton at 10 a.m. at Yakima Valley Community College in the Region III-A tournament Saturday. Lakeside will play Connell at 1 p.m. in Moses Lake in Region IV-A. Both winners would have to win a second game to qualify for the final four.

Republic will play Kalama at 2 p.m. in Region I-B at Arlington. Curlew will meet Manson and Northwest Christian will face Garfield-Palouse (times to be announced) in Region III-B at Spokane Falls Community College. Davenport will meet Mabton at 2 p.m. in Region IV-B at Walla Walla. In each region, two wins will mean a final-four berth.

Softball

Region IV-AAA, with three state bids on the line, opens Friday night at Moses Lake. Mead meets Richland and Rogers plays Moses Lake at 6. Central Valley plays Eisenhower and University takes on Walla Walla at 8. Play resumes Saturday, with eight games.

The District 7-AA/A at Medical Lake, which opened Wednesday with six games, resumes Saturday. Colville, West Valley, East Valley, Cheney, Freeman and Colfax remain in the chase for three state bids.

District 7-B was decided Wednesday at Kettle Falls, with Republic, Davenport, Springdale and Northport advancing to state.

Rosalia travels to Touchet and Pomeroy to Palouse against Garfield-Palouse in the District 9-B best-of-3 series Friday. Winners play for state seeding Saturday at a neutral site.

Tennis

GSL and Big Nine boys and girls players in singles and doubles begin Region IV-AAA play Friday at Kamiakin in Kennewick. Matches wrap up Saturday. The top four in each category advance.

Soccer

North Central will play Ferris at 1 p.m. Saturday at University in a State AAA quarterfinal. The winner advances to the final four at Selah High School.

Golf

Fields are set for state tournaments Tuesday and Wednesday.

GSL golfers are headed to Yakima, where the boys play two rounds at Appletree and the girls play one round at the Elks and the second at Appletree.

Frontier League golfers go to Tacoma. The boys play at Spanaway Lake, the girls at Meadow Park.

The A/B boys are at Hangman, 9 a.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday. The girls go to Downriver, starting at 7:52 a.m. both days.

, DataTimes