Good Thursday morning. Busy morning this morning, and we start on the links.
Snoqualmie’s Warford brothers found plenty of success yesterday on the opening day of match play at the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s junior boys’ amateur championship tournament in Caldwell, ID. But, at times for one of the duo, it wasn’t easy.
As we alluded to yesterday in our preview of the match play rounds, that type of play is a much different animal in golf than stroke play, and that proved to be the case for top-seeded Drew Warford in his opening round championship playoff match with Portland golfer Brody Marconi, seeded 32nd in the field. The two golfers were neck and neck for most of the match before Warford birdied the 15th hole (with Marconi parring that hole) to take a 2-up (two-hole) lead on his challenger. But Marconi responded, birding both 16 and 17 (with Warford parring those two holes) to even the match “all-square” and force it into extras, where Warford birdied the first extra hole to take the match.
The Mount Si junior-to-be then played yesterday afternoon in the quarterfinals at the TimberStone Golf Course against William Fleck, from Bend, OR, and after the two golfers played the opening nine holes even, it was all Warford on the back nine, blowing away the central Oregon foe by winning every single hole down the stretch, and sealing the 4-and-2 victory with a birdie on 16. Fleck bogeyed that hole.
Drew Warford takes on Colorado golfer Peter Grossenbacher in the quarterfinals today.
As for Drew’s brother, Hogan, the Mount Si freshman-to-be had a much easier time of it in his first match yesterday in his consolation playoffs. He dominated the match with local favorite Gerek Eubank from nearby Meridian, ID, a suburb of Boise, taking as much as a four-hole lead in the match before sealing it by a two-and-one score with the Valleyite birdieing 17 with Eubank double-bogeying that hole to close things out. Hogan Warford meets future Kingco rival Jordan Werner from Sammamish a little later on this morning in the consolation semis.
The playoffs continue through this weekend there in the Treasure Valley. Also this morning:
Soccer
MSHS grad plays for second straight night with new team: Freshman Maggie Gunning, from Snoqualmie, saw some action for the second straight night with her new college team, Northwest University’s women, as they finished up their season-opening back-to-back set in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland.
The Eagles, who fell Tuesday night to open the season (with Gunning seeing action in that contest) to Trinity Western up in Langley, last night fell 1-0 to the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. Gunning, who graduated from MSHS back in June, played about 20 minutes off the bench, with no stats of note recorded.
Northwest now is off until next Friday when they hit the road for the sunny beaches of south Florida and a pair of games with Miami-area teams.
Stanton in Seattle: North Bend’s Nikki Stanton and her National Women’s Soccer League professional team, the Chicago Red Stars, were in Seattle last night to play the Reign. Stanton, a 2008 Mount Si HS grad, did not play in the contest for the Red Stars, who finished in a scoreless tie with the Reign at Memorial Stadium on the Seattle Center grounds and in the process prevented Seattle from clinching a spot in the NWSL playoffs later this season. Stanton and Co. will likely remain in the Seattle area for the next couple of days before their next game, which is in Portland against the Thorns on Saturday night and will be televised on the ESPNNEWS cable network at 7:30 p.m. That ESPN service is available on all local cable/satellite providers so call yours for more information if you want to add that channel to your lineup.
Baseball
Lane dinged on hill: North Bend’s Trevor Lane saw work last night in “AA” minor league baseball’s version of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. New York-affiliated Trenton took on Boston-affiliated Portland (ME) up in Maine with the 2012 Mount Si HS grad seeing 1 1/3 innings of relief pitching duty in the fifth and sixth innings for the Thunder, allowing two runs on three hits, striking out two and receiving no decision. The host Sea Dogs handled Trenton in the Eastern League contest 6-5. Lane has been with the Thunder for the last couple of weeks after being promoted from the Yankees’ “advanced A” team in Florida.
Karalus injured: Lane’s fellow 2012 MSHS classmate Reece Karalus, a pitcher with MLB Tampa Bay’s “AA” minor-league team in Montgomery, AL, has not pitched in a week and a half and that is thanks to another injury, something which has dogged the former Wildcat during his minor-league career. Karalus, also from North Bend, is eligible to come off the disabled list today after being placed on it last week for what was described as an oblique injury on the MILB website. Karalus has been up with Montgomery since the beginning of this month after he was also promoted from “advanced A” ball in Florida by the Rays.
Volleyball
Valleyite’s efforts not enough in two losses to open season for NWU ladies: The Northwest University women’s volleyball team opened their season yesterday on a down note with a pair of losses in their season-opening tournament in southern California. But they kept their Valley rep real busy.
In the opener, Northwest fell to Embry-Riddle from Arizona in five, 23-25, 25-26, 20-25, 25-23, 15-12. Sophomore Courteney Carr, from Snoqualmie and a 2017 Mount Si HS grad, was busy, recording a kill, 15 assists, three digs and an ace as the Eagles weren’t able to close things out after taking a two- sets to one lead in the match. Then, in front of just 50 people (fewer, frankly, than you see at any average Mount Si home match in our view) in their nightcap, the Eagles fell to Vanguard from southern California in a three-set 25-18, 25-20, 25-18 sweep. Carr had eight assists, five digs, two kills and an ace in this one.
Northwest finishes up play in the tournament today against teams from the California-based Golden State Athletic Conference. It is being hosted by Hope International University down in Fullerton, in Orange County.