Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal

Good Thursday morning. Our diamond notes start with a little Little League action.

The Sno-Valley North Little League’s 8/9/10-year old All-Star team gave it their best efforts, but they fell short last night in the District 9 winner’s bracket semifinal at the district tournament in Kirkland, 5-4 to the Issaquah All-Stars.

Henry Gabalis pitched a great game for SVNLL. He went 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on just one hit, walked just one and struck out eight. Gabalis also paced the Lower Valley kids offensively, going 1-4. Also getting hits in the game for SVNLL were Quinn Larson, who also walked twice and drove in a run; Murphy Vliem, who also scored a run, and Isaac Davidson, who also had an RBI. Dylan Hartje, Ryan O’Loughlin and Luke Thompson also all scored a run each for Sno-Valley North, who will play a loser-out game tomorrow against the winner of tonight’s Kirkland American-Sammamish loser-out game. Falls plays a loser-out game tonight with a win advancing them to a game against Mercer Island also tomorrow.

Also from the diamond this morning:

College Summer scoreboard
Honkers open Canadian swing with blowout win: The Pacific International League’s Northwest Honkers used a strong performance from their lone Valley rep to score a big win to open a tournament in Canada.

Cedarcrest HS grad Cameron Padron went 2-4 with two runs scored and four RBI’s, lifting the Fall City-based Honkers to a 12-4 win over the Okanagan Athletics, based in Pentiction, BC. The Honkers continue play at that tournament today.

Johnson double, pair of RBI’s paces Wenatchee: MSHS grad Evan Johnson continued his hot hitting last night as the West Coast League’s Wenatchee AppleSox won again.

Wenatchee rolled over the visiting Port Angeles Lefties 9-3 last night in Apple Country on the east side of the Cascades, with the Snoqualmie product doubling, walking once, scoring two runs and driving in two more to extend his WCL-leading RBI number to 33 on the season for the home side. The AppleSox look to sweep PA tonight at Wenatchee Valley College.

Youth scores
Our youth baseball and softball action this morning, including our lead story, features scores and highlights from Gamechanger and the Gamechanger app, available on Apple IPhones and IPads in their app store.

Baseball
Legends Baseball 14, Field of Champions 14U Black 11: At Monroe High School last night, the Preston-based Bears fell in a slugfest to the Snohomish County team. Future MSHS freshman Andrew Edson doubled and scored two runs to pace FoC, and fellow soon-to-be Wildcat frosh Josh Moore was 0-3, and also took the loss on the mound for the Bears, allowing seven runs on just four hits, walking six and striking out one in 2 2/3 innings of relief.

WW Sweets 13U 16, Rijo Baseball 7: The Sammamish-based Sweets took care of the Redmond-based Rijo last night with a lot of offense; Chief Kanim Middle School’s Aidan Dougherty went 1-2 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI to pace Sweets, and fellow Hawk Jake Smith walked twice and scored two runs. He also earned the win on the hill for the winning side, despite allowing six runs, four earned, on five hits in two innings of work. Smith walked two and struck out one.

Narrows Baseball 9, Boys of Summer 18U Blue 5: BoS fell in the back end of a home-and-home to the Tacoma-based team on the road at Tacoma Community College. Mount Si grad Mason Marenco aided the Boys’ efforts, going 2-4 with a run scored and RBI. Fellow 2017 Wildcat alum Matt Dolewski was 1-4 with a run scored pacing BoS.

Field of Champions 15U 15, Kent Bulldogs 9: The Preston-based FoC scored six runs in the eighth to break a 9-9 tie and take care of the Kent-based squad. MSHS’ Jack Mardon was 1-5 pacing the Bears, while future Wildcat Cam Ferreri went 0-4, but walked once, scored a run and drove in another for FoC. Both players pitched as well for the Bears with Ferreri allowing three unearned runs on two hits, walking one and striking out two in two innings of relief, and Mardon working a hitless eighth inning, walking one and striking out two. Neither player received a decision.

Northwest Naturals 14U 7, Bellevue Baseball 6: The Nats rallied from an early 6-0 hole, scoring five runs in the second, then walking off with two runs in the seventh. Keeping the Sammamish-based team in it on the mound was reliever Turner McCutchan; the soon-to-be Mount Si freshman was stellar for 5 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out two. McCutchan got the win, and also helped offensively as well, with a walk and run scored despite going 0-1.

Field of Champions 13U Black 13, Bellevue Warriors 5: Chief Kanim’s Harrison Kelly led the Valley contingent for the Preston-based Bears last night, going 2-2 with two walks, two runs scored and three RBI’s as FoC rolled to the home win at Tibbetts Valley Park in Issaquah. Fellow Hawk Ryan Gerlitz was 0-4, but Twin Falls MS’s Drew Hiddleson aided the cause as well, going 1-4 with an RBI.

Norhtwest Nighthawks 16U 12, North Sound Rainiers 1: In Seattle, the Sammamish-based Hawks rolled to their second win in as many games over the Rainiers. Mount Si’s Trevor Adkinson was 0-3 for NWN.

City Baseball Gold 3, Boys of Summer 16U 1: Bellevue-based BoS was held to one hit in their loss at Marymoor Park in Redmond to the Seattle-based team. MSHS’ Trace Halvorson was 0-3 for Boys in the defeat.

Kirkland Merchants 6, Bellevue Honda 16U 0: The Merchants blanked the Bellevue team in Honda’s final local game before a weekend tournament this weekend in the Tri-Cities. MSHS’ Will Caro was 1-3 and also pitched a strong 3 2/3 innings of relief for Honda, allowing one hit and striking out five, with no decision recorded.

Softball
Massachusetts Polar Crush 4, Northwest Batbusters 18U Wilson 3: At the Boulder Independence Day tournament in Colorado, the Portland-based NWB fell in a close one to the Boston-area team. MSHS grad Heather Hinton was 1-2 for the Batbusters, and fellow Valleyite Colleen Campbell, she a graduate of Forest Ridge School in Bellevue, allowed the four PC runs, three earned, on six hits, with two strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings of work in the circle. Campbell took the loss.

Northwest Bullets 18U Knuth 6, Stealth 3: The Bullets used a 1-1 effort, with a walk, from Mount Si grad Maddy Trout as they doubled up their southern California opposition at the Colorado Fireworks event in Denver.

Sudden Impact (CA) 3, Northwest Batbusters 18U Wilson 0: Hinton was 1-2 with a walk for Batbusters as they fell to the California team. Campbell also played, but had no official at-bats.

Northwest Bullets 18U Gold 21, Smitty’s Terminators 4: Trout’s grand slam sparked a rout by the Bullets over the Canadian team at the Fireworks event; Smitty’s is from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Trout finished 2-2 with that big blast, one of four homers by the Bullets in the game.

Other Fireworks/Sparkler action: In other action at the Colorado tournaments involving Valley athletes yesterday, at the Fireworks, the Seattle-based Sundodgers 18U, with Cedarcrest HS grad Maddie Nixon and MSHS junior-to-be Abby Gronewald, fell twice, one to a California team and the second to a squad from Missouri. Also at the Fireworks, the Northwest Batbusters 18U Seek split two games, beating a San Diego team but falling to one from Houston. That Snohomish-based team features Mount Si’s Lauren Wilbourne and Cedarcrest’s Elaine Townley.

At the Sparkler, the 16U Northwest Batbusters Brooks, a Sammamish-area team with Red Wolve Michaela Carter and Wildcat Molly Wilbourne, scored two wins, beating teams from Las Vegas and Kansas City. The Dallas-based Texas Glory 18U RWB, featuring ex-Cedarcrest player Lauren Rich, also took two wins at the Sparkler, beating a team from southern California along with the Seattle-area Washington Speed Gidican.

Action in both tournaments continues today.

Good Wednesday morning. Baseball and softball now to start, and we have volleyball for you shortly.

It has been a special season for Mount Si High School grad Evan Johnson, and he had another big night last night for his college summer baseball team as they posted a win.

Johnson, from Snoqualmie, went 4-5 with two doubles, a run scored and five RBI’s, becoming one of just a dozen players in the entire nearly 20-year history of the Wenatchee Apple Sox to achieve that feat, as the Sox handled the visiting Port Angeles Lefties 8-3 last night in the opener of a three-game midweek set in West Coast League action over in Wenatchee.

Johnson’s performance moved his batting average back above .400 to .411 on the season as Wenatchee moved to 12-10 on the season with the win. He now has 31 RBI’s on the season and remains in the league lead in that category. The Sox continue their set tonight with PA at 7:05.

Lane continues dominance: Mount Si High grad Trevor Lane, from North Bend, made another appearance last night for his minor league baseball team, the New York Yankees-affiliated Charleston River Dogs, as they routed the host Rome Braves in Georgia.

Lane pitched two innings, allowing a run on three hits, walking three and striking out one, receiving no decision as the River Dogs took the class “A” South Atlantic League tilt 11-3. Lane kept his ERA under 1.00 at 0.97 despite allowing that one run in the outing.

Now to youth baseball and softball, with our scores and highlights coming from Gamechanger and the Gamechanger app, available on Apple IPhones and IPads in their app store.

Baseball
Seattle Gladiators 16U 5, Michael’s Toyota 16U 3 (game one, doubleheader): The Gladiators took the first of two at Island Crest Park on Mercer Island aided by MSHS’ Connor Webb, who went 1-4; fellow Wildcats Cole Bostwick, Frankie Cepeda and Blake Meister were a combined 0-7 for SG in the contest.

City Baseball Navy 11, Northwest Naturals 16U 0: Seattle-based City pitcher Ian Crocker, from Ballard High School in Seattle, tossed a perfect game, striking out three, as CBN handled the Sammamish-based Naturals on their home field at Skyline High School in Sammamish. Mount Si’s Trevor Aman, Tyler Wieting and Murphy McDowell all went 0-1 against Crocker, who we offer our congrats to on his accomplishment this morning.

Field of Champions 13U Blue 8, Washington A’s 13U 7: It was a wild one last night on Redmond Ridge as the Preston-based Bears won the slugfest with the Sammamish-based A’s. Blake Miller, from Chief Kanim Middle School, led the Valley contingent for FoC, going 1-2 with a run scored and two RBI’s. Fellow Hawks Quin Patterson (0-2, RBI) and Caden Harris (0-2) also saw action for the Bears, with Harris starting on the mound and working two innings, allowing seven runs, four earned, on five hits, with four walks and a strikeout.

WW Sweets 13U 18, Northwest Naturals 13U Navy 8: The Valley duo for Sammamish-based Sweets led the way in the rout of their city rivals from the Plateau in Issaquah. Chief Kanim MS’s Aidan Dougherty went 4-4 to lead Sweets, with two doubles, a triple, two runs scored and four RBI’s. Fellow Hawk Jake Smith was not to be outdone, either, as he went 2-4 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBI’s as well to pace the winning efforts.

Narrows Baseball 7, Boys of Summer 18U Blue 2: The Pierce County team took the first of a home-and-home set with Bellevue-based BoS at Bellevue College last night. Mount Si HS grad Matt Dolewski was 1-4 with two RBI’s pacing Boys. Cedarcrest HS grad Riley Mallot pitched a complete game for BoS, allowing all seven runs, six earned, on eight hits, walking six and striking out one. He took the loss.

WW Sweets 18U 10, Michael’s Toyota 18U Elite 0: In Redmond, the Sammamish-based Sweets rolled to the win over their Bellevue-based rivals with the help of Mount Si’s Dusty Dover, who went 1-2 with a run scored and two RBI’s.

Taylor Baseball 8, Washington A’s 18U Gold 7: The Sammamish-based A’s fell in a heartbreaker last night in Edmonds, as Redmond-based Taylor won it in the bottom of the seventh on a walk-off after the A’s scored six runs in the seventh to take the lead. 2016 MSHS alum Collin Anderson worked an inning in relief for the A’s, allowing three runs on two hits with no decision recorded. Anderson will be a sophomore this fall at Whitworth University in Spokane.

Seattle Gladiators 16U 10, Michael’s Toyota 16U 5 (game two, doubleheader): Bostwick doubled and tripled to headline a 3-3 effort, driving in two and scoring two more as the Gladiators took the nightcap of two on Mercer Island and swept the pair. Cepeda was 2-4 with two runs and Meister doubled to headline a 2-3 performance; he scored a run and drove in two more. Levi Jorgensen played in this contest as well, and the Wildcat walked and scored a run. Webb added a 1-3 effort with a run scored and RBI to round out the strong Mount Si delegation performance for the Gladiators.

Softball
Sparkler, Fireworks tournaments open for local teams, Valley players: Three of the teams we will be following at this week’s Colorado Fireworks and Sparkler tournaments in Denver opened play at the tournaments yesterday. The Texas Glory RWB 18U, a Dallas-area team featuring former Cedarcrest High School pitcher Lauren Rich, played two games yesterday in the Sparkler, and tied both, against teams from Pittsburgh and Denver. Also, one of Rich’s former teammates, Maddie Nixon from the Red Wolves, and her Valley counterpart, Mount Si’s Abby Gronewald, along with their teammates from the Seattle Sundodgers 18U, played against the Houston-based Texas Threat in the Fireworks event, and fell 8-7.

In other Fireworks action, the Snohomish-based Northwest Batbusters 18U Seek, with another one of Rich’s former teammates, CHS’ Elaine Townley, and her Wildcat counterpart, Lauren Wilbourne, posted a 5-2 win in their tournament opener over the California-based Bears Gold. Action in the events continues through this weekend, with weather expected to be tolerable down there for the remainder of the week (80’s, sunshine, small thundershower risk).

Orange County Batbusters 5, Northwest Batbusters 18U Wilson 4: Also at the Fireworks, this first game for the Portland-based Batbusters went just three innings, but the three innings all had plenty of action as OC held off NW. Forest Ridge grad Colleen Campbell, from Snoqualmie, worked the full distance for NWB, allowing the five OC runs, of which just two were earned, on five hits, walking two and striking out two. MSHS alum Heather Hinton walked once for NWB in the contest.

Northwest Batbusters 18U Wilson 5, Minnesota Irish 2: The Batbusters’ nightcap at the Fireworks went better as they handled the Twin Cities-based squad. Hinton led the way going 2-2 with a double.

Arguably the biggest event on the club softball calendar starts in earnest today, as major national tournaments begin to take place in the Denver area.

The events, known as the Colorado Fireworks and Sparkler tournaments, bring teams from around the country together to play against top regional and national competition. The tournaments are so-called “college exposure” tournaments, meaning these games are played in front of many college coaches and scouts, who this year represent a wide array of colleges and universities from all major NCAA and NAIA divisions from around the country. Among the colleges in attendance include Concordia University in Portland, Whitworth University in Spokane, Grays Harbor CC in Aberdeen, North Idaho College in Sandpoint, ID, Lewis & Clark College also in Portland, and a couple of schools who have had – or will have – Valley players playing for them: Dartmouth University in New Hampshire (Hillary Barker, Cedarcrest HS), Southern Utah University (Heather Hinton, Mount Si HS) and the University of North Dakota (Maddie Nixon, CHS).

This year, several teams from the Eastside and Seattle which feature local players will be competing in the tournaments. Competing in the Fireworks are the Northwest Bullets 18U Knuth, with MSHS grad Maddy Trout, the Northwest Batbusters 18U Seek, with Wildcat Lauren Wilbourne and Red Wolve Elaine Townley, and the Sundodgers 18U, featuring Nixon and Mount Si’s Abby Gronewald. In the Sparkler, the Northwest Batbusters Brooks 16U, with Wildcat Molly Wilbourne and Cedarcrest’s Michaela Carter, and the Dallas-based Texas Glory RWB 18U, featuring ex-Red Wolve Lauren Rich, are competing. Rich was part of the Cedarcrest HS program as a freshman in 2015, but following that season, she and her family moved to Texas, and she has been pitching for a high school in the suburban Dallas area.

The actual tournament games start on Thursday and conclude on Sunday in advance of the 4th of July holiday. We’ll have full action for you from down there throughout the next few days.

Also from the diamond:

Valley college baseball players recognized for success in classroom: The Western Athletic Conference yesterday announced their spring sports Academic All-WAC honorees, and two baseball players from the Valley, both Mount Si High School graduates, made it on the list.

The University of Northern Colorado’s Evan Johnson, from Snoqualmie, and Seattle University’s Alden Huschle, from North Bend, received recognition, among over 600 student-athletes from the various conference schools who were recognized.

To earn recognition, the two each had to complete a full academic year of classes at their university, maintain a 3.2 cumulative grade point average in their academic studies and play in at least 50 percent of the team’s games during the season. Huschle, a freshman, pitched for the Redhawks this spring while Johnson, a junior this season, was the Bears’ starting left fielder.

The SVSJ offers its congratulations to both players.