Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal

Mount Si’s fastpitch softball team won its first two games yesterday at the SeaKing District tournament in Seattle to punch its second straight state berth and fifth overall under longtime head coach Larry White.

Wildcats blast West Seattle
Mount Si’s offense was busy yesterday, scoring runs early and often as the Wildcats defeated West Seattle 10-0 in a game which ended in six innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. Celine Fowler went 5-5 with 3 runs scored as Mount Si broke it open with six runs in the first two innings, then rode the arm of Paige Wetherbee to the finish. Mickey Blad went 3-4 with a pair of doubles, a triple, two runs and five RBI’s in one of her best offensive games as a Wildcat, while Britney Stevens and Lauren Smith each also added a pair of hits.

Wetherbee went the distance, giving up five hits and striking out five.

Mount Si stuns Bainbridge to make state
The Wildcats went into the game against the Spartans expecting a tough fight against a Bainbridge side which was undefeated on the season, ranked third in the Seattle Times poll and looking to make it back to state themselves once again. But what the Spartans didn’t expect was the Mount Si bats to keep cooking, and they did just that, taking control early and rolling to a very surprising win.

Stevens went 4-4 with two runs scored to lead Mount Si to a 6-3 win. The Wildcats scored twice in the first, then did that again in the third after Bainbridge scored a run in the second off of Mount Si starter Kendra Lee, who pitched five innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits. The Wildcats then scored once more in the fifth before Bainbridge rallied with a pair of their own tallies in the frame to make things interesting. But the offense didn’t flinch for scarlet and gray, scoring once in the sixth to seal it. Smith and Rachael Picchena each had two hits to aid the efforts.

Mount Si plays in a little bit against Lake Washington.

Time now to talk some baseball. The state baseball tournament starts Saturday with a regional matchup in Centralia between Mount Si and Peninsula, the #4 seed out of the West Central District. Peninsula made it to state with a win last Saturday night in Tacoma. Here is your first look at the team from Purdy.

The Seahawks are 19-4-1 this season; the tie came against Franklin Pierce in a non-league game back in March. MaxPreps has all their stats, you can find those here.

Looking at these numbers, the one guy that Mount Si will have to concern themselves with most is senior outfielder/catcher Blake Valley. This Seahawk has been on a tear this spring, hitting a cool .519 with one homer and 15 RBI’s, among the tops on the team in both categories. Valley has three doubles and three triples to his credit as well, so the Wildcats will have to work to shut him down for sure. But Valley will not be an easy out, as he has walked 11 times this spring and only struck out nine times. Add in a .597 on-base percentage and a .741 slugging percentage, and it’s pretty clear Valley will be a player to keep a close eye on on Saturday.

Another player Mount Si may have to worry about is junior outfielder Kory Vanderstaay. He’s hitting .361 and has driven in 16 runs, leading Peninsula in that category this spring. Speed will be a factor with him, too, as he’s stolen six bases this spring.

Against teams in the state tourney, they are 1-1, with both games against Hazen. And playoff experience could be key – Peninsula hasn’t been in the state tourney since 2007, when they were eliminated in the first round, also in Centralia.

It will be an interesting day on Saturday, with the winner moving on to meet Kelso. The game times have changed by the way, with the first game now starting at 10 am, with the championship going at 4:00. Initially, the first game was planned to start an hour later.

Directions to Wheeler Field – There is a map on Mount Si’s baseball website, linked in our news links at right, but for those who would like to print some directions out, here you go.

From all locations in the Valley, make your way over to Highway 18 (Snoqualmie Parkway) and head south on 18 to Auburn. The Google directions have you going all the way to I-5 and heading south, but a good back way to avoid all the Tacoma traffic is to get off 18 at the SR 167 exit, head south to Puyallup, and take the exit to SR 512 and get on that road and make your way to I-5 that way, hooking up with the freeway south of Tacoma. (Most of you probably know this route already, but those of you who don’t, you’ll probably save a little time this way).

Once on I-5, head south to Centralia exit #82, Harrison Avenue, and take that exit and turn right. Follow down Harrison to Johnson Road, and turn left there. It will be two stoplights down from the freeway. Head down this road to the end, and turn right, following this road down past several other fields before you see the parking lot on the left. The field will be in front of you.

Should Mount Si win, there of course will be a bit of a break in between games, and there are several restaurants nearby to grab a bite to eat at, including an old favorite of your editor, the Country Cousin, which is a farm-themed family establishment right off of Harrison. There’s also a McDonald’s among other places as well within a 5-10 minute drive. The field is also near the Centralia outlet mall, so if you need to do some shopping to kill some time, that is there for you as well.

Total driving time is about two hours, or if you want to head down tomorrow night and stay overnight, there’s a couple of motels right off the freeway there as well, including a Motel 6, King Oscar Motel and the Ferryman’s Inn.

Hello everyone. Time now to talk a little softball.

First, before we get to previews and picks for today, we want to offer an apology to all you Mount Si fastpitch fans, we were asleep at the switch yesterday, thinking that the district games started today. Well, they started yesterday, with two wins which clinched their second straight state berth, and fifth under coach Larry White. More on that later, by the way, but incase you’re curious, we had Mount Si beating West Seattle by a much closer score before falling to Bainbridge in the second game. Boy, how wrong were we. And because of that, we want to offer a shout-out and a pat on the back for the girls for a job well done. We weren’t sure that a state berth was doable. We expected it, but not as easy as it appears to have been accomplished yesterday. Way to go!

`So with that all out of the way, let’s get to the previews and picks for today.

Mount Si vs. Lake Washington (Semifinal, 2:00 pm) – This is a rematch from last Friday, when LW beat Mount Si at the Kingco Tournament. The Kingco, incase anyone is curious, went 6-0 yesterday in head-to-heads against Metro, and that included Mount Si’s state-clinching win over Bainbridge and Liberty’s upset of Holy Names. This success against Metro harkens back to the old days, when your editor, when with the Valley Record, worked this tournament when it was at the old Fort Dent facility down in Tukwila, which sadly no longer exists, and Kingco domination of Metro was quite routine, with the likes of Newport, Issy and Skyline as part of Kingco 3A at that time. Nice to go back in time a little, because that is good news of course for Mount Si and its fans.
But let’s talk the present, and we suspect that things will be quite different this time around compared to last Friday’s 4-2 result. Mount Si’s five through eight hitters, those being Rachael Picchena, Nikki and Jenny Carroll, and Tamarra Crowe, went a combined 0-9 with three walks during last Friday’s game. That sadly was the key stat that hurt the Wildcats in the loss. Can’t imagine that happening again, even though LW’s pitcher, Audrey Sundene, looks to lead her team again into a title game.

MOUNT SI 5, LW 3

Now to the big game. Juanita meets Liberty in the other semi, and it’s pretty clear who’s favored there, so let’s see what can be expected.

Mount Si vs. Juanita (Championship, 4:00 pm) – One of these days, Mount Si will find a way to beat Juanita’s Allison Rhodes, but Rebel offense dominated in their win yesterday over Nathan Hale. So not only does Mount Si need to deal with Rhodes, but Mount Si’s pitcher, Kendra Lee, needs to do again what she did in most recent meeting between these two teams May 8, and that is work to keep game close. It is on neutral site, so that could help things. But a #2 state berth is not too shabby, either, and you know what, you’re hearing it here first. Watch the draw on Sunday. If Mount Si gets a favorable draw, could we be talking these two for a state title?

JUANITA 8, MOUNT SI 1