Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal

Good morning. It’s time for a weekend wrap and we start with lacrosse. There was a lot of success yesterday for area teams featuring Mount Si High School and youth lacrosse players, as one won a title, a second probably themselves did, and two more came close to doing the same thing.

We begin with the title taker and that was the Seattle Starz ‘28’s, featuring Mount Si youth lacrosse trio of Ethan Kaiser, Austin Linscott and Chandler Saldivar, who won the ‘28’s title at their tournament in California. Kaiser and Linscott both were active defensively while Saldivar was active on defense, with an assist and three ground balls. The Starz beat two California teams to take the title.

Meanwhile, in girls’ action, the Vand’al Lacrosse crew won twice more yesterday to finish their weekend tournament 5-0. Mount Si girls’ player Kendal Forrest was busy in both games – she scored a goal and added two assists in a 16-4 Vand’al win over 101 Lacrosse from California and then had a hat trick in the nightcap – three goals – along with an assist in a 13-1 Vand’al win over Fire Lacrosse also from California. Forrest, who plays for the Wildcat girls soccer team in the fall, also had two ground balls on defense in each of the two contests.

Elsewhere, the Stars ‘25’s finished as runners up dropping the title to a team from San Francisco. Repping MSYLC in this one was Robbie Shogren and Barrett Fredell.

Additionally, the Starz ‘23’s came very close to winning, but dropped a heartbreaking 8-7 decision to a Sacramento team in their final yesterday; the Sacramento crew won on a goal with seconds left in regulation. Henry Ross and Gabe Henry, both from Mount Si, each had a goal on the two games, while teammate and fellow Wildcat Reeves Godley had an assist. All three had two ground balls each over the two games.

In Denver, the Seattle-based CitySide ‘22’s took third in their tournament there aided by Eli Spence. CS beat Team91 Northside Black 12-3 with the help of the Wildcat, who had three goals and an assist, along with a forced turnover and two ground balls on defense. Spence also had a goal and assist for CitySide in a semifinal loss to another Team91 squad, the Colorado, 10-5.

Tournament action now appears to have wrapped up for the summer, but if there’s additional news we’ll have it here.

Time now for our morning round of diamond cuts.

Youth Baseball
Wildcats Baseball 13U Red 11, Maltby Redhawks 0: The North Bend-based ‘Cats had an early wakeup call at Sprinker Recreation Complex down in Spanaway yesterday morning, but don’t tell Reed Gilmore. The Wildcat pitcher fired a one-hitter and struck out five leading the ‘Cats to the blowout of the Snohomish County team. Evan Crow paced the ‘Cats offensively, going 2-2 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI’s.

Washington A’s 16U Purple 11, Narrows Baseball 16U 2: This game late yesterday down in Kent was the Kam Korrell show. The Mount Si High School player had three hits coming a homer short of hitting for the cycle, scored two runs and drove In three more as the Sammamish-based A’s scored six first-inning runs and cruised to the win.

Washington A’s 18U 5, Cascade Crush 4: The A’s pounded out 15 hits to close out the weekend with a win over the Bellingham team at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon. Mount Si’s Matt Wieting was 1-2 with a run scored and RBI for the A’s.

WW Sweets ’21/’22 18U 9, Mudville 1: The Sammamish-based Sweets finished the weekend in Spokane on a strong note, backed by Mount Si’s Jake Smith. The pitcher was dominant over five innings, allowing an unearned run on only two hits striking out five as the Sweets routed the Mercer Island-based team. Teammates – and fellow ‘Cats – Aidan Dougherty and Ryan Gerlitz also pitched in for Sweets; Dougherty was 1-2 with a run scored and RBI while Gerlitz was 0-1 with a walk and RBI.

Boys of Summer 18U Blue 16, Diamond Sports Premier 5: BoS features Mount Si’s Liam Christensen, who is out nursing an injury and did not play yesterday, but we mention this game anyway thanks to one of his teammates. Luka Ruljancich had literally the game of his life yesterday. Get these numbers. He had three hits, among them a double and a grand slam homer, scored twice and drove in an eye-popping nine runs. Yes. Nine RBI’s. Not often you see that in a youth travel baseball game, but you did in this one, and his heavy lifting aided Boys to the win over the Tacoma-area team to close out their weekend in Spokane.

Aces Baseball 18U 5, FCA Oregon 4: The Aces finished out the season on a solid note beating the Portland-area team in their Portland Showcase finale at Linfield University in McMinnville. Cedarcrest HS’s Sheldon Egger went 2-3 with a run scored for the Snohomish team.

Gunderson Baseball 5, Northwest Naturals ‘22/’23 16U 1: The Sammamish-based Nats were limited to four hits – one each from Mount Si’s duo of Josh Freudenberg and Parker Norah – as they closed out the Showcase at Pacific University falling to the Portland team.

Narrows Baseball 18U 3, Bellevue Dragons Elite 18U Green 1: This was a scoreless pitcher’s duel until the seventh at the Showcase down in Vancouver, WA, when all of the runs in this contest were scored. Narrows had more and ended up with the W. Mount Si’s Luke Richter led the Dragons with two hits, while teammate – and fellow ‘Cat – Brady Hossfeld went 1-3 with a double. Also playing for BDE repping Mount Si were Ryan Llewellyn (0-2) and Chris Jarocki (0-1, walk, RBI; 2/3ip, perfect, no decision).

Showtime Navy 4, Wildcats Baseball 13U Red 3: The southwest Washington-based Showtime took a 4-0 lead after two, but the ‘Cats fought hard in this one, rallying late but not able to close the deal as their weekend event finished on a down note in Pierce County, Jimmy Pratapas led the ‘Cats, going 3-3 with a run scored. He also got the pitching assignment, and allowed all four runs on just four hits in four innings of work, striking out seven.

Washington A’s 16U Purple 4, Stod’s Vipers 2: The A’s scored all four of their runs in the third to take their nightcap last night over the Bellevue team. Korrell doubled and drove in one of those runs in that fourth-inning onslaught.

College Summer Baseball
Time for highlights from the West Coast League and Cascade Collegiate League. The CCL action is powered by GC and their apps.

WCL Yakima Valley 5, WCL Wenatchee 1: In Wenatchee last night, the Pippins handled the AppleSox to take the rubber match of their weekend rivalry series. Mount Si grad Mason Marenco, playing for Gonzaga University this fall, was 0-3 with a run scored for YVP.

CCL Sea Turtles 8, CCL Llamas 3 (game one, doubleheader): The Sea Turtles took the first of two between the CCL squads down at the league’s home base in Hoquiam. Mount Si grad Trace Halvorson was 0-3 with a run scored. He is a sophomore this fall at Yakima Valley College and graduated from MSHS in 2019.

CCL Salamanders 6, CCL Barn Owls 5 (game one, doubleheader): The Salamanders took the first of two day games on the Washington Coast. Mount Si alum Clayton Waltz went 0-3 for the Salamanders; he will be attending the University of Puget Sound in the fall and is a senior-to-be.

CCL Llamas 4, CCL Sea Turtles 3 (game two, doubleheader): The Llamas won the nightcap last night inside Hoquiam’s Olympic Stadium to split the pair. Halvorson, for the Sea Turtles, was 0-3.

CCL Salamanders 6, CCL Barn Owls 3 (game two, doubleheader): The Salamanders took the nightcap of their twinbill and swept. Waltz went 0-3. He graduated from Mount Si in 2018.

Softball
Valley athletes were in action in southern California yesterday. GC powers all of this for you this morning.

Bownet 16U 4, Washington Ladyhawks 16U Abraham 0: At the PGF Nationals in Irvine, the Issaquah-based Hawks were held to only one hit by the California team in the loss. Cedarcrest’s Kaylee Hulse went 0-1 in the game for WLH.

Issaquah Flame ’04 Black 16U 6, Arsenal Eklund 2: At the USA Preps weekend event down in Palmdale, the Flame scored three sixth-inning runs to break open a close one and take the win over the California team. Mount Si’s Emery Kreidel-Reimer was 0-2 with an RBI in this one for the Flame.

Stars National 8, Washington Ladyhawks 18U Hirai-Simpson 1: The loss was one of two the Bellevue-based Hawks suffered yesterday in PGF action in Anaheim Hills. Cedarcrest HS’s Riley Warden played in this contest for WLH and went 0-1. She didn’t play in the second game, which was a 9-2 loss to California’s Bownet 18U squad.

Washington Ladyhawks 16U Abraham 4, Lady Sharks Ferraro 2: The ‘Hawks rebounded from the morning loss to take the win in the lunchtime clash yesterday that wrapped up PGF Nationals pool play. Hulse had a hit as the ‘Hawks finished 2-2 in the pool.

SoCal A’s 16, Issaquah Flame ’04 Black 16U 4: The A’s put this one away with a 10-run first inning as they cruised to the win that knocked the Flame out of the weekend event in Los Angeles County. No Kreidel-Reimer in this one for Issy, but the other Mount Si rep on this team, Makayla Malan, pitched, and allowed five runs on five hits in her one inning of work with no decision. She also was 0-2 at the plate.

Good Sunday morning. A lot on the plate this morning for you. We begin with a look at lacrosse this morning and an update on how Mount Si High School and Youth Lacrosse players are faring this weekend in club tournament action.

It is once again a busy weekend with Wildcat boys and girls taking part in action. We’ll lead it off with boys action. Four teams are in action this weekend with Mount Si representation. All of the teams are sitting in good shape to potentially win tournament titles at their events – in California and Colorado.

First, at the Denver Shootout in Colorado, the Seattle-based CitySide ‘22’s posted three wins in pool play yesterday, aided in all three games by Wildcat Eli Spence. Spence had a hat trick – three goals, along with an assist, two forced turnovers and four groundballs on defense as CitySide opened the tournament with a 15-2 thrashing of Colorado-based Team 91 Northside Grey. Then, Spence pocketed two more goals and added two more assists, ground balls and forced turnovers apiece for CS in their 9-7 win over Minneapolis-based Minnesota Select. Rounding it out, he scored two more goals and added a forced turnover and two more ground balls for CitySide in a 10-7 win over TeamOne Academy out of the Chicago area.

In California at the West Coast Shootout, the Seattle Starz have three teams – the ’23, ’25 and ’28 – in attendance and all three went 3-0 yesterday with a number of victories over California teams. All are into the playoffs today. In the ‘23’s three games, of note there, Wildcat Henry Ross had four goals on the day, while Gabe Henry was a jack of all trades. He scored two goals, but defensively forced four turnovers and recorded eight ground balls. Mount Si’s Reeves Godley also pitched in a goal and solid defense. He had a second goal waved off during play yesterday as the result of a violation in the goal area by the Starz.

The Starz ‘25’s unloaded outscoring their three Golden State foes 40-3 in the three games yesterday. Repping MSYLC on the squad are Robbie Shogren and Barrett Fredell. Stats were not available but Mount Si’s lacrosse contact, Brian Spence, tells us both of these guys likely were very active defensively, and those efforts would have very much contributed to the overall domination for the Starz in the three games.

The Starz’ 23’s also were similarly dominant, outscoring their three foes 38-2 in their three wins. As for the Starz ‘28’s, they were also dominant to a slightly lesser extent, outscoring their three opponents 37-6 in the three wins they had. Goals were scored by both Chandler Saldivar and Ethan Kaiser, with the two MSYLC players combining for four ground balls defensively. Additionally, a third Mount Si’er, Austin Linscott, also is repping the Valley on this particular squad and Spence also tells us he believes this player was also a key piece defensively for the Starz in these contests.

Meanwhile, on the girls’ side, Mount Si two-sporter Kendal Forrest – in addition to lacrosse, she is a member of Mount Si’s girls’ soccer program – was very active yesterday for her squad, the Vand’al Team One based in Issaquah. She pocketed a hat trick in one game, a super hat trick (four goals) in the second game, and was also busy defensively, recording a total of five ground balls over the two games, as Vand’al went 1-0-1 in the two games. They tied a California team and beat a Seattle-area rival in the other game. Good stuff there repping Mount Si.

Action for the five teams continues today.

Time for our diamond cuts.

Baseball: Marenco’s on a roll, but Pippins fall
The weekend is certainly becoming a good one for the Marenco’s once again, as has been the case at times this summer with the West Coast League’s Yakima Valley Pippins. Both North Benders recorded two-hit efforts against their former team, the Wenatchee AppleSox, but the Sox got the last laugh, recording a 15-7 win in the middle game of their three-game rivalry series at Wenatchee Valley College. The two teams meet in the rubber match of the set tonight at 5:30 at WVC.

Mason went 2-5 with a double, run scored and RBI while Spencer went 2-4 with a run scored. As noted, both players are former AppleSox players, having both played for Wenatchee under their current coach with the Pippins, Kyle Krustangel. We mentioned Spencer’s stint with the Sox yesterday here on the blog but Mason played in 2018 for Krustangel in Wenatchee and hit a solid .289 that season with 10 doubles, two homers and 17 RBI’s.

Mason will be a junior this fall at Gonzaga University in Spokane and graduated from Mount Si in 2017, while Spencer graduated in 2019 and is likely to transfer this fall following the completion of his eligibility at Yakima Valley College, which Krustangel also manages.

Elsewhere around college summer baseball, a couple of scores from the Cascade Collegiate League:

CCL Sea Turtles 6, CCL Llamas 0: Mount Si HS alum Trace Halvorson aided the efforts for the Sea Turtles in their Cascade Collegiate League win last night at the CCL’s home base in Hoquiam over their rival Llamas. Halvorson, a sophomore this fall at Yakima Valley College, went 2-4 with two runs scored as the Turtles limited the Llamas to four hits in the contest.

CCL Salamanders 10, CCL Barn Owls 3: In the game that preceded the above game yesterday in Hoquiam, the Salamanders rolled aided by another MSHS alum. Clayton Waltz went 2-4 with a walk and two RBI’s as the victors scored three runs in the first to take command and cruise to the win. Waltz will be a junior this fall at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.

Now to our youth action. Scores and highlights from Gamechanger and their apps, available on Apple IPhones and IPads in their app store.

Wildcats Baseball 13U Red 8, Northwest Blaze 5: A seven-run fourth lifted the Wildcats to the win at Sprinker Recreation Center in Spanaway over the Puget Sound-area rival. Tate Keith led the Valley crew going 2-4 with a double and three runs batted in. Milo Tolbert also had two hits for the ‘Cats with a run scored.

Northwest Bandits 15U 8, Washington Rush 3: In the Palouse Summer Series clash over at Washington State University in Pullman, the Bandits scored four first-inning runs then added two more runs each in the fifth and sixth to cement the win over the Everett team. Jordan Kim went 3-3 with a run scored and RBI to pace the Kirkland-based team, coached by Cedarcrest HS alum Nick Bowersock.

Washington Rush 8, Boys of Summer 16U 2: In a morning PSS contest at Pullman High School, the Rush handled Bellevue-based BoS. Mount Si’s Owen Theis led Boys, going 2-3 with a run scored. Teammates – and fellow Wildcats – Mason Martinell (1-3), Eli (0-3) and Ian (1-3, RBI) Auxter also played in the contest for BoS.

WW Sweets ‘21/’22 11, Spokane Expos 9: Up Highway 195 in Spokane, the Sweets held off a late rally by the Spokane team to take the victory in a weekend tournament there. Mount Si’s Aidan Dougherty paced the Sammamish-based victors, going 3-5 with a double and three runs scored. Teammate and fellow Wildcat Jake Smith was 1-3 with a walk.

Stod’s Vipers 7, Washington A’s 16U Purple 6: A barnburner under the lights last night at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue went to the Bellevue-based Stods, who rallied from a 6-4 hole late to force extras, then won it on a walk-off in the ninth. Mount Si’s Kam Korrell was 0-1 for the Sammamish-based A’s in the game.

Clark County Cubs 15, Bellevue Dragons Elite 18U Green 0: Cub pitcher Ryan McClintock fired a no-hitter and struck out four as the southwest Washington team blanked the Dragons at the GSL Portland Showcase clash down at Linfield University in McMinnville, OR. Mount Si’ers Brady Hossfeld, Chris Jarocki, Ryan Llewellyn and Luke Richter all had an at-bat each in the game for the Dragons.

Aces Baseball 16U 12, Untouchables 0: Aces pitcher Josh Sterba was nearly untouchable, no pun intended, as the Snohomish team won a Portland Showcase “Egg McMuffin” special at the University of Portland yesterday morning – the game started at 8:00am. Sterba fired a two-hitter and struck out five in four innings of work for the Aces. Mount Si’s Tristan Aasland was 0-3 for the Aces in the contest.

Michael’s Toyota Bears 18U 8, Lower Columbia Baseball 2: Mount Si’s Blake Miller homered and doubled, scoring three times and driving in two more, as the Bellevue team downed the Longview-area team at the Showcase contest at Pacific University in Forest Grove. Miller’s homer capped off the scoring in the sixth and also scored teammate – and fellow Wildcat – Kevin Corder. Corder, who graduated from Mount Si in June, was 0-4 but reached on an error scoring that run. Other MSHS’ers in the game included Harrison Kelly, who went 1-4 with an RBI, and Chris Wilson, who was 1-1 with two walks.

Mountain View Toros 10, Aces Baseball 18U 7: Also at Pacific University, the southwest Washington team took the slugfest over the Snohomish-based Aces in their Portland Showcase clash. Cedarcrest HS’s Sheldon Egger was 0-2 for the Aces in the game.

FCA Baseball 6, Aces Baseball 16U 1: The Aces hopped across the Columbia River to Vancouver, WA, for their Showcase nightcap last night, dropping the contest to the Woodinville team. Aasland was 1-2 in the game for the Aces.

Portland Baseball Club 9, Michael’s Toyota Bears 18U 4: Portland scored three runs in the first then survived a wild seventh inning in which the two teams combined for 10 runs to take the win in the Portland Showcase nightcap for the Bears at Pacific University. Miller was 1-2 with a run scored while Wilson was 0-3 with a run scored and RBI and Kelly was 0-2 with a walk and run scored. Corder went 0-3 rounding out the local Bear delegation.

Wildcats Baseball 13U Red 6, Lake Stevens Arsenal 5: A two-out walk-off double by Zach Hillblom scored teammate Dalton Watters with the winning run as the Wildcats won in heart-stopping fashion last night under the lights in their Pierce County nightcap. The ‘Cats scored both the tying and winning runs after two outs in the bottom of the seventh to complete a comeback after the Arsenal scored twice in the top of the frame to take a 5-3 lead. Hillblom finished with two hits, scored a run and drove in the game-winner as noted while Jacoby Schmidlapp also doubled and drove in a run. Jimmy Pratapas also had two hits for the ‘Cats, comprised of players who are future members of Mount Si High School’s baseball program.

Coast to Coast Turf 6, Northwest Bandits 15U 2: Following their win in the afternoon on the WSU campus, the Bandits made the trek up Highway 195 to Colfax, but the bats didn’t come on the trip as they were held to just four hits in the PSS nightcap loss to the southwest Washington team. Gabriel Arias doubled and scored a run to pace NWB.

Softball
There’s some girls’ teams in action this weekend with local players competing. Scores and highlights of the action in the “Southland”, southern California, from GC and their apps.

Lady Sharks Ferraro 3, Washington Ladyhawks 16U Abraham 1: At the Premier Girls’ Fastpitch national tournament down in Irvine, the Issaquah-based ‘Hawks were held to three hits in the loss to the California team. Cedarcrest High School’s Kaylee Hulse was 0-1 in the game for WLH.

Issaquah Flame ’04 Black 16U 8, Firecrackers Travieso 4: Also in southern California but up in Palmdale in northern Los Angeles County, the Flame doubled up the southern California squad at the USA Preps Summer Windup tournament backed by Mount Si’s Emery Kreidel-Reimer. She doubled twice and drove in two runs as the Flame took a 4-0 lead then exchanged four-run frames in the final inning before the tournament time limit kicked in. Teammate and fellow Wildcat Makayla Malan went 0-3.

Washington Ladyhawks 16U Abraham 3, Storm Fastpitch 0: In their PGF Saturday nightcap, the ‘Hawks got a combined four-hitter from pitchers Elyse McMullin and Makayla Stockman in the victory over the California team. Hulse went 0-2.

E1 Prospects 4, Issaquah Flame ’04 Black 16U 3: The Arizona team won the game on a walkoff in the sixth as the Flame could not hold the lead following a three-run third that opened the scoring in the game. Malan went 0-2 and Kreidel-Reimer did not play for the Flame in the contest.

Washington Ladyhawks 18U Hirai-Simpson 3, Ohana Tigers 1: Also at the PGF national event but in the Anaheim Hills, the Bellevue squad held off the California team aided by Cedarcrest’s Riley Warden. She went 1-2 with a stolen base and run scored pacing the Hawks, who scored two runs in the fifth to break a 1-1 tie to take the win. WLH then closed out the day with a second win over a California team. Stats for that game are unavailable.

Issaquah Flame ’04 Black 16U 8, Firecrackers Keene 2: The Flame bats heated up in the third, as they scored five runs to take the nightcap last night in Palmdale over the California crew. Malan was the beneficiary of the onslaught, as she got the win in the circle with a fine performance, going the distance allowing only two runs – one earned – on five hits, striking out three. She at the plate was 0-1 with a walk and run scored while Kreidel-Reimer was 0-1 with a walk.