Mount Si boys’ lacrosse’s Spence makes himself at home in the Mid-Atlantic, plus news from the diamond and the links on a Tuesday……

Good morning. A lot on the plate this morning. Also coming up, a commentary about the historic news for the Lower Valley baseball community which came down a little after lunchtime and were the first local outlet to break for you right here on the blog yesterday.

First, though, some lacrosse. The foursome from Mount Si High School’s boys lacrosse program who are traveling with their club teams on eastern United States road trips continued their excursions yesterday following their weekends at a tournament in Philadelphia.

For senior-to-be Eli Spence and his Seattle-based CitySide ‘22 squad, it was hopping on Amtrak and heading south down I-95 to the Baltimore, MD, area for some Maryland crab and a little lacrosse at the Inside Lacrosse Invitational.

Spence made his mark right away, too, scoring a goal and adding an assist for CS in a 9-7 tournament-opening win over Burning River Lacrosse from Ohio. Spence tells us via his dad that the goal was one of opportunity, that it came off a quick faceoff restart and that he ran past surprised Burning River defenders and pounded home the tally, which came off a forced defensive turnover, also by the Wildcat athlete.

But Spence was not done. He had a hat trick – three goals – and an assist for the Seattle team in a 12-4 blowout win over Express North Lacrosse, out of the New York City area.

CitySide continues play in their event today. Meanwhile, the other three guys – Gabe Henry, Reeves Godley and Henry Ross – are with the Seattle Starz ’23 at a tournament on New York’s Long Island, which begins today. The key thing to keep an eye on with this trio going into today is whether Godley will actually play as he injured his wrist during a game this past weekend in Philly, and since lacrosse players use their wrists and hands quite a bit, he’ll likely need to be 100% or close to it in order to be successful today.

We’ll be sure to keep tabs on it all for you here.

Also this morning:

Golf: Valley youth golfers hit the links for tournament action
The Washington Junior Golf Association was very, very busy yesterday, with three district qualifying tournaments featuring Valley golfers all up and down the I-5 corridor.

At the District 6 event at the Auburn Golf Club, there was one new district qualifier from the Valley group competing there. It came out of the girls’ 12-13 age level, and a solid showing for Snoqualmie’s Maia Miller, who punched her ticket despite carding an eight-over par 80. That score was good for a tie for second place in the age group. Fellow Snoqualmie resident Karly Warford once again missed a chance to qualify finishing well back in the field.

Karly’s brother Hogan and his Mount Si HS teammate Buddy Dann both finished in the top 10 in the boys’ high school age division; Dann fired a three-over 74 and tied for second while Hogan Warford carded a 77 and finished tied for eighth at six over par on the par-71 layout. The two boys had previously qualified for the district event. Also, Snoqualmie’s Shane Russell tied for third in the boys’ 8-11 age category, firing a nine-hole score of 42 to finish seven over par. That age group competes over nine holes as opposed to 18 holes for the remainder of the age categories.

Meanwhile, at the District 2 event in Seattle at Jackson Park Golf Course, there were no new district qualifiers from the Valley delegation. Of note, Mount Si’s Kasey Maralack fired a four-over 76 and won the high school age girls’ division at the event. She had previously qualified for the tournament.

Rounding it out down in District 3 at Hawks Prairie Golf Course in Lacey, Wildcat Sam Apostol, from North Bend, saw his season come to a close failing to qualify in his last opportunity to do so for that district tournament. He finished well back, in 32nd place in the boys high school age division.

Qualifying tournaments wrap up this week with district tournaments taking place next Monday.

Baseball
Scores and highlights provided by GameChanger and their apps, available on Apple IPhones and IPads in their app store.

Washington A’s 16U Purple 19, North Seattle Rainiers 4: The Sammamish-based A’s unloaded, taking advantage of 10 hits to blast the Rainiers at Big Finn Hill Park in north Kirkland. Mount Si’s Kam Korrell was 1-2 with a run scored and RBI pacing the A’s, who had two grand slams in the game – by both Brandon Junker and Luke Simpson.

Lakeside Recovery 3, Wildcats Baseball 15U 0: Issaquah-based Lakeside won the pitcher’s duel with the Wildcats at Newport High School in Bellevue. The two teams combined for only four hits total in the contest. One of those was by the Wildcats’ Brandon Wallace – and that was their team’s lone hit of the game. He doubled. As for their pitching, Jeff Mather held well despite the loss, allowing three runs on three hits in a complete game effort, walking three and striking out five.

Halvorson busy: Mount Si High School alum Trace Halvorson put in a full day’s work on the field yesterday, competing for the Cascade Collegiate League’s Sea Turtles in both games of a doubleheader against their CCL rival Barn Owls down at the league’s home base in Hoquiam.

The Yakima Valley College sophomore to be was 0-2 with a walk in the opener, then went 0-2 in the nightcap, as the Sea Turtles got swept by the Barn Owls in the twinbill, 10-3 and 2-1 respectively.

Halvorson, from North Bend and who graduated in 2019, is one of three Valley players who has seen action in this college summer league this season – the others are Clayton Waltz and Harrison Clark. Clark has also been part of the league’s showcase team that has traveled around the Northwest competing against teams from rival college summer leagues.

There is more action scheduled for this weekend down in Hoquiam.