>Saturday nuggets……

>Some Saturday items for you.

-Charleston Southern (Amy Trenkamp/North Bend) split a pair of women’s softball games yesterday, winning 4-3 against Norfolk State but falling 2-1 to Campbell. No stats are available at the moment.

–http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_11804044

The above link is to a story updating an item we talked about previously here at Sno-Valley Sports. The California school district that was looking to eliminate all sports as a result of school budget cuts is looking now at keeping them, to some extent. Water sports would still go, but the rest of them would stay with the following caveats: students would pay-to-play, there would be no ADs at the high school level, and parents, not school buses, would be responsible for getting kids to road games. Thoughts??

–http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/401843_sportsmedicine28.html

In this morning’s P-I is a good piece about the growth of sports medicine education within the Seattle schools, as you may be aware already, many area high schools (including Mount Si) utilize athletic trainers who also teach classes at the schools in sports medicine. High schools in our region have come a long way in this regard in just the past ten years or so, and athletes, young and old, are the beneficiaries of it.

Remember, Mount Si, just five years ago, their training room consisted of a small room off the gym foyer on the east side of the gym, and the equipment was spartan at best. Now the room is a full-service deal, with the ability to treat injuries on the spot in some cases. There is also a classroom right across from the training room where all the sports-med classes take place. Even though Mount Si has a new trainer in charge this year, the program is still among the tops in the entire 3A conference. And what became of the old room? It was demolished to make way for a new hallway connecting the gym with the main building, and an elevator going up to the upper bleacher area/wrestling practice room which is used for those who are disabled.

Quick item as well if you’re looking for something to do tomorrow: At 11am, down in Preston at the new complex there, an Eastside FC girls’ soccer team with Mount Si’s Alexis Pearlstein on the roster plays a team from the Tri-Cities in a match. Head on down and support this fine local youth athlete.

>Preview and prediction for today’s Mount Si boys hoops playoff game

>MOUNT SI VS. SEATTLE PREP
SEAKING DISTRICT BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT-ROUND 2
4:45 P.M. – BCC

Today the Wildcats take on a team who was their biggest roadblock during their run in 2006, Seattle Prep. Mount Si lost to the Panthers both at districts and at state, and both games were blowout losses. That SP team of course had one Spencer Hawes; this year’s edition, while good, is nowhere close to that 2006 squad, who went on IIRC and won state that year.

This team appears to be beatable, since they’re not in the elite group of teams of Metro, but will still be a test. Role players will have to step up again for Mount Si, just like they did Tuesday, in order for the Wildcats to have success. Meaning Zander Nelson, Jake Hamilton, Dallas Smith, and others will need to make things happen.

Inside info here, and you heard it here first. If the Wildcats win, their chances of state go up significantly. With Bainbridge’s upset loss to Cleveland Tuesday, that eliminated one of those teams Mount Si will have to compete with for a fifth state spot.

This will be an interesting test to be sure, one that will be tight.

The pick: SEATTLE PREP 65, MOUNT SI 63

>Tuesday scoreboard

>Not only did the season end for Mount Si girls basketball stars of the present, but that, and the college career of one of the past also ended last night.

North Bend’s Rachel Mitchell scored 17 points, but it was not enough to help Northwest U avoid elimination from the Cascade College playoffs with a 71-57 loss at Concordia-Portland. Mitchell is a senior this year, so this turned out to be her final home game. Look for Mitchell to continue her involvement with the Mount Si program as much as she is able to in the future; infact she was at the Mount Si-Sammamish game last Tuesday and spent a few minutes watching the game.

Other action from yesterday featuring teams with locals:

Golf
Boise State women @ Fresno State Lexus Classic
Broncos finish last as team
Katie Somers (BSU/Issaquah/Mount Si ’08) as we told you already DNP
Minhee Park top BSU golfer, finished +13 over 229; Park is the young lady from Yakima County

Baseball
George Fox @ Portland, PPD, rain
(GFU-Derek Aldrich/North Bend)

BTW, the only Kingco team other than the league champions still in the SeaKing tournament: the Mount Si boys. A reminder that MOUNT SI WILL PLAY SEATTLE PREP TOMORROW @ 4:45 @ BCC.

Everyone else in the league lost last night, this includes MI and Juanita boys; along with Liberty and Bellevue girls, by a combined three points. Add Mount Si girls’ margin of defeat and that is seven. Very close stuff, shows the parity between good Kingco teams and many Metro teams.

>A quick comment about the girls

>The girls season came to a heartbreaking end tonight with a last-second loss to Hale in what was a pretty competitive game. Hale rallied with a 6-0 run to close out the game after being down 37-35 late in the game about a minute left.

While the season came to such a difficult end, the ladies tonight showed why they came into tonight’s game having won eight of nine. They played tough defense and made it difficult on Hale to get anything going offensively. They fought hard throughout the game and didn’t quit, even when the Raiders seemed to take control of things in the third quarter.

Hopefully this team learned many lessons throughout this run and in how they lost tonight, and will take those lessons to heart when they get back up and running this summer for summerball.
This is a loss that will sting, but there’s always a positive in these things, and that is in what they learn from it and how they apply it to improving their skills going forward.

The group next year returns all minus Caitie Richards and Jordyn Wilson, who both will graduate in June, and while those two were important factors for this team, 2009-10 should be an excellent year for this group. Here’s to the girls on a fine season, and a good summer.

>Mount Si boys hoops Thursday…..

>Boys winners tonight, nice game for several boys.

MOUNT SI WILL PLAY SEATTLE PREP THURSDAY @ 4:45 P.M. THE GAME WILL BE AT BCC.

If Mount Si wins, they play next Tuesday 3/3 @ BCC against O’Dea or Franklin, guess here is Franklin w/Siva and Co.

If Mount Si loses, they play next Tuesday 3/3 @ Ingraham HS in Seattle in loser out game against loser of that O’Dea/Franklin game.

>SeaKing boys/girls tournament preview, and our picks

>Now that you’ve seen what we think about tonight’s first round games, how about the rest of the tournament? Let’s start with the boys. This thing is LOADED with good teams, such as Franklin, Rainier Beach, Bellevue and Bainbridge. All of these teams are expected to make the state tournament, but with the SeaKing District getting five berths this year, that leaves one berth, and there’s at least three-five good teams, including Mount Si, fighting for that spot. The SeaKing boys tourney has increasingly become a mini-state tournament by itself largely for the
quality of competition, and the reality that a SeaKing team will likely win the whole thing when state gets started in a couple of weeks. Players to watch include Franklin’s Peyton Siva, and the threesome from Bellevue (Christian/Bright/Schrempf). Rainier Beach always has some good talent as well.

Now the girls. This bracket is very wide open. and there is a potential for a lot of upsets since the parity looks real good. That said, after the smoke clears, we’re expecting a full Metro sweep of the five state berths. We could be wrong, and we hope we are wrong, but Metro was so much better this year than Kingco in terms of quality that Metro will probably do it and get all the berths. Players to watch include Brittany Gray from Bainbridge, Dani Sjolander from Liberty, and Hailey Gullstad from MI.

Here’s our bracket.

Boys Bracket
Tue
MOUNT SI over NH
O’Dea over Juanita
Sealth over MI
Bainbridge over Cleveland
Thu
MOUNT SI over Seatte Prep
Franklin over O’Dea
Fri
RB over Sealth
Bellevue over Bainbridge
Tue 3/3 BCC
Franklin over MOUNT SI
Bellevue over RB
Tue 3/3 Ingraham
O’Dea over Seattle Prep
Bainbridge over Sealth
Thu 3/5 BCC
Bainbridge over MOUNT SI
RB over O’Dea
Sat 3/7
1/2: Franklin over Bellevue
3/4: RB over Bainbridge
5/6: MOUNT SI over O’Dea
STATE SEEDS
1-Franklin
2-Bellevue
3-RB
4-Bainbridge
5-MOUNT SI
———————————————–
Girla Bracket
Tue
Nathan Hale over MOUNT SI
Liberty over RB
Bainbridge over Cleveland
SP over Bellevue
Thu
Lakeside over Liberty
Franklin over SP
Fri
Holy Names over NH
Bainbridge over MI
Tue 3/3 BCC
Lakeside over Franklin
Bainbridge over Holy Names
Tue 3/3 Ingraham
SP over Liberty
MI over Hale
Thu 3/5
Holy Names over Seattle Prep
Franklin over MI
Sat 3/7
1/2: Lakeside over Bainbridge
3/4: Franklin over HN
5/6: Seattle Prep over MI
STATE SEEDS
1-Lakeside
2-Bainbridge
3-Franklin
4-Holy Names
5-Seattle Prep

>Boise State women’s golf @ Fresno

>We of course told you yesterday former Mount Si star Katie Somers was not competing for Boise State at their women’s spring golf opener down in Fresno at the Fresno State Lexus Classic, she appears to not be missing too much. The Broncos coming into today are in last place as a team in the 13-team field, with a +54 over par score. BSU’s top golfer going into today’s play is Minhee Park, the young lady from Yakima County, she fired a +6 over par score yesterday, well back of the tournament leader, who shot a -7 under score.

We’ll see how things go later on today and let you know if we find out anything. Also, we will advise for you the schedule for later in the week for Mount Si hoops if they win their games today. Try to come early for the girls game since we would look for that game to be a more competitive battle. Again as noted before, the games are at 5:30 (G)/7:30 (B).

>Previews and predictions for tonight’s SeaKing boys and girls first-round games against Nathan Hale @ MSHS

>The SeaKing District basketball tournament opens up tonight, with both Mount Si boys and girls at home playing the Metro League’s Nathan Hale Red Raiders from northeast Seattle. Hale, for those who don’t know, is home base for KNHC-FM 89.5, considered by many to be among the best high school stations in the country.

Here’s a quick look and predictions for tonight’s games. First the girls.

GIRLS @ 5:30
NATHAN HALE @ MOUNT SI

Hale comes into this game as the Metro #6, and they are clearly a formidable team. The Raiders are 13-9, 8-4 on the road, and have been competitive in most of their contests this season. They have played a lot of solid opposition both within their league and outside of it, and the only blowout losses they have had this season came in their first two games. Hale played the
Wildcats last year and beat them by 16 points, so it’s safe to say that this is a club that will be a tough one for scarlet and gray. Mount Si to win will need to do three things well: defend, rebound, and shoot the ball. Yes, fundamentals. Things which have been much improved as of late, as the Wildcats have been on a hot streak winning eight out of their last nine to move to within one game of .500.

This Mount Si team is a young team, but they are probably playing their best basketball right now. Hale, on the other hand, has been playing well all year, and are well-coached, with respected local coach Jerry Jones handling things. IIRC, I think Jones coached Bellevue for one year before that team was taken over by Ron Tinnin. (Jim Richards or Dirk Hansen, if you read this, post a comment to let me know if I’m correct or not. If not I’ll offer a correction.) Look for this to be a very tight game throughout that will depend on how well Mount Si does the three things I mentioned above. Traci Nelson, Caitie Richards, Hailey Eddings, Sarah McDonald, and Aubrey Larion, these five girls are the ladies to pay attention to for the Wildcats.

NATHAN HALE 51, MOUNT SI 47

BOYS @ 7:30
NATHAN HALE @ MOUNT SI

Hale in this game comes in as the #8 Metro seed, and this team also has a good coach running things, in ex-Seattle Prep boss Chris Miller. Thing is, though, they only have one good win all year (early in the season against O’Dea), and they even lost to Sammamish.

On the other hand, Mount Si has Tanner Riley, and while you may have seen media reports suggesting he is banged up a bit, he has had a chance to rest up over the weekend, and a 95% Riley is likely going to be just as good as a 100% Riley against this team. As long as Zander Nelson and Dallas Smith are able to help out a little bit, this one should be all Mount Si. The key is – don’t let these guys stay in the game too long. Do what you are supposed to do here, and that is put a winnable opponent away early. Remember, Hale lost to Sammamish. Enough said.

MOUNT SI 65, NATHAN HALE 50

>The wrap on the weekend

>Here’s the scoreboard from Sunday action, along with a score we missed from Saturday.

Softball
Charleston Southern @ GA Southern tourney
CSU falls to Belmont 10-1
Belmont scores eight runs in 5th after two outs to blow close game wide open
Amy Trenkamp (CSU/North Bend) 0-3

CWU (Kyleen Sweepe/North Bend (RS)) sweeps St. Martin’s with two wins, after two big ones Saturday

Baseball
Sat
George Fox beat Concordia-Portland 16-9
Derek Aldrich (GFU/North Bend) DNP

Sun
PLU over Concordia-Portland 14-2
Brandon Sales (PLU/Snoqualmie) 3-4, run, 4 RBIs
Top 1-Double to left center scored two runs
Top 2-Single to left scored two runs
Top 8-Double, adv to third on sac fly, scored on Ben Shively single
Jake Handy (PLU/Fall City) DNP

Rowing
Miami (FL) (Tara Eddings/North Bend) vs Michigan @ Tampa shifted to Feb 28th

On tap today is the start of Boise State women’s golf’s spring season (Katie Somers/Issaquah/Mount Si ’08). They are in Fresno for the Fresno State Lexus Classic. Somers is not scheduled to compete in this event, according to the BSU media notes, but fellow Washingtonian Minhee Park, who hails from the small Yakima County hamlet of Tieton, along Highway 12 on the east side of White Pass, is in the competition. That said, we’ll hopefully have a score for you later on.

>Saturday scoreboard

>A lot of activity yesterday, here it is.

Softball

Charleston Southern @ GA Southern Tourney
Game 1: CSU falls to Mercer 7-1
Amy Trenkamp (CSU/North Bend) 0-3

Game 2: CSU falls to Belmont 4-1
Trenkamp 3-4
Bot 3-Single
Bot 5-Single
Bot 7-Double, adv to third on Megan Hall single, did not score

PLU @ Portland tourney
Game 1: PLU falls to NW Christian 5-2
Katie Shaw (PLU/Tolt Hill) DNP

Game 2: PLU falls to Concordia-Portland 4-2
Shaw DNP

Baseball
PLU over OIT 16-12
Brandon Sales (PLU/Snoqualmie) 2-5, 2 runs, RBI
Top1-Double, scored from 2nd on Matt Akridge single
Top 7-Single, adv to third on Corey Moore single, scored on single by Josh Takayoshi
Top 9-Walk scored runner from 3rd
Jake Handy (PLU/Fall City) DNP

Men’s Basketball
PLU over George Fox 84-78
Kyle Clearman (PLU/North Bend) 1 ast in 2 mins, 0-1 floor
Season over, finished 10-15 overall

Women’s Basketball
Northwest falls to Warner Pacific 67-55
Rachel Mitchell (NWU/North Bend) 12 pts on senior night, final collegiate home game
Northwest in playoffs, they play Tuesday @ Concordia-Portland

On tap today, Charleston Southern wraps up their tournament while Miami’s (FL) women’s rowing team (Tara Eddings/North Bend) travels up the coast to Tampa to meet Michigan, and PLU’s baseball team is in action again today. Scores maybe later on.

Spring really gets going this week. For starters, we’ll have coverage of Boise State women’s golf (Katie Somers/Mount Si ’08) as they open the spring season in Fresno at an event there, that’s tomorrow and Tuesday, and there’s also some baseball during the week as well. Along with a SeaKing tournament preview Tuesday. Lots ahead, so stay with us.