Good Monday morning. We lead our weekend wrap off from yesterday’s action with a look at softball and perhaps a special, but yet bittersweet, day for one lower Valley athlete, as she played her final college regular season home game.
It has been quite the college career for Duvall’s Michaela Carter with Fordham University’s ladies. Carter, a 2018 Cedarcrest HS grad, has been a starting outfielder with the Rams for much of her college career, and she came back as a fifth-year senior this season looking to make one last trip to the NCAA tournament, which she has been to once with the school. Fordham wrapped up their home schedule yesterday with a game against the University of St. Louis from Missouri. Carter was 1-2 in this one but the Billikens made a statement with an eight-run fourth and they cruised to a 12-3 five-inning victory with it being called early by mercy rule. The Rams drop below .500 at 24-25-1 but are very much in the thick of the race for the Atlantic 10 championship; they will have a slot in the conference postseason tournament.
They wrap up the regular season with three this weekend in Chicago against Loyola University of Chicago, then host the conference tournament next weekend.
Also from college softball:
Skidmore swept: Skidmore College’s Thoroughbreds from New York had themselves a long four-hour bus ride across upstate New York to get from their Saturday game site in Canton down to Ithaca for a makeup pair yesterday with Ithaca College. The Skidmore ladies weren’t able to get a lot going yesterday as they were swept by the host Bombers 4-1 and 6-0 in the two games, which took place in similarly rainy conditions to what we had here at home in the Valley, although it was about 20 degrees warmer.
Sophomore catcher Madison Bonham was 0-2 in the nightcap game. She is from North Bend and a 2022 Mount Si HS grad. One of those at-bats came with the bases loaded and two outs in the first inning, but she struck out, costing Skidmore a chance to take command. Ithaca then scored a pair of runs in their half of the frame and that was pretty much that as the Bombers finished things off, dropping Skidmore to a woeful 7-27 on the season, 1-11 in league play in NCAA Division III’s Liberty League. Skidmore finishes the season with two Saturday at home in Saratoga Springs, NY, against Clarkson.
Wrapping up things on the youth front:
Strong finishes for local teams at USSSA tourney: Three teams with ties to the Valley finished well at this weekend’s USSSA Season Opener tournament down in Lacey. Sammamish’s SFC Spartans 14U’s finished runner-up in the “C” division tournament while both 12U representatives from Snoqualmie’s Wildcat Fastpitch Club took third in that age group’s “B” division tournament.
SFC dropped their championship game to the Elma Xtreme 6-2. Mount Si High School’s Mary Salmon guided the SFC side in this one, going the distance with only two of the six runs being earned on six hits. She struck out five in the circle, and at the plate was 2-3 with a triple and an RBI. Also, Skyline High School’s Emily Beckerle had two hits for the Spartans, which feature players from both Sammamish and the North Bend/Snoqualmie areas. As for the WFC sides, the ‘Cats West crew was one-hit in their semi-final loss to the New Level team from Puyallup 11-0, and the ‘Cats Duxbury squad came up short against the Montesano Bulldogs, dropping an 11-7 decision in their semi-final with the team from the Washington Coast.
New Level ended up winning the title in the 12U “B” division.
Good thing Cedarcrest isn’t going to have to face her at districts in the future: The Snohomish Shock 14U Campbell finished out their weekend at the USA Softball of Seattle’s Sidewinder Invitational last night in Auburn cruising to a 15-0 win over the Calgary Adrenaline from Canada. With Cedarcrest High School’s move to Kingco this fall, this will take them out of the Northwest 2A District, and that perhaps could be good news because there appears to be a pitcher that could be a challenge in the future for many of these teams up north.
McKenna Edwards, who will be a freshman this fall up at Sedro-Woolley High School, fired a no-hitter over the three innings of this contest which was called early due to time limits. Edwards walked three and struck out three for the Shock, which feature future Red Wolve Olivia Lowell. She was 0-2 with a run scored. Sedro-Woolley is perennially one of the top teams in the 2A Northwest Conference, and should be expected again this spring to present a challenge for CHS and other teams in the upcoming district event. With Edwards in the fold next year, that could make the Cubs a more dangerous team.
Baseball: Despite Valleyite’s efforts, Tennessee Tech swept
Another solid day at the plate for a North Bend product proved not enough as his college team fell, getting swept in their weekend series.
The University of Tennessee-Martin completed a sweep of a weekend set with Tennessee Tech, taking the finale 8-4 yesterday in Martin, TN. Senior Troy Baunsgard, a 2020 Mount Si HS grad, was 2-5 with a run for the Golden Eagles, who have a game tomorrow with Vanderbilt.
Elsewhere around college baseball:
Lower Columbia sweeps pair from division leaders: Lower Columbia College gained ground on NWAC West-leading Tacoma CC, beating the Titans in two games yesterday down in Longview, 13-8 and 5-4. Sophomore Jake Smith played in both games for the Red Devils, going 0-4 in the opener with two runs scored and an RBI, followed by an 0-2 effort in the nightcap with a walk and run scored. He is from Snoqualmie and a 2022 Mount Si alum. Fellow Wildcat alums Jack Berg and Oliver Lang, both of whom are on TCC’s pitching staff, did not pitch in the twinbill yesterday for the Titans. Both of those young men are also from Snoqualmie.
Edmonds sweeps to close weekend: Edmonds Community College’s Tritons took two yesterday at home in Edmonds against Bellevue CC, winning the games 5-1 and 6-5. The first game saw freshman Tristan Aasland take the mound for Bellevue and go 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits walking three and striking out five, taking the loss. Teammate Gabe Villaflor was 0-3. Villaflor, from Duvall, was 1-4 with a run scored in the nightcap, but a bases loaded hit-by-pitch won it in the bottom of the ninth for Edmonds. Levi Joyce, a graduate of Eastlake High School in Sammamish, a Mount Si Kingco 4A rival, was the batter hit by that pitch scoring the game-winning run in that second game.
The two teams finished out their rain-suspended game from Saturday night as well, with Bellevue taking it 8-6. Aasland, a 2023 Mount Si HS grad from Snoqualmie, was the winning pitcher in that one for the Buldogs, allowing a run on two hits with a strikeout. Villaflor was 1-5 with a run and Duvall’s Sheldon Egger started the game on the hill for Edmonds, with the Cedarcrest HS alum allowing three runs, two earned, on 10 hits, walking three and striking out four. He received no decision.
Linn-Benton splits with Southwestern Oregon: Linn-Benton’s guys traveled down to Coos Bay, OR, yesterday and took the back end of two with Southwestern Oregon, winning that game 4-3 in eight innings after SWO won the opener 4-1. Sophomore Aidan Dougherty played just the second game for L-B’s Roadrunners, going 1-4. He is from Snoqualmie and a 2022 Mount Si HS grad.
Whitworth sweeps Linfield: Whitworth University’s Pirates blasted visiting Linfield 16-5 over in Spokane yesterday to finish out a weekend sweep of their conference rivals from Oregon. The Pirates took two on Saturday from the Wildcats, winning the games 6-3 and 12-11. Junior Kevin Corder, from Snoqualmie, played both games of the doubleheader, but got yesterday off. In the doubleheader, he was 0-1 in the nightcap game but also saw action late in the first game with no stats reported. He is a 2021 Mount Si HS grad.
Track & Field: Fantastic effort from group of Red Wolves at Sunny & 70
Strong performances from several Cedarcrest High School athletes aided solid mid-pack finishes for both the Red Wolve boys and girls at this past Saturday’s Sunny & 70 meet up at Lakewood High School in Arlington. CHS’s boys finished 16th overall as a team and the Red Wolve girls took 15th. Sehome, from Bellingham, won both team titles.
On the boys’ side, Chase Meikle did well in both hurdles events, taking fourth in the 110m shorter distance event clocking 16.77 seconds, then sixth in the longer-distance 300m event with a time of 42.37. Nate Bergman took seventh overall in the 1600m with a time of 4:32.09 and Juuso Luoto finished second in the javelin, with a toss of 147 feet, five inches. All of them earned sunglasses for their top-eight finishes. Just missing out on some sunglasses themselves were pole vaulter Jason Brimley and the Red Wolve 4×100 crew of Dylan Siko, Nick Berens, Jaydan Huebner and Jake DiMarzio, both of whom were ninth in their respective events.
The girls had a pair of two-time sunglasses receivers. Lydia Swenson was third in the 800m clocking 2:23.74, and fifth in the 1600m with a time of 5:20.38. Addy Jenkins was third in both hurdles events, running the shorter-distance 100m in 17.26 and the longer-distance 300m in 48.55.
The meet, according to coach Bruce McDowell, was his 400th give or take in 31 years as coach at CHS. “The performance marks might not have been there due to the poor weather but we certainly held our own in competitiveness for the day,” he told us by email. The Red Wolves host Archbishop Murphy on Thursday for their Wesco finale.
Lacrosse: Whitworth ladies fall in regular season finale
It has been a historic season for Whitworth University’s women’s lacrosse squad, and an equally historic season for their freshman star, North Bend’s Campbell Vincent. The 2023 Mount Si HS/Mount Si Lacrosse Club grad scored four more goals yesterday but the Pirates came up short, dropping a 12-11 decision to visiting Willamette University from Oregon yesterday in Spokane in the regular season finale for both teams.
Vincent also had an assist in the game and ended the regular season with an eye-popping 54 goals and six assists, the first Pirate player to ever have 50 goals in a season. Whitworth is 12-5 overall and finished play in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference at 8-4, both of which are the best-ever records for a season in program history. The Pirates and Bearcats are set to rematch in the opening round of the conference playoffs this weekend.
Also:
Mesa ladies finish regular season: Colorado Mesa University’s women scored an 11-4 win to close out their regular season at home in Grand Junction, CO, yesterday over visiting Westminster College from Utah. Junior Emme Rezoski, from Duvall and a 2021 Cedarcrest HS/MSLC alum, won three faceoffs and had two shots, one on goal, with no goals scored for Mesa, who advances to the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament. The first game in that event is on Friday.
Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal 