Good Friday morning. We lead off with some boys’ soccer and Mount Si High School’s boys’ soccer team this morning is waking up knowing that they are going to make a return trip to the state playoffs for the first time since their runner-up state finish in 2019.
Zain Thompson carried Mount Si on his back last night, with the senior’s hat trick powering what ended up being a 4-1 win over Glacier Peak at Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish in the winner-to-state WesKing 4A District playoff game.
Things started out level for both teams before Thompson opened the scoring about 15 minutes in popping home his first tally of the game. He then scored shortly before halftime, but fellow senior Zach Ramsey changed this game in a big way right afterward. The UW-bound captain about a minute after Thompson scored his second goal popped one home himself for his 31st of the season, and it was quickly 3-0 and the Grizzlies likely were a bit shell-shocked. They were not able to mount much of a response and Thompson made their life more difficult finishing his hat trick in the 50th minute. Peak scored on a penalty kick tally by Luke Smith halfway through the final 40 minutes but by then it was all she wrote.
The win moves Mount Si into the third-place game tomorrow hosting Skyline. The game is at 2:00 at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie.
Back to work on the pro pitch: Valleyite Nikki Stanton was in action Wednesday night for the National Women’s Soccer League’s Seattle Reign FC professional women’s team on home turf in Seattle.
The North Bend product, a 2008 Mount Si HS grad, worked the final 29 minutes – with no stats of note reported – of the scoreless draw for the Reign with the Kansas City Current at Lumen Field. The tie moved Seattle to 2-5-1 on the season, a slow start for sure for a team that is a perennial power in the league. The Reign head down to Portland tomorrow night for round one of the women’s Cascadia Cup taking on the Thorns. The game is at 7:00 and is being nationally televised via ION Television, which in the Valley is on channel 3 on your Xfinity cable system.
Baseball: Mount Si alum unloads in college doubleheader
Yesterday was a big day with the bat for Snoqualmie’s Aidan Dougherty. Dougherty, a 2022 Mount Si HS grad playing this spring for Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon, led his squad offensively in both ends of a doubleheader with league rival Lane, as the two teams split the twinbill at Lane’s field in Eugene.
Dougherty had three hits and scored a run in the opener, won by Lane 5-3, but delivered even better in the nightcap, with three more hits including a triple and homer, scoring twice and driving in three runs. More importantly, those results helped Linn-Benton pocket an 11-9 win in the nightcap to earn them their split.
The two teams meet again tomorrow.
WesKing 4A playoff high school scores for you from GameChanger:
Bothell 11, Glacier Peak 6: A nine-run fifth powered the Blue Train as they throttled the Grizzlies up in Everett to punch a ticket to the state 4A baseball playoffs. Sawyer Wickstrom had three hits, a run scored and two RBI’s for the Cougars, while teammate Wyatt Mickleberry homered.
Newport 8, Woodinville 3: The Knights cruised also up in Everett to punch their state berth. Lucas Clarke had two hits driving in four runs pacing Newport. Nate Woodside homered powering the Falcons efforts.
Softball: Kingco Tournament wraps up
The Kingco 4A Softball Tournament wrapped up last night at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie with two games. Eastlake in one beat North Creek 15-5. Audrey Borup and Addi Baumgartner both had three hits for the Wolves, who also had a homer from Hannah Dill. Reagan Fleming homered for North Creek. Skyline, who eliminated host Mount Si from postseason in the tournament on Tuesday, fell to Redmond 4-3 despite a homer from Devyn Wilson that was part of a three-hit effort. All of the teams who played last night will be playing in next week’s WesKing 4A district tournament.
Track and Field: Mount Si girls take names in day one of Kingco postseason meet
Yesterday’s opening day of the Kingco 4A postseason track and field meet at Renton Stadium was a big one for Mount Si High School’s girls, as several athletes earned qualification to the SeaKing District meet next week.
It was led by Mount Si’s 4×200 girls’ crew of Morgan Ruffin, Emily Rodriguez, Beilya Tidd and Hailey Weir, who won that race and eclipsed their school record set earlier this season on this same Renton Stadium track. The foursome clocked 1:42.37 and beat the record they set at the Arnie Young Invitational which was held a few weeks ago. Ruffin and Rodriguez also individually qualified in events – Ruffin with Sophia Kono after both posted top-five finishes in the 100m dash and Rodriguez with Ryan McLellan after that duo also posted top-fives in the 400m.
Jaida Warrick earned district berths in both the 100m hurdles and discus events, and the Cossey’s – Hailey and Aleeya – both qualified in the 1600m. Rounding it out, Lorelai Justice made districts with a 10th-place finish in the pole vault, where she cleared nine feet and Audrey Orzech cleared just under 16 feet to take seventh in the long jump and also earn a district trip. Amber Edwards joined Warrick as well in the discus going to districts; she finished sixth with a toss of 92’3”.
There was one boys’ qualifier – Zander Anderson took sixth in the 400m clocking 51.42 seconds and earned a district slot in that event. There was, however, one notable miss yesterday – sprinter Sawyer Shelton missed out on qualification in the 100m finishing 10th in that race.
The second and final day of competition is tomorrow down at Renton Stadium.
Running: Strong Valley delegation reps community at Bloomsday race in Spokane
The annual Bloomsday race, held every May in Spokane, is considered one of the top-flight recreational road races for runners in the entire Pacific Northwest, and as such draws a large contingent of folks, including many from the Valley. Well, this past weekend’s edition of the event on Sunday saw a strong delegation of athletes from our community make the trip over to run the course and take on the best in their sport at the recreational level.
A total of 60 men, women and children from the Valley, among them a number of couples and families, completed the nearly eight-mile course traversing streets in and around Spokane’s downtown core. There were some notable results as well. The top Valley finisher was North Bend’s Eric Keenan, who made the run in 54 minutes, 17 seconds. Keenan was among about a half-dozen of the local participants who finished the race in under an hour. That group also included the top Valley women’s finisher, Fall City resident Sue Heaps, who came across the finish line in 58:27.
As noted, a lot of the entrants from the Valley were couples and entire families that ran the course together, a great opportunity for those folks to bond doing something they love. Running has become a popular recreational sport in the Valley, thanks to some degree to the efforts of local race organizer – and former Mount Si High School cross country and distance track coach – Sean Sundwall. The Snoqualmie insurance agent has been a key trailblazer helping promote the growth of the sport in our community for over a decade now.
Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal 