Week in sports

Published 10:36 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

JV splits games

The Mount Si JV softball team split two games last week against 4A schools, losing to Skyline by a score of 2 to 7 on Tuesday, then winning a game on Friday against Bothell 15-9.

In the Skyline game, Kelsey Walker and Traci Hall led off with base hits and scored in the first inning on a fielder’s choice and an error, but a very good pitcher shut them down the rest of the way.

On Friday, the girls traveled to Bothell and soon found themselves down 4 to 8 with sloppy play. The girls didn’t give up and rallied, scoring seven runs in the fifth to seal the win. Walker led the team with three hits and Lynnae McKiernan knocked in the winning runs with a nice single. Hall and Walker blasted doubles to get things going. Rachel Nyberg picked up her first win as a ‘Cat by allowing only one hit in the last four innings. It was a great team effort as nine different players crossed the plate and defensively, the girls jelled together in the late innings.

Wildcats win match

The Mount Si girls’ golf team won their first match of the season last week defeating Newport 251-252. Playing at Tall Chief Golf Course in Fall City, Katie Sommers took medalist honors for Mount Si with a score of 40 on nine holes. Other contributors to the win were Becky Wada, Jen Sanford, Jodie Smith and Whitney Eand.

Split week for Wildcats softball

The Mount Si Wildcats’ softball team closed out their nonleague schedule last week and it appears the team is ready for Kingco play.

Wildcats lose game, key player

It was a tough day last Tuesday for Mount Si softball in more ways than one.

The Wildcats and the Juanita Rebels locked up in a pitcher’s duel, as seniors Kandis Clesson of Mount Si and Ashlyn Kimberly of Juanita each dazzled opposing hitters with strong performances all day.

Clesson gave up just one run on three hits, striking out nine. Kimberly was better on this day, striking out 14 Wildcats and only giving up three hits. Mount Si left eight base runners stranded and failed to score a run as they fell 1-0 to the Rebels.

The tough time for the Wildcats only got tougher as a sophomore who stood to be one of the defensive keys to success this season was lost to injury. Catcher Katie Shaw, who hurt her ankle, is out indefinitely and that will hurt Mount Si in the short term.

Big win sets stage for strong league season

The Wildcats softball team returned home last Saturday morning and scored a huge win over a strong 4A squad from Vancouver.

Mount Si’s centerfielder, junior Lacey Blais, scored both runs and made the defensive play of the game in a 2-0 win over the Skyview Storm.

“I’m really, really excited about this win. This is a great win for us getting ready to go into league. I guarantee you Skyview will be in the 4A state championships,” said Wildcats Coach Larry White.

Skyview was hobbled some without their star senior pitcher Whitney Baker. Baker, who has signed with UCLA to play college softball for them next spring, did not make the trip from Clark County. According to Storm coach Dale Ogden, Baker had walking pneumonia.

Mount Si scored their first run in the bottom of the third. With Blais on second and Tracey Barclay on first with two outs, Katie Brett hit a ball fair just in front of home plate.

Considering Brett’s speed up the first base line following the hit, the sophomore would have been out for sure for the final out of the inning had Skyview junior catcher Courtney Wooden fired to first base.

Instead, she threw to third in an attempt to get Blais out. The throw was fumbled there and Blais ran for home and around a diving Wooden to score the run.

“I didn’t really know what was happening. All I saw was coach yelling at me to go, and so I went and scored a run,” said Blais.

Blais scored again from second base in the fifth for Mount Si’s second run on a Barclay single, then her defense took over. In the sixth, with one out and Storm senior third baseman Krista Kountz at second base, fellow Skyview senior shortstop Amanda Bannister lined a single to center field, where Blais was ready to go. She fired an absolute strike to backup catcher Katie Morgan and Morgan nailed Kountz at the plate.

“They’re telling me to throw it to my cut, and I decided not to, so I just went all the way because I knew I could throw it there,” Blais said.

Clesson then took care of the rest, finishing off the Storm. The pitcher gave up five hits over seven innings and struck out five.

Ogden offered much praise for the new Mount Si facilities, so much so that he said that he’d like to make the trip again and bring some friends along as well.

“This is a great facility. We love this place. Told the coach [White] we’d like to come back next year and maybe do a doubleheader and bring our baseball team, too, so we’re pretty excited about what your town has done here. It’s an awesome facility,” Ogden said.

Mount Si hosts Sammamish Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since the SeaKing District game last year that saw the Wildcats’ season come to a very sad ending. Look for Clesson and Totems senior pitcher Sarah Minice to put on a show. Both are the at the top of the league on the mound.

Wildcats cross Cascades again; bats catch fire once again

The Mount Si Wildcats baseball team traveled across the pass yet again last Tuesday and, like on their previous trip across, they played a wild game.

Mount Si was up 7-1 after two innings on the Ellensburg Bulldogs of the Mid-Valley League. Despite Ellensburg’s best efforts, the Wildcats did not give up their lead en route to a 12-8 win that was such a barnburner they couldn’t finish the game. The game was called after six innings due to darkness at Ellensburg High School.

Singles by Chase Korsmo and Thomas Taylor, a double by Ian Atkinson and four defensive miscues during this span by the Bulldogs keyed the opening seven-run outburst over the first two innings for the Wildcats.

Mount Si maintained the pressure over the remainder of the game, scoring runs in all but one inning. Atkinson had another strong day at the plate as his double was the centerpiece of a 3-5 effort. The junior scored three runs and added two RBIs (runs batted in) to the cause.

“Ian Atkinson has had a great three games [this one and the two in Yakima],” said Mount Si coach Gary McGregor by e-mail to the Valley Record. “He is the reason we won two out of the last three games.”

Senior Erik Alexander pitched four innings, giving up four runs and walking one. Sophomore Jake Handy pitched two innings and also gave up four runs, but struck out four, as well.

“Jake earned a spot in our pitching rotation with his performance,” McGregor said.

Two junior varsity players, Dan Reeves and Mikel Ushler, were called up and saw their first varsity action; both went one-for-one at the plate. The two were filling in for players who were ill.

Remo Castagno went 2-3 with three RBIs to pace the Wildcats.

Mount Si opens their Kingco 3A schedule this week. Thursday they host Mercer Island (MI) at 3:30 p.m. Senior first-baseman Kenny Kim will lead the Islanders into battle. MI appears to be a team that will be in the middle of the Kingco pack this season, so a win would be nice for the Wildcats because it may pay dividends later as the teams fight for playoff berths.