‘Cats shine in all-star game
Published 10:56 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
SNOQUALMIE – The senior baseball all stars of Kingco 3A and Kingco 4A played a pair of eight-inning games last Thursday at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue to determine who will play in the all-state games in Wenatchee later this month.
Each team won one game, and in Kingco 3A’s win, Mount Si Wildcat seniors played important roles.
The Kingco 3A team, coached by Mount Si coach Gary McGregor, won the afternoon contest 7-1 behind an offensive surge in the eighth inning against Lake Washington pitcher Max Navalinski. The 3A players sent 10 men to the plate, and scored six runs, the key hit being a two-run home run by Sammamish’s Kyle Stalker that scored Wildcat Adam Dentz.
Mount Si seniors had some key offensive and defensive plays. Tyler Starkel went 2-4, with a single that also scored Dentz in the second inning, and a triple in the eighth. In addition to the two runs Dentz scored, he also contributed defensively, taking part in two separate 4A rally-killing outs, one a double play.
Brandon Sales went 0-3 with two strikeouts, and Craig Weber was 0-2 in a reserve role, but reached on an error and scored a run in the big 3A eighth inning. Chris Brown, who went 0-1 in the first game, and Blaine Sutton also participated in the event representing Mount Si.
The Kingco 4A team won the nightcap 18-2, but the players still had fun. Starkel was pleased with his first game efforts. “Felt good finally swinging the bat like I know I can,” said Starkel.
In the second game, Weber went 2-2, and Sales added a hit. Dentz and Sutton both pitched in the nightcap as well. Sales and Dentz were nominated to the all-state game; an announcement was scheduled for this week on whether they will play in that contest.
For Dentz, these last games in a Mount Si uniform were quite special since these were the last he will be playing with his fellow seniors, something he will miss.
“Our four years, we’ve had a core group of about eight guys that played together, so that’s going to be the hardest part. [The hardest part is] not leaving necessarily the Mount Si program, it’s going to be leaving the core eight guys that I’ve played with for [several] years,” he said.
To the surprise of some, Dentz, who appeared to have a good shot of being the first Mount Si player in nearly 15 years to be drafted in the Major League Baseball draft last week, did not get drafted. Two other Kingco 3A players did get their names called, however: Sammamish’s Lyndon Estill in the 35th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Issaquah’s Mike Griffith, in the 45th round by the Atlanta Braves. Neither player played in the all-star contests.
