5 of nine Mid-Columbia Conference baseball teams qualify for WA state tournaments

The Mid-Columbia Conference was pretty tough this spring when it came to baseball.

Of the nine baseball teams in the conference, five of the squads qualified for state tournaments last week.

And on Sunday, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association gave each of them their marching orders for the state tournaments.

Let’s start with MCC regular-season champion Kennewick.

The Lions ended up winning the Class 3A District 8 tournament this past Saturday at Roy Johnson Field, where they beat Mt. Spokane 2-1 in the title game.

Based on its season-long performance, Kennewick earned the state seeding committee’s No. 1 seed. The Lions will host three games — two first-rounders and a quarterfinal — on Saturday at Roy Johnson Field.

Times have yet to be announced as of Sunday night.

In Game 11, No. 9 O’Dea will play No. 8 Ferndale.

Meanwhile, the top-seeded Lions must await their opponent. No. 17 Kelso takes on No. 16 Eastside Catholic will play Tuesday, with the winner playing at Kennewick in Game 12.

The winners of Games 11 and 12 would then play Saturday, later in the day, in a quarterfinal game to determine a semifinalist.

▪ Southridge also made it through the District 8 tournament, earning the other 3A state tournament berth.

The Suns did that by beating Cheney 4-2 on Saturday, then taking down Mt. Spokane 3-2. Both games were played at Roy Johnson.

Southridge got a No. 11 seed on Sunday, and it will match up with No. 6 Edmonds-Woodway.

No. 3 West Seattle will be the host of the first two rounds Saturday (times and location had yet to be announced). West Seattle will await Tuesday’s winner of the (19) Gig Harbor-(14) Stadium game.

▪ Onto the Class 4A District 8 tournament, which saw Richland trounce Kamiakin 13-1 in the title game (both teams already qualified for the state tournament) this past Saturday.

Hanford became the surprise, beating Gonzaga Prep 8-4 on Saturday for the third state seed.

The Bombers earned a No. 3 seed by the state committee on Sunday, and they’ll play No. 14 Mt. Si at 1 p.m. this coming Saturday.

Earlier Saturday, at 10 a.m., No. 11 Sumner meets No. 6 West Valley of Yakima. The winners of those two games will meet around 4 p.m.

All games will be at Richland High School.

▪ Kamiakin earned a No. 8 seed, and the Braves will play No. 9 Camas at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 20, at Eastlake High School.

Eastlake earned the state 4A tourney’s No. 1 seed, and will play Rogers of Puyallup at 1 p.m.

The two winners meet after that in the state quarterfinals.

▪ Hanford was assigned the No. 15 seed, and the Falcons will play this Saturday against No. 2 Puyallup at 1 p.m., at Heritage Park in Puyallup.

The winner will play the winner of the day’s first game at 10 a.m., No. 10 Federal Way against No. 7 Jackson-Everett, in the quarterfinals.

Boys soccer

Pasco, Chiawana and Southridge have all advanced to the state boys soccer tournaments after making it through the District 8 Class 4A and 3A events.

The Bulldogs earned the Class 4A No. 3 seed after taking down Gonzaga Prep on the road this past Saturday.

Chiawana finished third in the 4A district tournament by eliminating Richland 5-1 on Saturday.

So here’s what’s next for Pasco and Chiawana: As the 3 seed, Pasco plays host to No. 14 Sumner at 5 p.m., Tuesday, at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Chiawana is the 11 seed, and the Riverhawks will play at No. 6 Skyline in Issaquah at 6 p.m., Wednesday.

If both Pasco schools were to win, they’d meet each other in the 4A state quarterfinals next weekend.

▪ All season long, the Southridge boys soccer team seemed like it was a middle-of-the-pack type of squad in the Mid-Columbia Conference.

Although the Suns were the only team to hand the powerful Pasco Bulldogs their only loss, they still struggled along and at one point were sitting with a 5-7 record.

But something happened, and Southridge started winning. In fact, the Suns ended up beating Mead 2-0 last week to win the District 8 Class 3A championship. It was Southridge’s seventh straight win.

The Suns, the No. 12 seed, will travel to play No. 5 Silas (formerly Wilson of Tacoma) in the first round of the 3A state tournament. Tentatively, this match is set for Friday, May 19, but as of Sunday night, there is no start time or location.

Walla Walla — which beat Hermiston 3-0 in a loser-out game on Tuesday — lost 1-0 to Mead on Friday to determine the district’s second state tourney berth.

Hockey

Former Tri-City American Michael Rasmussen finished his season with the Detroit Red Wings with 10 goals and 19 assists in 56 games this season.

Rasmussen was hampered with injuries this season.

Football

Southridge senior Lucien Cone, who dominated on the football field last fall and is doing the same in track and field this spring, has committed to playing football this fall with Western Montana University.

Cone will join a number of Tri-Citians in Western Montana, including his Southridge teammates, Trevor Hoopes and Bryer Hughes.

College track

Walla Walla grad Jenna Huntsman placed second in the women’s 100 hurdles, with a time of 16.13 seconds, to score points for George Fox University at the Rich Allen track meet on March 18.

Huntsman also placed fifth in the women’s 200 meters race, with a time of 27.45 seconds.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.