1A track: Zillah breaks its curse, takes fifth

CHENEY, Wash. — Thanks in large part to Logan Olney, Zillah’s boys foiled the curse and almost left the state track meet with a fourth-place trophy.

Olney sped to victory in the 200 and to second in the 100, but it was his anchoring work in the winning 4×400 relay, along with the efforts of teammates Isaac Estrada, Angel Rodriguez and Scott Thomas, that left Ken Johnson one happy head coach after Saturday’s track and field competition at Eastern Washington University.

“We’ve had a curse,” Johnson said after the relay team raced to an improbable school-record time of 3:28.48 in the day’s final event. In the nine years Johnson has been at Zillah, the Leopards have brought a 4×400 team to state each year — but not one has ever advanced out of the preliminary rounds.

Friday, this foursome did, in an eye-opening 3:29:19 that won their heat and stood as a school record for one day.

Saturday, the Leopards sought to build on that. Estrada kept the team in striking distance, then Rodriguez moved up from fourth to first. Thomas wouldn’t led anyone past him, and Olney closed with a 50.9 split that put some distance between him and the field.

“We just can’t believe it,” marveled Johnson.

Olney already had had a good day. After a strong start in the 200, he held off the competition to win in 22.18, just ahead of Hoquiam’s Jerid Ronquillo in 22.36. “They pushed me pretty hard,” he said of the field. Olney started the day by running the 100 in 11.20, second to Ronquillo.

The team’s combined efforts gave Zillah 33 points, tied for fifth with league rival Connell and just one point out of a fourth-place trophy finish.

Two other Valley competitors may have joined Olney on the top podium had they competed in different state meets — or in different years.

Naches Valley’s Jake Calaghan threw the shot a personal-best 53 feet, 10 inches but had the misfortune of competing against Newport’s Aaron Castle. Castle, who leads all state shot-putters regardless of classification, won with a throw of 63-1.

Calaghan is a sophomore who still has to face Castle one more year. “He’s a great athlete. It’s great to compete against him,” said a gracious Calaghan.

Back on the track, La Salle senior Kerry Duffy settled for second in the 400 with a time of 50.65, behind Freeman’s Quinn Robinson in 49.59. “This is my last 400 — I’m so glad to be done with a second place,” he said.

Duffy, a senior whose track career has been limited by a football-related back injury, took fourth in the hundred in 11.27 and fifth in the 200 in 22.88. This was his first year competing in open events, though he has appeared at state on relay teams.

2B track: Byrne, Gartrell lead RC to 2nd

CHENEY, Wash. — Kyle Gartrell was seeing double, Derek Byrne had close to the same vision, and that brought into focus a state runner-up trophy for Riverside Christian’s boys.

Gartrell won the pole vault and triple jump, and Byrne took first in the 300 hurdles and a strong second in the javelin Saturday to lead the Crusaders in the final day of the Class 2B state track and field championships at Eastern Washington University.

On the girls side, Bethany Imperial was crowned the triple jump champion after a school-record leap.

“Derek and Kyle, they were awesome,” said coach Scott Wells. “What a great meet for Bethany.”

 

Gartrell, a senior who was fourth in the pole vault a year ago at 12-0, stepped it up by two feet and four places this year. “I haven’t vaulted well at state; I always get nervous. But I was calm yet excited this year,” he said. His winning height of 14-0 tied his personal best.

From there, Gartrell ran directly to compete in the triple jump, where his third attempt carried him to a state-meet record of 46 feet, 1 3/4 inch. To say he backed it up with his five other jumps is an understatement: His shortest leap of 44-8 would have won state this year.

Byrne started the day with a third-place finish in the 110 hurdles. In the 300 hurdles, he led the field over the first barrier, and coming off the curve had a clear lead he wasn’t about to relinquish as he won in an excellent time of 39.67 seconds, almost a full second ahead of the runner-up.

Byrne concluded his day and state-meet career with a javelin fling of 192-6, achieved on his final throw. That landed him just two feet out of first. “I’m happy with my throw,” he said.

 

His 300 hurdles title give little hint that Byrne had never hurdled until this year. It was his idea, actually.

“I asked coach Wells since I was doing only two events,” Byrne said. He started with the 110, then added the 300 as the season progressed. “Coach has a good idea of who can be a good hurdler,” Byrne said.

That also applies to Imperial, Byrne’s female counterpart, who like him had never done the hurdles until this season. Her 110 race started her day inauspiciously when, seemingly on her way to a second-place finish, she hit the penultimate hurdle and practically tumbled across the finish line in seventh.

From there she ran directly to her first effort in the triple jump. “It was kind of disappointing, but I had to just get over it,” she said.

She did. She opened respectably with a 33-11, then on her third jump tied her PR at 35-4. On her fourth attempt, she cut loose with a 36-1 3/4, which broke the previous school record held by Sharelle Wells, the coach’s daughter. Imperial later added a sixth in the 300 hurdles in a personal best of 48.01.

“She’s always real positive,” said Aaron Wells, an RC assistant who is a former state triple jump champ himself. “She is mentally tough and well put together.” On Friday, Imperial placed fourth in the long jump.

 

And, yes, Aaron is the head coach’s son the and previous school record holder’s brother.

Also recording a high finish among local schools was Kittitas’ 4×400 relay team of Cesar Espinoza, Robert Barnhart, Carl Tilton and Luis Padilla, which took third in 3:32.96, two seconds off a title.

Head coach Wells savored the RC boys’ team total of 63 points, 19 points shy of Northwest Christian of Lacey. This marked the fifth straight year that RC’s boys have finished either first or second at state.

“We’ve gone 1-2-1-1-2,” said Wells as he recounted the last five finishes. “That’s not too bad.”

1B track: TL-G girls take second

Vogt sisters lead the way ||

CHENEY, Wash. — A point here, a place or two higher there, and Trout Lake-Glenwood’s girls could have had another Class 1B state track and field championship.

Let by sisters Valerie and Liz Vogt, who combined for three individual championships, Trout Lake-Glenwood piled up 82 points. That left them just one shy of state champion Mount Rainier Lutheran.

“We had two great athletes and a bunch of athletes who overachieved and almost won state again,” said coach Morgan Colburn, whose squad just missed its fourth girls championship in five years.

Individuals at other area 1B schools also came away with serious hardware.

Klickitat’s Samantha Brewer closed her stellar state career with victories in the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump, along with a runner-up finish in the high jump.

On the boys side, Bickleton’s Nic Venema won his second title in two days by speeding to victory in the 300 hurdles.

But taking the spotlight — and almost a championship — was Trout Lake-Glenwood’s team.

Sophomore Valerie Vogt took Saturday’s starring role by winning the 800 in 2 minutes, 25.73 seconds, and the 1,600 in 5:26.50. Both followed the same script: She started fast and never let up.

“Usually I want to go out hard,” she said after the 1,600. But it’s in the second half that she really put distance on the field. “I just went after it.”

Her respective finishes gave her victories by seven seconds in the 800 and eight seconds in the 1,600.

Vogt, a senior, capped her career with an easy victory in the 300 hurdles in a time of 47.47. She also finished third in the 200 and long jump to go with her second-place finish in Friday’s triple jump.

Vogt has won four individual titles and been on two winning relays in her four-year state career. “I’m kinda bummed it’s over,” she said. “I really love track.” She plans to take up rowing next year while attending the University of Washington.

Also getting big points for Trout Lake-Glenwood was the 4×400 relay team of Anna Nakae, Anna Klahn, Lindsey Scott and Caitlin Scott. The

foursome took second in 4:27.03, its season-best by 20 seconds, and beat everybody except Mount Rainier Lutheran, the team champs.

“I was proud of them for what they were able to do,” said Colburn.

Klickitat’s Brewer also put an exclamation point on her career. She started the day with a no-doubt victory in the 100 hurdles in 16.85, then finished the day with a personal-best 16-51 /4 in the long jump. Between those gold medals came her silver in the high jump, in which she cleared 5-0.

 

Added to Friday’s triple-jump championship, Brewer totaled three firsts and a second this year, and seven firsts and four seconds in her four years at state. Saturday’s 28 points brought her state four-year total to 128.

And her final long jump was her best. “It kind of makes me sad, to think that it’s all over,” said Brewer, who plans to play volleyball at Columbia Basin College next year.

On the boys’ side, Venema pulled down a big-time PR as he cruised to victory in the 300 hurdles. His time of 41.48 gave him a clear victory over second-place Kennedy Seyler of Wellpinit (42.26) and was a two-second improvement over his district qualifying time. He was sixth at state last year in 45.90.

Venema also took fourth in the 110 hurdles on Saturday to go with Friday’s pole vault championship. His performances helped Bickleton to 43 team points, good for sixth in the team standings.

2A fastpitch: Just out of reach for E’burg

SELAH, Wash. — As they lined up for the sportsmanship handshakes following a Class 2A state fastpitch semifinal showdown Saturday between the two friendly rivals atop the Central Washington Athletic Conference, many of the Selah Vikings were in tears.

Perhaps surprisingly, there were also a few red eyes among the Ellensburg players who had just edged them, 3-2, to earn the championship berth both teams had wanted so dearly. And the emotion in the moment was evident in the way Bulldogs coach Dave Kopczynski hugged Selah players as if they were his own.

“I almost choked up talking to them, hugging them — because I know they wanted it just as much as we had, and deserved it just as much as we do,” Kopczynski said. “It was just the little breaks that decided it.

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“It was almost harder to do that” — deny the Vikings a title shot — “than if it had happened to our team.”

As it turned out, neither CWAC team would finish its season on a winning note, though each earned a memorable piece of hardware. Ellensburg would go on to fall 2-1 to undefeated Sequim in the championship game, matching the Bulldogs’ 2009 runner-up finish as the best in school history. Selah came back from its semifinal heartbreak to pound another CWAC foe, Othello, to clinch its first state-tourney trophy before falling 16-5 to Chehalis in the third-fourth game.

The championship game figured to be an offensive affair, considering Ellensburg’s recent hot hitting and the fact that Sequim (26-0) had averaged better than 11 runs in postseason play.

Instead, it came down to a pitching duel between Ellensburg’s Ally Burgess and Sequim junior Demiree Briones. Going into the bottom of the fifth it was 1-1, with Sequim’s second-inning lead on Columbia Haupt’s RBI double offset two frames later by Cassie Sharon’s homer for the Bulldogs.

Then, in the fifth, the game took a controversial turn on what looked like a routine Sequim ground-out. Though Ellensburg first baseman Brittni Gant had already had pulled her glove, ball tucked safely within it, down to waist level before batter Hannah Grubb reached the bag, the call was safe.

Grubb scored what proved to be the winning one out later Rylleigh Zbarschuk’s double.

“Out. Without a doubt. They just missed that call,” Kopczynski said about Grubb’s grounder and the play at first. “But you’ve got to play through that. They’re a good team, a good-hitting team. But we gave them a run. And you’ve got to give it to Sequim — they pounded just about every team they played this year.”

Not Ellensburg, though.

“Oh well,” Kopczynski said. “We can hold our heads high. This will be a tough one to swallow, though.”

In the semifinal win over Selah, Burgess — only a freshman — held the CWAC conference and district champion Vikings to seven hits.

“Coming into this game was the most nerve-wracking, most nervous I’ve been,” Burgess said. “My rise and drop ball worked really well. And from winning (in a quarterfinal comeback) yesterday, we came here with that same momentum from that game.”

The Bulldogs (20-9) created their own momentum with a three-run, six-hit fourth inning against Selah.

“We definitely feed off each other, and we knew we had to do that here,” said Sharon, who singled and scored in that rally. “If you get one hit, it just keeps going. That’s how we’ve always done it.”

Selah (25-4) got an excellent pitching turn from its No. 2 hurler, junior Carly Minnick, in its critical next game, with the winner clinching a trophy and the loser going home. Minnick held Othello to five hits and one run going into the sixth inning, when she took a line drive off the face and had to be pulled from the game. But she left with a six-run lead, and Sierra Weedin closed out the easy victory.

The Vikings’ season ended in disappointment against Chehalis (22-7), which finished on a major roll after losing its tournament opener, averaging 12 1/2 runs while winning its next five games for the third-place trophy.

But the Vikings were also bringing home hardware — and that definitely mattered.

“A lot of us were really upset (after the semifinal loss to Ellensburg), as you could easily see from all the tears,” said senior second baseman Mary Graf, one of three Vikings — along with Sarah Bersing and Taylor Rath — who slugged homers in the win over Othello.

“But we’re still a team, and we we we had to pull it together because we really wanted to trophy at state. That was always the goal, to bring home a trophy.”

2B fastpitch: Adna routs Pe Ell for title

YAKIMA, Wash. — Adna and Pe Ell meeting in the Class 2B state fastpitch has come to be expected in recent years.

The way Saturday’s third straight title-game pairing ended, however, took everyone completely by surprise.

Taylor Hoke went 3 for 4 with three RBI and two runs scored, and Adna used two huge offensive innings to rout defending-champion Pe Ell 10-0 to capture its second title in three years at Gateway Sports Complex at Kiwanis Park.

“I figured the game would be 1-0 like last year,” said pitcher Brooke Williams, alluding to Pe Ell’s eight-inning victory over Adna. “To bust it open like that is great.

“It’s nice to come back and stick it to them.”

Williams, who allowed four hits and struck out six, also got in on the offensive fun with two hits and two runs.

Adna broke a scoreless tie with a six-run fourth inning, and then finished things with a four-run fifth, the final runs coming on Krysta Anderson’s three-run double.

Adna collected nine of its 13 hits in those two innings.

“We’ve had a lot of hits in games this year, but today we finally put the hits together,” Adna coach Mike Raschke said.

Adna was making its fourth straight appearance in the state title game, although many didn’t expect the Pirates back this spring after losing three key seniors, including pitcher Jessika-Jo Sandrini, now at NCAA Division I Siena College.

“We told the girls they had nothing to lose,” said Raschke, who has been the coach all four years, which included a 5-4 win over Pe Ell in the 2009 final and a runner-up finish in ’08. “They knew they had it in them.”

1B fastpitch: Colton hangs on to take crown

YAKIMA, Wash. — It seems the more Colton wins, the tougher it gets, coach Brad Nilson said.

This week’s Class 1B state fastpitch tournament at the Gateway Sports Complex at Kiwanis Park bears him out.

Colton needed extra innings to outlast Sunnyside Christian in the opening round, and then Nilson watched Almira/Coulee-Hartline come a couple of feet short of erasing a seven-run deficit in Saturday’s championship game.

When that final fly ball was caught at the fence in left-center field with two ACH runners aboard, the Wildcats had escaped with a 10-8 victory and their third straight state title.

“It gets harder every year,” Nilson said. “The target (on our backs) gets bigger.”

Sunnyside Christian (20-6) fell short of its state-trophy goal, falling 4-0 to Garfield-Palouse in a loser-out game Saturday afternoon, but coach Sandy Harris wasn’t disappointed with how the past two days went.

“I think the girls should be proud of what they accomplished this year,” Harris said. “From where we started the season to getting here, they should be proud. They gave it their best.”

Garfield-Palouse broke a scoreless tie on pitcher Emily Witthuhn’s two-run double in the fifth. The Knights’ best chance came when they loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but Witthuhn coaxed a grounder back to the mound to end the threat. The Vikings added two insurance runs in the seventh.

Colton (23-2) had its challenges as well, but the Wildcats managed to overcome all of them to earn a threepeat.

Saturday started out looking like an easy route to the title as Colton used three straight three-run innings to erase an early deficit and build a 10-3 lead after five.

But ACH scored three in the sixth and, helped by some Colton mistakes, three more in the seventh and had two runners aboard before Colton slipped off the hook.

1A fastpitch: Zillah ousted by Nooksack

SPOKANE — Zillah left the ballpark late Friday night having build up some momentum for the final day of the Class 1A state fastpitch tournament.

Unfortunately, the Leopards were unable to carry that over into Saturday afternoon’s game and they were eliminated by Nooksack Valley 9-3.

Kassidy Ruggles hit a two-run homer, and Alexis Salcedo was 2 for 3 for Zillah, which couldn’t overcome a four-run fourth by Nooksack Valley.

“It was a little tough getting the bats going,” Zillah coach Daniel Robillard said. “But it’s OK. We had a heckuva time. We went 2-2 and had a top 7 finish.

“We were pretty proud of our kids.”

Zillah finishes the season 21-7.

Nooksack Valley    011 420 1 — 9 10 0
Zillah                          010 200 0 — 3 7 3
Pike and Dykstra; Salverda, Robillard (5) and Ruggles.
Highlights: Alexis Salcedo (Z) 2-3; Kassidy Ruggles (Z) 2-3, 2-run HR; J. Bosscher (NV) 3-3, 4 runs.

Tennis: Fossum earns third place

YAKIMA, Wash. — Naches Valley’s Larisa Fossum and Granger’s Italia Mengarelli finished their high school tennis careers Saturday where they had spent a good chunk of it — across the net from each other.

Fossum topped Mengarelli 6-3, 6-2 in their 15th career matchup — the sixth this season — to claim third place in the Class 1A-2B-1B state tournament at Yakima Tennis Club’s outdoor courts.

The medal is the third straight for the Rangers senior. As a sophomore she won the doubles title with her sister, Zori, and was fourth in singles last year.

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Saturday’s victory came after she had dropped not only her first match but first sets of the season to eventual champion Michelle Lui of Forest Ridge.

“I’m really proud of her, she plays her heart out,” said her coach and mom Teresa Fossum.

Mengarelli’s sixth-place finish caps a stellar four-year athletic career at Granger. She helped the basketball team to four straight top-four trophies at state, earning all-state honorable mention this past winter.

She also was an all-league volleyball player the last two seasons, including 2009 when the Spartans ended a 23-year state drought.

Medaling in her ‘other’ sport was quite the finish.

“Yeah …. not bad at all,” she said.

While Saturday’s action was the last for Fossum and Mengarelli, three top-five finishes could be a precursor of a big 2012 for area SCAC boys players.

Zillah junior Troy Dunbar broke through for his first medal in three trips to state by taking fourth place.

Dunbar topped Reardan’s Keith Murphy 6-3, 6-4.

“I exceeded my expectations, I was planning on getting seventh or eighth,” said Dunbar, the SCAC district champion. “It definitely boosts (my confidence for next year).”

Goldendale junior Keith Bighorn qualified for and then won the fifth-place match Saturday. He handled Tonasket’s Anthony Verhasselt 6-1, 6-3 after outlasting Burbank’s Rodney Bauder in three sets, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4.

In the only other three-set match on the boys side Saturday, La Salle’s Brendan Stewart and Jacob Tri defeated Cashmere’s Elliot McCloud and Brian Norwood 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5) for fifth place.

After winning the first set, the freshman Stewart and the junior Tri lost the second and trailed 5-1 in the third.

But the two rallied to force a tiebreaker which they led 2-0 before falling behind 5-4. The Lightning tandem, however, reeled off the final three points of the match, the last being Tri’s well-placed dink at the net off the return of a solid Stewart serve.

Charles Wright’s Daniel Ham took the boys title after finishing third last year. Overlake’s Trym Tovund was the runner-up for the second straight year.

Last year’s singles champ, Cascade Christian’s Nathan Anderson, teamed with Ty King to win the doubles title.

Lui dropped just three games en route to her championship.

Cashmere’s Stephanie O’Bryan and Mikela Kowatsch won the girls doubles.

Charles Wright swept the team titles.

Class 1B/2B/1A
BOYS
Team scores

Top 10: Charles Wright 17, University Prep 16, Overlake 14, Tonasket 12, Cascade Christian 10, Reardan 7, Goldendale 6, La Salle 6, Bush 5, Liberty Bell 4, Zillah 4.

Singles

Semifinals: Daniel Ham (Charles Wright) d. Daniel Hasle (University Prep) 6-1, 6-0; Trym Torvund (Overlake) d. Nick Marchi (Bush) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Consolation Semifinals: Keith Bighorn (Goldendale) d. Rodney Bauder (Burbank) 6-7, 7-5, 6-4; Anthony Verhasselt (Tonasket) d. Jeremy Gaudette (Naches Valley) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Championship: Ham (CW) d. Torvund (Ov) 6-4, 6-3.

3rd/6th: Hasle (UP) d. Marchi (Bu) 6-3, 6-1.

4th/7th: Kevin Murphy (Reardan) d. Troy Dunbar (Zillah) 6-3, 6-4.

5th/8th: Bighorn (Go) d. Verhasselt (To) 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles

Semifinals: Nathan Anderson-Ty King (Cascade Christian) d. Sam Thomsen-Bayard Blair (University Prep) 6-1, 6-0; Lee Leavell-Bret Hendrick (Tonasket) d. Grant Munoz-March Munoz (Overlake) 6-2, 6-3.

Championship: Anderson-King (CC) d. Leavell-Hendrick (To) 6-2, 6-0.

3rd/6th: Thomsen-Blair (UP) d. Munoz-Munoz (Ov) 7-5, 6-2.

4th/7th: Stanley Peterson-Chris Gugliuzza (Charles Wright) d. Nic Schulz-Manuel Perez (Liberty Bell) 6-4, 6-4.

5th/8th: Jacob Tri-Brendan Stewart (La Salle) d. Elliot McCloud-Brian Norwood (Cashmere) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6.

GIRLS
Team scores

Top 10: Charles Wright 17, Cashmere 10, Forest Ridge 10, Tonasket 9, Naches Valley 8, Overlake 7, Tenino 7, University Prep 7, Colville 6, Davenport 6.

Singles

Semifinals: Michelle Lui (Forest Ridge) d. Larisa Fossum (Naches Valley) 6-1, 6-0; Megan Beyers (Tonasket) d. Italia Mengarelli (Granger) 6-3, 6-0.

Championship: Lui (FR) d. Beyers (To) 6-1, 6-0.

3rd/6th: Fossum (NV) d. Mengarelli (Gr) 6-3, 6-2.

4th/7th: Carrie Rotkis (University Prep) d. Kirsten Jorgensen (Tenino) 6-1, 3-6, 7-6.

5th/8th: Miranda Mielke (Davenport) d. Shaylyn Goodall (Omak) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6.

Doubles

Semifinals: Stephanie O’Bryan-Mikela Kowatsch (Cashmere) d. Sara Finkleman-Sarah Johnson (Charles Wright) 6-7, 7-6, 6-2; Jackie Kirschner-Natalie Weyerhaeuser (Charles Wright) d. Tori Smith-Emily Vincent (Cascade) 6-3, 6-2.

Championship: O’Bryan-Kowatsch (Ca) d. Kirschner-Weyerhaeuser (CW) 6-4, 7-5.

3rd/6th: Finkleman-Johnson (CW) d. Smith-Vincent (Ca) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

4th/7th: Catherine Jessen-Emily Walter (Overlake) d. Megan Robinson-Olivia Plew (Chelan) 6-3, 6-2.

5th/8th: Liselotte Doggen-Erin Little (Colville) d. Emily Mankowski-Tailar Kennedy (Tenino) 6-1, 6-2.

Tennis: Ellensburg’s Pellett finishes second

SEATTLE — Ellensburg’s Abigail Pellett missed out on the top prize Saturday in the Class 2A state tennis tournament at the University of Washington, but she did grab the best trophy the Bulldogs have seen in the sport.

Pellett took second place, bettering the third-place finish of Katie Kelleher in 2007. It’s the third state medal for Pellett, who was fifth last year and sixth in 2009.

“It’s been a real unbelievable run,” Ellensburg coach Mark Morrill said. “Undefeated three years in the CWAC, three trips to state and each year getting better.

“It is tremendous.”

The senior topped Interlake’s Alysha Dhami 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals, but fell to defending champion Tracy Landram of Klahowya. Lanadram topped Pellett in last year’s semifinals, too.

Pellett’s effort put the Bulldogs in a fifth-place tie with West Valley of Spokane in the final team standings.

East Valley’s John Olsen and Austin Wilson fell one match short of medaling.

CLASS 3A

West Valley duo third

KENNEWICK, Wash. — It was a repeat finish for West Valley’s Cooper Anderson and a couple steps up for Daniel Wenker on Saturday.

The duo captured third place in doubles play. Anderson teamed with Jeff Carlson to earn the same medal a year ago, defeating Wenker and Aaron Famer, who took fifth.

The Rams also matched last year’s third-place finish of 2010, trailing only Mercer Island and Seattle Prep.

On the girls side, Rams tandem Carly Riehl and Carley Schmidt fell in the semifinals and the consolation match and finished sixth.

CLASS 4A

Davis tandem finishes third

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Davis’ Erica and Megumi DeMond bounced back from Friday’s quarterfinal loss by qualifying for the medal round where they finished seventh.

The DeMonds upended Mead’s Elise Ellingsen and Chelsea Motzer 6-4, 6-4 before falling to Kendra Whitfield and Alyssa Drew of Monroe.

The medal caps a stellar year for the sophomore twins. The duo won the Inland Empire tournament last month in Spokane, won the regional crown and took second in the district tournament.

In singles play, Eisenhower freshman Claire Bohoskey fell in consolation play.

Class 4A
GIRLS
Singles

Consolation Semifinal: Amie Vo (Newport) d. Claire Bohoskey (Eisenhower) 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles

Consolation Semifinal: Megumi DeMond-Erica DeMond (Davis) d. Elise Ellingsen-Chelsea Motzer (Mead) 6-4, 6-4.

4th/7th: Kendra Whitfield-Alyssa Drew (Monroe) d. DeMond-DeMond (D) 6-2, 6-3.

Class 3A
BOYS
Doubles

Semifinal: Evan Beckman-Drew Beckman (Seattle Prep) d. Cooper Anderson-Daniel Wenker (West Valley) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

3rd/6th: Anderson-Wenker (WV) d. Andrew Nguyen-Benny Tran (Sammamish) 6-3, 7-5.

GIRLS
Doubles

Semifinal: Kelly Crandall-Nora Tan (Mercer Island) d. Carly Riehl-Carley Schmidt (West Valley) 6-0, 6-3.

3rd/6th: Barbara Ann Carey-Sarah Newman (Seattle Prep) d. Riehl-Schmidt (WV) 6-0, 6-0.

Class 2A
BOYS
Doubles

Consolation Semifinal: Jason Agtarap-Nikhal Das (North Thurston) d. John Olsen-Austin Wilson (East Valley) 6-2, 7-6.

GIRLS
Singles

Semifinal: Abigail Pellett (Ellensburg) d. Alysha Dhami (Interlake) 6-2, 6-3.

Championship: Tracy Landram (Klahowya) d. Pellett (Ell) 6-0, 6-0.

2A baseball: Tigers tame Bantams

YAKIMA, Wash. — After a raucous team meeting beneath the Yakima County Stadium scoreboard Saturday night, Shannon Askvig ran wind sprints in the outfield grass.

It’s something the Burlington-Edison pitcher said he does after every game.

This time, though, there was a bit more spring in Askvig’s step and a smile on his face, because this had not been just another game — either for him or them.

Behind the senior right-hander’s five-hit pitching and the hitting of the No. 9 man in their lineup, the Tigers won their school’s first state baseball championship, 7-0 over northwest rival Sehome.

“It’s just routine,” Askvig said of his running, though the expression on his face indicated that the game had been anything but.

Burlington-Edison (18-8) had routed Clarkston in one Friday semifinal while the Mariners (19-8), who won titles in 2007 and 2008, had upset previously unbeaten and defending champion Chehalis, 3-2, in the other.

But while Sehome had won two of three prior meetings with B-E, the M’s never got untracked against Askvig and a fired up group of teammates.

Michael Gallagher, hitting ninth for the Tigers, slapped a two-out, two-run single up the middle to highlight a three-run B-E second inning, raked an RBI single to right in the fourth and then singled and scored in a two-run Tiger sixth.

Kyle Tolf was also 3 for 3 for Burlington-Edison and scored two runs.

Askvig, meanwhile, fanned four and walked four, induced 10 flyouts including seven to right fielder Walker Olis, and pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth.

Up 4-0 at the time, Askvig hit leadoff man John Albert and then walked Ben Wilson. Following shortstop Tolf’s highlight-film play on a grounder deep in the hole toward third, which moved both runners up, Hayden Knight was intentionally walked to fill the sacks.

But Askvig got Travis Boyd on a called third strike and Carl Henkel on a bouncer to short.

“I had good command of both my fastball and curve,” Askvig said, “and my teammates played great defense behind me. I don’t really know how I feel right now, except to say it feels mostly like a dream. I’m still waiting for someone to pinch me.”

Burl.-Edison    030 112 0 — 7 11 0
Sehome              000 000 0 — 0 5 2
Askvig and Boe; Knight and Boyd.
Highlights: Anthony Pitsch (S) 1-3, 2b; Eric Ho (S) 1-3; Colin Peterson (S) 1-3; Austin Rapp (S) 2-3; Dylan Boe (BE) 2-3, 2b; Sid Livingston (BE) 2 RBI; Kyle Tolf (BE) 3-3, 2 runs; Michael Gallagher (BE) 3-3, 3 RBI.

Third-Place Game

CHEHALIS 12, CLARKSTON 4: Mitch Gueller struck out 12 to power Chehalis.

Gueller, who allowed four hits in his five innings of work, fanned six straight in the second and third innings, and had seven straight outs by strikeout.

He was backed by plenty of offense from the Bearcats (25-1), who powered out 13 hits and took advantage of nine Clarkston (20-8) errors.

Chehalis effectively put the game out of reach with a five-run second inning, when the Bearcats used four hits and three errors to build a 7-0 lead. Brennan Casteel highlighted the frame with a two-run single that made it 5-0.

Eric Forgione finished 3-for-5 for Chehalis and Casteel was 2-for-4. Gueller also finished 2-for-4, and Keylen Steen was 2-for-2.

Brady Arnone was 2-for-4 with an RBI for Clarkston.

Clarkston 000 112 0 — 4 7 9
Chehalis 251 130 x — 12 13 3
Bush, Arnone (2), Blunt (6) and Ruark; Gueller, Wilson (6) and Kahn.
Highlights: Gueller (Ch) 2 hits, 3 RBI; Steen (Ch) 2 hits, 2b; E. Forgione (Ch) 3 hits; Casteel (Ch) 2 hits, 3 RBI.

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