May 2010

After falling behind 6-4 at halftime against Auburn Mountainview May 4, the Ballard High School lacrosse team was able to hold on for an important 11-11 tie and a shot at the sixth seed in the playoffs.

Coach Lise Martin said she is satisfied with the tie in a match that could easily have been playoff-killing loss. Toward the end of the match, she said she realized it was becoming too risky to play to win the game, so the Beavers made the decision to hold onto the ball and eat up time to ensure the tie.

Maddie Soukup led Ballard with three goals. Jayne Barnes, Haley Jackson and Sophie Mora finished with two goals each.

Goalie Hannah Breton had eight saves.

The tie puts Ballard at 5-4-1 for the season.

As meaningful as a playoff appearance would be to the second-year program, Martin said it would be even more meaningful to the Ballard players.

She said the players set the goal of making the playoffs, and achieving that goal has been extremely important to them.

"The team has made sacrifices to be in this position," Martin said. "I am glad they will be recognized for it."

April showers finally drowned out the Tyee Tennis team's scheduled April 27th home match against Hazen, although the Totems did not yield to the elements without a fight.

On this day of mixed overcast conditions blended with intermittent, but strong showers and periods of clearing, the Tyee tennis team showed great camaraderie and enthusiasm in using squeeges and brooms to remove the excess water on the courts.

Despite the efforts, game, set and match went to the inclement weather.

For today, the prospective singles positions were set. For the girls, senior Lacey Mudd lined up at No. 1 singles while junior Roxanne Castro set up at No. 2. On the boys side, Totem senior Nizom Kutbidinov prepared to take the court at No. 1 with junior John Wallawine at the net for No. 2.

"My expectations are to win more matches at the league tournament this year,: said Mudd. "My experience practicing against players who hit hard causes me problems when I play the soft hitters. I overhit the ball. I'm trying to be more consistent with my serve, too," she said.

On senior day for the Thomas Jefferson girls tennis team it was a solid Raider junior that took the curtain call in a 3-2 win against Federal Way.

The win kept unbeaten Jefferson on the inside track to the SPSL Central 4A title.

Leading 2-1 in match wins, Jefferson needed a victory in one of the two remaining hotly contested three-set singles matches.

At No. 1, Raider senior Avery Kitsch was embroiled in battle with with junior Haley Ward while junior Breanna Ziccarelli was likewise locked in combat with the Eagles' Andrea Ferguson in No. 2.

Ziccarelli intensely stroked to a 6-3 first set victory, but her Federal Way opponent capitalized on the Raiders' drop in concentration to take the second set 6-3. Before the third set, TJ's Ziccarrelli discussed strategy with Raider head coach Andrew Buchan and returned to the court for a dominating 6-0 final set win to clinch the Jefferson team triumph.

"I wasn't focused in the second set," recalled the Jefferson junior. "It was a matter of bringing my focus up."

Throughout the season, Ziccarrelli has focused strongly en route to an 7-0 record that improved to 8-0 on April 30.

SLIDESHOW: Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of the Kennedy vs. Mt. Rainier fastpictch game on May 3. Mt. Rainier pulled out a 3-2 victory in 8 innings. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

The Ballard High School boys soccer season ended with a 4-0 loss at the hands of Eastlake May 4.

Eastlake's Renato Bandeira finished with two goals, and Zack Wile and Devon DeAlteris combined for the shutout.

Ballard finished with a 2-6-3 KingCo record and a 3-8-5 overall record.

Brent Campbell led the team with eight goals this season, the fourth highest total in KingCo. Balin Larson had five.

Goalie Mel Hernandez recorded two shutouts this season.

Two articles in my daily paper have caused a fair amount of deep thinking. I would like to pass on some of my thoughts about how these two articles might improve our educational opportunities for the children of Federal Way.

Mark A.R. Kleiman, a professor at UCLA, was quoted this week on how to reduce crime in Seattle. His basic theme is that offenders need to be punished quickly for their first offense, so that it is clear to the offender that his/her behavior is not acceptable to the community. Such decisions as “Deferred Sentence,” and other less than immediate measures, he believes only lessens the authority of society to regulate the behavior of its members.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of the Todd Beamer vs. Graham-Kapowsin boys' soccer game on May 4. Beamer won big on senior night, 4-0. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

Plastic Thanksgiving turkey wishbones selling for $.99 each really turned out to be worth $1.7 million Ken Ahroni and his company Lucky Break Wishbone.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed an award of $1.7 million to Lucky Break Wishbone Corporation over retailer Sears, Roebuck and Co. and advertising giant Young & Rubicam, Inc. The decision was seen as a victory for U.S.-based intellectual property rights and small business competing in a global environment.
The copyright case concerned the plastic turkey bones used in a Thanksgiving promotion for Sears.
You can see the personal profile done on Ahroni and his product here.

The Ballard High School baseball team finished up the 2010 season with a 5-3 loss to Woodinville May 4.

The teams were tied at one apiece after the first inning. Woodinville scored three runs in the fifth but, Ballard answered with two runs in the sixth. Woodinville tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth, and the Beavers couldn't find an answer.

Junior Brenden Foor hit one-for-two for Ballard with two RBIs.

Despite the loss, the Beavers continued their trend of improvement in the later half of the season. Woodinville beat Ballard 5-1 in their previous meeting this year.

Ballard finished the year with a 6-10 KingCo record and 6-12 overall record.

The Beavers were 2-7 in the first half of the season but closed out the year by going 4-5. Ballard averaged 4.6 runs in the second half of the KingCo season after averaging 3.5 in the first half as the team raised its batting average by about 40 points.

"We grew as a team as the season went on," coach John Lamm said.

He said he was pleasantly surprised at where the team was a few weeks ago.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of the Federal Way vs. Auburn boys' soccer game on May 4. The Eagles knocked off Auburn, 3-1. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.