May 2014

By Gerardo Bolong

SPANAWAY - Kennedy Catholic was eliminated from Class WCD/ Southwest bi-district girls softball tournament action on Sat., May 24, but the Lancers went down fighting to the very end.

Wilson of Tacoma had just taken a 7-5 lead with a two-run top of the seventh inning rally. The first two batters in the Lancer at bat reached base before Kennedy Catholic bats were completely silenced to end the game.

"This was the same type of game we had against Columbia River," Kennedy coach Dino Josie said. "Our young girls that normally get the hits weren't able to this time. They'll be back (here) again."

Wilson took a 1-0 lead to open the game before a one-out Sierra Bains infield single preceded Samantha Isernio's ground out that advanced the runner to second base. Ninth grader Elise Turpen stroked an opposite field single to left field to bring Kennedy Catholic into a 1-1 standoff after one inning.

Haley Kormanik scored a go ahead run for KC in the second after previously leading off with a single when Jordan Cossette doubled.

By Gerardo Bolong

SPANAWAY - For want of key hits, the Kennedy Catholic softball team suffered in a 7-4, 10-inning opening game of the Class 3A West Central/Southwest bi-district tournament loss to Columbia River on May 24 at the Sprinker Recreation Center field.

"Columbia River is a very good team and well coached," said JFK coach Dino Josie. "We had 11 runners left on base and could not get key hits in the late innings. On our suicide squeeze in the seventh (with runners on second and third with no outs), our batter laid it down perfectly. They just made an exceptional play (of pitcher to catcher)."

With the international tie-breaker rule of having each team begin its at bat with a runner already on second base starting with the ninth inning, each team had its opportunities by advancing runners as far as third base. Maggie Harshaw's run-scoring double in the top of the tenth inning ignited a four-run Columbia River Chieftain rally that settled the issue.

The lancers fought back in the home at bat to score one run and had two runners on base, but simply were not able to produce more hits.

By Gerardo Bolong

Eunica Serafica of Foster High School stayed in control at the West Central District Class 2A girls tennis tournament held at the Kitsap Athletic and Tennis Center in Bremerton on May 23-24.

Serafica concluded her journey to the state tournament to be held at the Nordstrom Center on the University of Washington campus beginning on May 30 by outlasting Melina Johnson of Olympic in three torrid sets of 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, to win the district's No. 3 seed to the state tournament.

On her way to the state spot, the Foster senior began by defeating Lauren Baker of Sumner, 6-1, 6-0. Serafica followed the victory by defeating Anne Marie Herbert of Olympic, 6-1, 6-3.

Eventual tournament champion Leizel Villanueva of Lindbergh beat the Bulldog ace, 6-33, 6-0, in the winners bracket semis to send Serafica into the consolation round where she then split the first two sets before nailing down the triumph against Johnson.

Villanueva powered past Kimberly Hoang of Renton in the first-second place match. Herbert finished fourth while Johnson became the No. 5 seed.

Caroline Tupa of Evergreen High School in White Center won two events in the West Central District Class 2A track and field meet held at Sunset Stadium in Sumner, leading all area qualifiers in all classifications for this week's state 2A/3A/4A meet to be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

Tupa threw the javelin 119 feet, 0 inches to capture first place for the Wolverines and won the shot put competition at 40-01.00.

Also winning for Evergreen in the 2A portion of the Sumner meet was Marques Chacon in the boys 3,200-meter run. He posted a time of 9 minutes, 42.2 seconds.

Brother Matthew Chacon was fourth in that event in 9:43.84, while Marques Chacon placed fourth in the 1,600 with Matthew Chacon sixth in 4:31.02.

Also for Evergreen, Theo Mowatt took fourth in the boys triple jump at 42-00.75, just ahead of teammate Pedro Diaz at 41-09.50.

Diaz was also sixth in the 300-meter hurdles in 42.00 seconds.
Foster had four top finishers.

Sierra Parsons placed third in the girls high jump at 5-00 and Eric Teng took seventh in both the boys discus (130-00) and javelin (143-03).

This will be a big week for 14 high school golfers from the Highline area.
Kennedy Catholic qualified five girls and four girls for state Class 3A action, while Seattle Christian is sending four boys to Class 1A state tournament play and Foster has qualified one boy for Class 2A action.
Makenzie Milton will tee off first for the JFK girls on the Lewis River course in Woodland at 7:40 a.m., followed by Nikki Miller at 8:40 a.m., Addie Hedge at 11:20 a.m., Rachelle Navarro at 11:30 a.m. and Lydia Hedge at 11:40 a.m.

In the 3A boys action at Tri-Mountain in Ridgefield, Ryan Sheardown of the Lancers tees off at 10:04 a.m.

Teammate Todd Johnson follows at 10:34 a.m., Jake Ryerson at 11:44 a.m. and Evan Gallando at 11:54 a.m.

The 1A action involving Seattle Christian will be played at Lake Spanaway.

Luke Doss tees off at 7:30 a.m. for the Warriors, with Aaron McClelland going at 7:39 a.m., Ryan Johnson at 10:39 a.m.. and Jake Ronich at 10:57 a.m.
Max Montoya will represent Foster in boys 2A action at Chambers Bay in Tacoma. He has a 10:04 a.m. tee time,

Seattle Mariners Players visited Two Highline School District elementary schools on Tuesday, May 27

The visits were part of an annual event that sends the entire team out to schools in the greater Seattle area to present assemblies for students and to challenge them to become members of the Seattle Mariner Moose D.R.E.A.M. Team.

D.R.E.A.M. stands for Drug-free, Respect, Education, Attitude and Motivation. The assemblies were lively and fast paced with audience participation and interaction with the players.

Coming to Hilltop Elementary School were Robinson Cano, Felix Hernandez, Brad Miller, Stefan Romero, Mike Zunino and Tajuan Walker, while those scheduled for Hazel Valley Elementary School were Kyle Seager, Danny Farquhar, Fernando Rodney, Tom Wilhelmsen, Yoervis Medina and broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith.

Tukwila also drew team members to Cascade View Elementary School.

Scheduled to appear there were Dustin Ackley, Nick Franklin, Justin Smoak, Joe Beimel and Charlie Furbush.

By Gerardo Bolong

SPANAWAY - On Sat., May 24, at the Sprinker Recreation Center, the Tyee Totem fastpitch team lost a 5-inning, 10-run mercy rule, 16-0, West Central/Southwest Washington Class 2A softball game to White River to end its postseason play. Carolina Salazar's hit that went deep to the right of short stop was the only hit for Tyee, but the real story is how this band of Totems worked its way into this position.

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Kennedy Catholic's Lancers gave up two goals in the first half they could not overcome, losing, 2-1, to Lakeside in a loser-out Class 3A boys state quarterfinal soccer game on the Highline Memorial Stadium turf Saturday.

"We had the momentum in the second half," said Teddy Mitalas, Lancers head coach, to his players after the game.

The Lancers, who finished their season 14-2-5 and were the Seamount League champions, had their way with the Metro League champion Lions (14-2-2) in the second half, outshooting them, 9-2.

The first-half goals by the Lions gave that team's players confidence as described by their coach, Mark Szabo.

"Everyone gets excited when you score, it settles you down, too," said Szabo.

The Lancers did fight tooth and nail in the second half. They took shot after shot after shot that was either saved by Lions keeper Jake Betcher or just didn't quite get to the net because of a Lions defense that mostly kept the Lancers from taking too many close-in shots.

"We did enough," said Szabo.

Today's Shows

More information on each film can be found at www.siff.net
Wednesday, May 28th

The Militant
SIFF Cinema Uptown
3:30

Something Must Break
SIFF Cinema Uptown
4:00

The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Harvard Exit
4:00

Sold
Egyptian Theatre
4:00

Born To Fly
AMC Pacific Place
4:30

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai
SIFF Cinema Uptown
4:30

The Japanese Dog
Lincoln Square Cinemas
4:30

For Those in Peril
SIFF Cinema Uptown
6:00

West
Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center
6:00

Land of the Bears 3D
SIFF Cinema Uptown
6:30

Two Raging Grannies
SIFF Cinema Uptown
7:00

Class Enemy
AMC Pacific Place
7:00

The Signal
Egyptian Theatre
7:00

Mood Indigo
Harvard Exit
7:00

DamNation
Lincoln Square Cinemas
7:00

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center
8:30

A Street in Palermo
SIFF Cinema Uptown
8:30

Natural Sciences
SIFF Cinema Uptown
9:00

Happy Christmas
Lincoln Square Cinemas
9:15

The Dune
SIFF Cinema Uptown
9:30

May in the Summer
AMC Pacific Place
9:30

3 Mile Limit
Harvard Exit
9:30

By Peggy Sturdivant

Vivian MacKay loves her house on a cul-de-sac above the Burlington Northern train tracks. She moved there from Wallingford because she wanted to have a view of the Puget Sound. She’s now lived there for 24 years and every spring she scrubs her white deck. A few years ago she couldn’t seem to get it as clean; she attributed it to getting older. Then she noticed the coal trains that began running to Canada 4-5 years ago.

The more she reads and hears about additional trains that might transport coal from Wyoming and Montana to shipping ports in the Northwest to the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal off Bellingham the more concerned she becomes. In location she qualifies as a “NIMBY,” which refers to someone against something mostly because it affects them personally, as in Not In My Backyard. However as a sea kayaker and birder MacKay is even more concerned with our region’s “front yard:” Puget Sound and its ecosystem.