Washington Sports Network Blog

Davis

The Pirates came out with guns blazing and sending a message to all, bring you’re A game or don’t bother coming… The days of marking a win on your calendar is over! Deion (The Great) Wright put on one of the most impressive performances in Pirates history, throwing for 349 yards to break James Phillips’ 13-year-old school record.  For all those that didn’t know, now you know, the Pirates are for real!

Chiawana

This team won one game last year, and I’m here to tell you they will win a lot more than that this year.  Truthfully, I feel sorry for the teams that beat them last year, because this years’ version has the ability to make teams wish the game was just over, ask Hanford! Not only did they look impressive on the offensive side of the ball, but they looked just as impressive on Defense. If there is one Achilles heel with this team, it’s their ability to kick field goals and extra points, that is something they must fix before the big dogs come calling. With that being said I don’t see anyone in the Big 9 slowing down the Riverhawks. Pick your poison, stopping Luc Graff, Jordan Downing, or Miquayah Zamora?

Richland

All I can say is Defense, Defense, and Defense! This Richland team is very physical on both side of the ball; it will be very difficult task for teams to score on Richland this year. From everything we’re hearing about the game with Pasco, the Bulldogs will score a lot of points on teams this year, but couldn’t manage to do it against the Bombers. All I can say is bring a lot of ice for your team when playing Richland. Richland is one of those team that will beat you up when they’re on offense AND defense. With the physical running of Jake McKinney and a knock-the-snot-out-of-your-nose defense, the Bombers are all we thought they would be.

Sunnyside

The Sunnyside Grizzles came out roaring Friday and showed that they are a team to fear.  Andrew Daley threw 3 touchdowns and ran for 1 more; Daley was a one man wrecking crew and if he’s able to continue this pace until Israel Manzo returns, the Grizzles will be a tough out for anyone. Watch out Pirates here come the Sunnyside boys!

Hanford

The Falcons looked really young and inexperienced, but showed flashes of a team that will compete later in the years. One of the bright spots for the Falcons was Cameron Wagar; he rushed for 116 yard on 17 carries against a pretty good Chiawana defense.  Coach Oram will get these boys back on track.  Too bad they opened against 2 of the tougher teams in the Big Nine 4A, if not the 4A state!

Kennewick

This may well be the dark horse team this year. Kennewick looked very explosive on offense and showed a lot of speed on defense. Grant Woods showed that he can take some pressure off Drew Loftus by rushing for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Kennewick appears to be a balanced team and have a lot of horses that will give opposing coaches nightmares. This is arguably the most athletic team in the Big9!  Loftus is worth the price of admission, and defensively these boys fly around! Can’t wait to see how they perform this week against Hermiston!

Wenatchee

Wenatchee continues to do what they do best, and that is win. Cooper Helm and company came into Lampson field and smacked Southridge right in the mouth, with an early 17-3 half time lead, and were able to hold off a late charge by the Suns to squeak out a one inch victory in overtime (32-31). If Cooper Helm can stay healthy, Wenatchee should continue to win most games this year.  This team will only continue to improve!  The Panthers have a number of weapons, including some nice WR’s in Jared Jeager and Keaton Smith.

Southridge

Southridge is a team that despite their opening game loss to the Panthers of Wenatchee learned some valuable lessons in week 1.  Matt Mendenhall shook off some early jitters to turn in the weeks top passing performance.  With targets like AJ Henderson, Josh Richards, and TE Jon Buffington Mendenhall may put up the best numbers in conference.  Dual threat back Palmer and Haueter are as deadly as any.  Defensively Southridge will continue to improve as well, Chance White in particular was a surprise standout for the Suns.

Kamiakin

Talent, talent, and more talent.  The Brave were missing Tyler Holle on offense, and Drew Oord on defense and still managed to slap Prosser around after an early feeling out period.  We know they will be explosive on Offense, but these boys also like to pop on D.  The Big Nine is shaping up to be THE conference in the State this year, I dare anybody to tell us differently.  Joey Jansen will improve as the season progresses, and with the weapons he has at his displsal he can take his time.  AJ Griffiths, Tim White, and Zach Umemoto will take turns in the spotlight on Friday nights.

Add theses players to my standout list:

Nate Eppich (Connell)

P-Robby Sanders (Kalama)

And my All-Name player of the year:  Columbia River’s Jon Yearout (pronouced your’e out)

We ventured up to Yakima on Saturday to take in the All-State Baseball games.

The All-State game is actually a series of 4 games played over two days.  This year the teams were split into 4 groups; Rainier, Adams, St. Helens, and Baker.  The teams are pretty well split geographically to avoid east vs. west rivalry, and the talent mix seemed to be well proportioned as well.

Setting:  The games are played at Yakima Valley Community College.  Not a bad setup, with more than enough seating, a concession stand with a variety of good eats, and plenty of parking.  The staff was very friendly and the whole aura of the game was that of a friendly neighborhood match.  I could not help but imagine this game at a nicer field though.  I don’t want to knock YVCC, and maybe I’m a little jaded since the last venue we were at was Safeco Field…

Teams:  We watched both games today and saw a boatload of talent.  Unfortunately, we can’t make it to the 2 Sunday games, and will miss a few players that could not make it to today.  The teams played well and did a good job of encouraging one another along.  I did not see any prima-donnas, everyone seemed to show respect to each other.  For a lot of them this is the first time they have seen the faces to go with the names they hear so much about during their High School careers.

Players:  Here are the names of the players that stood out to us today.  We were filming video today and it is not easy to film and truly “take in” a baseball game, or any sport for that matter, but here goes…

Adam Cimber, P, Puyallup:  We like this guy a lot.  He was on our all-tournament team for state.  He’s tall, has a wicked side-arm delivery and can put some pep on the ball.  Watching him in the bullpen warming up I’d hate to be a right-handed batter.  He’s headed to UW next year and it will be fun to watch his career blossom.  He was not  un-hittable today, but again, we like this kid!

Jeff Melby, SS, Bellevue: Had one of the harder hit balls of the day until James Robbins of Shorecrest went yard.  Played with grit, and came the closest to having ‘swagger’ out there today. College: Undecided.

Drew Abelman, OF, Cheney: Another well seasoned ball player.  Seemed very much in control at the plate, he only swung at balls that HE wanted to, and when he did, he did not try to do too much with ‘em.  Did not seem at all intimidated. Headed to Gonzaga.

Jordan Osborn, Util, Eastmont: You could tell the kids that had scholie’s to UW or WSU, they were just built bigger.  Osborn (headed to UW) was one of them.  Another official “ballplaya”.

Brett Jacobs, SS, Richland: What can you say about Brett that has not been said already?  WSU will be getting a SOLID all-around player in MR. Jacobs.  Disciplined at the plate, poised, very steady with the glove.  Faster than you would think, too.

Josh Rapacz, C, Richland:  Dare I say that this kid probably PERFORMED the best out of any Richland player that I saw in the playoffs, and day 1 of all-state I’d have to say.  George Fox U got a steal in this kid.  Seems to play best when the stakes are high…

Cory Urquhart, SS, West Valley (Yakima): Hometown boy done good.  This is another kid that carries himself with confidence on the field.  And peforms to back it up. Headed to Bellevue CC.

Kyle Phillips, OF, Curtis:  Don’t sleep on the SPSL, or Curtis for that matter with its long history of ballplayers.  Phillips is no different, and plays with a chip on his shoulder.  Despite his small stature Phillips can play big-ball. Headed to Edmonds CC.

James Robbins, P, 1B, Shorecrest: I almost forgot.  Mr Robbins was a standout for a number of reasons, he was the only player to hit a HR, and the only player drafted in the MLB draft (30th round Detroit Tigers) to play in the All-State game.  He lived up to that billing and showed and proved.  The smart money has him  heading to WSU, to honor his commitment in the Fall.

I’m sure I did not catch everything, I’ll watch the footage and get back to you, but for now that’s what I got.  Till next time…