The Prep Beat

South Kitsap’s Michael Wood was named co-pitcher of the year for the Narrows League. The Wolves had three first-teamers and six second-teamers.

All-Narrows League Baseball
MVP—Leo Valenti, sr., Olympia
Pitchers of the year—Michael Wood, sr., South Kitsap; Elliott Loague, sr., Olympia
Coach of the year—Todd McDougall, Olympia.
First team
Pitchers—Nick Gagliardi, sr., Gig Harbor; Harry Stenberg, jr., Bellarmine.
Catchers—Matt Gunn, jr., Stadium; Justin Polzin, so., Yelm.
Infield—Sterling Brown, jr., Gig Harbor; Michael Fairchild, sr., Olympia; George Foley, sr., Bellarmine; Garrett Gallinger, sr., Gig Harbor; Tyler Ludlow, jr., South Kitsap; Jacob Veith, jr., Stadium.’
Outfield—Nathan Heath, sr., Bellarmine; Joey Knight, sr., Olympic; Brandon Thompson, jr., Bellarmine; Michael Van Orden, jr., Stadium; Cody Wolfe, sr., South Kitsap.
Designated hitters—Tanner Paulson, jr., South Kitsap.
Utility—Haak Wagner, sr., Gig Harbor.
Second team
Pitchers—Leif Hansen, jr., Olympia; Josh Johnston, sr., South Kitsap.
Catchers—Michael Ota, sr., Bellarmine; Riley Paschal, jr., Central Kitsap.
Infield—Jesse Moore, sr., South Kitsap; Alex Morrison, sr., South Kitsap; Gabe Padukiewicz, sr., Olympia; Kevin Whatley, sr., South Kitsap.
Outfield—Alec Anderson, sr., Central Kitsap; Jake Biscay, sr., Olympia; Drew Frame, sr., Gig Harbor; Cameron Frost, sr., Olympia; Tom Simpson, sr., South Kitsap.
Designated hitter—Brandon Hamilton, jr., Stadium.
Utility—Logan Knowles, jr., South Kitsap.
Honorable mention—CK, Griffin McCormick, fr.; Chandler Manson, jr.; Bernt Onarheim, so. SK, Tyler Pinkerton, jr.; Tiler Moore, sr.

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Olympic junior Shane Matheny was named the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association male athlete of the week on Monday.

South Kitsap plays Emerald Ridge in the opening round of the Class 4A West Central/Southwest District tournament on Tuesday. You can see the bracket here.
North Kitsap, Bremerton, Olympic, Port Angeles and Klahowya play in the Class 2A West Central District Tournament. You can see the bracket here.

The end of baseball’s regular season is finally upon us.
Playoffs have started for several leagues. Let’s set the table for next week’s district tournaments.
In the Narrows League, South Kitsap is Kitsap’s only representative still standing. Central Kitsap lost to Gig Harbor in the opening round.
SK is playing Olympia on Friday in Lacey for first/second seeds into the Class 4A West Central/Southwest district tournament. SK beat Bellarmine 5-0 on Wednesday in a key game. The win means SK is a winner-to-state game in the first round (district bracket here) regardless if it is the one or two seed and needs only one win at districts to advance. If the Wolves had lost to Bellarmine, they would face a loser-out game in the first round.
Bainbridge finished fourth in the Metro League Mountain Division and qualified for the league tournament. The Spartans open play Monday against West Seattle (bracket here).
The Olympic League baseball tournament continues Friday at the Fairgrounds. Klahowya is the fifth seed into districts. Olympic and Port Angeles play at 4 p.m. for the third/fourth spots. Bremerton and North Kitsap play at 7 p.m. for the top two spots. If Bremerton wins Friday, it takes the top spot. If NK wins Friday, they have to return Saturday to decide the seeds (Bremerton swept NK in the regular season so NK has to beat Bremerton twice to get the top seed). Bremerton is in the playoffs for the first time since 2001 and it denied North Kitsap a fifth straight Olympic League title this year.
The top seed is key as it comes with a first-round bye at the Class 2A West Central District Tournament, which begins Tuesday (bracket).

Spring break is almost over, so here is a look at some of the best games on the schedule for the week of April 8.

Monday—South Kitsap softball vs. Bellarmine Prep, 4 p.m. SK leads the Narrows League with a 4-0 record. The Wolves play two games this week. After facing the Lions on Monday, they take on Gig Harbor at home on Wednesday.

Tuesday—Bremerton baseball at Klahowya; Olympic baseball at North Kitsap, 4 p.m. These are the top four teams in the Olympic League going at it. Bremerton is undefeated in league play with a 6-0 record. North Kitsap is second at 6-2, while Klahowya and Olympic are tied for third at 5-3.

Friday—North Kitsap soccer at Olympic: The second half of the Olympic League season begins with games Monday, Wednesday and Friday. North Kitsap is atop the league standings with a 6-1-0 record (18 points). The Vikings’ only loss was to Olympic, which is in third place with a 6-1-0 record (16 points). Even though both teams have the same league record, Olympic has won two games in penalty-kick shootouts, which are only worth two points in the win column instead of three.

The South Kitsap baseball team is ranked No. 8 in the Class 4A rankings by washingtonbaseballpoll.com, which is compiled by Lem Elway.

The Wolves are the only West Sound school to be included in the first week’s rankings.

Here’s the full poll:

Class 4A

Class 3A

Class 2A

Class 1A

North Kitsap’s baseball team couldn’t have asked for a better start in the Olympic League. The Vikings (6-0 overall) have beaten four opponents by a combined score of 41-0.

North Mason is the only team that has lasted more than five innings against the Vikings, who will be tested later this week going against Klahowya (4-0 in league) and Bremerton (3-0 in league).

I’ll be heading up to North Kitsap for practice on Tuesday to work on a story that will come out on Friday. One subject that I’m sure will come up when I talk to coach Jeff Weible and a couple of his players will be the postseason. The last three years, the Vikings have won the Olympic League, but have failed to make it to the state tournament.

What will change this year? Is the team feeling pressure to finally break through in May? Are the Vikings finding success too easy in league play?

Olympic baseball player Shane Matheny committed to play at Washington State on Monday night.
Matheny, a junior outfielder/pitcher, was first-team All-State last year. He was 3-1 with a 0.95 ERA with four saves. He hit .481 with four RBI. He committed as an outfielder.
We’ll have more on this later.

South Kitsap athletic director Ed Santos said Friday the school has hired Marcus Logue and Jessica Cabato to coach varsity baseball and softball this spring.

Logue, a former assistant coach on the football team and Port Townsend graduate, replaces Jim Fairweather. Cabato, former head softball coach at Olympic College who played at Central Kitsap, replaces Tami Lester-Dame.