Wide World of Kitsap Sports

The Kitsap Pumas will be represented next month during the 2010 United Soccer Leagues Men’s Showcase, hosted by the Charleston (S.C.) Battery Feb. 4-6.
Leon Abravanel, Mark Conrad and Stephen Phillips — who played with Kitsap last season — are among the 59 players currently scheduled to participate in the event, which is aimed at helping Premier Development League players catch on with higher level professional clubs.
Phillips had his option picked up by the team for 2010. Abravanel and Conrad are not currently under contract.

South Kitsap grad Jason Hammel avoided arbitration on  Wednesday when he and the Colorado Rockies agreed to a one-year, $1.9 million contract. The Rockies acquired Hammel in a trade with Tampa Bay at the start of the 2009 season and the big right-hander became a valuable part of the starting rotation, helping Colorado reach the postseason.

Here’s a link from mlb.com on Hammel’s signing. Hammel, 27, was 10-8 with a 4.33 ERA. He made 30 starts and pitched 176.2 innings.

Here’s an old link from the DRaysBay blog that breaks down Hammel’s season statistically. It points out that the Rays came out on the wrong side of the trade for Hammel last season. Check it out here. For those of you who enjoy statistical analysis, it’s pretty interesting, especially if you’re a Jason Hammel fan.

Hammel’s one of three South Kitsap grads who played in the big leagues a year ago. The others: Willie Bloomquist (Royals) and Aaron Cunningham (A’s, but recently traded to the Padres). Another SK grad with big-league experience, Jason Ellison, was an outfielder at Triple-A Lehigh Valley for the Phillies.

Can you name the other South Kitsap grad who played briefly in the majors in 1999 and 2000? Hint, he also played in the 2004 Olympics?

— Chuck Stark

According to a blog item in the Orange County Register, there were only 13 players who had extra base hits in fewer than 5 percent of their plate appearances in 2009. The source was Baseball-Reference.com.

Port Orchard native Willie Bloomquist, the former Mariner who now plays for Kansas City, was on the list. Bloomquist hit .265 for the Royals. Of his 115 hits, 4 were home runs, 8 were triples and 11 were doubles.

The Dodgers’ Russell Martin was in that crew, along with Ryan Theriot, Edgar Renteria, Willy Taveras, Alexei Ramirez, Nick Punto, Nyjer Morgan, Cesar Izturis, Jason Kendall, Tony Gwynn, Emilio Bonifacio and Luis Castillo.

Not that all these guys were ciphers. Theriot had 171 hits for the Cubs, and Castillo and Morgan had OBPs over .350.

Of course, Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith, Nellie Fox and Rich Ashburn would have been on the same list for their careers, along with Bert Campaneris and Larry Bowa.

For active players, Castillo leads the list with Juan Pierre second. Those guys hit first and second for the world champion Florida Marlins of 2003.

Here’s an update on some local basketball players now playing at college:

Derrick Webb (sr., South Kitsap/Highline CC), a 6-foot-3 guard/forward, was averaging a team-high 13.9 points and 5.9 rebounds for No. 14 Western Washington (13-1) going into the Vikings’ Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener at St. Martin’s on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

Ryan Sweet (jr., South Kitsap/Olympic CCC/Whatcom CC) is averaging a team-high 6.5 rebounds and 9.1 points for Seattle Pacific. The 6-7 Sweet is the first player off the bench for the Falcons (9-2), who played at Northwest Nazarene on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

Megan Hoisington (sr., Central Kitsap) leads Seattle Pacific in rebounding (9.4 rpg) and the 5-foot-11 forward is second in scoring (10.0 ppg). The Falcons (9-2) open GNAC play at Western Oregon on Saturday, Jan. 10..

Coby Gibler (jr., Bainbridge/Highline CC) averages 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 9.8 minutes per game for Central Washington (6-5 overall). The 6-9 post has played in 10 games.

Guard Jenn Jacobs (jr., Bremerton) comes off the bench and averages 9.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 21.4 minutes per game for Central Washington (3-7).

Rich Smith (jr., Olympic/Concordia College) leads George Fox averages 13.0 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Bruins of Newberg, Ore. Teammate Evan Atwater (sr., South Kitsap) averages 11.8 points for the Bruins (4-5 overall, 2-0 Northwest Conference).

Eastern Oregon guard Cody Thurmond (fr., Central Kitsap) comes off the bench and averages 7.2 points, 3.3 assists (second-high on the team) and 21.1 minutes per game for the Mountaineers (10-5, 4-2 Cascade Collegiate Conference).

Puget Sound’s Conner Gehring (sr., South Kitsap) scored eight points in a loss at Linfield on Jan. 3. The 6-3 forward is coming off Achilles surgery and has played in the past three games for the Loggers (4-7, 0-2 Northwest Conference).

Chloe Mosey (jr., King’s West), a 6-foot backup post, averages 9.4 points and 3.9 rebounds for Western Montana (4-9). Mosey has played in seven games.

Bremerton’s Bree Schaaf is eighth going into this weekend’s World Cup bobsled race in Germany. If the U.S. maintains its current pace over the next two races, Schaaf will be sliding in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, B.C. in February.

The top two teams get three sleds. Germany’s guaranteed the No. 1 spot and the U.S. currently has a fairly healthy lead over Canada for the No. 2 stop in women’s bobsled.

Here’s the latest press release on the U.S. bobsledders:

The 2009-2010 Bobsled and Skeleton World Cup tou resumes in Knigssee, Germany from Jan. 8-10 after a two-week break. The U.S. team has collected 13 medals to-date, five of them gold. Only three World Cup competitions remain before the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. Nation quotas for the Olympics will be decided following the St. Moritz, Switzerland race, and the U.S. will name their team no later than Jan. 20.

Bobsled pilot Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) contributed six medals to the overall count after adding four gold medals to his growing resume. The reigning World Champion leads four- man standings with 1,053 points and is ranked sixth in two-man.

U.S. drivers occupy three of the top eight positions in women’s bobsled world standings. Shauna Rohbock (Park City, Utah) is ranked third with 953 points- just eight points from second- after sliding gold and bronze medal performances this season. Erin Pac (Farmington, Conn.) is ranked fifth with 928 points after winning two bronze medals this year, and Bree Schaaf (Bremerton, Wash.) is ranked eighth with 784 points.