Wide World of Kitsap Sports

That’s right. The Kitsap Pumas will play one game at the home of the Tacoma Rainiers — Cheney Stadium — on June 15 against the Sounders U23s (formerly Tacoma Tide). Here’s a link to the story.

We knew that the Kitsap Pumas were going to look quite different in 2012 after winning the PDL title last summer. Some players have joined upper-level teams, others have moved out of the area or called it a career.

One player the club hopes will make a return is left back Mark Lee. The defender has been a mainstay in the lineup for three years. But here is a report from goalWA.net talking about Lee trying out for the Sounders U23s (formerly the Tacoma Tide).

Could the Pumas be losing one of their top players to their Northwest Division rivals? Very interesting….

Fresh off his first-place finish at the Pac-12 wrestling tournament, South Kitsap graduate Brent Chriswell is preparing for next week’s NCAA championships in St. Louis. Here are the brackets for the tournament, which begins Thursday.

Athree-time Pac-12 champion and junior at Boise State, Chriswell is up against Oklahoma State’s Cayle Byers — the No. 5 seed at 197 pounds — in the first round.

Chriswell has been to nationals twice before. He didn’t place in his freshman season at Arizona State, then took sixth in his sophomore campaign at Boise State.

I asked Chriswell, a two-time state champion at South Kitsap, if he gets nervous for big-time events like these. After all, going to nationals is like a kid from Washington going to the Tacoma Dome in high school. He said nerves aren’t part of the equation for him anymore.

“For me, that awe has been long gone,” he said. “It’s just another tournament.”

I talked with Pumas coach James Ritchie for a few minutes (and by a few minutes, I mean almost an hour) about the upcoming invitational tryouts this weekend at Gordon Field. The team will be going Saturday (9 a.m. to noon, 2-4 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.). Expect to see between 40-60 players.

Since the Pumas are always dealing with the Premier Development League’s overage rule (the team can have no more than eight players 23 or older), I wanted to find out what players off last year’s team would fit the overage category.

Here are the list of players who are overage AND have invites for this weekend’s tryouts: Kyle Johnson, Mark Lee, Taylor Hyde, Steve Mohn, Matt Friesen, Greg Miley and Chris Andre.

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Former Kitsap Pumas defender Daniel Scott signed a two-year deal with FC Tampa Bay, the NASL club announced Wednesday.

Here’s a link to the story.

Former North Kitsap athlete Kasey Dunn, now the receivers coach at No. 3 Oklahoma State and former running backs coach with the Seahawks, sat down with scout.com to talk about the athletes he’s now coaching in Stillwater, Okla.

Ryan Villopoto’s monster motocross season continued over the weekend as he led the USA team to victory at the Motocross of Nations in France.

The Poulsbo rider, now living in Florida, won the AMA Supercross and AMA Motorcross 450cc titles previously.

There’s no disputing that the Kawasaki rider is the best in the world at what he does. How many people can say that?

Former North Kitsap star Jared Prince of the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Pelicans was named to the Class A Carolina League All-Star team. The Texas Rangers’ farm hand made it as a utility outfielder.

Here’s what the press release reported on Prince:

After a brutal 4-for-45 start to the season, the Washington State University product has been a constant engine in the Myrtle Beach order, batting .297 in 116 games since. The versatile offensive performer has spent 13 games or more at the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh spots in the order and currently leads Pelicans regulars in games played (128), average (.278) and RBI (67) and is tied for the team lead in hits (131), walks (45), and doubles (29). Prince leads the Carolina League in on-base percentage (.371) and is the second-hardest batter to strike out in the league with one K per 11.83 plate appearances. The Poulsbo native also has made his mark on the Carolina League in a more painful way. Prince has been hit by pitches 29 times this season, a mark that ranks second in all of Carolina League history, one behind the single-season league record set by Winston-Salem’s Seth Loman last season

KITSAP COUNTY FAIR STAMPEDE 5K & 1 MILE

August 27, 2011

1 MILE RUN

42 Runners

 Overall Winners

Men:  Ryan Woodard, 16, 5:29

Women:  Michaela Rubenstein, 15, 6:19

5K RACE

107 Runners

Overall Winners

Men: Craig Bookenogen, 16, 16:52

Women:  Amber Hoak, 20, 18:36