Kennewick baseball opens district tournament play Saturday at Pasco High

Kennewick’s baseball team finished atop the Mid-Columbia Conference standings with a 15-1 record (18-2 overall).

The Lions will be the top seed headed into the District 8 Class 3A tournament, which begins on Saturday, May 7, and will play host to Cheney at 1 p.m., Saturday.

But the game won’t be at Roy Johnston Field.

Instead, it will be played at Pasco High School’s field.

Kennewick athletic director Anna Harris sent out an email Thursday morning notifying that Roy Johnson Field has been shut down by the City of Kennewick and the Kennewick School District as of Wednesday night.

Harris said it had been determined a field light pole located between Civic Field 2 (first base side) and Roy Johnson (right field) may be unstable and is at risk of falling or splitting.

Harris said she won’t have any answers until the city inspectors look at the pole.

“For this weekend, for sure, we can’t play there,” said Harris. “I can’t talk past this weekend. However, Pasco was gracious enough to let us host at their field.”

As for the rest of the 3A district tournament, Walla Walla becomes the MCC’s No. 2 seed, and the Blue Devils will open district play Saturday at home against the Greater Spokane League’s No. 3 team, Mead. First pitch is 1 p.m.

Southridge will be the third MCC team in the tournament, and will travel Saturday to play the GSL’s No. 2 team, Mt. Spokane, at 1 p.m.

The other Saturday contest has Ferris at University at 1 p.m.

The 3A tournament resumes next Tuesday.

Top three teams advance to the 20-team state tournament.

Meanwhile, Kamiakin will be the MCC’s top team in the District 8 Class 4A tournament, which starts in earnest on Saturday.

There is a play-in game on Thursday, when the GSL’s Lewis & Clark plays host to Hanford at 5 p.m. It is loser-out.

The winner of that game will play Richland at Gonzaga Prep High School at 12 p.m. Saturday, with the winner of that game then taking on G-Prep at 2 p.m.

Kamiakin will host the other half of the tournament at LaPierre Field on Saturday, with Chiawana meeting Central Valley at noon. The winner of that game would then play Kamiakin at 2 p.m.

The tournament resumes next Tuesday, and the top three teams advance to the 16-team state tournament.

Here are the final MCC baseball standings: 1. Kennewick 15-1 MCC, 18-2 overall; 2. Kamiakin 13-3, 16-4; 3. Richland 12-4, 15-5; 4. Walla Walla 10-6, 11-7; 5. Chiawana 7-9, 8-12; 6 (tie). Hanford 6-10, 10-10; 6 (tie). Southridge 6-10, 9-11; 8. Hermiston 3-13, 3-15; 9. Pasco 0-16, 2-17.

MCC boys soccer

While Pasco ended up winning the MCC boys soccer title, Chiawana made sure the Bulldogs aren’t going into the district tournament unbeaten.

Junior midfielder Fernando Lopez-Vega scored on a penalty kick in the first half, and the Riverhawks defensive unit posted its ninth shutout of the season to beat Pasco 1-0 on Tuesday night at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Of course, the Bulldogs — now ranked 5th in the latest WIAA RPI rankings for 4A boys soccer — are no defensive slouches themselves, having pitched 12 shutouts this spring.

Pasco finishes the regular season with a 15-1 record.

Here are the rest of the MCC standings: 2. Chiawana 12-4; 3. Richland 11-5; 4 (tie), Kennewick and Southridge, 9-6; 6. Hermiston 7-8; 7. Kamiakin 3-13; 8. Walla Walla 2-13; 9. Hanford 2-14.

You’ll notice some teams haven’t gotten their 16th MCC match in yet.

Walla Walla plays Kennewick at Lampson Stadium (7 p.m.), and Hermiston is at Southridge (7 p.m.) on Thursday.

Kennewick and Southridge will get either the MCC 1 or 2 seeds for the District 8 3A tournament, which begins Saturday.

▪ Here’s how the 4A District 8 tournament plays out: Kamiakin visits Gonzaga Prep at 5 p.m., Thursday, May 5, in a play-in game (loser out).

On Saturday, May 10, that winner visits Chiawana at 11 a.m. Richland visits Central Valley at noon on Saturday.

The two league champions — Pasco and the Greater Spokane League’s Lewis & Clark — play the winners next Tuesday.

The top three teams will advance to the state tournament.

▪ Meanwhile, the 3A portion of district tournament begins Saturday at four sites: Game 1, University vs. North Central, Union Stadium, 7 p.m.; Game 2, Mt. Spokane at MCC No. 2 (Kennewick or Southridge), TBD; Game 3, Hermiston at Mead, Union Stadium, noon; Game 4, Ridgeline at MCC No. 1 (Kennewick or Southridge), TBD.

The tournament then resumes next Tuesday.

The top three teams advance to the 3A state tournament. A reminder that there are so many 3A teams in the state that 20 schools make the state tournament.

MCC softball

As far as MCC softball is concerned, the regular season ends this Friday.

Playoff positions are still up for grabs in both 4A and 3A.

Here are the latest standings going into Friday’s contests: 1. Walla Walla 12-2 MCC, 15-2 overall; 2. Richland 11-3, 13-5; 3 (tie) Kamiakin 10-4, 13-5; 3 (tie) Chiawana 10-4, 12-6; 5. Hermiston 10-6, 14-6; 6. Hanford 5-9, 6-12; 7. Kennewick 4-10, 7-11; 8. Southridge 2-12, 3-16; 9. Pasco 0-14, 0-16.

Here are Friday’s doubleheaders (all start at 4 p.m.): Chiawana at Kamiakin, Lawrence Scott Park; Pasco at Kennewick, Civic Center Fields; Richland at Southridge; Walla Walla at Hanford.

The district tournaments for both 4A and 3A begin next Tuesday.

CBC baseball

Columbia Basin College’s baseball team swept Blue Mountain 15-3 and 4-0 on Wednesday, improving the Hawks’ East Region record to 12-10 and putting them in fourth place — the last playoff spot available.

In the opener, Isaac Haws (Idaho) had two hits, scored three runs, had two RBIs, and stole a base for CBC, now 29-15. Brooks Rasmussen (Idaho) added a double and four RBIs.

In the nightcap, Brady Toth (Idaho), Cameron Soliz (Texas) and Josh Aribal (Hawaii) combined to toss a 1-hitter. Aribal went 6 innings in relief and struck out 10, while Soliz fanned four batters in 2 innings.

CBC was twinbills left May 7 at Blue Mountain, at Walla Walla May 11, and at home against Walla Walla on May 14.

Here are the NWAC East standings as of May 4: 1. Spokane 17-5 East, 25-12 overall; 2 (tie). Yakima Valley 15-7, 27-15; 2 (tie). Big Bend 15-7, 21-16; 4. CBC 12-10, 29-15; 5. Wenatchee Valley 11-11, 15-30; 6. Treasure Valley 10-12, 15-25; 7. Walla Walla 6-16, 8-28; 8. Blue Mountain 2-20, 4-38.

Hydroplanes and boxing

The U-8 Miss Tri-Cities unlimited hydroplane will be on display at the Pasco Farmers Market this coming Saturday, May 7, for Pasco’s Cinco DeMayo celebration. There’s also a boxing tournament beginning at 3 p.m.

This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 12:49 PM.