H1 Unlimited hydroplanes headed to Tri-Cities for spring training on Columbia River

We’re now under a month from the unlimited hydroplanes being back on the Columbia River.

H1 Unlimited’s annual spring training event is scheduled for June 3 in Lampson Pits.

And though there may be an exhibition event May 20 in the Vancouver, Wash., area — no one has seen anything regarding this event, even though it’s on H1’s schedule — the Tri-Cities spring training event usually opens the season.

The first race is set for Guntersville, Ala., on June 25-26, and it’ll be the APBA Gold Cup.

That’s followed with the Indiana Governor’s Cup in Madison, Ind., set for July 1-3.

The Tri-Cities’ Columbia Cup follows on July 29-31, and then it’s Seafair — the HomeStreet Bank Cup — for the first time in Seattle in three years. The dates for that event are Aug. 5-7.

The season then concludes Sept. 16-18 in San Diego for the Bill Muncey Cup.

Once again, there is no race in Detroit this year.

• Some other hydro notes: The Miss Madison team has already announced it will run two boats for the entire circuit in 2022. The U-1 Miss HomeStreet Bank, driven by Jimmy Shane, and the U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate with driver Jeff Bernard. Darrell and Vanessa Strong, the Tri-City couple who purchased and ran two boats in 2021, are back again with the U-9 Pinnacle Peak Consulting and driver Corey Peabody, and the U-8 Miss Tri-Cities with driver J. Michael Kelly. The Strong team garnered a lot of hardware in the offseason. The Strongs were named H1 Owners of the Year; Kelly was named the national high point champion; the team itself was named Crew of the Year; and Brian Hajny was named co-Crew Chief of the Year (along with HomeStreet Bank’s Mike Hanson). As a reminder, the U-1 HomeStreet was the top team in 2021. But Kelly and the U-8 team were second, while Peabody and the U-9 team were third.

Prep baseball

While the District 8 4A baseball tournament doesn’t resume until Saturday, May 14, we already know where the district title game will be played: LaPierre Field in Kennewick.

Kamiakin defeated Chiawana 5-2 this past Saturday to win one winners’ bracket semifinal game — guaranteeing the Braves will advance to the 4A regional tournament.

Kamiakin will meet either Richland or Gonzaga Prep.

The Bombers beat Hanford 6-2 on Saturday in the tournament, and were supposed to play Gonzaga Prep in Spokane. But inclement weather postponed that contest until 3 p.m. Monday.

The winner earns a regional berth.

• Top-seeded Kennewick handled its business Saturday in the District 8 3A baseball tournament, beating Cheney 13-3. The game was played at Pasco High School instead of the at the Lions’ home ballpark of Roy Johnson Field.

That’s because a light pole in right field has been determined as unsafe, and until the City of Kennewick can rectify the situation Kennewick can’t play at home.

The Lions will play Mt. Spokane — a 7-4 winner over Southridge on Saturday — in a winners bracket semifinal game on Tuesday night.

But where and what time we don’t know just yet.

The other winners bracket semifinal will feature either Ferris or University against Walla Walla at a time or place to be determined.

The two Spokane schools meet at 4 p.m. Monday after their game Saturday was rained out.

The Blue Devils handled Mead 5-2 on Saturday for a first-round victory.

Southridge, meanwhile, is still alive and will host Cheney at 5 p.m. Tuesday in a loser-out game.

The top three teams in this tournament advance to the 3A regionals.

Ams in the NHL

Former Tri-City American Brandon Carlo finished the regular season with 6 goals, 9 assists for 15 points.

The Boston Bruins defenseman had 31 penalty minutes in 79 games played.

• The Seattle Kraken had two former Ams playing for it this season: goalie Chris Driedger and forward Morgan Geekie.

Driedger, 27, was 9-14-1 in the net for the 26-48-6 (58 points) in the Kraken’s first season. His goals against average was 2.96.

Meanwhile Geekie, 23, scored 7 goals and had 15 assists for 22 points.

Boys soccer

The Pasco and Chiawana boys soccer teams will have chances Tuesday night to qualify for the Class 4A state tournament.

The Bulldogs will play host to Central Valley at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Edgar Brown Stadium.

CV edged Richland 2-1 on Saturday.

Chiawana, meanwhile, stopped Gonzaga Prep 4-1 on Saturday to advance to the District 8 4A soccer semifinals.

The Riverhawks will visit Lewis & Clark — the Greater Spokane League’s top team — on Tuesday.

LC’s website said, as of Sunday night, the game is at 4 p.m. at Hart Field.

The winners of both of these games will qualify for the state tournament, and would meet this coming Thursday to determine the district champion.

Richland’s boys, meanwhile, are also still alive in the tournament. The Bombers will play the loser of Tuesday’s Chiawana-LC match in a loser-out game on Thursday.

• The boys soccer teams from Kennewick and Southridge have chances to qualify for the state 3A tournament if they can win their winners bracket semifinal matches Tuesday night in the District 8 tournament.

The Lions will play host to Mead at Lampson Stadium at 6 p.m., Tuesday; while Southridge visits North Central at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the other semifinal.

Both Kennewick teams won their first-round matchups on Saturday, with Kennewick stopping Ridgeline 3-0, and Southridge edging Mt. Spokane 2-1.

Other first-round matches Saturday had Mead stopping Hermiston 2-0, while North Central blanked University 2-0.

Ridgeline will visit Hermiston at 5 p.m., Tuesday, in a loser-out match.

This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 12:56 PM.