Tri-Cities high schools, WHL working on plan to reopen play soon
Catching up after a long weekend off, and there have been a few announcements regarding the resumption — or start — of play for high school athletics and the Western Hockey League.
Let’s start with high school.
Last week, the executive board of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association voted to move fall sports ahead of winter sports, and would start with practices on Feb. 1 for the following sports: Cross country, football, girls slowpitch softball, girls soccer, 1B/2B boys soccer, girls swimming and diving, and volleyball.
The move coincides with Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcement last week of his new Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery program.
State counties are now put onto regions, and both Benton and Franklin counties are being combined with Columbia, Kittitas, Walla Walla and Yakima counties.
All regions start in Phase 1 of the 2-Phase system, and to move into Phase 2 (which would mean a better chance at holding sports events), each region must meet four metrics that show decreasing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
So we’re still not out of the woods as far as high school sports is concerned. But by starting with outdoor sports rather than the indoor winter sports, it could give student-athletes a better chance at competing.
The WIAA has also allowed leagues and conferences to adjust their seasons as needed.
Kamiakin High athletic director Casey Gant told the Tri-Cities Sports Council last Thursday that the Mid-Columbia Conference has multiple plans in place, depending on the situation.
“We have plans of moving forward for Feb. 1, Feb. 8, Feb. 15, or Feb. 22,” Gant told the sports council. “So there could be a light at then end of the tunnel.”
Area athletes have been practicing in various sports on campuses.
The athletic directors of the Columbia Basin Big Nine Conference have already decided to split up (at least for this year) because it has schools in different regions. That also means there are no plans for a conference schedule.
So Yakima-area schools Davis, Eisenhower, West Valley and Sunnyside — all Class 4A — will seek contests against not only each other but schools from the Class 2A Central Washington Athletic Conference in the same region: East Valley, Ellensburg, Grandview, Prosser and Selah.
There could be a potential for games with the MCC schools.
Hockey
Meanwhile, the board of governors for the Western Hockey League met on Friday, and then announced it has committed to a season.
Each team would get 24 games, but the WHL did not announce a starting date.
“The Western Hockey League is committed to providing a season for WHL players,” said Commissioner Ron Robison in a news release. “This commitment ensures WHL players will receive the opportunity to compete at the highest level in the system and continue to pursue their hockey goals in the world’s finest development league for junior hockey players.”
Passing of a colleague
On Dec. 9, Sean Kelly passed away in his home, due to heart failure, at the age of 57.
I hadn’t seen Kelly in years, but I was thankful to see Curt Cartier’s post on 97rockonline.com about him.
Sean had come to the Tri-Cities in the early 1990s and worked at KNDU, covering sports, during a time that also included Kevin Uretsky and Jeff Rickard as sports reporters.
It was always a battle — and it was fun — to see who could break the bigger sports stories during a time that had high school sports, the Tri-City Americans, the Tri-City Chinook of the old Continental Basketball Association, and the Tri-Cities Posse.
While Uretsky would stay in the Tri-Cities, becoming an institution on local television (before leaving a few years ago for home and a TV job in the New Jersey-New York area), and Rickard went on to Denver and then to ESPN Radio; Kelly got out of the business and became a co-owner of the Posse in 1997.
You could tell he loved it — always happy at the ballpark, savoring those Posse victories.
Like Cartier wrote, Kelly grew up in Oregon. But he was a lifetime Los Angeles sports fan, especially about those Rams. I always gave him grief for that, in a fun way.
In recent years, he was a salesman for a phone book. Apparently, he was good at that.
“The Dude could sell ice to a Native Alaskan,” wrote Cartier.
If you get a chance, go to 97 Rock’s website and read Cartier’s piece. Great tribute.
Soccer
Kamiakin grad Parker Lee and Chiawana graduate Cydni Cottrell have been playing well for FC Malaga City Femenino, a women’s professional soccer team in Spain.
The two were recruited this year after finishing their collegiate careers — Lee at Embry-Riddle University in Arizona, Cottrell at Eastern Oregon University.
“We are having a great time in Spain,” said Cottrell. “We are loving the culture and how different futbol is played over here. We are worried about a few minor setbacks we could have due to COVID. But we are hopeful to overcome them.”
Cottrell has been playing at goalie for the Spanish team, collecting a few shutouts.
Lee, a forward, has been either finding the net with goals or passing to teammates for goals.
On Nov. 29, FC Malaga City beat CD Ronda 18-0, as Lee had a goal and assist.
On Dec. 5, in a 5-0 win over UD Torre del Mar Femenino, Lee had a hat trick, scoring three goals.
One week later, in an 8-0 win over Atletico Juval Femenino with Cottrell in net, Lee added a goal and two assists.
Cottrell was also in net for FC Malaga City Femenino’s 2-2 draw against Puerto de la Torre.
Lee scored a goal in the 42nd minute to give her team the tie.
Baseball
Left-handed pitchers Travis Craven and Spencer Schwehr have their summer plans set for 2021.
The two have signed contracts to play for the Walla Walla Sweets of the West Coast League, the summer college baseball league.
Both pitchers were members of the Sweets in 2019, so they’ll be coming back into familiar territory.
Craven plays for Whitman College in Walla Walla, while Schwehr is at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. Before NNU, though, he was a standout at Walla Walla Community College.