Richland Bombers top list of Mid-Columbia Conference soccer honors

Richland’s McKenna Martinez was named the Mid-Columbia Conference girls soccer Play of the Year by the conference coaches.

The team was released this week.

A forward, Martinez helped lead the Bombers to a first-place finish in the shortened, spring regular season the MCC held. She is headed to Oregon State University to play women’s soccer in the fall.

Martinez, who attends Tri-Cities Prep but plays soccer for the Bombers, also helped lead the team to the district championship.

Her coach, Justin Almquist, was also named the MCC Coach of the Year.

There were four Richland players on the first team, including junior forward Hayden Crowley — who has verbally committed to playing at the University of Washington.

Kamiakin also had four players on the MCC’s first team.

Here is a look at the MCC girls soccer team:

Player of the Year: McKenna Martinez, sr., Richland.

Coach of the Year: Justin Almquist, Richland

First team: F McKenna Martinez, sr., Richland; F Hayden Crowley, jr., Richland; F Kate Christian, soph., Kamiakin; F Kassadi Suitonu, sr., Southridge; MF Kelsey Fulton, soph., Richland; MF Claire Potter, jr., Pasco; MF Violet Duran, jr., Southridge; MF Emma Lundberg, sr., Chiawana; MF Rylee Franklin, sr., Kamiakin; D Eliana Coburn, sr., Walla Walla; D Delaney Pink, sr., Chiawana; D Elysia Moore, sr., Kamiakin; D Claire Eerkes, jr., Kamiakin; GK Hannah Hagler, sr., Richland.

Second team: F Ava Suarez, soph., Chiawana; F Isabella Hoag, fr., Chiawana; F Claire Nguyen, jr., Hanford; F Madisyn Joyner, jr., Hanford; MF Ellie Cortez-Muniz, jr., Chiawana; MF Emoree Lash, sr., Walla Walla; MF Sorrel Stratford, soph., Richland; MF Abby Lamb, sr., Kamiakin; D Kaylie Pearson, jr., Richland; D Maggie Perryman, jr., Richland; D Jessalee Wills, sr., Walla Walla; D Adelyn Suarez, sr., Chiawana; GK Adriana Gullion, sr., Southridge; GK Crystal Kelly, jr., Walla Walla.

Honorable mention: F Meredith Winiarski, jr., Southridge; MF Camryn Thoreson, sr., Kennewick; MF Maritza Aquino, jr., Pasco; MF Kayla Anema, soph., Southridge; D Riley Pink, sr., Kennewick; D Reagan Santos, sr., Southridge; D Maya Wunschel, soph., Hanford; D Kaylee Gay, sr., Kennewick.

Other notes

▪ The Gonzaga University baseball coaches obviously knew what they were doing last summer when they offered Kamiakin junior Payton Graham a baseball scholarship.

Graham accepted, and has thus torn up the Mid-Columbia Conference this month for the Braves.

Last week, Graham struck out 11 batters and tossed a no-hitter, as Kamiakin beat Hermiston 14-0.

So what’s he do for an encore? On Tuesday, Graham once again fired a no-hitter, striking out 13, as Kamiakin pounded Southridge 10-0.

At the plate, Graham hit a home run and drove in five runs to help his cause.

Can’t wait to see what he does on Friday.

▪ Jenn Jacobo has been an outstanding outside shooter the past few years for the Columbia-Burbank girls basketball team.

Now the senior Jacobo is going to stay close to home starting this fall, after she signed a letter of intent to play for the Columbia Basin College women’s basketball program.

▪ Kamiakin graduate Wyatt Musser, a starter this spring for Eastern Washington University’s football team, was named second-team All-Big Sky Conference for his outstanding play. Musser is a redshirt junior for the Eagles.

▪ Emilee Maldonado, a Sunnyside High grad, was named a first-team NAIA All-American, a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American, and was Academic All-Frontier League this spring for the Providence University women’s basketball team.

Maldonado, a senior, averaged 16.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.0 steals for the 10-6 Argos, who made it to the second round of the NAIA Tournament.

Juniors Kennedy Cartwright (Chiawana) and Alicia Oatis (Kennewick) are also members of the Argos women’s basketball team.

▪ Junior defender Kaylee Kraft (Kamiakin) started seven of nine contests for the 2-7-1 Austin Peay women’s soccer team this spring.

▪ Hanford junior Hudson Shupe has verbally committed to playing baseball for Seattle University, beginning in the 2022-23 school year.

▪ Colette Gall, a Hanford High graduate who played women’s basketball at Northwest Nazarene University, has left her basketball coaching job at Nampa High School to be a coach at NNU.

Gall, who is called CoCo by her friends, has been an admission counselor at NNU.

▪ Alaina Rainey (Richland) had a team-high 19 digs for the University of Idaho volleyball team in a match on March 21. However, the Vandals lost 3-1 to Northern Colorado.

Rainey led the team in digs this spring season with 253 (3.5 per set), as Idaho was 6-11 overall.

▪ On March 21, Noe Meza (Sunnyside) scored three goals — one was assisted by Edwin Aquino (Pasco) — as the Seattle University men’s soccer team defeated Incarnate Word 7-1.

▪ Junior setter Ashtin Olin (Chiawana) was named to the All-Big Sky Conference’s second team all-star squad recently.

Olin led Sacramento State this spring season with 395 assists, and was fourth on the team with 142 digs. She also had 69 kills.

▪ Here’s what Boise State University men’s head basketball coach Leon Rice (and Richland High grad) had to say about Chiawana’s Kobe Young, who signed with the Broncos last week: “Kobe is a phenomenal athlete, a great student, and has a tremendous work ethic. He really catches your attention on the basketball court with his athleticism and ability to shoot the ball. Now we can bring him into a college basketball system and help him elevate his game. I am really excited to get him in our program and see the strides he will make when he can focus on basketball.”

▪ Former Tri-City Dust Devils outfielder Mike Tauchman has found a new home in Major League Baseball. The Yankees traded Tauchman to the San Francisco Giants this week.

▪ The Springfield Drifters in western Oregon will be the West Coast League’s 16th franchise when the 2022 summer college baseball league season begins.

The team was announced last week as an expansion team.

As for this season, the WCL announced that the five Canadian teams in the league — Kelowna Falcons, the Victoria HarbourCats, and the expansion teams Edmonton Riverhawks, Kamloops NorthPaws and Nanaimo NightOwls — all have withdrawn from WCL play for this coming summer.

The continued closure of the U.S.-Canadian border has made it impossible for crossings.

The remaining 10 U.S. teams — including the Walla Walla Sweets and Yakima Valley Pippins — have a revised scheduled that calls for 48 games per team for the 2021 summer season.

The season opens June 4.