10 Mid-Columbia football players make WA’s top 100 to start the new season

Scorebook Live Washington, which covers the entire state of Washington when it comes to high school sports, is getting us all ready for the football season by naming its preseason top 100 players in the state list.

Among that 100 are 10 from the Mid-Columbia.

Here’s who the website recognizes as tops from our region:

• Royal junior Lance Allred, a standout linebacker and receiver last season for the three-time Class 1A state champs. Allred will step into the starting quarterback position this season in hopes of leading the Knights to a fourth consecutive state championship.

• Kamiakin junior offensive lineman Landon Biglin, who anchors a still young but pretty effective line for the Braves (who should be pretty good this season).

• Chiawana senior quarterback DJ Duran, who will be starting for the third straight season for the powerful Riverhawks.

• Senior offensive lineman Nathan Knapik, who anchors Kennewick’s offensive line. Knapik stands 6-foot-7. He’ll be playing next year at the University of Idaho.
• Kamiakin junior David Kuku, a two-way starter at both wide receiver and defensive back who made great plays on both sides of the ball last year for the Braves as a sophomore.
• Prosser senior Kory McClure, who will be the Mustangs’ starting quarterback for the second straight season. McClure is a talented basketball player too.
• Kennewick senior Dylin McIntyre, who like teammate Knapik, will be playing at the University of Idaho. McIntyre, who has been a starter for the Lions since his sophomore year, will play both defensive end and tight end.
• Sunnyside senior Noah McNair, who has been a very good wide receiver the past few seasons for the Grizzlies. McNair announced last week that he has committed to the Air Force Academy.
• Othello junior , who is a two-way starter on the line for the Huskies. Perez is a big reason that a number of people believe Othello could be the team to beat in the 2A Central Washington Athletic Conference.
• Richland senior quarterback Josh Woodard, who terrorized defenses last season while running the Bombers’ offense. Woodard can beat you with his arm or with his legs. He’s also a standout for the Richland boys basketball team.

MLB baseball

This week marks the official start of Maxton Martin’s professional baseball career.

The recent Southridge High grad, who had signed to play baseball at the University of Oregon, signed with the Texas Rangers a few weeks ago.

Martin was Texas’ 11^th-round draft choice, and he signed his contract on July 23 — the absolute deadline for players this season — and garnered a $250,000 signing bonus.

So the outfielder spent a few weeks at the Rangers’ training complex in Arizona getting any rust out of his swing before being put into competitive games.

His first contest was last Monday against a Brewers team, and while playing center field he was the Rangers’ leadoff hitter.

Martin went 2-for-4 in the contest, in which the left-handed batter belted a home run over the right field fence in the third inning.

He’s played two games for the Rangers, going 3-for-8 for a .375 batting average so far.

Meanwhile, Maxton’s older brother, Mason Martin (also a Southridge High grad), was promoted by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the team’s Double-A affiliate in Altoona, Pa., to Triple-A Indianapolis on July 28.

Mason is hitting .200 in seven games in Triple-A so far, and overall this season, he’s batting .211 with 16 home runs and 47 RBIs — obviously with the majority of those stats coming from Altoona.

▪ The Tri-City Titans got their AAA American Legion program up and running this past season, and the squad played well enough that it finished third in the state tournament last month in Centralia.

The Titans went 2-2 at the state tourney, beating Whatcom Post 7 3-2 before losing 4-3 to Central I-5.

Tri-City then bounced back with a 5-4 win over league rival Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak, before being eliminated by eventual state champion Lakeside Recovery 4-0.

Signings

• Columbia Basin College women’s basketball head coach Amy Sokaitis has signed Aniyah Heavens and Skyln Munson for this coming season. Heavens played for Chiawana in the 2021-22 season, while Munson graduated in 2022 from River View High School. Munson spent last season playing for the Clark College women’s team in Vancouver, Wash.
• Stanfield’s Zuri Reese’s will be playing for the Columbia Basin College volleyball team this fall.
• Local golfers who have signed on to play for the CBC men’s program include Roman Garcia (Chiawana), Wyatt Hansen (Kamiakin), Eli Harrell (Kamiakin) and TJ Murdock (Othello).
• Notable signings at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton for the upcoming school year includes Leanna Lepe in women’s basketball. Lepe was a defensive standout in her underclass years at Pasco High School, then transferred to Kamiakin for her senior season and continued to put the hammer on opponents defensively.
• Other signings include Umatilla products Alexis Araiza and Carlos Mejia for men’s soccer; Tallulah Cubbage-Thorp of Hermiston planning to play softball; and Riverside grad Miriam Landeros playing for the Timberwolves’ women’s soccer team.
• CBC’s women’s soccer program has added a number of area athletes to its fall roster: Hiselle Bernal (Wahluke), Madeline Dorendorg (Pasco), Emma Haertling (Chiawana), Angelina Keister (Southridge), Sierra Larios (Chiawana), Mya Lee (Kamiakin), Rylee McKay (Southridge), Olivia Mendoza (Chiawana), Alejandra Sanchez (Grandview) and Ava Suarez (Chiawana).
• CBC’s softball program has added a couple of local players to its roster for the 2023-24 season: Marissa Valdez (Chiawana) and Bree Waldron (Riverside).