13 Tri-Cities area teams head to state high school softball tournaments

Thirteen Mid-Columbia teams will be involved in the state high school fastpitch softball tournaments this weekend, in which two tournaments — Class 4A and 1A — will be played at Columbia Playfield in Richland.

In the 4A tournament, Richland earned a No. 2 seed this year, and the Bombers will open play in the modified double-elimination tournament at 9 a.m. Friday against No. 15 Lake Stevens.

No. 7 Hanford will also open at 9 a.m. Friday against No. 10 Rogers of Puyallup.

Skyview of Vancouver is the tournament’s top seed.

State 3A: Hermiston and Southridge will participate in play-in games at the Lacey Regional Athletic Complex starting Thursday.

Hermiston is seeded 19th, and meets No. 14 Auburn Mountain View on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 20th seeded Southridge meets No. 13 Peninsula, also Thursday.

Stanwood is the tournament’s top seed.

State 2A: There are no Mid-Columbia teams that qualified for this tournament, which runs Friday and Saturday in Selah.

Tumwater is the No. 1 seed.

State 1A: No. 11 Connell meets No. 6 Klahowya in a play-in game Thursday, winner advancing and loser is out.

No. 9 Lynden Christian meets No. 8 Kiona-Benton in another Thursday play-in.

Royal has a bye and is seeded No. 2. Montesano is the top seed.

The tourney is at Columbia Playfield in Richland.

State 2B: River View earned a 10 seed, and the Panthers will take on No. 7 Coupeville at 10 a.m. Friday at Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima.

No. 14 Warden will meet No. 3 Adna, also at 10 a.m. Friday.

Freeman is the tournament’s top seed.

State 1B: Also at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima, DeSales is No. 1 and Liberty Christian No. 2 heading into the event.

They will both have byes.

No. 7 Sunnyside Christian will take on No. 16 Ocosta at 8 a.m. Friday; while No. 8 Daytona plays No. 9 Naselle at the same time.

Boys soccer

Chiawana used another stifling defensive effort on Wednesday night to beat Bothell 3-1 in a first-round Class 4A boys state soccer tournament game at Chiawana High School.

The Riverhawks, seed third in the field, will now play host to No. 6 Newport of Bellevue at 5 p.m., Saturday, at the high school. It will be a state quarterfinal match, with the winner advancing to the Final Four.

Meanwhile, No. 10 seed Pasco saw its season end on Wednesday when the visiting Bulldogs fell 3-1 to No. 7 Union.

Class 3A: Kennewick went on the road Tuesday to beat Bellarmine Prep 2-1 in a state play-in game.

That means the Lions will now take on No. 4 Bishop Blanchet at 5 p.m., Friday, at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium.

Class 2A: Othello won and Grandview lost in their respective first-round state tournament contests this week.

The Huskies, ranked 6th in the tournament, beat No. 11 Franklin Pierce 5-0 in Othello.

That means Othello will visit No. 3 Columbia River at 1 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, the host Greyhounds — seeded eighth — fell 2-0 to No. 9 R.A. Long of Longview on Wednesday to see their season end.

Class 1A: No. 17 seed Connell traveled to beat No. 16 Brewster 5-1 on Tuesday in a state play-in game.

That means the Eagles will take on No. 1 University Prep at Kings High School at 7 p.m. Friday.

Other first-round matchups include No. 6 Royal playing No. 11 Kings at 4 p.m. Friday at Columbia High School in White Salmon; and No. 8 Wahluke will meet No. 9 Seton Catholic at 5 p.m. Friday at Kings High School.

The 1A tournament is constructed in that Friday’s winners will move on to the quarterfinals, which will be played Saturday.

College football

The Knapik brothers — Ayden and Nathan — spent the past two seasons playing on the offensive line together for the University of Idaho football team.

Ayden has been a consistent starter for the Vandals through his junior year, while Nathan saw some action last season as a redshirt freshman.

After the 2024 season, both Kennewick High School graduates jumped into the transfer portal. And older brother Ayden — with one year of eligibility remaining — came out on the other side with the Big 10’s University of Illinois.

Nathan, not long after Ayden’s decision, eventually took himself out of the portal with the intention of staying with the Vandals.

But last week, Illinois came calling again for the other Knapik brother, and with three seasons of eligibility remaining, Nathan Knapik has also signed with Illinois.

Summer baseball

The Wenatchee AppleSox, a summer college baseball team in the West Coast League, will have five Mid-Columbia’s on its roster when the season begins May 30.

Freshman pitcher Alec Ammerman (Richland), who is at Grand Canyon University, is on the roster.

Kamiakin grad Brady Bean, who can play infield or outfield, was signed a few months ago. A junior, Bean is a standout at the University of Portland.

Outfielder Nate Gray Jr. (Kamiakin) spent last season with Kelowna in the WCL, plays at Hawaii-Hilo. He spent the previous two seasons with Lower Columbia Community College.

Right-handed pitcher Broden Palmer, a Southridge grad, is now at Virginia Commonwealth University after spending a season at University of Portland.

And left-handed pitcher Brayden Walls, who pitches at Columbia Basin College, will head to Wenatchee to pitch for the AppleSox.