Kamiakin grad pitching in Midwest during summer where most sports are shut down
With almost everything shut down sports-wise around the country, there have been very few summer college baseball gigs available.
The Northwest’s West Coast League was one of the casualties.
But Kamiakin High School graduate Trystan Vrieling has been one of the lucky ones.
Vrieling, who just finished an abbreviated first season at Gonzaga University, is pitching for the Mandan Flickertails of the Northwoods League.
Mandan is based in North Dakota, and is part of a pod of teams around the Bismarck area this summer to limit travel.
Vrieling has pitched in seven games, starting three. He has a 1-1 record, plus one save. In 19.1 innings of work, Vrieling has struck out 28 batters, has a 2.79 earned run average, and batters are hitting a paltry .208 off of him.
Kennewick American 12s heading east
In 2019, the Kennewick American Cal Ripken 11-year-olds rolled through the competition to win the Pacific Northwest Regional championship.
Unfortunately, Cal Ripken Baseball does not have a World Series for 11-year-olds. But the Kennewick team got an invitational to play in the World Series as 12-year-olds this year in Branson, Mo.
The team accepted … then COVID-19 hit.
The Cal Ripken regular season in Kennewick was cancelled, and then so was the World Series.
It looked like it was a lost season, when KA officials got a call last month. Cal Ripken turned the World Series to a national invitational-type of tournament.
Would the KA all-stars like to come?
After plenty of parental discussion, and under healthy guidelines, the answer was a resounding yes.
At least there’s a chance to salvage some part of a season.
Other teams around the nation felt the same way. Currently there are 12 teams from 11 states involved – Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and of course Washington.
The KA team will leave Aug. 6, the tournament is set to begin Aug. 8 and runs through the Aug 15.
KA’s team will return to the Tri-Cities on Aug. 16.
The team has been trying to raise $20,000 for the trip, and would gladly take any type of financial donation.
Check out its Facebook site, Kennewick American Youth Baseball, where you can donate.
CCC, GNAC also suspends sports
Lost in the news last week that high school fall sports would mostly be moved by the WIAA to the spring was the fact that the Cascade Collegiate Conference and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference also were stopping any fall sports because of the coronavirus.
Both Northwest college leagues have plenty of Mid-Columbia athletes on their rosters.
For the NAIA CCC conference, cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball will all be moved to the spring.
The NAIA also stated those sports would have national championships in the spring. But the NAIA also said it hadn’t made a decision on football.
Meanwhile, the GNAC (which includes Central Washington University) has delayed all fall sports through Nov. 30.
GNAC officials will meet again Oct. 15 to determine the status of sports again at that point, and explore options for spring.
WHL status
With almost everything being postponed and moved to after the first of the new year, the question concerning the Western Hockey League starting on time comes up.
To that end, the league came up with a Return to Play protocol this summer, and has created special task forces in the WHL’s six jurisdictions (Washington, Oregon and four Canadian provinces) to work with local government and health officials.
The league has stated that it will need fans in attendance at games in order to exist — probably no more than 50 percent in the buildings.
The target starting date is Oct. 2. But even if that doesn’t happen, the WHL says it fully intends to have each team play a full 68-game regular-season schedule, no matter when play begins.
Notes
• Kamiakin’s Asia Borisch, who just graduated, will continue her wrestling career by competing at Colorado Mesa.
Borisch, who also is an outstanding competitor in judo, was a state-caliber wrestler for the Braves.
• Kennewick High grad Leonel Leon will be competing this coming year for the Clackamas Community College men’s cross country and track and field teams.
Leon has the Lions’ third-fastest times in the past 15 years in both the 1600 meters (4:40.12) and 3200 meters (10:03.97), and the fourth-fastest 800 meters (2:02.05).
• Southridge High grad Kalie Mariscal has had an interesting journey these past few years.
The women’s soccer player competed for the Suns before heading to Columbia Basin College for her freshman season. After one season, she transferred to Adams State in Colorado.
But she redshirted there, then decided to come back to the Northwest. She’ll be attending St. Martin’s University in Lacey this fall, where she’ll compete for the Saints.
• Sunnyside High School has named Dave Martinez as its new athletic director for the coming school year.
Martinez has been a long-time presence at the school, where he’s been a teacher, a coach, and an administrator.
He replaces Scott Paine, who held the position the past two years, but is going to become the Lake Chelan School District athletic director.
• Kennewick High grad Leilani Mitchell started at point guard again Tuesday for the Washington Mystics, helping the team defeat the Connecticut Sun 94-89 in their second game in the WNBA bubble in Bradenton, Fla.
Mitchell — who is 35 — played 25 minutes, scoring 8 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists. The Mystics are now 2-0.
• Richland’s Baylee Shewchuk, who graduated in June, is headed to Columbia Basin College to play for the women’s soccer team. Shewchuk is a defender.
• New CBC men’s basketball coach Anthony Owens recently signed Decoreio Smith, a 6-4, 189-pound guard/wing from Marion High of Arkansas.
CBC also picked up Walla Walla Valley Academy graduate Aaron Pollard. He’s a 6-6, 195-pounder, who averaged 14.7 pounds and 9.5 rebounds last season.