Richland girls soccer team earns WA state Final 4 spot. Kamiakin volleyball advances
The Richland girls soccer team defeated Puyallup 2-1 (winning 4-3 in a shootout) to advance to the Class 4A state semifinals.
The quarterfinal match at Bomber Field was a tight one from the start.
The Vikings found the net for a goal in the 18th minute.
And it wasn’t until the 67th minute that Richland got the equalizer, as Brookelyn Peterson kicked in the goal off an assist from Hayden Crowley.
From there, the teams stayed tied through the rest of regulation and through two overtimes.
That led to a shootout, in which Richland won 4-3, and sophomore Bombers keeper Alyssa Marsh stopped a key attempt to clinch the victory.
Head coach Justin Almquist now takes his Bombers team, carrying a 20-0 record, to the Final 4 — the first time Richland has made the semifinals since 2007 (when the Bombers placed fourth).
Richland takes on Issaquah at 6 p.m. Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup in the first semifinal.
Skyline plays Camas at 8 p.m. in the second semifinal on Friday.
The winners will meet at 5 p.m. Saturday at Sparks, while the semifinal losers play each other at 1 p.m. Saturday for third place.
Prep volleyball
▪ The Mid-Columbia Conference will send two teams to the state volleyball tournaments, set for Thursday through Saturday at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Kamiakin bounced back after a semifinal loss last Saturday to win two matches and qualify for the district’s third seed to the state 4A tournament.
The Braves lost 3-2 to Central Valley in the semifinal, then eliminated Lewis & Clark 3-0, before topping Richland 3-0 to earn the state berth.
So the top three District 8 teams headed to the 4A state tournament are Gonzaga Prep, Central Valley and Kamiakin.
The Braves, a 10-seed, will open up play against No. 7 Mt. Si at 10:45 a.m. on Friday.
▪ Walla Walla edged Ridgeline 3-2 on Saturday to earn the third and final seed to the 3A state tournament, also set for the Yakima Valley SunDome.
The Blue Devils, however, must beat Bainbridge in a play-in game at 9:45 a.m. Thursday.
While the 4A tournament has 16 teams, the 3A tournament — because of the sheer number of schools in that classification — gets a 20-team tournament.
The only way that works is if eight teams have play-in games.
So Bainbridge, seeded 19th, will take on No. 14-seeded Wa-Hi.
District 8 seeds are Mead, Mt. Spokane and Walla Walla.
Girls swimming
Richland senior Brynn McGinnis had a strong weekend at the WIAA girls high school state swimming and diving championships in Federal Way.
McGinnis placed second in the Class 4A 500 freestyle event, clocking in at 5:07.47. That was better than her preliminary time of 5:09.00.
Maya Clise of Puyallup won the event with a time of 5:01.53.
McGinnis also placed fifth in the 4A 100 butterfly, with a time of 58.54 seconds.
Claire Smith of Kamiak won that event with a time of 57.10 seconds.
NWAC sports
▪ Columbia Basin College’s women’s soccer team advanced to the NWAC semifinals on Friday, but the Hawks lost 2-1 Peninsula, which eventually won the title Saturday with a 1-0 win over Clark of Vancouver.
The Hawks finished the season with a 12-3-2 record.
Against Peninsula, Baylee Shewchuk (Richland) scored CBC’s lone goal unassisted in the 27th minute.
The Pirates rallied, however, scoring goals in the 59th and 88th minute, the latter goal coming from Grace Johnson.
CBC keeper RiaJo Schwartz (Toppenish) had a strong game in net, making 12 saves.
▪ The CBC women’s volleyball team went 1-2 this past weekend, hosting the East Regional for the first two rounds of the NWAC volleyball tournament.
By going 1-2, the Hawks don’t get to advance to the tournament’s Elite Eight portion of the event, to be held Friday-Sunday at Pierce College in Lakewood.
CBC opened the East Regional with a 3-0 win over Whatcom, as Lindsay Cummings (Decatur) had 9 kills for the Hawks, and teammate Grace Morby (Kennewick) added 10 kills and 6 digs.
CBC then lost 3-0 to Lane, despite the 10 kills and 13 assists from the Hawks’ Lucendy Perez (Chiawana).
In a loser-out, winner-to-state match on Sunday, CBC fell 3-1 to Whatcom. Perez finished with 10 kills and 24 digs for the Hawks, while Morby added 8 kills.
CBC finished the season with a 19-11 record, and finished first in the East Region in the standings.
▪ There will still be a Mid-Columbia flavor at the NWAC volleyball Elite Eight.
Bellevue College boasts freshman outside hitter Marin Mackey, while Whatcom has freshman setter Payton Pedersen on the team.
Spokane has freshman outside hitter Madeline Gebers (Kennewick) and freshman middle blocker Abigail Meyer (Hanford) on the roster.
Finally, Pierce College has freshman middle blocker Makenna Mosher (Walla Walla) on its roster.
Notes
▪ Richland High graduate Eric Yardley was released recently by the Milwaukee Brewers.
The sidearm pitcher had spent most of this past season pitching for the Brewers’ Triple-A team in Nashville.
“I am a free agent now,” Yardley told me in a text. “So I get to explore other opportunities.”
Yardley made his Major League Baseball debut in 2019 with the San Diego Padres.
▪ Seattle University’s softball team will have two local athletes playing for it when the season begins in spring of 2022.
Redshirt junior Kamryn Coleman, a pitcher and infielder, is from Walla Walla.
Freshman outfielder McKenna Crum is from Southridge.
▪ Former Kamiakin quarterback Mike Reilly is the quarterback for the B.C. Lions in the Canadian Football League.
The Lions are 4-8 with two games left in the regular season.
Reilly is 246 for 363 passing, with 2,943 yards, and 13 TD passes.