The rain came.
But that hardly put any sort of damper on the first-ever ShoWare Shootout 3-on-3 basketball tournament, which played out Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 7-8, amidst grey skies and sporadic rain showers. The 160-team, 16-division tournament that took place in the parking lot of the ShoWare Center brought players from as far away as Yakima and Spokane, Everett and Marysville.
A bounty of mullets, the notion that every truck includes a gun rack, and it’s a city that “doesn’t sleep.”…
They delivered a big comeback in the state semifinals.
But the Kent 9-10 Little League All-Stars couldn’t sustain the momentum on Saturday in the state championship game at Shoreline Park in Seattle.
A day after storming back to beat Central Vancouver 11-10 thanks to a seven-run sixth-inning rally, the Kent Stars fell just short in a 13-12 loss to Bellevue East in the championship game.
The Kent Stars knocked off Redmond 9-4 to win the Senior (ages 14-16) Little League state championship.
He received a second chance on the baseball diamond.
And it could have killed him.
Instead, it saved Ryan Voelkel’s life.
Aiesha Goodlow got redemption.
It has been a little more than a month since the recent Kentwood High graduate just missed qualifying for the Class 4A state track and field meet in the 100 hurdles. Goodlow, however, received a second chance of sorts during the Nike Track Nationals, which was held from July 1-4 at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.
They received steady pitching, and delivered air-tight defense, too.
The Kent/Auburn 10-11 All-Star fastpitch team also came through with clutch at-bats. Combine the three and the Kent/Auburn Stars were able to put together a flawless District 10 tournament last month at Federal Ways National Complex, winning three straight games to come home with the championship.
They were down, but far from out.
The Kent Little League Senior All-Stars got off on the wrong foot June 30, losing to Soundview/Steel Lake 16-1 in a third-round game of the District 10 tournament at Auburn’s Brannan Park.
Luckily for the Kent team, which ranges in age from 14-16, a second chance quickly followed.
Ben Wadowski cashed in on opportunity Sunday morning at South County Ballfield Park in Federal Way.
Wadowski delivered a Herculean performance, belting two home runs and going the distance on the mound, leading Kent’s 10-11 All-Stars past Auburn 7-2 for the District 10 championship.
Today marks the last of the three annual honors we hand out here at the Reporter.
Of the three – the Male and Female Athlete of the Year honors – the Coach of the Year was the most difficult to choose.
It’s hard to imagine that a high school baseball team would feel as though it had something to prove after posting a 17-4 record.
But that was exactly the position Kentwood High found itself at the beginning of this spring. When the Conquerors looked back, they didn’t see the wins from the previous season or their second place finish in league, but instead the one glaring loss — a 13-7 defeat to Newport — in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.
Kent will be taking on a decidedly Spokane feel later on this summer.
While the Gonzaga Bulldogs won’t be coming this way any time soon, the ShoWare Center parking lot will be host to the first 3-on-3 basketball tournament in Kent history. The tournament, which is being tabbed the ShoWare Shootout presented by Allied Waste, will follow the blueprint established by the Spokane Hoopfest, which takes place at the end of June each year and draws more than 5,000 teams and 25,000 players from around the nation.
The Pacific-10 Conference named its men’s Rowing All-Academic teams on June 7 and the final roster had a distinctively Kentwood feel to it. Included on the team are Kentwood graduates Kramer Wahlburg, Josh Wadagnolo and Mitch Williams.
He grew up with basketball dreams.
Tennis?
That always has been the second choice of Max Manthou. Yet, when Manthou graduates from Kentwood High next week, the 18 year old will do so as one of the greatest high school tennis players the state of Washington has ever seen.
Kentwood High’s Max Manthou ended Saturday what has been one of the greatest runs in prep tennis history. And he did it with an exclamation point.
Kentwood’s star sprinter Holly DeHart fought through an upset stomach, flu-like symptoms and nerves to bring home her first state gold medal in the 200-meter dash.
DeHart won the event on Saturday, the final day of the 4A state meet, in the time of 25.35 seconds.
Avery Kain may not be the ace of the Kentwood High baseball team.
But Saturday night at Safeco Field in the biggest game of his life, Kain certainly pitched like an ace.
Surprises?
The Class 4A West Central District track and field meet last Friday and Saturday was filled with more than its share of eye-openers.
In a matter of seconds, Kent Hagen’s foot and heart were broken during a pick-up basketball game in January.
After sputtering somewhat toward the end of the season, the Kentwood High baseball team needed an offensive lift.
The Conquerors got one on Saturday at Everett Memorial Stadium in the first two rounds of the Class 4A state tournament.
