Winning streaks abound and not just Kentwood’s which stands at 18 but teams like Tahoma which has won four straight as well as Kentridge which had four victories out of its last five games.
Kentwood is in first place while Tahoma is in second and thanks to that last stretch Kentridge — as well as a win over Tahoma early in the season — has moved into third place. Auburn Riverside beat Kentlake Monday night, which put the Ravens in fourth with the Falcons in fifth respectively. Kentlake will get Graham-Kapowsin in a loser-out game for the ninth seed out of the league at 4 p.m. on Thursday at Curtis High.
The top five teams in the North division will go to the South Puget Sound League playoffs, which are seeding games for the West Central District tournament.
Tahoma wrapped up the season with a 5-2 win on April 27 over Kentlake at Kent Memorial Park.
The Bears started it off with a 3-run first inning thanks to a Tanner Anthony hit in which he reached second which allowed two runs to score immediately followed by Ryan Malone’s RBI single.
It looked like the Falcons might mount a comeback in the bottom of the third when DJ Elmer drew a walk followed by a Dylan Wright bloop single to shallow left center. Two batters later Jordan Cowan walked then Ryne Shelton hit a rope to drive in Elmer and Wright to make it 5-2 but from there the Bears pitching staff and defense held the Falcons’ bats.
Anthony finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI while Malone went 2-for-3 batting with a double and an RBI.
Nate Brown got the win on the mound for Tahoma, striking out seven, walking two while allowing three hits in five innings pitched. Christian Saez came in to close and got the save after throwing 19 pitches in the final two innings.
Tahoma put together wins on back-to-back days — April 23 and April 24 — over Kentridge and Auburn Riverside.
The Bears beat the Chargers 3-0 after scoring all three of their runs in the first inning.
Tahoma knocked off Auburn Riverside 5-2 again scoring three runs in the bottom of the first while allowing just two hits.
With that four win streak Tahoma wrapped up the season 12-4 in SPSL North play.
Kentridge bounced back from that loss to Tahoma with a 13-3 victory over Mount Rainier the next afternoon.
The win came thanks to an eight-run third inning for the Chargers who pounded out 13 hits.
In its third game in as many days Kentridge then beat Jefferson 3-2 on the road in an extra-innings affair.
Conner Bennett led the Chargers offensively in the win over the Raiders, batting 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.
On April 27 Kentridge dropped a game to Auburn Riverside, 5-0, but put together a 9-0 victory the next afternoon against Auburn.
The Chargers put together a five-run first inning then added three more to the board in the top of the fifth.
Carl Derline led the charge for Kentridge at the plate going 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs. Derline also got the win on the mound for the Chargers allowing four hits in five innings while striking out seven.
Michael Leverenz finished the day 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Joe Wainhouse put together a 1-for-2 hitting performance with a double, a sacrifice fly and two RBIs.
Kentridge finished league play at 9-7.
Kentlake lost three straight — to Riverside on April 23, to Kentwood on April 24 and finally to Tahoma on April 27 — to finish the season 9-7 in league play.
Kentwood will play Puyallup at Kent Memorial Park for the first and second seeds in the district tournament. Tahoma gets Todd Beamer in the third-fourth game at Heritage Park while Kentridge takes on Rogers for fifth and sixth. The winner of the Riverside-Kentlake tiebreaker gets Emerald Ridge at Heritage Park.
All games will be on Thursday afternoon or evening.
