Baseball teams from the North Division of the South Puget Sound League didn’t fare so well in the district seeding games against their South division counterparts.

Kentwood, for example, lost for the first time this season in an extra-innings affair to Puyallup while Tahoma was defeated by Todd Beamer, 7-4, and Kentlake was bounced from the playoffs by Graham-Kapowsin which earned the ninth seed into the West Central-Southwest District tournament which started Tuesday.

Mark Zender, head coach for Kentwood, said the Conquerors did some good things in the loss as well as made some mistakes in an email interview.

“We weren’t sharp pitching. Leaving balls out over the plate allowing Puyallup good pitches to hit,” Zender wrote. “We did leave quite a few runners on base but showed great character late in the game, tying it up and sending to extra innings.”

The Conks are the SPSL No. 2.

Kentwood played Gig Harbor, the Narrows No. 2, on Tuesday after the Reporter’s press deadline.

Monday morning Zender said the loss to Puyallup was “not a crisis by any means.”

“Our kids know we didn’t play even close to our best yet still came very close to winning.  Baseball is like that sometimes,” he wrote. “We’re just fine and if we play well have a great chance of winning any game. The loss was competitive and it wasn’t like we didn’t have a lot of good things happen. We had 10 hits so we’re still hitting well and should bounce right back. We do face quality competition every game now and respect all opponents. But we do believe if we play well we will control how far we go.”

Tanner Wessling went 2-for-3 against Puyallup with an RBI while Skyler Genger, who also pitched four innings, was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Lucas Gately was 1-for-4 with a double.

Tahoma’s 7-4 loss to Beamer, meanwhile, gives the Bears the No. 4 seed into the district tournament. Tahoma took on Olympia, the No. 1 out of the Narrows League, on Tuesday afternoon.

Tahoma head coach Russ Hayden explained in an email that the Bears struggled to focus.

“We had our worst melt down of the season,” Hayden wrote. “Our runners and hitters missed four signs, our first two pitchers struggled, mostly mentally, we only had four hits, and committed three errors. It doesn’t get much worse than that.”

Still, a loss in a seeding game is probably the best time for it to happen, and there’s some significant lessons to take into the district tournament.

“If we played that poorly and lost by only three runs, then if we can bounce back and play with confidence, we can compete with anyone,” Hayden wrote. “I always tell our guys that the best team does not always win in high school baseball. It’s the teams that don’t beat themselves and do the little things right, usually come out victorious. I also tell them that they are only as good as they think they are.”

Hayden added that the team had put itself in a tough spot with the loss in that it slotted Tahoma against Olympia which he described as “a solid club” that had effective pitchers and good hitters.

Kentridge was a bright spot among the North teams with its 6-4 win over Rogers on May 5.

Joe Wainhouse led the Chargers at the plate with a 2-for-3 day at the plate with a double and an RBI. Taylor Poffenroth was 1-for-3 and brought in two runs while Sheldon Stober was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

Jeremy Rabauliman started on the mound for Kentridge while Nick Hamre finished, allowing a combined four walks, scattering a total of seven hits while striking out nine total.

Next up for Kentridge was Battle Ground, the third seed out of the Greater Saint Helens League, on Tuesday afternoon.