West Seattle, Washington
20 Friday
It’s a big game for a big world … and soccer excitement is happening at Walt Hundley Playfield with the West Seattle Cup, a community/family tournament organized to coincide with the start of the World Cup. We stopped by at midday, just as organizer Terry Kegel was starting the ceremonies scheduled a few hours after play began:
Young players were settling down to take a break, each in a colorful T-shirt for their team representing certain countries.
Earlier in the day, one team got a thrill – Kelly shared the following photo of Team Uganda with a Seattle Sounders player who’s from that nation, Micheal Azira:
Games continue until 6:15 pm, every 45 minutes in each division (8:45-6:15 tomorrow too) – click ahead to our photos of the schedule boards for the K-2 and 3-5 groups today:
Thanks to Debi Yeabsley from the West Seattle Women’s Golf Club for sharing photos from their Derby Day tournament this past week – specifically, the hat competition! Beth Jackson was “Best Hat” winner:
With appreciation for her fellow WSWGC members’ “creativity and enthusiasm,” Debi adds:
It’s an active and interesting group of women. All ages and abilities welcome. For membership info, e-mail Corinne Burr – ceburr@comcast.net
Almost five months after Alki Elementary teacher Terry Kegel announced the plan for the West Seattle Cup – a communitywide celebration of soccer at the same time as the global attention for the World Cup – it’s days away! His latest update (including the video above):
The West Seattle Cup is finally here this weekend! In addition to the 420 child and parent participants, we are hoping to get as many fans there as possible. Games are played 8:45 am to 6:15 pm and there will be a special midday ceremony 11:45 am-12:15 pm on both days. We also need a few more volunteers to sign up. The event is all about community-building, so let’s get everyone out there to celebrate soccer, culture, and community!
List of teams and schedule information – here
Sign up to volunteer – here
Make a monetary donation to support purchase of uniforms – here
Facebook page for the most up-to-date information – here
The games are at High Point’s Walt Hundley Playfield – 34th/Myrtle.
Congratulations to the West Seattle Girls’ Softball 15U champs, the Cheetahs, who won the division championship last night at Fairmount Playfield, 8-6 over the Tamales. Above, Cheetahs catcher Caitlin crossing home plate; below, that’s Tamales player Sofia (left) waiting to high-five Jaeley as she comes in.
Cheetahs pitcher Kaley:
And Tamales pitcher Erin:
The WSGS league includes some Vashon Island players, and we’re told a group came over from Vashon to see the game. While the WSGS season, which starts in April, is ending this month, registration will start up again early next year for girls 8 through 15 – keep an eye on WestSeattleGirlsSoftball.com. (Thanks to Juan Hernandez for the tip about the big game!)
Big week for soccer, as the World Cup starts Thursday. For local high-school-soccer athletes, the season has ended, but there’s a postscript: Congratulations to the local high-school-soccer players who made the Metro all-conference list this year! The Chief Sealth International High School and West Seattle High School athletes on the list are:
All-Metro Sound Division
FIRST TEAM
M Devin Offord, Sr., Chief Sealth
M Yael Pina, Jr., Chief Sealth
D Lorenzo Waller, Jr., Chief Sealth
GK Sam Orlin, Jr., Chief SealthSECOND TEAM
F Justin Alvarez, Jr., Chief Sealth
F Alazar Gilay, Sr., West Seattle
M Max Sadow, Jr., West Seattle
D Joseph Wally, So., Chief Sealth
D Brian McMonigle, So., West Seattle
D Cole Nofsinger, So., West Seattle
D Riley Germundson, So., Chief Sealth
GK Akil Kasin, Fr., West Seattle.HONORABLE MENTION
Chief Sealth — Daniel Herrera, Carlos Cardoza
West Seattle — Logan Schiller, Conner Elder, Thomas Mensing, Carter Mensing, Johnston Means
(Thanks to Tim McMonigle for sharing the list – see the full conference list on SeattleTimes.com.)
Beautiful day for baseball! At Riverview, four Pee Wee teams from West Seattle Baseball took the field for their championship games this morning. Before the games in the Pinto and Mustang divisions, the pomp, circumstance, and photos. We don’t know the results yet, but the contenders in the Mustang (9-10) division were, above, the West Seattle Design Build team and, below, the Menashe and Sons Jewelers team (both businesses are also WSB sponsors):
In the Pinto (7-8 division), it was Alki Lumber and another Menashe-sponsored team:
Warmups and introductions, of course:
And a ceremonial first pitch for the Pinto game by King County Councilmember Joe McDermott:
CM McDermott had skin in the game, so to speak – his brother-in-law Nathan Thomas is a Pinto coach, and explained, “The kids have been playing since March and these 4 teams have come from a field of 20 in a double elimination tournament over the past 2 weeks.” We hope to get the scores later so we can add them here. In the meantime, congrats to all four teams; you can find out more about the organization at westseattlebaseball.com.
2:40 PM: Thanks for the reports in the comment section below, and congratulations to the championship-winning Alki Lumber and West Seattle Design Build teams!
Two notes tonight from the West Seattle Soccer Club
FALL REGISTRATION OPEN: Spring season’s not over yet – the final games are next weekend – but it’s already time for WSSC to sign up players for fall. Registration is open until the end of June, but don’t wait too long – last fall, WSSC board member Tim McMonigle tells WSB, the league had almost 2,000 players! Details are on the WSSC website.
WSSC BOARD MEMBERS HONORED: Dennis Lapchis, also from the WSSC board, shares the news:
Two of our West Seattle Soccer Club Board Members have received state honors for their service to the kids of our community. Bill Fry received the Washington Youth Soccer “Administrator of the Year” Award and Clydene Evans-Wenzel received the Washington Youth Soccer “Volunteer of the Year” Award. The Of The Year Awards are Washington Youth Soccer’s annual awards to recognize outstanding members of our soccer community. … We couldn’t be more proud of these two outstanding soccer promoters, who have worked collectively for close to 30 years serving our local community and helping our kids have fun, stay healthy, and participate in one of the greatest sports in the world! Congrats to Bill and Clydene!
Beautiful weekend for baseball – including the game that crowd came to watch at Walt Hundley Playfield in High Point on Saturday afternoon. Not your standard baseball game, though:
The reason for the sign? The game was “beep baseball” – designed so sight-impaired players can hear the ball:
That’s the ball, which really does beep, and is 16 inches around. Listen to hear it in this short clip from one at-bat:
The team: The Seattle-South King Sluggers (see the roster here), for whom Walt Hundley serves as home field:
As previewed here a few weeks ago, they extended a special community invitation to their “awareness event,” playing a team from the Seattle Police Department – in black, with special specs that are worn by all players:
This is the second season for the Sluggers, coached by Kevin Daniel
Want to see – and hear – the Sluggers in action? Here’s their schedule.
P.S. According to an update on the Sluggers’ Facebook page, they won 7-0.
You’ve heard of the Winter Olympics … the Summer Olympics … now, meet the Spring Olympics. This past week, West Seattle’s K-5 STEM elementary combined gym versions of popular sports to make them happen – starting with an Opening Ceremony and Parade of Nations during which music teacher Cathy Chutich “led each grade level in sharing songs from their chosen countries or regions,” as explained by parent Kathleen Voss, who let us know about the first-ever STEM Olympics. Then, for three days, PE teacher Gretchen Gray (who shared the photo) led students through events including, from the Winter Games, bobsled, skeleton, speed skating, long jump (skiing), and curling, and from the Summer Games, the 100m dash, 400m relay, basketball, soccer, and a long-jump (track) event. You can see photos and video from the Opening Ceremony/Parade of Nations on the K-5 STEM PTA website.
Congratulations to West Seattle High School athletic director Trevor Leopold for a big honor in his role as the school’s fastpitch (softball) coach – he has been chosen Metro League Coach of the Year. The Wildcats finished the season high atop the conference (here are the standings as published at SeattleTimes.com). WSHS players receiving all-league honors were pitcher Gabby Wenn and shortstop Annalisa Ursino; all-division honors, catcher Sam Hummert and infielder Emma Atkinson, with honorable mention to infielder Tina Lozeau. Congratulations to all!
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(Photo courtesy West Seattle Totems)
More success for the West Seattle Totems, whose coach Joe Matter shares another of his periodic updates, with news of state and national championships:
The West Seattle Totems, the Junior Olympic Rifle Club located at the West Seattle Stadium, just finished its best season to date.
In the Washington State Indoor Championships, the Thunderbird Squad (Owen Yeasting, Casey Iwamoto, Corinne Blair and Alec Patajo) won the state team Championship. Alec won the individual state title.
In the Washington State Outdoor Championships, the Thunderbird Squad (Owen, Casey, and Corinne) won the state team title. The Chiefs squad (Katelynn Brown, Jack Ellis, and Emma Carey) finished as the 2nd place team. Alec won the Outdoor 3-Position state title. Owen won the Outdoor Prone state title. Alec won the overall Aggregate Title. Corinne won the Indoor&Outdoor Women’s Aggregate. Emma won the Outdoor Women’s Aggregate.
In the National Indoor Championships, the Totems brought home 44 national awards.
(Pitcher Ben Wexler gave up only 2 runs, throwing all 11 innings)
At Mount Vernon this morning, the West Seattle High School Wildcats played what became their last game of the season, losing 2-1 to Shelton HS in 11 innings. The photos and summary are by Greg Slader (thank you!):
(Jimmy Mai‘s 7th-inning single brought in the Wildcats’ lone run)
The Wildcats fell behind early 0-1 in round one of Regionals against Shelton. Their pitching and defense kept the game at 0-1 until the seventh inning, when returning WSHS player Jimmy Mai produced a pinch-hit single and came around to score on a sac fly. Game tied 1-1 and would stay that way thru 10 innings before Shelton won with a sac fly of their own in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Congratulations to head coach Velko Vitalich, assistant coaches Scott Meaker, Bryan Tupper, and Kerry Tupper, and all the players, families, and other supporters on another season of making it to state.
(UPDATED late afternoon with results link)
9:30 AM: The race is on! At 9:20, more than 830 runners and walkers started heading eastward on the West Seattle 5K course, the kickoff to a day of fun on (and in!) Alki Avenue SW, to be followed by the Summer Streets festival until 5 pm.
We’ll be updating WS5K coverage with (more) photos, video, and race winners once they’re in.
9:53 AM: First three finishers among males and females:
Male
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#1 – Joe Creighton, 34, 16:43
#2 – Kyle Smits, 35, 17:12
#3 – John O’Hearn, 52, 17:48
Female
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#1 – Kylen Fountain, 25, 20:09
#2 – Angela Wecker, 29, 20:49
#3 – Alisha Winger, 34, 21:36
West Seattle High School principal Ruth Medsker was the official race starter:
That’s her with race emcee Eric Radovich. The WSHS PTSA presents the WS5K every year, to raise money for student needs beyond what basic budgets cover.
11:02 AM: More race scenes – top female finisher Kylen Fountain with her aunt Karen Berge, who ran today too:
You might know Karen for her community involvement – West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network, West Seattle Be Prepared, among other things – and you’ll see her tabling at today’s Summer Streets, too. Meantime – good thing the race didn’t have the “no shirt, no shoes, no …” rule:
That’s Beach Drive resident Bob Divers with no place for the bib or chip. By the way, if you haven’t even come to watch the WS5K, let alone run in it, it’s fun on the sidelines too:
In addition to more photos, we recorded our traditional everybody-leaving-the-finish-line video and will add that when it’s ready. (Added: Here it is!)
4:23 PM UPDATE: The full list of results is live online – find it here.
Thanks to Joe Puckett for the report on today’s Seattle Lutheran game:
In a game that determined the seedings for next week’s regional 2B baseball tournament, the Seattle Lutheran Saints lost to the LaConner Braves by a final score of 6 to 1. As the winner, LaConner will be the number 1 seed from the District 1/2 group and Seattle Lutheran will be the number 2 seed. Sealu will play on Saturday, May 24 in Adna and must win a double-header to move on to the 4-team state final on May 31.
(WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
The West Seattle High School Wildcats finish the Metro League baseball tournament at #2, after tonight’s loss to O’Dea at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center. The summary, and the next two photos, are courtesy of Greg Slader:
Pitcher Larry Jensen (above) dazzled the Irish hitters with a combination of sliders and knuckleballs to keep them off balance.
Cameron Slader‘s two-run home run (above) gave the Wildcats a brief 2-1 lead through three innings. But O’Dea’s strong bats and speedy runners kept pressing, as they would eventually top West Seattle 7-3 for the Metro League title.
It’s not over for West Seattle, as they head to
Centraliafor the South Regional in the state tournament on May 24th. Game time will be announced next Monday.
Here’s the state-tournament bracket (no team names yet); the finals are in Pasco.
UPDATE: WSHS will play Shelton HS this Saturday (May 24th) at 10 am in Mount Vernon.
Thanks to Joe Puckett for the summary of this afternoon’s Seattle Lutheran High School baseball victory:
Seattle Lutheran High School won their first baseball playoff game today at Delridge Playfield against the Concrete Lions by a score of 4 to 1. Four different Sealu players had RBI’s in a well-played game. Cody Jones pitched a complete game for Sealu, giving up only 4 hits while striking out 15 Concrete batters. Seattle Lutheran will play again on Saturday at Stanwood against an opponent still to be determined.
(WSB photo: Sealth sophomore David Johnson)
Tough loss tonight for Chief Sealth International High School, playing Bainbridge in the Metro League playoffs at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center. The Seahawks played hard, holding the lead at times, but fell short, losing 10-7.
Quick break for a fun clip – Kaycie shared it, explaining:
Our son, Henry, who plays T-Ball for the West Seattle Little League “Wild Things,” was the Steal-A-Base Kid at the Mariners game Sunday (Mother’s Day), which also happened to be Little League Day at the Stadium. He got some help from Mariners player James Jones! Thought I’d send along the video that was posted on Mariners.com and MLB.com. WSLL was well represented! Lots of cheering and fun all around!
(Pitcher Kevin Cuddy)
West Seattle High School is the first varsity-baseball team from the Metro League to secure a berth in the state tournament, with a 13-8 victory tonight over Bainbridge at Steve Cox Memorial Field in White Center. Our first two photos and the following summary are courtesy of Greg Slader:
(Graham French hitting a double for insurance runs in the 6th inning)
West Seattle shocked #8-ranked Bainbridge, as the back-and-forth game resulted in a 13-8 win for the Wildcats. Both pitchers seemed to give up runs in every inning as the score was tied 3-3 and 5-5. Bainbridge led 8-5 in the sixth inning; then West Seattle batted around for eight runs, shocking the overconfident Islanders. Kevin Cuddy came on to pitch the sixth inning with bases loaded and then held on for the final six outs, as the Islanders could not muster a comeback. Graham French ignited the offense with a home run, two-RBI double and another RBI single as Bainbridge seemed to have no answer for his big bat. West Seattle is the first team to punch their ticket to the State Tournament. Before that, they have the Metro title game on Thursday night.
The Wildcats, coached by Velko Vitalich, will play that game at Cox Field at 7 pm Thursday vs. either O’Dea or Seattle Prep.
(WSB photo – celebrating a rally)
Meantime, Bainbridge’s loss today means they’ll play Chief Sealth International High School tomorrow night.
Maybe you’ve heard about the Seattle South King Sluggers, a team of blind and visually impaired athletes who play “beep baseball” here in West Seattle, but you’ve never gone to one of their games. You’re now officially invited to a special matchup later this month:
The Seattle Police Dept. team will don darkened shades to compete in a game designed for blind athletes against the Seattle South King Sluggers. SPD players will have to listen for the ball and listen for which base to run.
The public is invited to attend the Sluggers vs. the Seattle SPD match Saturday, May 31, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Walt Hundley Playfield #2, 6920 34th Ave. SW, Seattle. Food, drinks, and t-shirts will be on sale.
Officer Chris Gregorio met the Sluggers and said, “I loved the idea of a beep baseball match because these guys were not ‘poor me.’ The trash talk began with the handshake.”
“The Sluggers motto is ‘beating challenges.’ We showcase what people who are blind can accomplish. This sport is highly competitive. The men and women on our team plan to compete in the Beep Baseball World Series in Minnesota this August,” said Sluggers Manager, Kevin Daniel.
Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) will sponsor this event to raise awareness about the sport and encourage people dealing with vision loss to get active.
“As a state organization of the blind, we voted to sponsor this event because we want to empower and engage people experiencing vision loss and their families,” Cindy Van Winkle, WCB President.
“Too often stories focus on what sighted people do for this faceless category called ‘the blind.’ We want to change the dialog. Come see what we can and are doing to make life better for others,” said Gaylen Floy, president of South King Council of the Blind, the chapter that sponsors the Sluggers.
Here’s a Seattle Times story from last year about the Sluggers.
Last night’s victory for the Chief Sealth International High School Seahawks varsity-baseball team keeps them going in the Metro League tournament. They defeated Nathan Hale HS, 4-3. Coach Ernest Policarpio says this morning they’re awaiting word on who they play next – the game is at 7 pm Wednesday, and will be against whomever loses this afternoon’s game between West Seattle HS and Bainbridge (4 pm, at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center, venue for all games in this tournament).
Thanks to Lex for the photo and report:
Did you know that West Seattle High School has an Ultimate Frisbee team? I wanted to let you know that the varsity team just finished 2nd place in the B Division at playoffs (Saturday). In 1st was Ladies and Gentlemen (Juanita & Lake Washington High School).
It’s been a big year for the WSHS team, which last month placed third in its division at the annual Spring Reign competition (belated thanks to Alanah for that news, which we failed to report at the time). The spring high-school-based coed league is run through DiscNW.
(Sealth senior Izac Bauer sliding toward third)
In the second of two playoff games involving local varsity-baseball teams Saturday, Chief Sealth International High School lost to Seattle Prep, 12-0.
(Sealth junior Garret Smith about to put out Prep’s Will Hall)
Earlier in the day, as reported here, WSHS defeated Lakeside.
NEXT GAME: Sealth plays Nathan Hale tomorrow, 7 pm, also at Steve Cox Field in White Center.
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