State baseball, boys soccer seedings released

COLUMBIA BASIN – Baseball and boys soccer teams begin the push toward a state title this weekend, with boys soccer teams playing on Friday and baseball teams competing in regionals on Saturday. See below for matchups, times and records of each of the five teams competing in state playoffs this weekend.

Baseball

4A

Moses Lake clinched its state berth with a 8-2 win over Eastmont on Saturday, and the Mavs (16-7) were rewarded with the No. 13 seed in the 4A state tournament. Their first-round matchup comes against No. 4 Olympia (19-4) on Saturday at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey, with the winner going on to face the winner of No. 5 Tahoma/No. 12 Skyline later on Saturday afternoon.

The Mavs lost 4-3 to West Valley (Yakima) in Friday’s Columbia Basin Big-Nine district championship game in walk-off fashion but rallied on Saturday to qualify for state with their win over Eastmont. Saturday’s win snapped a five-game skid for the Mavs, who have now qualified for four-straight state tournaments.

First pitch for the Mavs is at 1 p.m. on Saturday against Olympia.

1B

The Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors were given the No. 4 seed in the 1B state playoffs, and will be one of four squads to receive a first-round bye in the tournament. ACH (16-1) plays the winner of Saturday’s matchup between No. 12 Crosspoint (9-6) and No. 5 Naselle (13-5) in a loser-out game for a chance to advance to the state semifinals at Johnson-O’Brien Stadium at Ephrata High School on May 26.

The Warriors finished the regular season with an undefeated 15-0 record, but fell 11-3 to DeSales in the semifinals of the District 7/9 1B Baseball tournament. In the 3rd/4th place game, ACH answered with a 6-3 win over Wilbur-Creston-Keller.

First pitch for the Warriors is at 3 p.m. on Saturday against their yet-to-be-determined opponent.

Boys Soccer

1A

Three local teams qualified for the 1A State Boys Soccer Tournament.

The Quincy Jackrabbits (15-2) earned the No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament, setting up a second-round match at home against the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 16 Chelan and No. 17 Connell on Friday. Game times have yet to be determined, but the winner of the game will go on to face the winner of No. 8 Vashon Island and No. 9 Overlake in the state quarterfinals on Saturday.

During the regular season, Quincy defeated Chelan 2-0 (March 21) and 4-2 (April 13), and also defeated Overlake 3-2 on April 22. The Jacks finished second in the 1A District 6 tournament, falling 4-3 to Cascade (Leavenworth) on Saturday in the District 6 final.

Wahluke (13-4-2) is the No. 6 seed in the 1A State Boys Soccer Tournament, facing off against No. 11 Columbia-White Salmon (13-5) in the second round at 6 p.m. at Sammamish High School on Friday. The winner goes on to face the winner of No. 3 Seattle Academy and No. 19 Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls)/ No. 14 Cedar Park Christian/Bothell on Saturday at 1 p.m. in a quarterfinals match.

Wahluke finished as the runner-up in the South Central Athletic Conference tournament, falling 2-1 to Highland on Saturday in the final.

The No. 10 seed Royal Knights (14-5) navigated a first-round loss in the SCAC tournament to advance to the state tournament, playing No. 7 Seton Catholic (15-2-2) in the second round on Friday at 5 p.m. at Montesano High School. The winner goes on to play the winner of No. 2 Montesano and No. 18 Life Christian Academy/Northwest Christian (Colbert) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Royal has already played at Montesano, falling 2-1 to the Bulldogs in the season opener on March 13.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.