Believe it or not, it is almost baseball and softball season.
Saint Martin’s opens their season on Saturday with a home game against the University of British Columbia at 1:00 PM before heading to California for a couple games. The Saints went 9-30 last season but expect to be better this season. They return two all-conference players in 1B Joselyn Eugenio and 2B Lacey McGladrey – the conference freshman of the year last season – and will rely on four newcomers for their pitching with Sam Munger, a freshman from Everett, filling the #1 role.
SMUSaints.com has the full preview.
Men’s basketball
SPSCC 75, Centralia 66
Eastern Oregon 109, Evergreen 63 – More from Geoducks athletics
MSU-Billings 82, Saint Martin’s 74 – More from MSUBsports.com
SPSCC ground out the only win for Olympia area colleges on Saturday night knocking off Centralia College 75-66 despite 32 points from Centralia’s Van Lockett. The Clippers improve to 3-5 in the NWAACC West division and Centralia drops to 2-7.
Women’s basketball
Centralia 61, SPSCC 41
Eastern Oregon 54, Evergreen 53 – More from Geoducks athletics
MSU-Billings 58, Saint Martin’s 52 – More from SMUSaints.com
The Evergreen State College women, just 4-18 on the season, continue to give ranked opponents fits. On Saturday in La Grande, the Geoducks fell just a buzzer beater short of beating the #8 ranked Eastern Oregon Mountaineers falling 54-53. The Geoducks led by as many as ten in the second half and were up by one with just 2.4 seconds left but were whistled for a fould and EOU’s Dominique Johnson sank both her free throws to win the game. Black Hill’s Danielle Swain led the way for Evergreen with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Boy’s basketball
Northwest Christian 66, Ocosta 48
Zach Carras scored 21 points for the Northwest Christian Navigators…all in the second quarter. That’s a solid eight minutes of work.
Indoor Soccer
South Sound FC Shock 13, WSA Rapids 8 – Unofficial score, as recalled by @Emmettoconnell
UPDATE FROM SSFC: South Sound FC 12, WSA 9
Big win for the South Sound FC in their third home game at Tumwater Indoor Sports. WSA Rapids was undefeated coming into the game and had beaten the shock 11-3 at the Bellingham Sportsplex in December. The win moves the Shock’s record to .500 at 3-3.
Busy morning in the OlySports.com household, sorry for the delay. I’m sitting in Meconi’s typing this on my phone. Mmm…delicious Meconi’s.
Tonight the Saint Martin’s women play MSU-Billings at Marcus Pavilion at 7:00 PM.
The South Sound FC Shock play WSA Rapids at Tumwater Indoor Sports at 7:00 PM. According to their website, tonight they’ll have a beer garden, giveaways and merchandise for sale. Score!
Men’s basketball
Seattle Pacific 66, Saints Martin’s 54
The Saints closed an 11 point halftime margin to just five halfway through the second half but the Falcons then went on an 11-2 run and never looked back. The Saints were led by Jeremy Green’s 14 points and 10 rebounds and Roger O’Neill’s 10 points. The loss drops the Saints to 4-6 in GNAC play. They travel to MSU-Billings on Saturday. For more info, read the game recap from SPUFalcons.com
Women’s basketball
Seattle Pacific 78, Saint Martin’s 62
Same story for the Lady Saints. After cutting the Seattle Pacific lead to just six points in the second half, the Falcons went on a 9-0 run and the Saints were never in the game again. Chelsea Haskey led the Saints with 12 points. The Saints are now 2-8 in the GNAC and host MSU-Billings on Saturday at 2:00 PM. For more read the recap from SMUSaints.com
Girl’s basketball
North Thurston 51, Tumwater 32
Northwest Christian 46, Naselle 38
Black Hills at River Ridge (no score found yet)
North Thurston keeps on rolling thanks to 14 points from Elyssa Quichocho and 13 points from Ciara Williams. Tumwater kept the game close trailing by only six at halftime but the Rams scored 24 points in the third quarter to blow the game wide open. North Thurston travels to Chehalis tomorrow night to take on W.F. West with first place in the Evergreen Conference on the line.
From the Saint Martin’s University Facebook page…
“Congratulations to Saints baseball players Stephen Mahnken and Casey Thorpe on being selected to join the Athletes in Action International Baseball team this summer! Stephen and Casey will travel to the Dominican Republic to play baseball and share their Christian faith. #GoSaints”
Mahnken is a freshman outfielder from Puyallup and Thorpe is a freshman catcher from Olympia High School.
The Saints Martin’s Saints women (7-12 overall, 2-7 GNAC) host second place Seattle Pacific (12-5 overall, 6-3 GNAC) tonight at Marcus Pavilion. Seattle Pacific sophomore forward Katie Benson is fifth in the GNAC in scoring with 16.1 points per game and senior guard Nyesha Sims is third in rebounding pulling down 9.1 rebounds per game despite standing only 5’8″. The Falcons handled the Saints in Seattle 70-39 just before the new year. Now that I’ve really sold you on the game, let me add that tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
In girl’s basketball action, it’s a Tumwater/Lacey showdown as River Ridge (10-6, overall, 6-2 Evergreen) hosts Black Hills (10-4 overall, 3-3 Evergreen) and North Thurston (12-2 overall, 6-1 Evergreen) hosts Tumwater (8-7 overall, 3-4 Evergreen) in makeup games from last week’s snowstorm. The Rams beat Tumwater by just five on January 6th and have to be wary of a letdown against the T-Birds the day before they take on first place W.F. West on Friday night. River Ridge beat Black Hills 72-62 in their first meeting earlier this season.
SMUSaints.com has a preview of Thursday’s men’s basketball game against 6-11 Gonzaga transfer Andy Polling and his Seattle Pacific Falcons.
SMU up against another tall challenge, face 6-11 SPU center
Men’s Basketball: Alaska-Anchorage 64, Saint Martin’s 54 – Anchorage’s Taylor Rohde – an Arizona State transfer – scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in Seawolves 64-54 victory at Marcus Pavilion. The Saints top two scorers, Jeremy Green and Roger O’neill were held to only 10 points on a combined 4-for-21 shooting. The loss drops the Saints to 8-10 overall and 3-4 in the GNAC. More from SMUSaints.com and The Olympian.
Women’s Basketball: Alaska-Anchorage 83, Saint Martin’s 48 – The first place Seawolves had too many weapons for the Saints to handle on Saturday night in Anchorage. Led by 23 points from Haley Holmstead, Alaska opened up a 17 point advantage at halftime and never looked back. The Saints were led by Jordyn Richardson’s 18 points off the bench. More from SMUSaints.com
Arena Soccer: Marysville Ruckus 7, South Sound FC 5 – The winless Ruckus scored the final five goals over the last 20 minutes and knocked off the Shock 7-5. The Shock are now 2-3 in the PASL-Premier.
The weather is still having an effect on local sporting events as both Evergreen and South Puget Sound have postponed their games originally scheduled for tonight. The Geoducks may play on Sunday and Monday if power can be restored and the Evergreen campus is deemed safe. If it is not, then the the poor Geoducks have agreed to travel to Eugene and Salem for these games. No dates have been set for the postponed SPSCC games.
But there are still a couple things happening this weekend if you are feeling as stir crazy as I’m feeling…
Saint Martin’s men vs. Alaska-Anchorage – Marcus Pavilion – 7:00 PM – The Saints are riding a three game winning streak into Saturday night’s game. Last Saturday they knocked off then first place Western Oregon 74-65 and this Saturday face the second place Seawolves who are 12-4 overall and 6-2 in the GNAC.
South Sound FC vs. Marysville Ruckus – Tumwater Indoor Sports – 7:00 PM – Olympia’s newest team and very first indoor soccer team, South Sound FC , opened their home season at Tumwater Indoor Sports last Saturday and knocked off the Wenatchee Fire 8-4 to push their PASL- Premier record to 2-2. This week the 0-4 Marysville Ruckus come to town sporting a -27 goal differential. Ouch. Tickets are only $5 and the first 50 fans through the doors get a souvenir schedule poster. For more information on the Shock, click here.
Men’s Basketball: Saint Martin’s 70, Alaksa-Fairbanks 53 – The Saints outscored the Nanooks 49-24 in the second half and moved to 8-9 overall and 4-4 in conference play. Brok Pendelton led the Saints with 22 points and Roger O’Neil chipped in 16. The Saints trailed at halftime 21-29 on only eight field goals in the first half. SMUSaints.com has the full story.
Women’s Basketball: Alaska-Fairbanks 62, Saint Martin’s 51 – Chelsea Haskey scored 19 points for the Saints in Fairbanks but the Nanooks picked up their first conference win and snapped a seven game losing streak behind 17 points and 12 rebounds by Mukilteo native Nicole Bozek. The loss drops the Saints to 7-11 and 2-6 in the GNAC. Here’s the game recap at SMUSaints.com
Oly Sports 