Category Archives: Uncategorized
Today (7/6): Reign face Portland in IBL final four
The red hot Olympia Reign continue their quest for an International Basketball League title this evening when they face the #2 seed Portland Chinooks at Whatcom Pavilion in Bellingham.
The Reign are riding a four game wining streak and are 5-3 since an ill-fated trip to Canada at the beginning of June. Much of the Reign’s success can be linked to the reemergence of Nate Menefee’s game. In the last eight games, Menefee has scored 24.5 points per game and has been the floor general dishing out 6.5 assists per game. Mike Ward has continued his solid season scoring 22.5 points per game during the stretch and newcomer Gjio Bain has taken control of the center position pulling down 13 rebounds per game in his five games with the Reign. In those five games, the Reign are 4-1.
Olympia and Portland met four times in the regular season. The Reign won the first game 138-127 in Clackamas but the Chinooks took the next three meetings.
Tip-off in Bellingham tonight is scheduled for 5:00 PM. Updates on the game can be found on the IBL Or Bellingham Slam Twitter pages.
Monday scoreboard: Senators take 3rd; Brewers, Cardinals split
Puget Sound Collegiate League baseball
Seattle Studs 6, Thurston County Senators 3
Thurston County Senators 12, Kamloops Blaze 1
The Thurston County Senators dropped their first game 6-3 to the Seattle Studs in the semifinals of the Canada Weekend Baseball Blast but came back and took third place with a 12-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers.
Hawks Prairie Cardinals 10, Tumwater Brewers 9
Tumwater Brewers 7, Hawks Prairie Cardinals 4
Rams soccer coach Knudson resigns
North Thurston’s Chris Knudson has resigned from his position as the Rams’ head boys soccer coach joining Timberline’s John Hayes as the second North Thurston School District coach to depart in this off season.
In five seasons at his alma mater, Knudson took the Rams from a 2-12 season in 2008 to the state quarterfinals in 2011 going 12-5-1 before losing to eventual state runners-up Fife 1-0 in the quarters.
This season, the Rams pulled an upset in the first round of districts knocking off number one seed Hockinson 3-0 but lost their final two district games to Mark Morris and Aberdeen and finished the season 9-8-1.
Knudson, who is part owner of the Lacey and Olympia Casa Mia restaurants, is leaving the program due to time constraints. His wife is expecting their first child in November.
Tuesday scoreboard: Senators more Studly
Puget Sound Collegiate League baseball
West Olympia Linx 3, Nisqually Silvers 0 (unofficially)
Thurston County Senators 9, Seattle Studs 3
Sam Williams (Lower Columbia CC) went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI and Chandler Tracy (Saint Martin’s) went 3-for-5 with two doubles and drove in a run in the Thurston County Senators’ 9-3 season debut win over the Seattle Studs. Nate O’Bryan (Saint Martin’s, Olympia HS) pitched eight solid innings to get the win.
This morning (5/20): The Capital City Marathon
Get up bright and early this morning and head down to Sylvester Park for the 31st Annual Capital City Marathon. The marathon starts at 7:00 AM, half marathon at 7:45 and the five miler begins at 8:00. If you want to check out the runners along the route, the Capital City Marathon website has a complete race map.
The Olympian’s Meg Wochnick had two excellent articles this week about the marathon. The first about Marilou Powers, the 50 year-old who is running in her 100th marathon today and the second about Jesse Stevick, five time Capital City Marathon winner.
Good luck to all the runners, I’ll be cheering you on from the comfort of my bed.
Tonight (5/15): Capital soccer opens state playoffs
The boys soccer state regionals get started tonight when the 3A Narrows League champion Capital Cougars take on Mount Vernon at Tumwater Stadium. The Cougars went undefeated in the Narrows and lost three games overall this season while Mount Vernon had to fight just to get to the regionals. They split a pair of shootouts to open districts but then easily dispatched Sedro Wooley 3:0 in a loser-out game on Thursday.
First kick tonight in Tumwater is at 6:00 PM.
Today (5/5): District IV soccer playoffs; Saints doubleheader; Rams & Cougars at Cheney
The 2A District IV boys soccer playoffs start today when the EvCo #1 seed and undefeated Tumwater T-Birds host W.F. West. Tumwater got the better of the Bearcats in the regular season winning 2-0 on March 20th and 6-1 on April 17th. First kick at Tumwater Stadium is at 2:30 PM.
In other playoff action, the North Thurston boys soccer team travels to Battle Ground to take on Hockinson, the #1 seed from the Greater St. Helen’s League who are 12-1-2 overall this season. First kick at Battle Ground Stadium is at 6:00 PM.
The Saint Martin’s baseball team returns to action on campus with a doubleheader against GNAC runaway leader Western Oregon. The Wolves are 22-2 in the GNAC and are ten games up on second place Northwest Nazarene and 14 up on the Saints who are 10-18 in conference play. The Saints will honor Ben DeMond, a former Saint Martin’s baseball player that was killed by a drunk driver earlier this spring in Norwich, Connecticut. The memorial will begin at 12:30 PM with first pitch coming at 1:00 PM.
The North Thurston and Capital baseball teams square off in a non-league game at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma. This is the second season the two teams have played at the Triple-A ballpark of the Tacoma Rainiers. Tickets are $15 and includes a ticket to an upcoming Rainiers game, a hot dog and a drink. Game time is at 1:00 PM.
And it wouldn’t surprise me if there are a ton of makeup softball and baseball games around town. Check your local ball yard.
Finally, South Sound Speedway continues their season with a whole host of races tonight including my favorite, bump-to-pass. Qualifying begins at 5:00 PM and racing starts at 6:30.
Today (5/3): Reign, rain, rain
The Olympia Reign hope to get back on track when they host the Portland Chinooks tonight at the Skookum Creek Events Center.
On Saturday night, the Reign picked up their first win of the season with a 138-127 win over the Chinooks in Portland but stumbled Tuesday against the Vancouver Volcanoes losing 114-99. In Saturday’s win, Nicholas Moore and Marcus Whitaker both scored over 30 points and Giovanne Woods added 27. The Chinooks’ Jared Cunningham – from Cleveland State, not the NBA bound, early entry from Oregon State – scored 32 points and brought down 14 boards.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM
In boys soccer action, Timberline travels to Ingersoll Stadium to take on 3A Narrows League leader Capital at 7:00 PM. Capital is 6-0-2 on the season and Timberline is 3-3-2, good enough for third in league. The two teams played to a 1:1 tie on April 11th.
Weather has already cancelled the 3A Narrows League title game today between Timberline and Yelm. They will go to Districts as the #1 and #2 seeds respectively.
Weather has also moved the Tumwater/North Thurston baseball game to the RAC at 6:00 PM, if it gets played at all. River Ridge is also scheduled to play Centralia today, but it is highly doubtful they will get that game in.
UPDATE: River Ridge and Centralia have been moved to the RAC with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 PM.
Tumwater’s Matt Johnson drafted by Cowboys
2007 Tumwater High School graduate Matt Johnson was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the NFL Draft today. The safety out of Eastern Washington is the first player from Tumwater to be drafted. Meg Wochnick at The Olympian has the full story with reaction from Johnson himself.
Here is what Twitter had to say…
https://twitter.com/#!/dallascowboys/status/196297495763095553
https://twitter.com/#!/Matt_Johnson5/status/196328792602591232
https://twitter.com/#!/TBirdFootball/status/196301478028251137
https://twitter.com/#!/Tbird_boysbball/status/196394502649430016
https://twitter.com/#!/BigIrishman16/status/196349747815129088
https://twitter.com/#!/gstoney23/status/196389788771815424
Congratulations to Matt and you can bet that Oly Sports will keep you updated on his progress.
Photo credit: EWU Athletics
Today (4/28): Dragon boat festival, SMU Invitational, racing and baseball highlight busy Saturday
The Saint Martin’s Dragon Boat Festival kicks off in just a few minutes at Port Plaza in downtown Olympia. Races are held in Budd Inlet and besides the exciting and interesting races on beautiful boats, the festival includes Chinese traditional art demonstrations, traditional lion dances, music, and martial arts performances. Just another part of a very busy Saturday downtown that includes the second day of Arts Walk and the Procession of the Species at 4:30 PM. The Dragon Boat Festival runs from 9:00 AM and continues all day.
Back on campus, Saint Martin’s Track and Field hosts the Saint Martin’s Invitational, a six school event that starts at 9:30 AM. Seattle Pacific is the reigning champion of the invitation for both the men and the women. The event begins with the men’s hammer at 9:30 AM and is scheduled to finish with the men’s 4 x 400 relay at 5:15 PM. For a full schedule, visit SMUSaints.com.
Racing continues down at South Sound Speedway tonight with mini stocks, hobby stocks, FSCRA bumblebees and baby grands. Qualifying starts at 5:00 PM and racing gets underway at 6:30. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for teens, seniors and military, $5 for kids 6-12 and free for the toddler set.
One high school baseball game is scheduled for this afternoon, a 2A EvCo tilt between North Thurston and Aberdeen. The game is scheduled for 1:0o PM at NTHS.
And today marks the biggest day in Saint Martin’s softball history when they take on the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders at 12:00 PM in Nampa, Idaho. Saint Martin’s has to sweep the Crusaders and hope that Simon Fraser can sweep Montana State Billings in Billings to get the GNAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Saints can’t win the GNAC title because if Simon Fraser sweeps, they will take over first place from the Yellowjackets, but since Simon Fraser is a provisional member and not eligible for the postseason, the Saints would get the NCAA bid.
Oly Sports 