Buckland finishes fifth at Olympics
Capital High School grad Brodie Buckland and his teammate James Marburg finished fifth in the Olympics men’s pairs rowing final at the Eton Dorney Rowing Centre outside of London this morning. The Australian pair fell well behind the pack halfway through the race but rallied near the end to finish with a time of 6:29.28, just ahead of the Canadian team of David Calder and Scott Frandsen.
New Zealand’s Eric Murray and Hamish Bond led almost from start to finish and won the gold medal by nearly five seconds over silver medalists Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette of France. The hometown favorites George Nash and William Satch of Great Britain took the bronze medal.
Oly Sports would like to congratulate Brodie Buckland on his run through the Olympics. It was fun having a local to cheer for and we hope to see you again in Brazil in four years. Now go enjoy that athlete’s village.
Buckland qualifies for finals with third place finish in semis
Olympia’s Brodie Buckland and partner James Marburg will row for a medal on Friday
Capital High School grad Brodie Buckland and his partner James Marburg took third place in their semifinal race this morning at Eton Dorney outside of London at the 2012 Olympics. The third place finish was good enough to qualify them for the finals and the Australian pair will race for a medal on Friday.
The team had a time of 7:02:12, well behind Great Britain and France in the second semifinal race. Buckland and Marburg were the slowest boat to make the finals. In the first semifinal race, New Zealand, Italy and Canada qualified for the finals with the USA boat fourth with a better time than Buckland and Marburg. But the top three from each race get the chance to row for a medal regardless of overall time.
The finals will be run at 2:20 3:50 AM on Friday morning.
PSCL championship photo gallery
The Olympia Athletics knocked off the Hawks Prairie Cardinals twice on Monday to claim the 2012 Puget Sound Collegiate League championship.
Monday scoreboard: A’s crowned PSCL champs
Photo credit: Matt Acker
Puget Sound Collegiate League baseball championship
Olympia Athletics 5, Hawks Prairie Cardinals 3
Olympia Athletics 14, Hawks Prairie Cardinals 2
Needing two wins to take the PSCL title, the Olympia Athletics scored five runs in the second inning of game one and held on to to beat the Hawks Prairie Cardinals 5-3 to force a game two.
The A’s got on the board first when Brian Clayton (Green River CC) singled to drive in Drew Fosnes (Green River CC) who doubled to lead off the second inning. Bret Bitow (Saint Martin’s) singled in a run and Clayton scored on an error before Dane Cheatly’s (Centralia College) triple cleared the bases and ran the score to 5-0.
The Cardinals slowly chipped away at the lead. Jake Robinett’s (Everett CC) solo home run in the second and Kohei Yamaguchi (Riseisha-Osaka) added another solo shot in the fourth to cut the A’s lead to three. Chris McElderry (Oklahoma Wesleyan, Yelm HS) led off the eighth with a triple and Andy Scott drove him in to make it 5-3 but Sean Murphy (Murray State College) got the final six outs in relief to force a winner-take-all game two.
Fosnes and Clayton each went 3-for-4 in the game and Clayton got the win giving up five hits over seven innings. Scott kept the Cardinals in the game by pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Kyle Diaz (Clackamas CC), who was saddled with the loss.
In game two, the A’s took advantage of the thinned Cardinals pitching staff and scored four runs in the third inning, seven in the fourth and three more in the sixth and won the game and the championship 14-2 in seven innings. Tournament MVP Bitow went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. Cheatly and Murphy each also scored three times and drove in two runs. Fosnes, Brandon Christianson (Yakima Valley CC) and Clayton all also had two RBI.
Ryan Olson (Pierce CC) gave up one run on three hits and struck out three Cardinals over 5 1/3 innings to get the win for the A’s. With the pitching staff nearly maxed out because of pitch count rules, Thomas Coyne (Shoreline CC), Mike McCormack (Shoreline CC) and Bitow kept the lead to more than ten runs over the final 1 2/3 innings to force the mercy rule that ended the Cardinals season and set off the A’s celebration.
For a photo gallery of today’s games, click here.
Today (7/30): A’s, Cardinals play for PSCL Championship
The Puget Sound Collegiate League season comes to an end tonight when the #1 seed Olympia Athletics take on the #4 seed Hawks Prairie Cardinals in the PSCL championship game at the RAC. In the double-elimination tournament, the Cardinals are undefeated and need to win one game to take home the title whereas the A’s will have to win two games tonight for the championship. The A’s were taken down by the Cardinals on Saturday to drop into elimination portion of the tournament but have won three straight games to make the final.
Despite the loss to the Cardinals in the second round of the playoffs, the A’s come into the game as the hottest team in the league having gone 13-4 in July including a three game sweep of the Lacey Saints in the final regular season series to take the #1 seed away from the Saints. The A’s had a bye in the first round on Friday and lost to the Cards in their opener on Saturday but rallied to eliminate the Saints 4-1 on Saturday night and eliminated both the Tumwater Brewers and West Olympia Linx yesterday.
The Cardinals were only two games off the pace set by the A’s in July going 11-6 including a four game winning streak coming into the championship game. In the playoffs, the Cardinals knocked off the Brewers 4-0 on Friday, the A’s on Saturday and the Linx 6-2 on Sunday en route to today’s final.
The two teams met six times in the regular season with the A’s winning four times.
First pitch in the championship game tonight is at 5:00 PM. If the A’s win game one, game two will start at 7:30.
Sunday scoreboard: Cards, A’s advance to championship game
Puget Sound Collegiate League baseball playoffs
(#1) Olympia Athletics 4, (#5) Tumwater Brewers 3
(#4) Hawks Prairie Cardinals 6, (#3) West Olympia Linx 2
(#1) Olympia Athletics 6, (#3) West Olympia Linx 5
With their season on the line, the Tumwater Brewers struck first in game one of the third round of the PSCL playoffs. Kyle Holtman (St. Claire County CC) drove in one run in the first and another in the third and the Brewers took a 3-0 lead over the Olympia Athletics. But the A’s scored four unanswered runs and held on, 4-3, to extend their season and end the Brewers’ year. Drew Fosnes (Green River CC) drove in two of the A’s four runs including the eventual game winner in the eighth inning. Sean Murphy (Murray State College) and Nikko Saenz (St. Mary’s) scored all of the A’s four runs. Holtman went 5-for-5 with three doubles and two RBI for the Brewers in the loss. With the win, the A’s moved on to another elimination game later on Sunday night.
In game two, the Hawks Prairie Cardinals remained undefeated in the playoffs and advanced to the championship game on Monday night with a 6-2 win over the West Olympia Linx. The Cards pounded out 13 hits and Justin King and Eli Fulton (Clark College, Capital HS) combined to give up just five hits and two earned runs. The loss dropped the Linx into an elimination game with the A’s in the next game.
And in the winner to championship/loser out nightcap, the A’s scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-5 lead just a half inning after the Linx broke a 3-3 tie in with two runs in the top of the sixth. Murphy and Bret Bitow (Saint Martin’s) allowed just two hits over the next three innings and the A’s held on to move into the championship game on Monday. Bitow got the save and went 3-for-5 with three runs scored while Saenz and Bret Grey (Central Washington) each collected two hits. Mac Gridley (Lower Columbia CC) went 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Linx in their last game of the season.
Also today (7/29): Derby movie night at Skateland!
The Oly Rollers host a screening of the film “Derby, Baby!” today at Skateland! Filmmakers Robin Bond and Dave Wruck explore the boom in roller derby over the past decade with this documentary and the film features interviews and footage from the Oly Rollers. The film is narrated by Juliette Lewis, who starred in the fictional roller derby film “Whip It”.
Tickets to the screening are available at the Skateland! doors and the film begins at 5:00 PM.
Today (7/29): PSCL playoffs continue
The Puget Sound Collegiate league playoffs are into their third day at the RAC and two more teams will be eliminated leading to the championship game on Monday.
Game one pits the #5 seed Tumwater Brewers against the #1 seed Olympia Athletics in an elimination game. The Brewers lost to the Hawks Prairie Cardinals on Friday to drop into the losers bracket and then eliminated the Nisqually Silvers yesterday. Meanwhile, the A’s had a first round bye, lost an epic 17 inning affair on Saturday to the West Olympia Linx but rallied in an elimination game and knocked out the A’s last night. First pitch is at 1:00 PM.
Game two is a winners bracket game between the #4 seed Hawks Prairie Cardinals and the #3 seed West Olympia Linx. The Cards beat the Brewers and A’s while the Linx beat the Silvers on Friday and the A’s in 17 innings on Saturday. The winner moves on to the championship on Monday while the loser faces an elimination game immediately following this game. First pitch is at 4:00 PM.
The 7:00 game pits the winner of game one against the loser of game two with a trip to the championship game on the line.
Saturday scoreboard: PSCL playoffs – #2 seed Saints, #6 seed Silvers eliminated
Puget Sound Collegiate League baseball playoffs
(#3) West Olympia Linx 3, (#2) Lacey Saints 2 – 17 innings
(#4) Hawks Prairie Cardinals 6, (#1) Olympia Athletics 5
(#5) Tumwater Brewers 6, (#6) Nisqually Silvers 3
(#1) Olympia Athletics 4, (#2) Lacey Saints 3
The second round of the Puget Sound Collegiate League playoffs kicked off at 11:00 AM with an epic 17 inning game, the longest in league history, between the #3 seed West Olympia Linx and the #2 seed Lacey Saints. The Saints got on the the board first when Devin Ferguson drove in a run in the bottom of the first. Mac Gridley drove in a run in the top of the second to even the game up for the Linx and both teams added a run in the sixth inning. After the sixth, the two teams combined for just eight hits and advanced a runner past first base only six times over the next eleven innings before a Skyler Wheeler single drove in Daniel Armstrong for the game winning run in the top of the 17th inning. Justin Dibble started the game for the Linx and gave up two runs in six innings. Micah Donor relieved him in the seventh and gave up two hits over the next eight innings. Seth Gregorich pitched a scoreless 15th. Kyle Leady pitched the 16th and closed out the game in the 17th to pick up the win. With the win, the Linx moved on to Sunday while the Saints dropped into an elimination game on Saturday evening.
In game two, the #4 seed Hawks Prairie Cardinals opened up a six run lead through five innings thanks to a Conor Cook two run double in the first inning and a Daniel Flahie RBI single in the fifth. But the Olympia Athletics rallied in the seventh. Bret Bitow singled to drive in a run and load the bases and then Sean Murphy hit a grand slam to cut the Cardinals lead to just one, 6-5. But Eli Fulton got the last out in the seventh and the A’s managed just one hit over the next two innings and the Cardinals upset the #1 seed A’s, 6-5. Sam Shadle pitched 7 1/3 innings and gave up just one hit while striking out eleven A’s to get the win. The Cardinals moved into the third round on Sunday and the A’s fell into the elimination game against the Lacey Saints.
In the first elimination game, Chris Hackworth gave up two earned runs over 7 1/3 innings to lead the #5 seed Tumwater Brewers past the #6 seed Nisqually Silvers, 6-3. Blake Woosley went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Bobby Twedt, Kyle Doucette and Cole Pittman each added two hits for the Brewers. Spencer Dodd and Ryan Taylor each drove in a run for the Silvers in their last game of the season.
In the nightcap, the Olympia A’s got a masterful pitching performance from their ace, Ryan Smith, and cruised to a 4-1 victory, eliminating the #2 seed Lacey Saints from the PSCL playoffs. Bret Bitow drove in a run in the third inning with a suicide squeeze. Nikko Saenz followed Bitow and drove in the eventual game winning run. Bitow relieved Smith in the eighth inning to pick up the save. The A’s face the Brewers in another elimination game tomorrow afternoon.
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