CBC baseball players named All-Americans + An impressive new hydroplane driver
Seems that other people have noticed how good of a season CBC outfielder Steven Meier had this spring.
Meier, a sophomore from Southridge who will play next spring for Old Dominion University, was named a member of the first team on the 2023 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Pacific Association Division All-Star team.
Meier led the entire NWAC this spring with a .394 batting average. His 27 stolen bases were among the leaders.
Meier wasn’t the only Hawk honored.
CBC freshman designated hitter Gaven Mattson (a Kennewick High grad) was named to the second team; while Hawks sophomore Cameron Soliz (Texas) was a third-team pitcher.
Soliz has already committed to pitching next season for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Soliz led the NWAC with 105 strikeouts this season, and he was No. 2 in victories with 10.
All three CBC players — Meier, Mattson and Soliz — were named to the All-NWAC first-team all-star squad last month.
Hydroplanes
A few things caught my eye last Friday while hanging out in Lampson Pits in Kennewick, watching the unlimited hydroplanes testing their boats in the annual Spring Training event.
First, I was impressed with the speeds. I also think fans in Guntersville, Ala., will benefit most. Now that these teams spent a full day running their systems and set-ups, they won’t need to worry about that in Alabama and get right into the racing when the season opens on June 24-25.
Strong Racing’s boats look good.
Driver J. Michael Kelly says his U-8 isn’t as wonky as it was last year — it’s keeping a straight line instead of listing left or right. Corey Peabody is excited about his U-9, and the team may have rebuilt it where it’s better than before the Madison flip last year.
Andrew Tate never realized how much he missed racing an unlimited until he didn’t have that chance last season. The Madison team spent a lot of time this offseason making the U-91 better. That should help Tate.
But the biggest impression came from Dylan Runne for me. He seemed confident, cool and calm — like he belongs here. Especially when he hit 163 mph and some change on a lap.
Most of us on the outside looking in don’t know much about him.
But this is what Charlie Grooms told me: “When Jimmy Shane told me last year he was going to retire, I accepted that. But I told him ‘Then you need to find me the next Jimmy Shane.’ It didn’t take him long. He called me one day and said it was Dylan.’’
That’s good enough for me. For now.
Memorial Cup
The Seattle Thunderbirds’ bid to win the Memorial Cup came to an end last Sunday, when they lost 5-0 in the final to the Quebec Remparts.
James Maletesta, a Columbus Blue Jackets’ prospect playing for Quebec, was named tournament MVP for scoring five goals in four games.
Quebec is coach by former legendary NHL goaltender Patrick Roy.
Meanwhile two T-Birds — defenseman Nolan Allan and forward Kyle Crnkovic — were named to the all-tournament team.
Signings
Two area track and field stars are committing to Western Washington University. Sunnyside’s Ricky Bishop is headed to run for the Vikings, while Walla Walla’s Caleb Morehead will do the same.
Bishop ran the 400 meters, both hurdles, and the 4x100 relay for the Grizzlies.
Morehead ran the 200, 400 and both relays for the Blue Devils.
▪ College Place senior Nick Josifek, who played quarterback for the Hawks, announced this week that he was signing to play for the University of Idaho.
▪ Nate Suggs is the new Hanford High girls basketball coach. Suggs takes over for Colette Gall, who stepped down after one season.
Suggs has been a Hanford assistant coach.
Transferring
Richland High grad Bailee Carr has been running the 800 meters these last few years at Colorado State. But she has one year of eligibility left, and has transferred to Gonzaga University for this coming school year.
Upcoming
I’ve been working on a piece about Craig West, the long-time radio play-by-play announcer who announced back in late April that he was stepping down after 25 years at the mic.
A lot of people — among them Bobby Brett and Jim Hiller — had a lot of nice and funny things to say about him.
Story should be out next week.
▪ Congrats goes out to the Tri-Cities Prep baseball team and the Liberty Christian softball squad.
Prep came through to win the 2B state championship a few weekends ago; while LC won the state 1B softball title for the second consecutive year.
More on both of those squads next week.
College update
Nyenuchi Okemgbo (Hanford) had a strong finish to her junior season of track at Boise State University. The standout hurdler ran a leg for the Broncos’ third-place 4x400 relay team at the Mountain West Conference outdoor championships a few weeks ago.
BSU crossed the finish line in 3 minutes, 39.16 seconds.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
