More Tri-Cities region baseball teams qualify for WA tournaments. Here’s the schedule

In addition to the five Mid-Columbia Conference baseball teams who have qualified for state tournaments, seven other region squads have advanced to their respective state events.

Grandview, a No. 5 seed going into its own 2A Central Washington Athletic Conference district tournament, battled its way through two loser-out contests to earn a state berth.

The Greyhounds beat Ephrata 3-0 last week to finish third and get a chance to play a crossover game at Shadle Park on Saturday — winner to state, loser out.Grandview hung on to win that game 3-2 to qualify for the 2A state tourney, where it will be the No. 15 seed.

The Greyhounds open state play this coming Saturday, May 20, against 2-seed Tumwater, at 1 p.m., in Centralia.

The winner of that game will play the winner of the 10 a.m. game — between No. 10 Archbishop Murphy and No. 7 Mark Morris of Longview — in that afternoon’s quarterfinal contest.

▪ College Place, which finished first in the regular season of the 1A East Division standings in the South Central Athletic Conference, earned a state berth last Saturday when it beat Royal 11-1 in Connell for third place.

The Hawks were rewarded with the No. 13 seed in the 1A state tournament, and they’ll play No. 4 Montesano at 1 p.m. this coming Saturday in a first-round game in Hoquiam.

The earlier game there, which begins at 10 a.m., pits No. 12 Colville against No. 5 Overlake/Bear Creek.

The two winners meet at 4 p.m. for a state quarterfinals berth.

▪ Both Tri-Cities Prep and River View earned state 2B tournament berths last weekend at Eisenhower High School in Yakima.

Prep hung on to beat River View 8-6 in the district championship.

Cle Elum-Roslyn beat Warden 8-1 in the third-place game to earn a state berth.

Both Prep and River View have been assigned to Yakima’s Davis High School for this weekend’s games.

River View is a No. 5 seed, and the Panthers take on No. 12 Tonasket at 12 p.m. in a loser-out game.

The winner then plays No. 4 Tri-Cities Prep at 3 p.m., with the winner advancing to the state semifinals.

▪ DeSales, Liberty Christian and Sunnyside Christian all qualified for the 1B state baseball tournament.

Last Saturday in Colbert, DeSales beat Liberty Christian 6-4 in the district 9 title game.

Meanwhile, in Spangle, Sunnyside Christian pounded Northport 14-2 to earn a state berth.

DeSales will host two games this coming Saturday at its school grounds in Walla Walla.

No. 9 Wilbur-Creston-Keller will play No. 8 Northport in a loser-out game at noon. The winner advances to play the top-ranked Irish at 3 p.m.

Winner of that game advances to the state semifinals.

Liberty Christian, based on its season-long body of work, earned the No. 2 seed from the state committee and will host two games this coming Saturday at LaPierre Field in Kennewick.

In the first game, set for 12 p.m., No. 10 Orcas Island will play No. 7 Mossyrock in a loser-out game. The winner plays Liberty Christian at 3 p.m., with the winner advancing to the state semifinals.

Finally, Sunnyside Christian earned a No. 6 seed, and it will play No. 11 Riverside Christian at 12 p.m. this coming Saturday at Mt. Vernon High School in a loser-out game.

The winner takes on No. 3 Mt. Vernon Christian in a chance to advance to the state semis. That game starts at 3 p.m.

▪ A quick note that Kamiakin’s 4A game against Camas at Eastlake has been moved from 10 a.m. Saturday to 1 p.m.

Boys soccer

Wahluke became this area’s top 1A boys soccer seed by being seeded into the state tournament at No. 6.

The Warriors lost its district title match last Saturday, falling 2-1 to Highland.

But Wahluke will play No. 11 Columbia of White Salmon at 6 p.m., Friday, at Sammamish High School, with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals at Sammamish on Saturday, May 20.

Meanwhile, Royal beat Connell 2-1 after winning in penalty kicks last Saturday in the third-place game at district. Both teams qualified for 1A state.

Royal, a 10 seed, takes on No. 7 Seton Catholic at 5 p.m., Friday, at Montesano High School. The winners advances to the quarterfinals, which will be played the next day in Montesano.

Finally, Connell earned the No. 17 state seed, and the Eagles take on No. 16 Chelan at 7 p.m., Wednesday, at Quincy High School in an opening-round match.

The winner then has to play at No. 1 Quincy at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Prep track and field

DeSales senior Morgan Thomas, who dominated the discus and shot put at last month’s Pasco Invitational, started out her postseason last Wednesday by winning those two events at the 1B District 7 and District 9 meet in Ritzville.

The top placers in each event advance to the 1B regional meet later this week in Colfax.

Thomas threw the discus 126 feet, inches; and she tossed the shot put 37 feet, 5.5 inches.

Thomas has committed to throwing at the University of Montana next year.

College football

The Frontier Conference recently named its All-Academic football team, and eight area athletes were on the list.

In order to make the team, athletes have to be at least a sophomore and carry at the minimum a 3.25 grade point average.

Here are those athletes:

▪ Carroll College junior Trent Durfey (Umatilla grad), majoring in Health Sciences;

▪ Eastern Oregon grad student Joey Gutierrez (Hermiston), with a Masters in Business Administration;

▪ EOU senior Andrew James (Hermiston), majoring in Economics;

▪ EOU junior Moses McAninch (Kennewick), with a major in Health and Human Performance;

▪ EOU sophomore Jose Medina (Royal), majoring in Health and Human Performance;

▪ EOU grad student Josh Mendoza (Richland), who’s getting a Masters of Arts in Teaching;

▪ College of Idaho junior Cole Schmidt (Walla Walla), a History major;

▪ Rocky Mountain College sophomore Mason Williamson (Richland), who is majoring in Geology.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.