10:31 PM SATURDAY: Three West Seattle soccer players have a huge game hours from now – they’re on the Pacific Northwest Soccer Club’s ’98 Blue team, shown above, set to play a national championship game tomorrow morning. They’re in the U-16 finals of the National Youth Soccer Presidents’ Cup in Overland Park, Kansas – the PacNW club’s first team to advance to a national title game.

Thomas Mensing (outside back), Sam Carballo (goalkeeper), and Cole Carden (center back) are the local players, comprising “the defense that’s been tough to score on,” says Cole’s proud dad, Todd Carden. They made it into the championship after tying Florida 1-1, beating Virginia 2-0, and tying Wisconsin 1-1; Virginia is who they’re facing tomorrow. He says the final is at 8 am our time; you can watch the live stream here.

10:31 AM SUNDAY UPDATE: They won! Separate story later.

One week from today, the West Seattle Little League 11-12 Majors team starts play at the state tournament in Woodinville, after becoming the latest WSLL team to win the district title. Thanks to Laurie Rasmussen for sharing the news (and the photo above, by parent Jim Burgess). She says the Majors went undefeated in the District 7 tournament. Here’s who’s in the photo:

WSLL 11-12 team

Manager Stan Debiec
Coach Brian Pare
Coach Steve Joseph

Players

Max Debiec
Chase Eldredge
Nate Rasmussen
Reece McAllister
Dylan Mastroianni
Jaden Sadis
Spencer Burgess
Sam Pare
Nat Ardales
Jasper Mors
Gabe Palmer
Diego Contratto
JP Dufour

Thanks to Deborah Hazlegrove for the photo and report:

The West Seattle Little League 10/11 All-Star team won the District 7 Championship and is headed to state! The state tournament is in Vancouver (WA) this year and begins on July 18. The team was led by Manager Isaiah Brent and Coaches Steve Savage and Ted Godwin.

Good luck to them, and to the 13-year-olds who (as noted here) are state-bound too!

Thanks to West Seattle Little League president Michael Grienauer for sharing the photo and the big news:

The 13-year-old team from West Seattle Little League (WSLL) won the District 7 championship. The WSLL team went undefeated in regular-season play and in the All Star tournament as well. They beat the team from South Highline National Little League 6-4 to take the crown. With the win, they earned their place in the Washington State All-Star tournament, which starts next week in Port Orchard.

Players and coaches in the photo above:

(Left to right) Ben Trigg, Coach Mike Messinger, Eli Markham, Konrad Gerhardt, Manager Rick Southall, Dylan Pool, Jackson Grienauer, Isaac Patchen, Dominic Taylor, Will Holmes, Adam Chin, Justin Murphy, Coach Mike Murphy, Cole Stephenson

You can check on the tournament bracket here.

Thanks to Erik Ricard for sharing the news (and the photos):

This past weekend the 8-year-old All Star team from West Seattle Baseball
won the Northwest Region Championship for Pony Baseball, representing Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon & Washington.

This 4 day tournament was hosted in West Seattle at the Pee Wee Fields last weekend. The West Seattle 8U All Stars swept their games in the round-robin section Thursday, Friday and Saturday with an average margin of victory of 11 runs.

The team continued to roll in the semi-finals on Sunday winning 16-6 over Maltby All-Stars and then beat South Sound 13-3 to claim the Region Championship for Pony Baseball. Congrats to all the boys in a great effort over a long hot weekend.

In the official photo below:

– Front Row (L-R): Jake Kent, Marek Hall, Jacob Kriley, Reece Holmes, Seth Clark, Sam Krische
– 2nd Row (L-R): Jesse Dabbs, Ollie Ricard, Bridger Kyle, Teo Perala, Lukas Cheha, Greyson Romas, Sam Waskowitz
– Back Row, coaches (L-R): Coach Lance Kyle, Manager Erik Ricard, Assistant Coach Dan Krische (not pictured: Assistant Coach Greg Holmes)

Thanks to Todd Carlsen for the photo and report:

“Wish U Could Swish,” a team made up of 4 soon-to-be 7th graders at Our Lady of Guadalupe School, finished in 2nd place in the 12 and under girls’ division at the 26th annual Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 tournament. The girls finished the 16-team bracket with a record of 6-2 and had to endure temperatures both Saturday and Sunday of 105-plus degrees. They fought their way through the losers’ bracket and ended up playing 5 games on Sunday before losing in the championship game Sunday afternoon. Team members include Mary Carlsen, Daniella Colberg, Eva Flanagan, and Dominique Monroe. The team is coached by Daren Monroe.

(2012 photo by Gary Jones)
It’s been a fixture for years on Alki Beach, right next to the Seafair Pirates’ Landing (which is coming up this Saturday)- the Alki Swashbuckler Beach Vault pole-vaulting competition. 19 years, according to its website, which is where we found out that it’s NOT happening this year for the first time since 1996. The website mentioned only the Pirates’ Landing date change as a reason, but this is the second year since the landing moved up to late June, so we contacted the presenting group to find out more.

Becca Gillespy Peter of Pole Vault Power explained in response to our inquiry, “The early date is bad for us, we have multiple conflicts, primarily the USA National Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and our local Junior Olympic Association Championships.” She said that while one of those conflicts existed last year, they made the choice to give it a try anyway, but the weather was iffy – more of a risk in June than July – and the turnout seemed lower. With all that and some communication challenges with the Seafair Pirates organization, they decided to cancel: “We are bummed to have to cancel the event after 19 years, but hope to return next year … We do hope to return next year, it may conflict with the Olympic Trials, depending on what date they choose, but I should be able to find enough volunteers to run the event in my absence, if necessary …” And if you just want to get your annual fix of pole-vault spectating, Becca reminds us, “We also have a beach vault every year on July 4 at the city of Tacoma’s Freedom Fair Festival; this will be the 21st year in a row for pole vaulting at that event.”

Thanks to Kelly for the update on West Seattle Baseball‘s tournament achievements:

I wanted to let you know that last weekend, the West Seattle Baseball 9U All Star team and the 10U All Star team both won the Maltby Pony Baseball Invitational tournament in their age brackets, and (Sunday), the West Seattle Baseball 11U All Star team AND the 12U All Star team both won the Maltby tournament in THEIR age brackets. A clean sweep!

Attached is a picture of the 11Us, many of the 12Us, and their coaches. Go, West Seattle!!!

Thanks also to Sue for e-mailing to let us know.

Thanks again to the youth-sports parents and coaches who’ve shared championship news these past few weeks (and in past years). Two more rounds of congratulations to share, both for West Seattle Little League teams:

Congratulations to the Pilots, who became the 2015 WSLL Rookie Division Champions on Saturday in a 9-2 game against Sonic Boom, concluding a four-game series between the two. The photo is by Debbie Ross. In the pic:

Back Row: Coach Cip Dacanay, Coach Justin Buehring, Head Coach Eric Beardemphl

Middle Row: Erik Wingle, Otis Schlede, Connor Tynan, Nicholas Beardemphl, Cody Buehring, David Haugen

Front Row: Caden Ross, Owen Odegard, Daniel Dacanay, Luke Brown, Atticus Blum, Carson Cottle

Next, congratulations to the WSLL 50/70 (Intermediate) team, which Tracy Holloway tells us won the District 7 Tournament of Champions after going 19-0 on the season:

The final score in Des Moines was WSLL 21, South Highline National Little League 8.

In the photo, L-R, are Mike Murphy (coach), Adam Chin, Dominic Taylor, Jack Summers, Rick Southall (Manager), Cole Stephenson, Konrad Gerhardt, Wil Holmes, Justin Murphy, Ben Trigg, Mike Messinger (Coach), Eli Markham, Dylan Pool.

Find out more about West Seattle Little League at westseattlelittleleague.com.

More congratulations as youth sports leagues’ seasons end: Thanks to Nicole Zerbato, league secretary for West Seattle Baseball, for sharing the photo and report on the league’s Bronco Division champions, the A’s:

Congratulations to the A’s on winning the 2015 West Seattle Baseball Bronco Championship. Led by Coach Perry Brown, the boys often heard “ play like you are down by one run “ and “are you having fun out there?” These often-heard mantras, plus top-notch offense, defense, and teamwork, are what kept the A’s in the winning bracket throughout the playoffs, and allowed them to clinch first place. Outstanding season and hard work by the players and coaches.

In the photo, L-R: Conner Diede, Ethan Levine, Max Zerbato, Charlie Odiorne, Jesse Brown, Noah Kubo, Gabe Palmer, Carson Manns, Abe Odiorne, Steve Zurek. Missing from photo: Deni Tonn and Quinn Kerwin.

(WSB sports coverage is archived here, newest-to-oldest.)

Two updates from this past week’s West Seattle Girls Softball championships:

WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S GAME: We stopped by Fairmount Playfield on Wednesday night after a tip that we’d find the 12U championship game there. Final score – (Vashon) Rockettes 13, (West Seattle) Flame Throwers 5. In our photo, that’s Kate from the Flame Throwers, at left, with Pippa from the Rockettes trying to evade the out.

MONDAY NIGHT – UMPIRES’ SURPRISE: The Monday night slate led to an interesting story from Kayleen Dunson, the West Seattleite who is this region’s Umpire In Chief:

The West Seattle Girls Softball fastpitch league is usually covered with just one umpire. Most of the players in the league range in ages from 10-15 and it is a true recreational level. This year, the league requested two umpires for the championship game – to give the girls the thrill of playing the game with two umpires. Seattle UIC Kayleen Dunson didn’t want to stop there. “I thought it would be awesome to give these young players the sense that they were in the big leagues – let’s give them 3-umpires, just like the college players.”

(Umpires with players – from left, Mike Katz, Kayleen Dunson, Shani Neamen)
Dunson lives in West Seattle and cut her teeth umpiring this local league. “These young women, their coaches, and their parents are models of great sportsmanship and a supportive enthusiastic community. I wanted to give all of them something to remember.”

Dunson was assigned to work the game with another local West Seattle umpire, Shani Neamen, and so recruited yet another West Seattle umpire, Mike Katz, to join the crew. The all-local umpire team arrived on site and were treated like rock-stars; cheery hellos from the fans, giggles and whispers of “it’s my favorite umpire” from the players; and strong hearty handshakes from the coaches.

But there was only one team at the park – the other team had to forfeit, so there was no game to umpire. That didn’t stop the group from taking a team photo with the three umpires and breaking out into a raucous game of kickball.

“This is softball at its absolute best,” Dunson said. “And we will be back next year!”

Find out more about WSGS at westseattlegirlssoftball.com.

More champions to congratulate! This time, from West Seattle Baseball. First, Pat Galvin shares the report and photo of the Performance Radiator U10 Mustang championship win:

Entering the championship game through the losers’ bracket by winning 5 games in a row, PR won the first game Saturday vs West Seattle Design Build 6-5. That forced a second game. PR was up in the second game, 12-8 in the bottom of the 6th inning; PR allowed WSDB to creep back into the game, making it exciting, but ultimately holding on for a 12-11 victory with the winning run in scoring position.

Front Row: Will Skibitzke, Matthew Hein, Jack Henzke, Marc Christianson Jr, Jason Mai
Middle Row: Adrian Shields Jr., John Langen, Patrick Galvin Jr. Jayven Pham, Brendan Johnson
Back Row: Adrian Shields, Pat Galvin (Manager), Derek Johnson

And from Erik Ricard:

Over in the 8U Pinto Division, Windermere outlasted Husky Deli to win 4-1. Both teams played near-flawless defense with spectacular plays in a game that was tied 0-0 after four innings.

Front Row: Sam Krische, Chase Valdez, Liam Baier, Ford Rains, Brady Murphy, Alex Calvano

Second Row: Quinn Bundy, Ezra Jones, Bridger Kyle, Ollie Ricard, Miguel Rosario-Contratto, Nathan Murphy

Back Row: Tony Rosario, Chad Bundy, Erik Ricard (manager), Dan Krische

Congratulations to the teams who won the West Seattle Little League championships over the weekend!

The WSLL Majors’ champs are the Coyotes. Thanks to Kathleen Lonergan for sending the photo taken by Jim Burgess:

Back Row: Brendan Smolinski, Jack Velling, Spencer Burgess, Max Debiec

Front Row: Chase Eldridge, Will Cell, James Triol, Ciaran O’Rourke, Michael Bennett, Cole Kirkland, Trace Taft

Head coach Stan Debiec is in the back row on the right.

We covered a highlight of the Coyotes’ championship season back in March – when Max threw a perfect game. Kathleen says they ended with a 15-3 record, final score in the championship game 11-1 against the Cubs, and will represent West Seattle in the Tournament of Champions in Des Moines starting Friday.

The WSLL Minors’ champs are the Quakes:

They beat the Jays 9-5 on Sunday. Thanks to Kristen Joy for sharing the photo.

Back Row: Coach Otis Moore, Coach Sean Smith, Coach Brian Sherick

Middle Row: Andy Hoff, Robbie Foisey, Gabe Borges, Carter Joy, Colin Claxton, Joe Sherick

Front Row: Gage Smith, Aidan Brannon, Eamon Mohrbacher, Brock Moore, CJ Guzek, Myles Mutchler

(MORE INFO ADDED Sunday night – scroll down)

That’s how Andrew Malinak began his almost-19-mile swim from Tacoma to West Seattle today – something only one other person was known to have done before – and late this afternoon, he confirmed via Twitter, he made it! Here’s the MarineTraffic.com track of his escort boat:

We previewed his “Return of Bert Thomas” swim here earlier this week; Thomas swam the route southbound in 1956. Malinak says he hopes to emulate Thomas in one other feat later this year, swimming the Strait of Juan de Fuca, something he tried two years ago.

P.S. After arriving at Lincoln Park, Malinak told us via Twitter, the first thing he did was go “down the water slide at Colman Pool”!

P.P.S. If you’re a geek about details, as we are, check out the 24-page plan for today’s swim.

ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: Some followup info we’ve obtained from Malinak (who is 28, in case you were wondering): It took 8 hours and 42 minutes, 8:43 am to 5:25 pm. “The whole day went amazingly well: with an on-time departure (2 minutes early), an amazing crew, great weather with sun and lighter-than-forecast winds, a lack of curious orcas, and a route that matched perfectly with the predictions.” Before he tries swimming the Strait in mid-September, he plans to do something he says no one’s done yet – a solo swim around Bainbridge Island.

Just found out late tonight about another local athlete to congratulate: Three days after graduating from O’Dea High School, West Seattle resident Dylan Ledbetter won the state 3A championship in shot put today. He’ll be playing football this fall for Eastern Washington University. Thanks to Cami MacNamara for the report; the photo is by Dylan’s proud mom Cheryl Orint.