Thanks to Cheryl Brown for the photo of the division champion West Seattle High School softball team, and this update on how they got there, with their next game just hours away:

Last week (at the end of the regular season), the West Seattle HS, Bainbridge HS and
Ballard HS Girls’ Fastpitch Softball teams were tied for 1st place in the Metro-Mountain Division. Two 4-inning games were played last Thursday at Southeast Athletic Complex to break the tie. WS beat Ballard 2 – 0 in 4 innings. At the end of 4 innings WS was tied 1 – 1 with Bainbridge so it went into extra innings with international tiebreaker rules. WS beat Bainbridge 2 – 1 in 6 innings.

Outcome for Metro-Mountain division:
1 – West Seattle
2 – Bainbridge
3 – Ballard

Last night, WS played Chief Sealth (Metro-Valley #3) at SEAC in the Round 2 of the Metro League Tournament. WS won 13 – 0.

Tonight, in Round 3, WS plays Eastside Catholic at 7 pm at SWAC, and Chief Sealth plays Holy Names at 7pm at SEAC.

Big win for the West Seattle High School varsity baseball team, as postseason play begins. Thanks to Caryn Johnson for the report and photo:

First day of the Metro Playoffs. West Seattle matched up against Franklin at Hiawatha this afternoon. Sophomore Ryan Kimsey (above) started on the mound for the Wildcats and proceeded to throw the entire game. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Junior Morgan McCullough led things off with a solo home run. The Wildcats would tack on 4 more runs to close out the inning. Then in the bottom of the 3rd, the Wildcats opened up the game, scoring 8 runs off of 8 hits. West Seattle would run away with this game, winning 1-15. Their next opponent is Roosevelt, tomorrow (Friday) at 4:00 pm at Steve Cox Field in White Center.

P.S. Tickets are still on sale for the June 22nd Mariners’ game, to benefit the Wildcats and their annual appearance in the High School Baseball Classic at Safeco Field. You can get yours by sending e-mail to wshsmarinerstickets@gmail.com.

(WSB photos by Torin Record-Sand)
The only guaranteed varsity-baseball game this year between West Seattle High School and Chief Sealth International High School ended in a 5-2 win for the Wildcats on Monday afternoon at Southwest Athletic Complex. Thanks as always to Caryn Johnson for the recap:

A beautiful afternoon for baseball between two great schools. With the addition of more schools to the Metro league and the way the divisions within Metro are set up, West Seattle and Sealth only meet each other once during the regular season. The stands were full of West Seattleites. It was fun to see the support for these two great teams.

The game was a battle of the pitchers. West Seattle senior Jordan Sagmoen was up against Sealth sophomore Evan Moe.

First inning saw no runs scored by either team.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the 2nd that Sealth broke the 0-0 tie and scored on a triple by David Johnson and a single by Evan Moe that drove him in.

In the top of the third, West Seattle would score two off a single by senior Sam Cook and a triple from Morgan McCullough. Sealth would get one more back in the bottom of the third to tie things up.

No runs were scored in the 4th.

Then at the top of the 5th, West Seattle would take advantage of a couple of errors to score two more runs. They would bring in one more run in the top of the 6th. Jordan threw the entire game to get the win 5-2 over Sealth. In the end he would strike out 6 and only give up 6 hits.

Evan Moe would also throw the entire game, striking out 4 and giving up only 5 hits.

Both teams’ next games are at 3:30 pm Wednesday – West Seattle will be at home at Hiawatha to face Seattle Prep, while Sealth will be on the road visiting Cleveland.

Baseball rematch at Hiawatha on Friday afternoon for West Seattle High School and Bainbridge Island High School. Thanks to Caryn Johnson for the photos and report:
Friday afternoon was the rematch of the two teams that met on Wednesday, West Seattle vs Bainbridge Island,. Freshman Anthony Coats [top photo] started on the mound for WS. The Bainbridge Island bats came out firing and in the first inning had three hits including a three-run home run, but West Seattle would answer back in the bottom of the 1st with an RBI single by senior Jordan Sagmoen. After the first inning, Anthony would settle down and pitch another two innings, only giving up one more run.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, West Seattle would get two more runs off a deep home run hit by Morgan McCullough [photo above]. This would put the score at the end of the 5th inning at 4-3, Bainbridge up. But that would be as close as it would get. Bainbridge Island (ranked #9 in Washington State) would open it up and end up winning 16-3.

Next game is the matchup of the local schools, West Seattle vs Chief Sealth, Monday at 4:00 at Southwest Athletic Complex.

P.S. Around noon today (Saturday), you’ll find some of the WSHS players at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) selling tickets for the June 22nd Mariners-Royals game – it’s related to their annual appearance in the High School Baseball Classic at Safeco Field, as explained here. If you want tickets but can’t make it to the store, e-mail wshsmarinerstickets@gmail.com and they’ll make it happen.

Thanks to Caryn Johnson for the photo and report from this afternoon’s WSHS-Bainbridge baseball battle:

This afternoon, West Seattle ventured across the water to battle Bainbridge Island. It was an epic duel of two great pitchers. Senior Kevin Cuddy was on the mound for the Wildcats. He pitched the entire game and it wasn’t until the bottom of the 6th that he wavered just slightly, but it was enough to allow two runs to come across. In the end, he gave up only 4 hits and struck out 6. The defense was solidly behind him, making no errors in the field, but the bats just didn’t have enough power to find the holes to get a run across the plate. They did have a few chances, as Morgan McCullough made it to third base twice and tried to come home on a deep hit to right field, only to be caught trying to score on a close call at the plate. In the end, West Seattle lost 2-0.

Rematch this Friday, with Bainbridge Island visiting this time, 3:30 pm Friday at Hiawatha.

Three weeks ago, Chief Sealth International High School and West Seattle High School opened the boys-soccer season with a 1-1 tie. Tuesday, they met again, and this time the final was a 1-0 victory for Sealth. #3 in the top photo is the Seahawks’ Abel Kidane (featured in our earlier story about 3 Sealth & WSHS players who helped make history last weekend), who had the assist for Yael Pina‘s goal.

Next on the schedule – Sealth plays Seattle Prep at Magnuson, 3:30 pm Friday; West Seattle plays Roosevelt at Walt Hundley, 3:30 pm Thursday.

As the Mariners were wrapping up their Opening Day win downtown, the West Seattle High School Wildcats were taking the field on the road for what turned out to be a big win. Thanks to Caryn Johnson for the report and photo:

West Seattle Wildcats took on the Franklin Quakers Monday afternoon. Freshman Cameron Paskett (#28) started on the mound for West Seattle. Cameron pitched 5 good innings, striking out four, giving up 6 hits and only allowing 3 runs. Senior Daniel Kemp came in to finish up the game, pitching the last two innings and not giving up a hit.

On the offensive side of the ball, West Seattle dominated Franklin’s pitchers. 5 players had multiple hits in the game, with freshman Alex Pastrana leading the way with three. In the end, West Seattle walked away with the victory 18-3. Next game is Wednesday against Garfield, 3:30 at Hiawatha.

Three scenes and scores from Southwest Athletic Complex in Westwood, where three local varsity teams played ball in the Friday afternoon sunshine:

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Thanks to Caryn Johnson for the photo and report on West Seattle High School‘s varsity baseball game on Wednesday:

It was a rough afternoon for the Wildcats. The Crusaders of Eastside Catholic jumped out to an early lead and the Wildcats just could not recover. There were a few highlights in the game, but the key was when sophomore Andrew Burggraff [photo above] came in to pitch midway through the 3rd inning. He pitched the rest of the game, giving up only one hit and not letting in a run. In the end, West Seattle lost 13-2 in five innings.

Next game is against Ballard on Friday at Hiawatha, at 3:30 pm.

Hard-fought win for the West Seattle High School baseball team on Monday, in a road game against Nathan Hale. Thanks to Caryn Johnson for the report:

West Seattle jumped on Hale quickly in the first inning when senior Buick McNamara hit a shot to center field to score Jack Page and Jamie Maples.

Jamie started on the mound for West Seattle and threw four scoreless innings. It wasn’t until the bottom of the 5th that Hale mounted their comeback and tied up the game. In the bottom of the 6th, Hale took the lead by one and then it was up to the West Side offense to produce at least one run to tie things up. Morgan McCullough led off the top of the 7th and reached on a single to right field. Jack Page was next to the plate and laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt which moved Morgan all the way to third. Jamie came up next and singled, which scored Morgan to tie up the game. West Seattle was able to hold off Hale in the bottom of the 7th to send the game into extra innings.

Top of the 8th, Buick was able to get on base due to an error by Hale’s 2nd baseman. Then with a clutch hit, freshman Alex Pastrana doubled to left field to send Buick home. West Seattle now led 4-3 heading into the bottom of the 8th. To close the game out, West Seattle brought in Morgan to close out the game. He faced three batters and recorded all three outs, two by way of strikeout.

In the end, West Seattle topped Nathan Hale 4-3 in eight tight innings. It was a great battle to the very end, and the boys never gave up.

WSHS is back home Wednesday at 3:30 pm on the field at Hiawatha, facing Eastside Catholic.

Thanks to Caryn Johnson for the report and photos from Saturday’s High School Baseball Classic game at Safeco Field, with West Seattle HS coming home with a win:

The High School Baseball Classic has been running for 9 years and West Seattle High School has been fortunate enough to have participated in every one.

Sponsored by the Seattle Mariners and Safeco Field, this event gives local high schools the opportunity to please on the “Big Stage.” For most of these boys, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to sit in the dugout, practice and play where of some of their idols do. They are treated like a major league team, with their names being called by the announcer, plays being replayed on the “JumboTron” in center field and even the field crew coming out to drag the field during the 4th inning to make sure they played on the best conditions possible. All in all, the experience is one I know the boys from both teams with forever treasure.

Yesterday, West Seattle High School hosted Sedro Woolley High School. It was a brisk sunny afternoon and a wonderful day for baseball.

Sophomore Carson Wright (above) started on the mound for West Seattle and got things underway. He pitched three great innings of baseball, only giving up one run.

(Above, Jack Page sliding into 3rd; below, Morgan McCullough at bat)

West Seattle came out strong and scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Coach Velko Vitalich made many substitutions during the game, allowing several of the boys a chance to play.

(Jamie Maples scoring the 6th run of the game in the bottom of the 6th)
In the end West Seattle won, 6-1. The next game is Monday against Nathan Hale at Meadowbrook at 3:30 pm.

As they look ahead to today’s High School Baseball Classic game at Safeco Field, the West Seattle High School baseball team is celebrating a win. Thanks to Caryn Johnson for the report on Friday’s game:

Under beautiful skies at Hiawatha Field, the West Seattle Wildcats hosted the Cleveland Eagles Friday afternoon. West Seattle started Junior Jamie Maples on the mound. He pitched two full innings, striking out 5 of the 7 batters he faced. Freshman Cameron Paskett and Senior Daniel Kemp came in to pitch the rest of the game holding the Cleveland batters to just 2 hits and 5 runs.

Junior Morgan McCullough started the West Seattle bats will a Home Run blast to center field. He would continue to pile up the hits with another Home Run in the 2nd, a triple and a double. Jamie Maples and Sophomore Jack Page each had three hits. As a team, West Seattle had a total of 18 hits, producing 15 runs, 9 of which were earned.

In the end, West Seattle won in 5 innings, 15-5. Next game is this afternoon at Safeco Field at 12:30. Come on out to cheer on the boys at this free event. The next conference game is scheduled for Monday, vs. Nathan Hale at Meadowbrook, at 3:30.