“Speed. Defense. Pitching.This year’s Mariner mantra also applies to the Spartan baseball team, which coach Mike Reese describes as a group of very talented baseball players with a lot of good young arms.Last year’s team was 15-3 in the Olympic League, 17-4 overall. Lost to graduation were pitchers Jamie Hawkins and Thomas Henshaw, along with several big bats.This is one of the fastest teams I’ve seen in seven years of coaching, Reese says. Now we have to get on base and use our speed to our advantage. They’ll need all the advantages they can get, as they open with three tough games right out of the gate: A visit to South Kitsap today. Perennial power North Kitsap in the home opener Tuesday. An away game with Port Angeles a week from Tuesday.This is a young team, Reese says. They need to understand what it takes to win. So we’re going to go up against good teams, because that’s the kind of team we’ll meet in the playoffs. “
“New girls’ water polo coach Jeff Clark hopes to work the same magic on this year’s varsity as he did with last year’s JV squad, which won the state championship.Nine girls from that JV squad, which finished 13-2, join five returning varsity players for what should be a very competitive season.The varsity finished second in the state tournament to a strong Mercer Island squad, losing the championship game to conclude a 17-4 season.Clark, who replaces long-time coach Steve Killpack, is himself a former Spartan player.He’s working with a turnout of 42 girls, which provides three teams: two at the varsity level – blue and gold – and JVs. “
“No band. A handful of students. The dance team set to perform at halftime. And the scoreboard showing a 25-4 first quarter edge. Sounds a lot like a Tuesday night game with Klahowya. Unfortunately, the scene was the Tacoma Dome, not the Spartan gym, and it was Bainbridge on the short end of the score. Blanchet scored seven points in the first minute and romped to a 61-40 thumping on Thursday in the 3A girls basketball tournament. The Spartans opened the tournament with a tense 50-42 win over Rainier Beach the previous day.Even Thursday’s most positive accomplishment was lessened, as the official scorer somehow missed one of freshman Alice Russell’s six blocked shots and credited her with five.Yesterday afternoon, the team met defending champion Meadowdale in a loser-out game. If the Spartans won, they play today at 1:30 for fourth place.In retrospect, Bainbridge might have been better off losing last Friday’s classic come-from-behind game to White River for the district championship. The Spartans No. 1 seed coming out gave them the privilege of joining three of the state’s four top-ranked teams – Blanchet, Bellevue, Meadowdale – in the tournament’s upper bracket, and the Spartans’ first-round opponent was a physical Rainier Beach team that not only extended them to the limit but also wound up hobbling leading scorer Emily Pierce. “
“The White River Hornets tried to trash Spartan freshman Alice Russell’s 15th birthday party Friday.But Russell and her teammates blew out the candles as they overcame a 12-point deficit with less than five minutes left, to defeat the fifth-ranked Hornets 58-54 and win the District 3 girls’ basketball championship at Pacific Lutheran University.Fab Rezayat sank 11 of her career-high 18 points – including a game-tying trey with 50 seconds left – in the fourth quarter, while Emily Pierce drained four free throws in the final 17 seconds as the Spartans (now 17-5) earned the No. 1 seed to the state tournament that opens today.This is the best birthday present I could have had, Russell said. I’ve never experienced something like this before. “
“Emily Pierce sank four free throws in the final 17 seconds as the Spartans defeated sixth-ranked White River 58-54 and qualify as the #1 seed from District 3 for the 3A State tournament, which begins Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome. The Spartans were down by 12 points with less than five minutes to play but Pierce and Fab Rezayat powered the comeback. Rezayat drained a three-pointer with 50 seconds remaining to tie the score 54-54 as she scored 11 of her career-high18 points in the final five minutes. Pierce had 19 points to lead all scorers, while Alice Russell had 10 points and three blocked shots to celebrate her 15th birthday.Christine Schwager added eight and Morgan Zajonc chipped in three.The girls’ basketball team will open 3A tournament play at 10:30 Wednesday morning against Seattle’s Rainier Beach (19-8) at the Tacoma Dome. If they win, they will play the winner of Blanchet (23-3) and Aberdeen (19-4) Thursday at 3:30. If they lose to Rainier Beach, they will play the loser of the Blanchet-Aberdeen game at 9 a.m. on Thursday. To view the complete bracket with records and gametimes, see www.wiaa.com. “
“Many of the Bainbridge faithful who made the long drive to Pacific Lutheran University Tuesday, for the first-round girls’ basketball playoff game against Franklin Pierce, were squirming as the first quarter ended. The Spartans had gone scoreless for the final four minutes, and an 8-0 lead turned into a 9-8 deficit on a Cardinal hoop with 10 seconds left.But Courtney Kimball opened the second quarter with a trey, and the Spartans never trailed again en route to a 56-30 thumping. “
“Stephanie Hylen got off to an excellent start at Friday’s 3A WIAA Gymnastics Championships, scoring 9.0 on floor and 8.6 on vault. But uncharacteristic errors dropped her scores in bars (7.325) and beam (7.75) from levels she’d maintained for most of the season and she finished with an all-around score of 32.675.Senior Melissa Borgen, the only other Spartan entrant, scored a 7.95 in the vault. My hand slipped a little on the bars, but I don’t dwell on it, Hylen said. Part of gymnastics is presentation. “
Jeff Christensen closed out his Spartan swimming career by breaking the school record in the 100-yard butterfly.His new mark led Bainbridge to 72 points and an 11th place finish in the 3A Washington State Swimming and Diving Championships Friday and Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center.
” Mike Roe placed sixth in Mat Classic XIII, and only a questionable referee’s decision prevented teammate Brandon Nall from at least equaling that feat.Roe scored a pair of overtime wins in his first two matches on Friday, before losing a technical fall Saturday morning to the eventual champion in his 145-pound division. “
Jeff Christensen set a new school record in the 100-yard butterfly at the 2A/3A Washington State Swimming and Diving Championships as the Spartans scored 72 points overall.
“GoAnimal has been on Bainbridge for just over two years. Its roots have existed since man emerged on the plains and valleys of Africa many millennia ago.GoAnimal is the brainchild of 45-year-old Frank Forencich, who converted an old woodshed on his property into a secret training facility so he can teach the physical education you should have gotten. It’s been replaced by sports and learning the rules of games. An obviously fit man, Forencich is the embodiment of the physical part. A longtime self-described climbing bum, he’s scaled numerous peaks in the Northwest and Canada. He’s ascended El Capitan, the sheer-sided symbol of Yosemite National Park, a few times. He has a black belt in karate and aikido.And education? He holds a degree in human biology from Stanford, a teaching credential and a massage certificate and has also been a flight instructor. He just returned from a month-long trip to Africa which he says taught him a great deal and is eager to pass along his new-found knowledge.So what is he trying to teach? “
“Coach Penny Gienger couldn’t have scripted Friday night’s game at Central Kitsap any better as her girls’ basketball team prepared for post-season play.Her team had been outplayed and outscored during the third quarter and trailed by three. Add a partisan Cougar crowd and a talented Cougar team that desperately wanted a victory and the scenario was complete.The Spartans responded. Keyed by six Emily Pierce points, Bainbridge went on a 9-2 run to open the fourth quarter and take a 54-50 lead, then held on for a hard-fought 58-55 win and a share of the Olympic League championship.It was a great, district-like game, Gienger said. Both teams played really well. Their crowd was wild and loud, and ours was the same, which helped. “
“The Spartan girls defeated Port Townsend on Tuesday, 59-39, in what coach Penny Gienger called a great game.Our defense was really tough, Gienger said, and Christine (Schwager) played well on their best player.The game also marked junior guard Fab Rezayat’s return to full health after several weeks battling the flu. She scored 11 points, dished out six assists, and had an eye-popping one-handed bounce pass that somehow threaded its way through three Redskins to set up an easy shot. “