“Oh, so close.The pressure was all on Olympic League leader Sequim before their regular-season finale against the Bainbridge High School girls’ volleyball team. And then the Spartans gave them – almost – more than they could handle.The Wolves, needing a win to take the league title from Central Kitsap, prevailed in a Thursday night thriller on Bainbridge’s home court, walking a tightrope until the final point in a 14-16, 15-9, 15-6, 9-15, 16-14 triumph.Despite the loss, Bainbridge (7-7) earned a loser-out playoff game Tuesday by virtue of being the second-place 3A team in the league. The winner advances to the 3A West Central District tournament. “
“Call it the Senior Farewell Effect.Fueled by an emotional pre-game farewell ceremony for the Bainbridge High School girls’ soccer team’s eight departing seniors – Maegen Beattie, Alice Bischoff, Anna-Lisa Breiland, Lisa Earnest, Sarah Fowler, Lauren Hume, Suzanne Replinger and Courtney Walker – the Spartans took some much-needed momentum into next week’s playoffs with a sparkling 1-0 victory against North Kitsap on Thursday night.Coupled with Bainbridge’s 3-2 win over Bremerton Tuesday, the Spartans ended their regular season with an 8-6-2 record, good for 23 points and fifth place in the Olympic League, heading into next Thursday’s 7 p.m. West Central District loser-out postseason contest at North Mason.I was so nervous, said Replinger, admitting to the Farewell Effect. But it had to happen like this. It’s the pride. “
“The Bainbridge High School girls’ soccer team staggered to the end of a stacked-schedule week on a winning note, punching out punchless Port Townsend, 3-0, in Olympic League action Saturday.The game, which more closely resembled a practice, concluded a schedule stretch in which the Spartans played four league games – twice the usual number – in addition to the slate of select-level games that most of the team’s members play on weekends.With the win, Bainbridge finished the stretch with a 1-2-1 mark, and entered last night’s contest against Bremerton with an overall ledger of 6-6-2 for 20 points. That firmly ensconces the team in fifth place among the league’s nine teams.While only the top four squads advance directly to West Central District play, Bainbridge will have a shot at an at-large berth early next week by virtue of being the top 3A school in district (Sequim, a 1-13 team, is the only other 3A school in the league). “
“Good defense.The offense, you ask?Welllllllll ….Did we mention the good defense in the Bainbridge High School football team’s 21-7 loss at White River last Friday night?Bainbridge kept the Hornets, one of the Pierce County League top-drawer teams, in offensive check all night in Buckley. The team forced three turnovers, and harassed the pass-happy opponents into a 50 percent passing night.Offensively, neither team could get much going, and I think the field conditions had a little something to do with that, assistant coach Jake Haley said. But defensively, we were solid all the way through.On offense, following a fumbled opening kickoff and Hornet score, Bainbridge got untracked early, capping a 90-yard drive with an 18-yard touchdown burst by junior Kenny Walker. White River (6-1) got 14 points of their own in the opening frame, and the rest of the contest settled into a near-standstill. “
“One wonders what grudge this season’s schedule-makers might have had against the Bainbridge High School girls’ soccer team.What else would account for a week in which the Spartans’ sedate two-game-a-week slate was disrupted with four contests in six days?And that’s not even counting the select and premier level games that most members of the Bainbridge squad play on Saturdays and Sundays.Fortunately, after the Spartans sagged in the middle of that schedule with back-to-back losses Tuesday and Thursday to top-tier 4A rivals Central Kitsap and Olympic, they’ll cap their marathon march with a 1 p.m. contest against 2A pushover Port Townsend.The losses, on the heels of a surprise 2-2 tie on Olympic League leader Port Angeles’ home pitch, left Bainbridge with a 5-6-2 overall mark and 17 points – 10 points shy of fourth-place North Kitsap.The disparity, coming with just two regular-season games remaining after today’s tilt, virtually ensures that the Spartans will have to play a sub-district qualifying contest against a Pierce County League opponent in order to gain entry to the West Central District playoff tournament, scheduled for Nov. 2 and 3.To be ready for play of that caliber, the Spartans hope to be rested and ready to play the best soccer they know how. And that, it would seem, can only be accomplished by limping through what’s left of this week intact. “
“The Bainbridge High School freshman football team won the battle of the unbeatens Thursday night at Memorial Stadium, defeating Kingston Junior High by a 22-16 score.Zack Ainsley was a one-man wrecking crew for the Spartans, scoring the team’s first two touchdowns, racking up 158 rushing yards on 20 carries, and accumulating six solo tackles, two quarterback sacks and a fumble recovery. His offensive success was credited to Bainbridge’s continual use of the counter running play, led by offensive linemen Nick Blakey and Bryce Matthews. “
“It took overtime heroics for the Bainbridge Spartan football boys to steal the limelight away from the unwelcome main attraction of the game against North Mason Friday night. In a contest with more flags flying in the air than during the Olympic Games opening ceremonies, the Spartans captured a 14-13 overtime victory on their home turf. Contrary to the multitude of colors represented by the flags in Sydney last month, the flying cloths Friday night were all of one color – yellow. In fact, it was a questionable pass interference call against Bainbridge that set up the tying touchdown for North Mason near the end of regulation time and another interference call that nearly forced a second overtime. “
“The colder it gets out of the pool, the hotter the Bainbridge High School boys’ water polo club gets inside it.Team Ray bounced back from a slow start to its 2000 season to sweep two league tournament games last Saturday from host Roosevelt of Seattle and Peninsula.With two more wins in the second half of the tourney next weekend against Wilson and Shorewood – both eminently beatable teams in Team Ray coach Jeff Clark’s estimation – Bainbridge can secure an automatic berth to the 12-team state tournament early next month. “
“Thursday night, the Bainbridge High School girls’ varsity volleyball team packed more melodrama into its five-game home match with Olympic than a TV network could pack into a five-night miniseries.There were wild momentum swings. There were defeats snatched from the jaws of victories. There were sudden breakdowns, agonized setbacks and inexplicable shifts in plot.And, finally – as you might hope a good miniseries might end – the Spartans lived happily ever after with a 15-7, 15-7, 12-15, 15-17, 15-6 thriller two-and-a-half-hour triumph against the Olympic League rival Trojans – avenging a mirror-image five-game loss on Olympic’s home court four weeks before. “
“Thirty-five points on the road simply hasn’t happened for the Bainbridge High School football team in a long time.And that, not the final score, is what Spartans fans should take away from last Friday’s 49-35 Pierce County League loss to Franklin Pierce.We were pleased and we talked about it, said Bainbridge head coach Andy Grimm of the practice atmosphere following the previous week’s 17-12 Homecoming triumph over Fife. We could see we were putting things together and getting better, and we decided we needed to make some noise Friday night. “
“Reports of the Bainbridge High School girls’ swim team’s successes this season are beginning to sound like a broken record.Maybe that’s because of all the broken records.The Spartans, certainly one of the favorites for this year’s state 3A team title, added a few new claims to immortality at last Saturdays’ six-team Spartans Relays event, smashing a fresh handful of meet and pool records en route to a first-place finish among a prestigious field at Ray Williamson Pool.Down went the pool record for the 400-yard freestyle relay, knocked off by nearly a full second at 3 minutes, 38.05 seconds by the quartet of freshman Emily Silver, junior Melissa Clune, senior Leslie Wukstich and junior Helen Silver. The latter three broke the mark they set last year, with Emily Silver replacing the graduated Christina Swanson on the pool’s record board.In all likelihood, it was probably the fastest 400 free relay swim in the state of Washington this year, meet director Paul Torno said. “
“It’s practically a new team, with a new coach – and now fans and members of the Bainbridge High School boys’ water polo club are having to get used to a new middle-of-the-pack position.After a loss to Mercer Island Tuesday and a win against Wilson Thursday, both in their home pool, Team Ray has plowed into the second half of their season with a 6-7 mark.The mark may be mediocre. The team, however, is anything but.We’ve just got to focus and utilize what we’ve got, said senior Adam Gunn, who registered 14 saves and a game-closing pool-length goal in Bainbridge’s 15-10 victory over Wilson. We’ve got the ability. We’ve just got to keep our minds in it. “
“The Bainbridge High School girls’ soccer team kept itself in the middle of the Olympic League pack by bouncing back from a tough loss against North Kitsap Tuesday to thrash Klahowya Thursday, 6-1.Held to just five shots against the 4A Vikings (7-2) in Poulsbo in a 2-0 loss, the Spartans shrugged off a 1-1 halftime tie against the 2A Eagles with an offensive flurry. Freshman Adriana Gonzalez-Medina scored two goals, as did junior Fab Rezayat. Lauren Hume and Lindsay Carlson each added a score, and Emily Haber registered three assists to help Bainbridge move to 4-4-1 on the season. The team has 13 points, good for fifth place in the eight-team league.The top four teams at season’s end automatically advance to the district playoffs.In JV action, Bainbridge coach Helen Hendrickson’s squad maintained its winning streak of three-plus-seasons with one of its toughest matches ever – a hard-fought 1-0 victory at North Kitsap Tuesday. Morgan Zajonc’s goal in the last 10 minutes of play was the difference.Both teams resume play next Tuesday at Sequim. “
