“No Bainbridge Islander will get closer to Olympic action than Rachel Scott.The 1994 BHS graduate is the first alternate on the U.S. women’s water polo team. Barring an injury to one of her teammates, she won’t get in the water. But otherwise, she’ll be treated as a team member.I’ll travel as the video coach, she said. That means I’ll participate in the opening and closing ceremonies as a team member, and stay in the Olympic Village.For the last four years, Scott has been a member of the U.S. national team, which qualified for the Sydney Olympics. But while the U.S. team has 15 members, Olympic rules only permit 13 players on a team. Somebody had to be left home.Coach Guy Baker decided to make Scott the video coach, meaning that she will film all of the team’s games. And in terms of how she’s treated at Sydney, the coach designation makes all the difference.Alternates don’t stay in the Olympic Village, Scott said. It was great of the coach to do this, so I could be treated as part of the team. “
“They may not have won many games. But for a week last month, the members of FC Kitsap Arsenal – a local under-17 Premier 2 select boys soccer team – got the best experience in the world.Arsenal, coached by Bremerton’s Mike Meherg, played in the prestigious Swan’s USA Cup tournament July 16-25 at Blain, Minn., a massive boot-fest that drew teams from 34 U.S. states and 24 countries.Overall, we played well, said Meherg, who took the team to Europe last year for a similar primer on how the very best teens in the world are playing. I think there was an intimidation factor that we had to get over in some of the games. But we realized we could play with the teams that were there.Four Bainbridge players – Mitka von Reis Crooks, Kaj Hauschulz, Adam Brenneman and Calder Just – joined players from the Kitsap Peninsula on the team. “
“When organizers say the summer all-comers track meets are open to everyone, they really mean it. Really.Mostly, it’s kids who participate. For some of the younger ones, a 200-meter event isn’t a dash, it’s a hike. For some of the older kids, the meet is serious training.Over the summer, it’s hard to find a time to go all out, said Andy Reese, a senior-to-be at Bainbridge High School. Even running solo like I did tonight still pumps you up.The all-comers meets, sponsored by the park district, are held every Monday from mid-July to the end of August at the BHS track, beginning at 7 p.m. This Monday, an informal count disclosed roughly 100 participants, probably 80 percent of them pre-teens.We’ve had an enormous turnout from day one this year, meet organizer Jim Whiting said. Tonight is the first time we’ve had enough kids to fill all the lanes in the 4×100 relay. “
“Bainbridge’s Joe Lanza salvaged what for him has been a disappointing summer golf season by winning the Northwest sectional qualifying tournament last weekend in Sandpoint, Ida.The victory gave him an invitation to the national PGA junior tournament later this summer in West Palm Beach, Fla.Lanza fired rounds of 70 and 71, giving him a two-day total of 1-under-par 141 on the Hidden Lakes course. He tied for the top spot, then won a playoff against a golfer from Portland.I’ve been disappointed with my play this summer, the BHS senior-to-be said. It seems like one or two bad holes has wrecked my rounds. But that didn’t happen in Idaho.Hans Olson of Bainbridge also participated in the sectional qualifying, but shot a 165 to finish well back.Lanza will leave for Florida on August 21. The tournament runs August 23-26. “
“From the way they talk, the Ace Paving Masters slowpitch team has some softballs in the pail that are nearly as old as the players.Another bad one, pitcher Harold Conway laments as he weeds out a particularly decrepit spheroid while pitching batting practice one morning last week, tossing it aside distastefully.They’re all bad ones, somebody shouts from the outfield.When infielder Rosie Hagins, taking his turn at the plate, smacks a ball over the left field fence at Linder Field, there is concern.You better get that ball, someone yells at the players closest to where Hagins’ shot cleared the fence. That’s a good one. We don’t have many good ones.The softballs Ace Paving practices with might be bad because they’re so old.Or, they might be bad because the team’s players – all of whom are at least 60 years old – have been hammering them around so relentlessly for so long.”
“After eight straight post-season triumphs, Bainbridge’s 9-10 Little League all-stars finally ran into a team that played the pitching-and-defense game ever so slightly better. And as a result, the islanders had to settle for third place in the state tournament.”
“A portion of downtown Winslow turned into a velodrome Saturday evening, as more than 200 professional and amateur bicycle racers took on the mile-long course in the second Twilight Bicycle Races.The hills don’t look like much, organizer Steve Rhoades said of the course, which ran east on Wyatt Way, north on Ericksen Avenue, east on Wallace Way and south on Madison Avenue to Wyatt. But if you don’t have a good warmup, they’re killers. You’ll pop off the back of the race.Rhoades estimated that only about one-third of the 60 starters completed the 35-lap main event for professional racers.”
“Bainbridge’s young baseball dreadnoughts continued their march towards a state championship Wednesday.Although the defense faltered a bit, the 9-10 Little League all-stars cranked up the offense to post a 7-2 win over Kenmore in a winner’s bracket semifinal, advancing to this weekend’s climactic round of play.”
“The qualifying laps were OK – no spinouts, and no wrecks, which is more than several drivers could say.But the No. 24 car wasn’t rolling through the banked left-hand turns properly. So driver Garrett Haxby steers back into the pit for a conversation with his mechanic, one that goes like this:Donna says you got third.It’s loose though, dude.Really loose?Not really loose, but loose.Given this direction, mechanic Nathan Searles takes up a wrench and makes minor adjustments to the suspension of Haxby’s car. It works – later in the evening, when it really counts, Haxby will rally to take third again in a field of some 15 cars, in the evening’s main event.We live and die by our motto, Haxby says, pointing to the dashboard and its inscription: Drive it…like you STOLE it!Haxby, a Poulsbo resident and co-owner with Ranji Dhatt of Madison Avenue Garage on Bainbridge Island, is in his fourth year in Legends series racing.”
“As host of this year’s state tournament, Bainbridge’s 13-year-old Babe Ruth all-stars didn’t need to win their way into the tournament.But on Wednesday, the hosts definitely proved that they belonged, as they drubbed Ferndale 15-0 in a tournament-opening game called after five innings by the 10-run rule.We had excellent pitching, great defense and superb clutch hitting, Bainbridge coach Mike Patterson said. I’m ecstatic about the way we played.”
“BREMERTON – If experience is the best teacher, Bainbridge’s 15-year-old all-stars have learned their lessons well.They proved that over the weekend by storming to the Babe Ruth district championship, a title that this bunch won as 13-year-olds and as 14-year olds.That’s something – winning the district tournament three years in a row, head coach Bruce Hebner said. No matter who you’re playing, that’s hard to do, because so many things can happen in baseball.Bainbridge captured the title with an 8-5 win over Central Kitsap on Sunday.”
“Bainbridge 9-10 baseball coach Rick Watson said his team was well-positioned going into the deciding games of the district tournament over the weekend because he had his top pitchers rested and ready.But not even Watson could have predicted just how good his pitchers would be. All his three top pitchers did was toss back-to-back shutouts against South Kitsap Eastern as Bainbridge ran away from the field to take the district title and move into this weekend’s state tournament.We were hitting on all cylinders all tournament, Watson said. We had pitching all the way, big hits and excellent defense. Our pitchers gave up only three runs and eight hits in the five games, and we never trailed.”
“The old saying that the team making the fewest mistakes wins is never more true than in youth baseball. That being so, it should follow that a team making no mistakes will win big.And so it was Thursday night, as the Bainbridge 9-10-year-old baseball all-star team turned in another near-flawless performance Thursday to claim a 9-1 win over the North Kitsap Nationals in district tournament play at Olalla.Pitching is what held us together, said Bainbridge coach Rick Watson. We made no mistakes, made great plays in the field and came through in the clutch.The island team’s third straight tournament win sends them into a winner’s bracket showdown against South Kitsap East, tonight at 7:30 p.m.”
