The 2010 All-Olympic League baseball team was released Monday.
Olympic High School outfielders Blake Johnson and Chris Campbell and third baseman Jordan Halstead were named to the first team. Olympic first baseman Chris Groat, second baseman Keith Davis and pitcher Riley Crow were named to the second team.
Klahowya Secondary School shortstop Brandon Neet earned a position on the second team.
Here are the honorable mentions from Olympic and Klahowya:
Joe Valley, Klahowya; Patrick Middleton, Olympic; Patrick McGuire, Klahowya; Bradley Harstad, Klahowya; Seth Green, Klahowya; Zach Bird, Olympic; Joe Stevick, Olympic; and Clark Rose, Klahowya.

And here is the entire team, including MVP, first team, second team and honorable mention selections:

League champ: North Kitsap
Sportsmanship: Sequim
Coach of Year: Jay Hultberg, North Mason
MVP: Daniel Jewett, North Kitsap

First team (name, grade, school)
1B    Daniel Orr    12    KHS
2B    Austin Abrahamson    12    NK
3B    Jordan Halstead    12    OLY
SS    Brandon Neet    12    KSS
C    Nick Benish    11    NK
DH    Justin Williams    12    PA
Utility    Isaac Yamamoto    11    SQ
OF    Cody Sullivan    11    PA
OF    Chris Campbell    11    OLY
OF    Blake Johnson    12    OLY
P    AJ Konopaski    11    PA
P    Alex Smith    11    NK
P    Josh Herrera    11    KHS

Second team
1B    Chris Groat    12    OLY
2B    Keith Davis    12    OLY
3B    Jordan Halstead    12    OLY
SS    Kasey Bielec    11    NM
C    Curtis Wildung    11    KHS
DH    Matt Rief    12    SQ
Utility    Kaden Tomlinson    9    BHS
OF    Zane Minder    11    NK
OF    Stephen Gorman    11    KHS
OF    Alex Gillis    12    SQ
P    Riley Crow    12    OLY
P    Ryan Unbedacht    12    PT
P    Matt Ramstead    12    KHS

Honorable Mention
Joe Valley    11    KSS
Alex Smith    11    NK
Cameron Robinson    12    PT
Skyler Jensen    12    NM
Conner Wales    10    BHS
Drew Rickerson    11    SQ
Garrett Ramstead    12    KHS
Dillon Douglas    12    NM
Zac Smit    11    NK
Easton Napiontek    10    PA
Rico LeMay    12    KHS
Patrick Middleton    11    OLY
Conner Wales    10    BHS
Patrick McGuire    11    KSS
Kevin Woodral    12    KHS
Bradley Harstad    11    KSS
Devin Garcia    11    BHS
Berkley Nilles    12    NK
Augie Konopaski    12    PA
Seth Green    12    KSS
Zach Bird    12    OLY
Joe Nys    12    NM
Preston McFarlen    11    SQ
Brett Johnson    12    PT
Joe Stevick    11    OLY
Eli Fultz    9    BHS
Clark Rose    10    KSS
Matt Bereiter    12    SQ
TJ Reitan    11    NK
Josh Fisher    12    BHS
Chris Campbell    11    OLY
Brandon Neet    12    KSS
Chris Groat    12    OLY
Nick Torento    11    KHS

This in Thursday from Central Kitsap High School baseball coach Bill Baxter, whose team is preparing for state:
Central Kitsap’s Drew Vettleson has been named the Narrows League Bay Division Most Valuable Player for the second season in a row.
The senior outfielder and pitcher hit .490 with seven home runs and 29 RBI during the regular season. He earned the win on the mound in Central Kitsap’s 7-1 win last weekend over Emerald Ridge High School, a win that lifted the Cougars to the Class 4A state baseball tournament for the fourth time in as many seasons.
Teammates Tyler Baumgartner and Brett McDonald also were named to the first team. Pitcher Josh Sontag, catcher Brian Gustofson and outfielder Josh Kreifels were second-teamers.
Pitcher Nathan Reece, infielder Jonathon Fergus and outfielder Brandon Bynum earned honorable mention.
And here’s a story from the Tacoma News Tribune on Vettleson, who the paper named its 2010 Player of the Year.

Hold on tight — here is the latest from the prep playoff scene. The next two weeks are about as busy and things get on the prep beat, but it’s an exciting time for the athletes and sports nerds like me alike.
I’ve tried my best to keep things short, but there is a lot to talk about. Scroll down and look for your sport, or sports, of choice in bold lettering.

Baseball
The Central Kitsap High School baseball team defeated Emerald Ridge High School 7-1 in a loser-out game Saturday at Kent Memorial Park to earn a berth to the Class 4A state tournament. The Cougars have now advanced to state four consecutive seasons.
Senior Tyler Baumgartner hit two home runs and fellow senior Drew Vettleson struck out 11 batters in 6 2/3 innings to pace the Cougars (16-8), who earlier that day lost to Puyallup High School, 11-5.
Up next for Central Kitsap is the opening round of state and a matchup with the Hawks of Mountlake Terrace High School (15-6), the Northwest District I champion and winners of four consecutive games.
The Cougars defeated the Hawks in the first round of the 2008 tournament, 11-5. Mountlake Terrace has made five appearances at state since 1986, but is winless in those games and has been outscored 31-13.
The winner of Saturday’s game advances to the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. on the same field, playing the winner of a game between Skyline High School and Kentwood High School.
See the bracket here.

Fastpitch
For the Central Kitsap and Olympic High School fastpitch teams, the march toward state begins Friday.
When the Lady Cougars open the 4A West Central District III tournament against Tahoma High School at 10 a.m. Friday at Sprinker Recreation Center in Tacoma, they will begin their quest for a fourth consecutive berth to the 4A state tournament.
Coach Bruce Welling’s squad secured its first state-tournmament victory since 2000 with a win over Kamiakin High School in the first round last year.
A win over Tahoma would put Central Kitsap in a winner-to-state contest against Puyallup or Gig Harbor High School at 2 p.m. Friday at Sprinker. A loss drops the team to the consolation bracket and a loser-out game at 4 p.m. Friday, also at Sprinker.
The Lady Cougars (14-6) face defending 3A state champion Bainbridge High School in a non-league tune-up game at 4 p.m. Monday at Linder Field in Silverdale. Central Kitsap and Bainbridge have split two games this season.
Olympic, meanwhile, will compete in the 3A West Central District III tournament beginning Friday, despite struggling to a 6-14 record during the regular season.
The Lady Trojans open against Mount Rainier High School at noon Friday at Sprinker. In the event of a win the team would face Union High School or Peninsula High School in a winner-to-state game at 6 p.m. the same day.
A loss would drop Olympic to the consolation bracket and a loser-out game at 8 p.m. Friday at Sprinker.
See the brackets here.

Girls tennis
With district tournaments beginning Tuesday and Wednesday and continuing Friday and Saturday, the girls tennis playoffs are in full swing.
In 4A action Central Kitsap senior Corinne Wurden will look to advance to state for the fourth time in as many seasons, opening districts at 10 a.m. Wednesday against Kim Auton of Emerald Ridge.
Wurden is the Narrows League No. 1 seed, while Auton is the South Puget Sound League No. 9 seed.
Bremerton’s Bre Casias opens districts as the Olympic League No. 1 seed and will face the No. 4 seed from the Seamount League at Sprinker Recreation Center on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, senior Maggie Becker and sophomore Tracy Landram of Klahowya both look to return to the 2A state tournament after advancing in 2009. Becker finished fourth and Landram took second.
They begin districts Friday at Auburn High School.

Boys soccer
The Bremerton boys soccer team missed an opportunity Saturday to reach the 3A state tournament. The Knights, whose most recent appearance at state was in 1991, lost 3-2 in overtime against Auburn Mountainview High School. It was a loser-out, winner-to-state contest.

Track and field
The 3A Olympic League boys and girls sub-district championships were Saturday at Port Angeles High School, with Bremerton and Olympic in action.
See the results here.
The West Central District III championships are Friday.
On the 2A side, Klahowya will participate in districts Wednesday. See the pairing here.
And finally, in 4A competition, Central Kitsap will compete in districts beginning Friday. Senior Shane Moskowitz will look to reach state after becoming an individual champion in 2009.

Back in the huddle here after a four-day jaunt to Colorado, where I pulled my weight, and them some, in celebration of my younger sister’s college graduation.
Missed quite a bit, though, with prep playoffs in full swing. Here’s a quick rundown of what awaits Bremerton and Central Kitsap area teams as the postseason continues in baseball, fastpitch and boys soccer.
Check back later for information on tennis and track and field. A lot to keep straight, so hang with me.

Fastpitch:
Central Kitsap High School will face Wilson High School in the Narrows League Tournament on May 14 to determine the league’s No. 3 and 4 seeds to districts. The winner gets No. 3, the loser No. 4.
The Lady Cougars (14-5 overall, 10-4 league) lost to Wilson 5-1 early this season, but coach Bruce Welling has said more than once over the past few weeks that the team is right where it needs to be and on course for another successful postseason. Central Kitsap has advanced to the Class 4A state tournament three consecutive seasons.
The Wilson game will be at a time-still-to-be announced at the South End Recreation Area in Tacoma. More info here.

Baseball:
Central Kitsap and Olympic are still alive and both teams are in action this week at districts, looking to advance to state.
The road might be a little easier for the Cougars (15-7), who will have two chances to move beyond districts by virtue of their No. 3 seed. They face Puyallup High School of the South Puget Sound League at 11 a.m. Saturday at Kent Memorial Park, with the winner earning a No. 1 seed to state and the loser dropping to a loser-out, winner-to-state game at 5 p.m. the same day.

Here’s an image from Central Kitsap’s 7-6 win over rival South Kitsap High School in a game that was played Saturday. Photo credit goes to Editor Jeff Rhodes of the Port Orchard Independent.

Olympic, on the other hand, must win two consecutive games to advance to state for the second time in three seasons. The senior-laden Trojans face Auburn Mountainview High School in a loser-out game at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Kent Memorial. A win would put Olympic in a loser-out, winner-to-state contest against either Union High School or Mount Rainier High School at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Coach Nate Andrews has said over the past few weeks that his team in playing better now than it has all season. We’ll see if that’s enough for the squad to advance.
Brackets here.

Soccer:
The team to watch here is Bremerton High School. The Knights defeated previously unbeaten North Kitsap High School 2-0 last week to earn the Olympic League regular-season championship and an opportunity to become a No. 1 seed to districts. Led by senior captains Matt Olson and Eli Chastain, the Knights face the state’s fourth-ranked 3A team, Capital High School, at 7 p.m. Monday. A win would give them a No. 1 seed to districts, which begin Saturday, while a loss would drop them to a No. 2 seed.
In any event Bremerton will be in districts, looking to get to state for the first time since 1990. Thanks to my sister’s apparently great study habits, I was Mile High the night the Knights won the league. But here are a few images I took during a rainy game last week against Olympic, a 1-0 Bremerton win that set up the showdown with North Kitsap:

In 4A action Central Kitsap faces Wilson at 6:30 p.m. Monday in a loser-out, winner-to-districts match. The game is at Mount Tahoma High School, and the winner gets a No. 5 seed to districts. Brackets here.

See the scariest, cutest 7-year-old in town here.

This just in from the Kitsap BlueJackets, the county’s collegiate baseball team that each summer calls Gene Lobe Fields at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds home:

Single-game tickets go on sale May 10. The Jackets, who play in the West Coast League, open the season July 4 against the Corvallis Knights. To reserve seats call (360) 479-0123.

Season tickets also are available by calling (360) 479-0123. Tickets can be purchased at The UPS Store in Silverdale or at the TEAM STORE on Wheaton Way in East Bremerton as well.

For additional information contact Bill Anderson, wanderson@kitsapbluejackets.com or (360) 731-3239.

Kudos to the student-athletes at Olympic High School: All but one spring sports team at Olympic is carrying a gpa of 3.0 or better, according to Athletic Director Nate Andrews.
That was good enough for the school to earn recognition from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the state’s governing body of high school sports.
Here are the gpa’s Andrews reported:

Girls tennis — 3.458
Boys soccer — 3.104
Girls golf — 3.216
Boys golf — 3.074
Baseball — 3.283
Fastpitch — 3.32
Girls track and field — 3.254

The boys track and field team was the lone team not to make the cut, posting a collective gpa of 2.938, Andrews said.

There ain’t no hangover like a shrimp hangover cause a shrimp hangover don’t …
OK, I’ll stop.
Not even raw palms or cat food-smelling fingers can stop this sports reporter from humming a sweet victory tune. Nope, not on this Monday, not with about fresh 40 shrimp in my belly and 100 more waiting at home, where they’ll be gobbled and slurped and chewed and savored until the cocktail sauce stops flowing.
The featured sports story in last week’s print versions of the Central Kitsap Reporter and Bremerton Patriot previewed the 2010 jumbo spot shrimp season, which began Saturday and will continue Wednesday and May 8 and 12.
Curious, and hungry, following a few days of research and writing, I trudged into a Wal-Mart store post-work Friday and purchased my shellfish license. It was put to use the next morning, me piling into a 21-foot Parker-model boat for day one of the shrimp season.
Here’s a report:
We were on the water with our traps baited — a few hundred yards offshore from Fay Bainbridge State Park on Bainbridge Island — just after 7 a.m., skies overcast, coffee steaming, stomachs (at least one) rumbling from the previous night’s escapades and the anticipated feast ahead.
Outfitted with two 36-can boxes of the finest cat food Friskies has to offer, as well as two shrimp traps, nearly 1,000 ft. of rope and five yellow buoys, optimism and equipment were aboard and aplenty.
In 24 years of predominately fruitless fishing, I’ve learned to appreciate pre-trip preparations — perusing sporting good stores for the hippest apparel, checking the weather forecast incessantly, trying to decide between ham or turkey for lunch but inevitably slabbing together two sandwiches. There are no guarantees on the seas, so you gotta enjoy yourself pre-departure.
There were at least 50 boats, probably more, bobbing along the half-mile-or-so stretch of water we fished. Among of the cast were 12-foot aluminum rigs and cabin cruisers pushing 40 feet and more, boats of all sizes. There were boats full of beer-guzzling men, fathers and husbands who I’m guessing would have stayed out longer had the season allowed — all traps had to be out of the water by 3 p.m. — and there were father-son duos, solo anglers, rookies and wily vets.
People were friendly and talkative, waving to their fellow anglers. We were all out there for the fresh catch.
Aboard the Parker the first two hour-long soaks yielded next to nothing. We loaded both traps with mashed-up cat food and let them sit on the bottom of the ocean floor— in 200 to 300 feet of water — for 60 minutes per round. Two hours, four hauls and a pair of wet gloves later, five shrimp flopped around in our deep cooler. Five shrimp. Five. Enough to count on one measly hand. Not nearly enough to cover the bottom of our icebox.
Some guy named Larry, a first-timer who prior to dropping his one and only trap had asked for advice and tips, reported with a grin that his first two hauls yielded 118 shrimp. Great. Good for you, Larry. Your 20-something son is doing all the heavy lifting, the hauling, for you.
All fishermen have a burning desire to know how their counterparts are faring:
“Any luck over there, Jimbo?!”
“Yeah, brother, we can’t keep them off our line! Knockin’ em dead! How bout you?”
“Nah, nothing yet, but we’re just getting started.”
“You’ll get ‘em, don’t worry!”
The conversation always ends with all parties smiling, a mutual, “Good luck!” But as soon as the guy with all the fish, or shrimp, is out of range, the empty-handers begin to grumble. Over and over, they question if what they’re doing is correct. If the bait is stale. If they are in the right spot.  If the tide is affecting the bait scent. If there is a hole in the trap.
This was the case aboard the Parker — until haul number three, a jackpot.
We let the traps soak an extra 15 minutes, dropped them closer to shore and fastened more lead inside them to prevent them from drifting along the bottom. Bingo. 88 shrimp. Get the cooker up to a boil, baby, because we were in business.
All 88 heads were immediately ripped off — decapitating the shrimp and putting them on ice keeps them the most fresh — and our traps went back in.
That 88-critter haul was the best of the day, and we chipped away the rest of the afternoon, meeting our limit of 80 shrimp per licensed angler by about 1:30 p.m. Larry and his son “limited” out sometime around noon, I think, but that didn’t matter.
Not with our cooler full.
Not with a guaranteed feast, and a shrimp hangover, waiting.

The Olympic High School boys soccer team nearly pulled off the upset of the season Thursday, playing undefeated North Kitsap High School to a 0-0 tie.
With the tie, the Trojans (4-7-1 overall, 4-4-1 league) earned one point in the Olympic League standings and now control their own destiny for the third and final Class 3A playoff spot out of the combined 3A/2A league, coach Steve Haggerty said.
The Vikings (11-0-1), ranked as high as No. 6 in the state, defeated Olympic 3-1 in the teams’ first meeting of season. They out-shot the Trojans 30-2 Thursday, the North Kitsap Herald reported.
Here’s what Haggerty had to say about Olympic’s performance:
On his team’s defense:
“We went in with a tactical plan and our kids executed it well.  Although our plan was to play defensively, I don’t think we really packed the box.  We had the defense hold a firm line outside the penalty area and allow goalkeeper Thomas Bryan to clean up anything that happened to get through.  We were able to use the offside rule to our advantage as an extra defender.”

On preparing for the game:
“You know, the funny thing was I did not think we had a good practice the day before in preparation for the match. We were dealing with ‘more issues than TV Guide’ at practice as a result of our previous game against Sequim. Practice gave me an opportunity to address the team and to speak with each player individually, where I was able to challenge each player to pick up their game and their focus toward all things associated with soccer and team building.”

On his pre-game speech to the team:
“We knew the game was on NK’s home field, where they have been perfect for year. It would not be easy, so I sprinkled in some quotes during my pre-game talk. One from coach Eric Allen — ‘If it were easy, everyone would do it.” And one from Teddy Roosevelt — ‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.’

Making the result even more surprising …
“One of the outcomes of our previous games with Sequim was that we were going into the North Kitsap game without two key players, and we found out on the bus that a third key player was sick and would not be able to participate. I brought two players up from the JV team and we went into the game with 13 available players.”

This comes from Olympic High School baseball coach Nate Andrews:
The Olympic and Central Kitsap High School baseball team’s face each other at 2 p.m. Saturday at Gene Lobe Field at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.
Originally scheduled to face Kentwood High School, the Trojans rescheduled with the Cougars to fulfill the non-league portion of their regular-season schedule.

Should be an interesting game between two teams separated by less than five miles who otherwise wouldn’t face each other during the season. The Trojans are in position to finish second among Class 3A teams in the combined 3A/2A Olympic League, while the Cougars (11-6) are currently in second place in the Bay Division of the Narrows League.