With about one week remaining in the regular season, the Central Kitsap High School baseball and fastpitch teams are in second place in their respective divisions in the Narrows League.

The baseball team entered the season with seven new starters after advancing to the Class 4A state tournament in 2009. Coach Bill Baxter wasn’t sure how his first-year starters would play, but he should be happy with the team’s performance through 17 games. Barring a collapse, the Cougars will have a good chance at reaching districts and getting another shot at state.

In fastpitch, meanwhile, Central Kitsap is playing its best ball of the season. The team won three straight games last week, including a 9-7 thriller against South Kitsap (10-2). The Lady Cougars defeated Bellarmine Prep on Monday.

You can find the most recent Narrows League baseball and fastpitch standings here.

This just in from Bill Baxter, athletic director and head baseball coach at Central Kitsap High School:

The school is hosting tryouts for its summer baseball team at 3 p.m. May 10 at Huey Field. Those who are interested in playing must be current or prospective students at Central Kitsap.

There is no cost to try out, but the fee for those who earn a roster position is $400.
For additional information, contact Baxter at BILLB@cksd.wednet.edu.

Olympic High School grad Ivan Gaeta was named the Central College wrestling team’s Most Improved Performer of the 2009-10 season.
The 174-pound Gaeta compiled a record of 13-6, finishing second at the MSOE Invite in Wisconsin.

This just in from Olympic High School Athletic Director Nate Andrews: Samantha Thornton has been invited to play in the all-state girls basketball game June 19 at West Valley High School in Spokane.
Thornton, a senior, averaged nearly 10 points and nine rebounds per game last season with the Lady Trojans. Also a strong student in the classroom, Andrews said Thornton plans to play basketball at the college level.

Olympic High School senior Liza Ambrose, a captain who led the Lady Trojans to a second-place finish at the 2009 Class 3A state bowling championships in February, signed a letter of intent Thursday to bowl next season at William Penn University in Iowa.

Ambrose was the leading roller on an Olympic team that earned silver at state the past two seasons.

Here was the scene at Olympic when Ambrose made it official (photo courtesy of Nate Andrews, Olympic High School).

The fastpitch and baseball squads from Olympic High School and Bremerton High School participated in the sixth annual MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) awareness night Friday at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.
County commissioner Josh Brown threw out the first pitches, replacing Sheriff Steve Boyer, a fireballer who has thrown out the first pitch in the past but sat out this year due to injury.
Each inning of the baseball game was dedicated to a person killed by an impaired driver, and messages of safe driving were broadcast to those in attendance. Olympic defeated Bremerton 15-0 in fastpitch and 11-1 in baseball.
Here are a few images from the evening, courtesy of MADD’s Marsha Masters.

Here are some photos (taken by staffer Christopher Carter) from last week’s dog-and-pony show between myself and star baseball player Drew Vettleson. I’ve included two images that didn’t make the print version of Friday’s paper.
Coach Bill Baxter was kind — crazy? — enough to let me pitch to Vettleson after I whiffed, and I managed to get three pitches over the plate. He hit two of them deep, deep into the outfield. We were on the practice diamond, so I’m not sure how far the balls actually traveled or if they would have been home runs had we been on a game field. But trust me, they were blasts.
It will be interesting to see what Vettleson does come June, when he is projected to be drafted in the 2010 Major League Draft. I asked him if he would go pro if given the opportunity, and he said he has yet to decide, explaining he will weigh his options when the time comes. Asked which team he’d like to play for, if any in particular, he went with the hometown squad Mariners.
It’s hard to believe Vettleson would turn down a contract, though, and it’s looking like he’ll be selected fairly early in the draft. Some scouting reports have him rated as high as the No. 17 prospect in the country.
For now, let’s just appreciate the fact we get to watch this young man for another month or so as Central Kitsap marches toward the postseason. Enjoy.

So, apparently their arms don’t fall off after all.
But how do the great softball pitchers throw so many pitches, so often, so consistently and seemingly with so little effort? Ten minutes twirling a yo-yo and some of us, me, are tuckered out. Yet these pitchers operate their arms like windmills and rarely break down.
Take a player like Danielle Lawrie, the University of Washington ace who led the Huskies softball team to the NCAA championship in 2009. The right-hander threw 352 2/3 innings over the course of the season, compiling a record of 42-8.
Turn on the tube, and you’d find Lawrie inside the pitching circle. All the time. Pitching on consecutive days was a norm, not an exception, the entire season.
And Lawrie’s not alone.
High school pitchers endure a similar workload, though their seasons are shorter. Carolyn Cross, a 2009 Central Kitsap High School grad, threw 1,956 pitches her senior season, 72 percent for strikes, and received nearly every start for the Lady Cougars. Senior Kim Chase has assumed a similar role this season, starting the first five games for Central Kitsap.
She keeps throwing and throwing and throwing and throwing and … OK, yeah. Check it out.

Both Olympic and Central Kitsap pulled out key victories on the gridiron Oct. 23, with the Trojans clinching a postseason berth and the Cougars bolstering their playoff chances significantly.
The Trojans (5-3 overall, 4-3 league) used a late touchdown from Larry Dixon to escape North Kitsap on homecoming night with a 21-14 win, their third consecutive triumph. Oly is now locked into the No. 4 seed from the combined Olympic/Western Cascade League, meaning the team faces the No. 1 seed from the Greater St. Helens league in a state preliminary game Nov. 7 or 8. That team will be either Camas or Union, both of which are ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press state football poll. Camas and Union face each other Friday, the winner earning the No. 1 spot.
The road to state for CK, meanwhile, is yet to be determined. The Cougars (5-3 overall, 5-2 league), who cruised 30-0 past Stadium Oct. 23, close the regular season Thursday with a HUGE game at Wilson (6-2, 6-1). The winner of that game most likely will be the Narrows League No. 3 seed (Wilson could jump to No. 2 with a win and an Olympia loss). For CK, the difference between third and fourth or fifth in the Narrows League, which gets five postseason berths, is significant. The Narrows No. 3 seed receives a matchup against the Wesco North No. 2 team, currently Kamiak, in prelims, whereas both the Narrows No. 4 and 5 teams must face a No. 1 seed, needing a win to advance to the round of 16.

Gotta love the final month of the regular season in high school football.
Not only are the games getting more and more important, but it’s finally an acceptable time to talk about one of my favorite topics: playoff scenarios.
Klahowya is eliminated from postseason contention, but Central Kitsap and Olympic both have chances to extend their seasons.
So let’s take a look at what could happen over the next two weeks in terms of the postseason:
On the Class 3A side, Olympic has rebounded from a three-game losing streak to win its past two games. That puts the Trojans at 4-3 overall and 2-3 in Olympic/Western Cascade League play.
OWL is allotted four playoff spots, three of which have already been locked up by Timberline, Capital and North Thurston. Port Angeles and Bremerton are winless in league play and have no chance to make the playoffs, leaving three teams — Olympic, North Kitsap and Yelm — fighting for the fourth and final spot.
Oly, NK and Yelm boast identical 2-3 league records and all three have two games to play. Oly and NK face off Friday at NK in what is the biggest game of the season for both teams.
The winner of that game — both Oly and NK hold tiebreakers over Yelm by virtue of head-to-head wins — is the odds on favorite to take the OWL No. 4. The loser, on the other hand, is eliminated from playoff contention.
So if Olympic beats NK on Friday, the Trojans would be 3-3 in league going into the season finale against Bremerton, a team that hasn’t won a league game all season. No game is a gimme, but Oly should take care of Bremerton regardless of what happens against NK.
The recipe for the Trojans is simple: win twice and their in.
Assuming the Trojans beat NK and hold serve against the Knights, they would play a state preliminary round game against the No. 1 team from the 3A Greater St. Helens League, either Camas (6-1, 3-0) or Union (6-1, 3-0). Those teams square off Oct. 30, with the winner getting the No. 1 spot and a matchup with OWL No. 4.
The winner of the OWL No. 4/GSHL No. 1 game becomes the District 4 No. 1 seed to the state tournament, getting a matchup with the District 3 No. 4 team in the Round of 16.
To sum it up, Olympic needs to win its next two games and should anticipate a game against either Camas or Union in the prelims if it does.

OWL standings (league, overall)
Timberline                    5   0     7   0
North Thurston           5   0     6   1
Capital                           4   1     4   3
Olympic                        2   3     4   3
North Kitsap                2   3     3   4
Yelm                              2   3     3   4
Bremerton                   0   5     1   6
Port Angeles                0   5     0   7

Meanwhile, Central Kitsap is putting together a winning streak eerily similar to the one it did at the end of last year when it advanced to the Class 4A state semifinals.
The Cougars (4-3, 4-2), who have won three of their past four games, are in good position to make the playoffs out of the Narrows League, which gets five playoff spots. As the standings sit today, CK is in fourth with a chance to move to third with two victories to close the season.
Coach Mark Keel’s team closes against Stadium (2-5, 2-5) and Wilson (5-2, 5-1).
The Stadium game should be a victory, at least on paper, setting up what would be a huge game against Wilson to close the season.
If CK were to win out and earn the No. 3 seed, it would face the Wesco South No. 2 team in prelims with the winner becoming the District 1 No. 3 seed to state. Jackson, Cascade and Mountlake Terrace are currently deadlocked for the Wesco South No. 2 team.
If the Cougars lose either of their final two games, then the best they can finish is No. 4. The No. 4 Narrows team faces the South Puget Sound League  South Division No. 1 in prelims. Right now that would be undefeated Curtis.
Finishing as the No. 5 Narrows team is even worse, however, because that team must play a state prelim play-in game with the winner getting the 4A Greater St. Helens League No. 1 in prelims.
The Cougars need to close the season with two victories and secure the Narrows No. 3 seed to have a realistic chance of making another deep run in the state playoffs.

Narrows League standings (league, overall)
South Kitsap                6   0     7   0
Olympia                        5   1     6   1
Wilson, Woodrow       5   1     5   2
Central Kitsap              4   2     4   3
Foss, Henry                  4   3     4   3
Gig Harbor                   3   3     3   4
Bellarmine Prep.         2   4     3   4
Lincoln                          2   4     2   5
Stadium                         2   5     2   5
Shelton                           1   5     1   6
Mount Tahoma            0   6     1   6