All hail the South.
That proved to be the case last Friday and Saturday during the South Puget Sound League tournament at Service Park in Kent.
The South Puget Sound League banged around its North counterparts, nabbing the top three seeds to this Friday and Saturday’s West Central District tournament at Sprinker Rec Center.
In a tournament that provided plenty of surprises – or, more specifically, shocks – Kentlake lost both of its match-ups, falling to Emerald Ridge to open the tournament, 5-4, and Puyallup, 7-2.
“(The South) stuck it to us this weekend,” lamented Kentlake coach Greg Kaas, whose team entered the tournament with a 17-1 overall record.
The North won four of 10 games from the South. But the fact that the none of the North’s top three teams — Kentlake, Jefferson and Kentwood – cracked the top three in the tournament was a bit staggering.
“They had a very good showing. That’s a little scary for us up in the North,” added Kaas, whose Falcons will make an unprecedented 11th straight trip to the district tournament this weekend.
Rogers (19-3) captured the title and snag the top seed, drubbing Emerald Ridge, 10-0. Puyallup (13-5) took the third seed followed by Jefferson (16-6), Kentlake (17-3), Kentridge (12-9), Curtis (11-11), Tahoma (10-13), Kentwood (13-7) and Graham-Kapowsin (9-10).
All 10 of the teams that qualified for the SPSL tournament earned automatic berths in this weekend’s district tournament.
Kentridge, despite its opening 8-5 loss to Puyallup, showed plenty of offense, knocking off Graham-Kapowsin 10-0 and Curtis 5-2 before falling to Jefferson, 3-1.
Savannah Bommarito picked up both wins for the Chargers, and Chelsea Alfano collected four hits, two runs and three RBIs in the two games combined.
“I was hoping we could go a little higher, but sixth seed will be fine,” KR coach Julie Taylor said.
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