PORT ANGELES — State tournaments for youth baseball teams are in full swing as the Port Angeles Parks and Recreation Department and North Olympic Baseball and Softball are combining to host a 14U Junior Babe Ruth state tournament starting today.
In addition, the Cal Ripken state tournaments ended last weekend with two Port Angeles teams falling just short of championships, and softball state tournaments start later this week. See below for more on these events.
Ten Junior Babe Ruth teams start playing the 14U state tournament at Volunteer Field in Port Angeles today.
The top team will earn a berth to the World Series, scheduled for Moses Lake in August, while the runner-up will advance to the regional tournament with one more shot at a World Series spot.
State action starts this morning with Othello taking on Northwest Bandits Blue of Seattle at 9 a.m., followed by Kitsap Baseball vs. Mount Rainier at 11:30 a.m.
The 2:30 p.m. game has the Ephrata Tigers playing the Federal Way Knights, followed by Dow Baseball from Redmond against the host team, North Olympic, at 5:30 p.m.
Teams in the tournament not playing today are Sedro-Woolley and Burlington.
Pool games continue through Saturday with North Olympic playing the 5:30 p.m. game today, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
North Olympic has a bye on Thursday.
The top two teams from each of the five-team pools will have a two-game playoff Sunday to determine a state champion and runner-up.
Team members of the host North Olympic team include Luke Angevine, Benjamin Basden, Anders Chapman, Matthew Hendry, Kody Kuch, Blake Mann, Ian Miller, Taylor Millsap, Tyler Nickerson, Janson Pederson, K.C. Spencer and Jace Levine.
The manager is Buck Gieseke, and the coaches are Daniel Pitz and Tom Kuch.
Cal Ripken state
North Olympic of Port Angeles had three all-star teams end their 2013 seasons at state Cal Ripken tournaments this past week and weekend.
The North Olympic 12U Cal Ripken team went 1-3 at state in East Wenatchee.
The North Olympic 11U team went 4-2 at state, having reached the championship game on Sunday with a 19-13 semifinal win over Wenatchee, but falling just short of the title by a score of 13-9 to Ellensburg in the championship game in Eastmont.
The North Olympic 10U team had an amazing state week, going 5-0 before losing to another undefeated team in the championship game.
North Olympic beat Bellingham 11-6 in the semifinals earlier Sunday before running out of gas and losing 11-0 to unbeaten Ferndale in the championship game later Sunday.
The area team went 5-1 during the week, outscoring opponents 60-11 in the first five games. (See a game report of Sunday’s action on Page B1 of today’s editions.)
State softball action
Play begins this week at the Babe Ruth state softball tournament for all levels in Othello.
In Thursday pool play, North Olympic’s 10U team will play Hoquiam at 4 p.m., followed by a game with Forks at 6:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the North Olympic 12U team will meet Hoquiam at 11 a.m., followed by a game with Bellingham at 4 p.m.
On Friday, the 10U team will play Upper Kittitas at 9 a.m., followed by a contest with host Othello at 11:30 a.m. while the 12U team will play Forks at 9 a.m.
The 14U team (playing as 16U) will play a doubleheader on Saturday against Hoquiam.
