Stopping the presses! Breaking news!
It’s not supposed to rain much this week.
It really seems wrong that in the first week of May, that would be the biggest story of the spring. But that’s what kind of spring it has been.
High school baseball teams are supposed to finish league play this week and start district and bi-district play next week. And by all accounts, it looks like the weather will allow those teams to do that.
Not every forecaster agrees — and that’s because forecasting spring weather in the Pacific Northwest can be so difficult — on just how warm it might get this week. Some say 77 degrees on Wednesday. Others say 73 or 74.
But they do all agree on one point: The amount of rainfall we see this week in Clark County should not be enough to scrub any games.
So we’ll take this chance to take a look at the race for playoff spots in baseball and boys soccer, which also completes league play this week.
Baseball
4A Greater St. Helens League: Skyview (7-2) leads both Camas (7-3) and Battle Ground (6-3) by a game in the loss column, and the Storm own the tiebreaker on both. Skyview finishes this week with two games against Heritage and one against Union. If the Storm win two of those, they will claim the No. 1 seed to the bi-district. Camas’ last two games are against Battle Ground. Since Camas won the first meeting with the Tigers, a split should give the Papermakers the No. 2 seed. That means Battle Ground needs to win both to avoid finishing third and having to play a league playoff game, likely against Union, late this week for the No. 3 seed to bi-district.
3A GSHL: Evergreen (11-2) will be the No. 1 seed to bi-district. Mountain View (9-4) got a big boost when Prairie rallied to beat Kelso (8-5) on Friday and Saturday. But now, the Thunder will need a pair of wins over Prairie this week to secure the No. 2 seed and give Kelso the No. 3 seed. Prairie (6-7) needs one win or a Hudson’s Bay (4-9) loss to lock up the fourth and final seed.
2A GSHL: Hockinson (7-3) only has two league games left, while R.A. Long (6-2) and Ridgefield (4-4) both have four. And Columbia River (4-3) still has five to play. The Chieftains are scheduled to play every day from Monday to Friday. So a lot can happen this week.
But Hockinson controls its own fate. If the Hawks win twice, especially Tuesday at home against R.A. Long, they’ll claim in the No. 1 seed to district.
Beyond that … again just too many games to sort out all the possibilities.
1A Trico: Four teams go to district, and they will be: King’s Way Christian (8-0), Castle Rock (6-3), La Center (5-4) and Columbia-White Salmon (3-6). And that looks to be the order they will finish in, barring some big surprises this week.
Boys soccer
4A GSHL: Battle Ground plays at Camas on Monday in a match that is almost a league-title match. Almost.
For Battle Ground, it is. If the Tigers win or tie, they’ll be league champions and take the No. 1 seed to the bi-district playoffs. If Camas wins, the Papermakers will take the No. 1 seed with a win or a tie against Skyview on Wednesday. If Camas loses Monday, then Skyview could claim the No. 2 seed with a win Monday against Heritage and a win or tie against Camas. Otherwise, Skyview will play Heritage later this week in a playoff for the third and final seed to bi-district.
3A GSHL: A win or a tie by Mountain View (7-1) in either of its final two matches would give the Thunder the league title. Prairie (5-2-1) likely will need one win this week to secure the No. 2 seed. Evergreen (4-4) plays Hudson’s Bay (3-4-1) on Thursday in a match that could determine the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds. Fort Vancouver (2-5-1) needs a win over Bay on Monday to stay in the playoff hunt.
2A GSHL: Columbia River (11-0) is No. 1, and Ridgefield (8-3) is No. 2. R.A. Long (6-5) has clinched a district berth, but needs to win at Hockinson on Tuesday to lock up the No. 3 seed. A Hockinson (5-6) win could put the Hawks in a position to grab that spot. If the Hawks lose, Mark Morris (4-7) grabs the last spot with a win over Washougal. If the Monarchs also lose, Woodland (5-7) and Hockinson would need a tiebreaker to decide the final spot.
1A Trico: Toledo-Winlock (10-0) is the league champion. La Center (6-2-2) locks up the No. 2 spot with a win in either of its last two matches. That would leave King’s Way Christian (6-4-1) to claim the No. 3 spot with a win over Columbia-White Salmon (5-4-1) on Tuesday. A loss would end the Knights’ playoff hopes, and a tie would open the door for Columbia to claim that spot, or even possibly Seton Catholic (5-5).
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4538, tim.martinez@columbian.com or follow his Twitter handle @360TMart.
