If last weekend is any indication, we’re in for a week of surprises as the 2018-19 high school sports year comes to a close.
The week gets started Tuesday and Wednesday with state golf. State track and field continues the action Thursday through Saturday. And state tennis is also on the schedule for Friday and Saturday.
And local schools will be well represented in the final weekend of state action in baseball, softball and boys soccer.
In baseball, four Clark County teams won first-round state tournaments on Saturday, but only one survived to advance to the semifinals.
Behind standout pitching performances from Ryan Pitts and Cooper Barnum, the Storm scratched out a pair of 1-0 wins on Saturday to clinch their third consecutive trip to the state semifinals.
Skyview faces Moses Lake in the 4A semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Gesa Stadium. A win puts the Storm into the title game against Olympia or Issaquah at 7 p.m. Saturday at Gesa.
Three other teams — Mountain View, Ridgefield and Columbia River — all won first-round state tournament games. But all three teams saw their run to the state title end with quarterfinal losses.
Speaking of repeat performances, defending 2A state champion boys soccer team, the Columbia River Chieftains, is back in the 2A semifinals.
River beat Franklin Pierce 4-1 in the quarterfinals to set up a semifinal against Fife at 8 p.m. Friday at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner. A potential title game, against Sehome or Toppenish, would be at 5 p.m. Saturday.
But a big soccer surprise came in the form of Mountain View in Class 3A.
After reaching state through the consolation bracket at bi-districts, the Thunder posted two wins last week to reach the state semifinals. The Thunder will face Lakeside at 2 p.m. Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
Softball also added some surprises as all three 4A Greater St. Helens League entries advanced to the state tournament.
Camas, which had to win a play-in game just to get into the bi-district bracket, won three straight games Sunday to earn a state berth by finishing sixth.
Meanwhile, on the championship side of the bracket, Skyview and Battle Ground made it an all-4A GSHL title game, with the Storm taking a 17-5 victory.
All three 4A GSHL teams will learn their first-round opponents at state on Monday as the bi-district tournament stretched into late Sunday because of weather and field conditions.
In 3A softball, Mountain View raced to the 3A bi-district championship, beating Stadium 6-2 in the title game. The Thunder will head to the state tournament at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey.
Mountain View will open state Friday with a first-round game against Juanita at 9 a.m.
Prairie worked its way all the way through the consolation bracket, winning three straight loser-out games to reach state. Prairie opens state against Garfield of Seattle at noon.
The 2A district tournament provided few surprises, with Woodland beating Ridgefield 3-1 in the title games. Both teams will advance to the 2A state tournament at Carlon Park in Selah.
Ridgefield opens state Friday with a first-round game against Lakewood at 10 a.m., while Woodland opens against Eatonville at noon.
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.
