Fall City woman honored

for achievements in softball

A local resident just received a major athletic honor.

Fall City’s Sue Swanson was among several people inducted into the United States Specialty Sports Association’s Washington softball Hall of Fame. The awards ceremony was held Saturday, Oct. 25 in Sea-Tac. Swanson was given the honor in recognition of her longtime playing career within the association, which was very successful. In her time playing USSSA ball, mostly for the Seattle Express team, Swanson won a number of All-Star and most valuable player awards. She was also on the Express’ 1997 championship team. She was a shortstop and pitcher during her time with the Express.

Swanson was on the 1979 Mount Si slowpitch softball team, which took fourth at state; only the Wildcats’ 2004 fastpitch team fared better at state in softball, as they finished runner-up to champion Yelm that season.

Swanson retired from playing following that championship appearance in 1997; she is now coaching her children in local youth baseball and softball and is also the athletics director for Pine Lake Middle School in Sammamish.

Girls basketball tryouts coming up

The Mount Si High School girls’ basketball program will hold tryouts starting Nov. 17 for Mount Si girls interested in playing basketball for the Wildcats for the 2008-09 season. There are no cuts this year; every player who tries out will land a spot on one of three Wildcat teams: Varsity, junior varsity, or “C” team. Mount Si’s varsity schedule, in addition to matchups against Kingco 3A opposition, includes a trip to play Cedarcrest this season, and a jaunt over to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, for a holiday tournament.

For more information, contact Dirk Hansen, the Wildcats’ head coach, at (425) 831-8172 or by e-mail at hansend@svsd410.org.

Chief Kanim ends winning season

The Chief Kanim Middle School varsity football team finished its season 6-0 after defeating the Tolt Thunderbirds, 38-8, at home on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Chief Kanim received the ball first and gave it to Zach Blazevich, who carried several Tolt tacklers about 50 yards to the Tolt six-yard line. Austin Hall and the line did the rest, as Hall scampered in for the first touchdown.

Later in the quarter, Hall again scored on an interception. The Hawks had a great game, as many players made contributions. Runs were seen by Austin Hall, Blake Gillespie, Shad Schreiber, and Cole Palmer. Blazevich scored a touchdown with a bruising run over the Tolt defense. Cameron VanWinkle also got in the act by catching a touchdown pass from Erik Stai. On defense, Jared Shattenkerk was all over the field, making tackles. Alec Holt also intercepted a pass, to give him four for the year. The final score was Chief Kanim 38, Tolt 8. The Hawks ended the year 6-0. This is the second team in Kanim history to go undefeated. Coaches Fowler and Schlotefeldt expressed their pride in everyone on the team.

JV V-ball squad

closes out strong

Mount Si’s junior varsity volleyball team closed out their season on a solid note with a 25-22, 25-11, 7-15 win over Bellevue on Wednesday night, Oct. 29.

Amanda Beekman had two kills, four aces and seven assists to lead Mount Si, while Sarah Robbins had four aces and 18 digs to pace the efforts for the Wildcats.

Mount Si’s season ended at 8-4 in league, 8-6 overall, pleasing coach Dave Bachman.

“Overall, it was a good season,” he said. “The girls definitely got better. Individually, they all improved, and as a team we made a lot of improvement.”

Bachman was also pleased to see a number of his players get time on the Wildcat varsity team, filling in for injured varsity players. Beekman, Erika Clark, Anna Moetului, and Baylee Sinner all saw time on the big club, and all made the most of their time there.

“That’s my goal, my job here is to prepare these kids to hopefully play varsity volleyball at Mount Si,” Bachman said. “I’m really proud of them when they achieve that aspiration, that goal for them as well. When they do that, I feel like I’ve contributed to the program.”