The spring sports season is underway and the Reporter takes a look at a few of the questions facing prep squads and individuals on their postseason push.
Who emerges on KingCo baseball diamond?
No prep baseball team from Bellevue made it out of the conference tournament last season, and Newport finished outside the top four and did not make the 4A KingCo tourney.
The Knights look to alum and longtime assistant Brad Files to take over a program he said has been built to withstand minor setbacks such as the past two seasons.
“We’ve had some down years here in the past,” he said. “We’ve always rebounded.”
With only six seniors, Files said a host of young arms will have to help carry the Knights, which they did in an 8-2 season opening win over Juanita.
In 3A KingCo, Bellevue looked like a potential state tournament team during most of last season and was only one game from the final 16 under head coach Pete Wilkinson.
The Wolverines are without departed senior ace Nolan Watson on the mound, after he earned conference player of the year honors.
Interlake lost in the first round of the conference tournament last season, while Sammamish missed out on a 2A district playoff spot as Lake Washington captured a share of the regular season championship.
Newport capable of encore performance?
The Knights made the 4A state tournament field in softball last year, and return a core of four seniors in Annie Cheng, India Gants, Maggie Pana and Kaitlin Sahlinger.
Juniors Sydney Tomlinson and Kathryn Wood give Newport a wealth of experience, after helping their team to a 3-2 record at state last year.
Which girls team makes a push?
Bellevue, Bellevue East and Forest Ridge each struggled in the Snoqualmie Conference of Division I last year, and missed out on a trip to the playoffs.
Camille Sullivan, an Interlake student and Princeton commit on the lacrosse field for BELAX, returns after all-conference honors last year as a junior.
Bellevue midfielder Lauren Tudor, also an all-conference selection last year, leads the Wolverines.
