The spring postseason is in full swing, and will continue this week.
But before we talk about playoffs involving baseball and soccer teams, let’s take a look at a sport that will wrap up its regular season this week: Softball.
4A GREATER ST. HELENS LEAGUE: Camas opens the week at 8-0. And with a head-to-head sweep over second-place Skyview (6-2), the Papermakers have secured the No. 1 seed to the district playoffs. Skyview is in good position to earn the No. 2 spot. The Storm can actually clinch it with a win over Battle Ground today.
Battle Ground (4-4), Union (3-5), Heritage (2-6) and Evergreen (1-7) are all mathematically in the mix for the final two berths, even though Heritage and Evergreen face some long odds.
3A GSHL: Prairie (9-0) has clinched the league title, while Mountain View (6-3), Kelso (6-3) and Columbia River (5-4) have clinched district berths.
In the final round of league games today, Kelso is at Prairie and Columbia River is at Mountain View. The easiest solution would be if Prairie and Mountain View win. That would leave the district seeds as, in order, Prairie, Mountain View, Kelso and Columbia River. But the possibilities of ties remain if River and/or Kelso should win today.
2A GSHL: Play in this league actually continues until next Monday, so we’ll revisit it next week.
1A TRICO: League play concludes Tuesday with four doubleheaders, the biggest being between first-place Woodland (12-0) and second-place La Center (11-1). The Wildcats need a sweep to earn the league title.
Baseball
4A: Skyview and Heritage head to the bi-district tournament, where they need to win one game in the double-elimination portion of the bracket to advance to the state regionals.
The first games are Tuesday when Skyview plays Kentridge at Propstra Stadium, and Heritage travels to Kent to face Kentwood. Union needs to win two loser-out games to advance, with the first coming Tuesday against Tahoma in Kent.
3A: Columbia River opens bi-district Tuesday with a loser-out game against Hazen in Auburn. If the Chieftains win, they’ll move into the double-elimination portion of the bracket. That is where Mountain View is, and the Thunder will open bi-district Wednesday at Propstra Stadium against the winner of Tuesday’s Bonney Lake-Timberline game.
2A: The double-elimination district tournament opens Tuesday when Hockinson plays at Tumwater and Aberdeen plays at Ridgefield.
1A: The double-elimination district tournament opens Tuesday with Rochester playing Woodland in Winlock and La Center facing Hoquiam in Castle Rock.
Boys soccer
4A: All three entrants to the bi-district playoffs have been decided. Now Skyview, Union and Camas are playing for seeding, starting with Skyview vs. Union Monday at McKenzie Stadium. Monday’s winner will face Camas on Wednesday to decide the top 2 seeds. The top two seeds will play bi-district playoff games on Saturday at McKenzie Stadium.
3A: Prairie will play Fort Vancouver on Tuesday to decide the third berth to the bi-district playoffs. Columbia River will play a bi-district game on Saturday at Kiggins Bowl, while Mountain View will travel to Burien for its bi-district playoff on Saturday.
2A: Ridgefield and Hockinson survived first-round games in the district tournament. Both teams will play for state berths on Tuesday, Ridgefield hosting Mark Morris while Hockinson travels to Aberdeen. If either team loses Tuesday, it would have to win two loser-out matches later this week to advance to state.
1A: Seton Catholic plays Woodland at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Washougal in a winner-to-state/loser-out match. The winner will play again Thursday in a state seeding match.
Other sports
TRACK AND FIELD: The 4A and 3A district meets will be Wednesday and Thursday at McKenzie Stadium. The 2A GSHL meet is Friday in Longview, and the 1A Trico League meet is Friday in Stevenson.
GOLF: The 4A and 3A district tournaments will be held today and Tuesday at Lewis River Golf Course in Woodland.
TENNIS: The 4A district tournament will be Thursday through Saturday at the Vancouver Tennis Center. The 2A GSHL tournament is Friday and Saturday at Mint Valley in Longview.
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.
