The high school spring sports story in Northwest Washington was unquestionably the success of the Sehome Mariners. The Bellingham school brought home state 2A championships in baseball, boys soccer, girls golf and boys track. The Mariners also earned second-place finishes in girls track and boys tennis.
But Sehome’s brilliance told only part of the state 2A story. Burlington-Edison’s girls track team won the state meet and their fastpitch team took second, while Lynden’s girls tennis team won the state title and their boys golf team placed second.
There were also subplots and the Anacortes Seahawks contributed two of the more interesting.
JT “Jim” Schemmer is a civil engineer, Anglophile and soccer coach. He succeeded Jimmy Holladay as boys soccer coach in the 2007 season. Taking a team with a record of 2-12-2 in 2006, he massaged the lineup, installed a plan and produced a winner for the first time in my decade-long experience covering Seahawk sports. More precisely, he guided Anacortes to a 10-3 NWC, 14-6 overall record and a third-place finish in the NWC in 2007. Since the turnaround was so sharp and so unexpected, it was tempting to ascribe the team’s success to a one-off phenomenon.
At the outset of the 2008 campaign, that appeared to be the case. JT had problems to solve. His team was battling injuries and midfield woes. They were 4-7 heading into an important match at Lynden. With the score tied at 1-1 at the half, Anacortes got well by scoring two goals in the second half to begin a run of seven wins and two losses, leading to a state tournament match. It was Anacortes’ first state tournament appearance in 22 years. Their tale doesn’t have a storybook ending because the ‘Hawks lost to Kingston 2-1 in the first round on a late penalty kick.
But again, Schemmer’s patient and cerebral coaching guided the squad to a 11-10 record, their second consecutive winning season and Anacortes’ first state tournament appearance since well before any of the players were born.
And then there’s the tale of the five freshman fastpitch phenoms.
When I arrived to take pix of coach Tom Swapp’s team, it seemed miniscule. I could get everyone in the frame of my undersized Nikon without standing on second base to shoot them at home plate. And only a couple of holdovers from last season’s team were in the pix.
Being an astute investigative reporter, I wondered if the remainder of the squad were practicing elsewhere or whether Swapp had neglected to sanforize the squad. It had definitely shrunk.
The players were smaller and younger too. In fact, five of his starters were freshmen, said Swapp. Many of the previous year’s lettermen failed to turn out and there was no junior varsity practicing.
Swapp explained that they were a young team, but by midseason they would be a real factor in the conference.
True to his prediction, the ‘Hawks, with a freshmen at second, right, left, center and pitching, had an overall record of 4-6 midway through their schedule. Then the phenoms ran off 11 wins, losing only twice to Burlington during the streak, before traveling to the state tournament. The youngsters won their first game at state, then dropped two heartbreakers. They finished with a 16-10 record.
The phenoms are Jackie Saunders, pitcher/first base; Madison Bundy, second base; Tara Bellusci, left field; Kayla Rieger, center field; Hannah Brennan, right field. The elders are Sara Brennan, third base; Rachel Nelson, shortstop; Megan Dunton, first base/pitcher, all seniors-to-be, and catcher Maria Roney, a junior-to-be. They’re skilled, dynamic, mercurial — and fun to watch. Catch ‘em next spring.
