Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

SPORTS: Port Angeles, Sequim dominate all-league lists

Some North Olympic Peninsula baseball and softball teams are piling up the end-of-season awards.

Port Angeles swept the Olympic League baseball and softball MVP awards, while the Roughriders and Sequim Wolves dominated the softball all-league honors.

Port Angeles catcher Hannah Wahto earned MVP in softball while fellow senior classmate Easton Napiontek, a pitcher and infielder, captured the same honor in baseball.

Wahto led the way as both the Riders and the Wolves dominated the softball all-league first team.

Joining Wahto on the first team were Port Angeles teammates Tori Holcomb, Mariah Frazier and Lauren Curtis, all seniors.

Holcomb made the team on second base while Frazier is an all-star shortstop and Curtis was one of two pitchers on the squad.

Sequim’s Demiree Briones, a senior, was the other first-team pitcher.

Zbaraschuk and Besand

Other Sequim players on first team are junior Rylleigh Zbaraschuk and sophomore Alexas Besand.

Zbaraschuk made the team as an outfielder while Besand is the first team’s first baseman.

Sequim, which won state in 2011, tied for the league championship with Kingston and claimed fourth place at state in 2012 despite having only two seniors on the team.

The Riders finished in third place in the Olympic League and just missed going to state.

Wahto is worthy of the MVP honor, Port Angeles coach Buddy Bear said.

“Hannah Wahto is irreplaceable,” Bear said.

“Hannah is one of the main reasons we have gone to the playoffs for the past four years [including twice to state].

“She has played every game for the past three years.”

Wahto’s career batting average is .438.

“Hannah basically runs the team from behind the plate,” Bear said.

“Defensively, other teams do not want to run against her because of her cannon arm. She has to read our opponents’ hitters, call pitches, catch the pitches and be an encourager as well as a psychiatrist to keep everyone from losing their heads, including mine.

“This is why she was chosen as the 2012 Olympic League MVP.”

Port Angeles also had three players chosen to the all-league second team and one making honorable mention.

Seniors Kearsten Cox and Emily Drake, and sophomore Maddy Hinrichs all made the second team. Cox was picked for second base, Hinrichs for third base and Drake for outfield.

Sophomore Sarah Steinman made honorable mention.

Sequim had three picked for honorable mention, including senior Amber Robb, junior Bailey Rhodefer and sophomore Makayla Bentz.

Port Townsend, meanwhile, had four players named honorable mention, including senior Chelsea Whipple, sophomore Gen Polizzi and freshmen Baili Shaw and Megan Lee.

Forks had two softball players make the all-SWL-Evergreen Division team.

Sophomore Courtnie Paul made the first team as a utility player. She is the team’s catcher and an infielder.

Junior Jillian Raben made all-league as a second-team utility player.

Raben has been the team’s lead-off hitter the past two years. She has a batting average of .455.

Baseball

Napiontek, who has signed a letter of intent to attend and play baseball at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, has been the ace pitcher for the Riders as well as a first baseman and shortstop.

Struggling with injuries at times this year, Napiontek still dominated teams with his intimidating 6-foot-8, 235-pound size.

Both Port Angeles and Sequim had two players each on the all-league first team.

Joining Napiontek on the first team was teammate and senior utility player Cole Uvila.

Sequim seniors Tyler Campbell, a catcher, and pitcher Jake Hudson also made the first team.

The Roughriders and the Port Townsend Redskins both had one player on the second team.

Junior pitcher Wesley Giddings made the second squad for the Riders, while junior utility player Kyle Kelly represented the Redskins.

Making honorable mention were Sequim senior shortstop Karsten Wake and junior second baseman Nick Ramirez, Port Angeles junior catcher Marcus Konopaski, and Port Townsend junior pitcher Kyle Kelly and junior utility player Daniel Charlton.

Napiontek and Chimacum’s Landon Cray and Austin McConnell all made big impressions at the Senior All-Star baseball game in Bremerton on May 30.

Napiontek went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs while Cray was named the Elton Goodwin MVP for the game by making two running catches in center field and going 2-for-3 with a triple and stolen base in the game.

Cray, who was co-Nisqually League MVP with McConnell, hit .557 with 28 runs scored, 14 RBIs and 12 stolen bases for Chimacum this season.

Coaches also nominated 10 players for the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association All-State Series, Saturday and Sunday in Yakima.

Several players from the North Olympic Peninsula were nominated, including Napiontek, Cray, McConnell, Quinn Eldridge of Chimacum and Tyler Campbell of Sequim.

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