Both Highline and Kennedy baseball teams start the most important stretch of the year Tuesday, May 7 at 4 pm.
by Jake Knight
Burien-News Sports Writer.
Both varsity baseball programs for Highline High School and Kennedy Catholic High School played well enough during the regular season to earn spots in their respective district tournaments that start this week.
For the Highline Pirates, they finished the regular season third in the 2A Kingco Conference with an overall record of 9-11 and a 7-4 record against Kingco opponents.
In the 2A Kingco tournament, the Pirates defeated Evergreen High School by a score of 4-3 in the semifinal game to face off against Sammamish High School in the championship. Sammamish was crowned Kingco champs after beating Highline 8-4.
Heading into the 2024 District 2/3 2A Baseball Tournament, Highline is the 11 seed and is set to face Orting High School, slotted as the 14 seed in the tournament. This first round matchup will be a home game at Moshier Memorial Park for the Pirates Tuesday, May 7 at 4 pm.
Highline’s road to state will be a challenging one. Any losses in the tournament will kick Highline out of contention. If they win the first game, Highline will face the loser between the 6 and 3 seeds, Steilacoom High School and Sammamish High School, Wednesday, May 8 at 4 pm. The other side of the bracket will do the same, and if Highline can win their second game, they play once more on Saturday, May 11 at 12:30 pm. A victory there would clinch a trip to the state
tournament.
In simpler terms, Highline must go 3-0 to go to state.
As for the Kennedy Catholic Lancers, their road to state is much easier. They finished in first place in the North Puget Sound League with a sparkling 17-4 overall record and a 9-3 league record. In the 2024 District 3/4 4A Baseball Tournament, Kennedy Catholic lands as the 2 seed behind Puyallup as the 1 seed. The Lancers face 7 seed Olympia High School in the first round of the tournament at home Tuesday, May 7 at 4 pm.
Seven teams from the tournament will go to state. All Kennedy Catholic needs is to win their first game to be one of those teams. If they lose, there still are paths to the big tournament.
To get to the district semifinal, they will need a win in their first game which would put them against the winner of Tahoma High School vs. Emerald Ridge High School. That game would take place Saturday, May 11 at 10 am.
The winner of Saturday morning’s game would go on to the championship that night at 7 pm. Kennedy Catholic needs to go 3-0 to win the district championship, but it is not necessary to earn a spot in the state tournament.
It is not only about getting an invitation to state for the Lancers. The better Kennedy Catholic does in the district tournament, the better they will be set up in the state tournament because of seeding, as seen in the difference between the routes to state for Highline and Kennedy Catholic being an 11 seed compared to a 2 seed.
Both teams start the most important stretch of the year Tuesday May 7 at 4 pm.
(Images and video courtesy of Jake Knight.)
