By Neil Piersonnpierson@sammamishreview.com

It’s not as though the

Lakeside Recovery Senior American Legion baseball team had a poor 2013 season, but there wasn’t the same chemistry that

carried the squad to the World Series in 2012.

Lakeside Recovery fin-ished with a 10-2 record in Northwest League

games last season, but was eliminated at the state tournament in July. The reason, longtime head coach Rob Reese said, is there weren’t enough leaders on a relatively inexperienced roster.

“We lost a lot of guys off the World Series team,” Reese said. “We had a few guys back, but they weren’t too vocal. And now they’ve grown up a little bit.”

Lakeside — comprised of players from Skyline, Is-saquah and Newport high schools — upped its over-all record to 5-1 on June 4, rallying for two runs in the sixth inning to defeat Phiten, 4-2, at Newport High School in Bellevue.

There’s a veteran pres-ence in the dugout that might not have been there last season, said Drew Lunde, a Skyline senior who will play collegiately at Washington State Uni-versity next year.

Many of the Lakeside players have played together since they were

15-year-olds on the Preston-based Bears Base-ball Club, Lunde said. And this summer is their last chance to do something special as a group.

“Some of these guys aren’t getting the chance to play college ball, so this is their last shots,” Lunde said. “We’re all trying to win. We’re all trying to make it to the World Series again, like a couple guys did our sophomore year on this team … That’s the goal.”

Against the Bellevue-based Phiten team, Lunde and fellow WSU signee Derek Chapman did their part to lead Lakeside to victory.

Lunde, the big first baseman, went 2-for-2 with a double. Chapman, an outfielder for Issaquah High, was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base.

Lakeside took con-trol early as Mitchell

SportS WednesdayJune 11, 2014A10

the ISSaquah preSSthe ISSaquah preSSthe ISSaquah preSS

10

By Christina Corrales-Toynewcastle@isspress.com

The Liberty High School boys basketball team played its final minute of the season in Febru-ary, but the work never stops for the Patriots, who have a busy summer on tap.

Liberty’s long list of summer events began May 30 with its first golf fundraiser at Renton’s Maplewood Golf Course. More than 130 people attended the golf tournament, which also included a banquet and silent auction.

Assistant coach Steve Kelley, a former Seattle Times colum-nist, was the banquet’s master of ceremonies, while former Seahawks Mack Strong and Paul Moyer were special guest speakers.

“I was so thankful for ev-erybody’s generosity,” Liberty

basketball coach Omar Parker said. “I looked out at all the people there to support Liberty basketball, and I got a little emotional.”

Parker wasn’t quite sure how much money the event raised, but he said it was likely the program’s biggest fundraiser of the year. The funds collected go toward supporting the Liberty boys basketball team and the Liberty Select Basketball As-sociation.

Up next, the Patriots will host their second annual 3-on-3 bas-ketball tournament June 14 at Liberty High School. Last year, more than 120 girls and boys from grades three through nine competed.

“It’s a great tuneup before Spokane Hoopfest at the end of the month,” Parker said.

Spokane Hoopfest, held

June 28-29, is billed as the biggest 3-on-3 competition on the planet. Online registra-tion for Liberty’s tournament closed June 7, but Parker said last year they accepted team registrations at the event. The team fee is $100 and includes a three-game guarantee.

Exactly 10 days after Hoop-fest, the Liberty boys basketball program will host its first of two youth camps, June 24-26, in the school gymnasium. The camps, facilitated by Parker and the varsity team, teach the game’s fundamentals. The second camp is scheduled for July 29-31. The youth camps are $125 per participant.

Register for the youth camps, and learn more about Liberty basketball’s lineup of summer events at www.libertyselectbas-ketball.com.

The Washington state chapter of U.S. Lacrosse continued to hand out awards as the season came to a close, and the honor-ees include several local athletes.

Issaquah High School lacrosse players Natalie Undi, Ella McMahan and Eryn Rogers were named to the first-of-its-kind state All-Community team.

The team recognizes the most community-focused boys and girls lacrosse student-athletes in the state of Washington, honoring community stewardship, academic excellence, lead-ership and creativity.

Issaquah senior Josh Bean was named to U.S. Lacrosse’s Academic All-American team for his 3.99 grade point average and community contributions. He’ll attend the University of Washington next year.

U.S. Lacrosse honored Is-saquah senior Matt Thomas with the prestigious Bob Scott Award. He is the first Issaquah recipient of the annual character-based award, named after nation-al champion men’s lacrosse coach Bob Scott.

Thomas maintains a 3.11 GPA and volunteers for the Issaquah Schools Founda-tion. He was a team captain on the Issaquah lacrosse team that made it to the state championship for the first time since 2009.

The Washington School-girls Lacrosse Association also named Skyline senior Katie Bucy and Issaquah athletes Suzy Emerson and Jordan Hepperle to its 2014 All-State team.

By Christina Corrales-Toynewcastle@isspress.com

A new semi-professional soccer team made its Is-saquah debut in front of about 300 fans at Issaquah High School’s Gary Moore Stadium June 4.

The Puget Sound Gun-ners, a men’s team that develops elite college-aged players with professional aspirations, fell to the Kit-sap Pumas, 1-0.

It represents the Gun-ners’ (1-3-1) third straight loss in the Premier Devel-opment League’s North-west Division.

“This kind of thing is a bump for sure, but without the dark, you can’t see the stars,” head coach Jimmy Ball said of the Gunners’ three-game stretch that also included road losses to Lane United FC and the Portland Tim-bers U-23s.

The division-leading Pumas’ score came in the game’s 12th minute, after Joaquin Rivas’ ball bounced off the left post and trickled toward the back of the net.

“That’s the difference, the width of the post,” Ball said. “That’s a harsh lesson, but it’s a devel-opment league. We’re looking at these players

growing and learning, and they’re definitely doing that.”

The Gunners’ lineup looked a bit different than their previous four, as Marshall Kosaka, Josimar Evangelista and Josh Miller made their season debuts in the starting 11.

“We just felt after a tough road trip that we needed a bit of experi-ence,” Ball said. “So, we brought in some more experienced players to try to solidify our lineup and make us a bit more professional about what we did out on the field, and it didn’t quite work as I thought it would.”

Ball said he liked what he saw out of his team in the second half, though. The Gunners came out of the locker room playing with a higher tempo and getting more consistent ball movement.

They got a few looks, but the Pumas’ defense remained stout.

“That’s probably the best half of football that we’ve played, even though we didn’t manage to score,” Ball said.

The teams each took eight shots, but Rivas’ was

Local lacrosse players honored

Liberty basketball team stays busy

Semi-pro Gunners shoot blanks in Issaquah debut

By GreG Farrar

Josimar Evangelista (right), Puget Sound Gunners midfielder, heads the ball away from Kitsap Pumas forward Miguel Gonzales during the first period of their June 4 soccer match at Issaquah High School’s Gary Moore Stadium.

The second Cougar Mountain Trail Run is at 9 a.m. June 14.

This second event in the series features 8- and 13-mile options in the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, through lush forest, fern-lined single-track, over hills and along marshes.

The series has raised more than $126,000 for King County Parks and contributed many hun-dreds of hours of trail work. The Seattle Running Club and Northwest Trail Runs is working to make this 12th annual event big-ger and better.

The series runs the second Saturday of each month through the sum-mer. The next races are July 12 and Aug. 9.

Register at www.seattle-runningclub.org.

Second Cougar Mountain run is Saturday

By Neil PiersoN

Danny Sinatro, Lakeside Recovery shortstop, tags out a Phiten base runner during a June 4 Senior American Legion baseball game at Newport High School in Bellevue. Lakeside Recovery won, 4-2.

Hungry veterans lead Lakeside Recovery’s fast start

See GUNNERS, Page A11

See LAKESIDE, Page A11

By CaryN Frey

Omar Parker, (right), Liberty High School boys basketball coach, jokingly attempts to putt a basketball while his team looks on at the program’s golf fund-raiser May 30.

Premier Development League team loses third straight