(Renton, WA) It was with great relief when the Spring sports season began in March after 2 years of no Spring sports due to the pandemic. It’s hard to believe but it’s been since Memorial Day weekend 2019 since the WIAA held State Tournaments for Spring sports. Despite the horrible weather the Spring sports regular season is wrapping up and District tournaments are coming up. This will be followed by Regionals and early rounds of some of the State Tournaments. There are a couple a changes to be aware of with boys soccer and baseball.

Soccer

There are 4 State boys Soccer Tournaments set for May 27 and 28 at two locations. Two semi-final games will be played on Friday with new starting times. The 1st match at 12-noon followed by 2pm, 4pm and 6pm. The start time was rolled back 2 hours due to how late some of the matches were being finished on Friday night. Under the previous schedule the last match was set for 8pm which rarely occurred and regularly began 30-60 minutes later. This meant the two teams playing were finishing well past 10pm. The new noon-start time assures teams to be done likely no later than 9pm.

The biggest change is location of the 2A and 1A tournaments. In the past the 4A, 3A and Unified tournaments have been at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup and that remains the same. The 2A and 1A had been at Sumner but has been moved to Tumwater District Stadium. The biggest issue for the change was it had been a challenge for parking in Sumner anyway and now moving up the start time of the 1st match from 2p to noon there was no way Sumner could clear enough parking to host the tournament. Sumner officials also felt that it was time for another site to have a chance.

WIAA Assistant Executive Director BJ Kuntz who oversees State Soccer says it was a great discussion with Sumner and they volunteered to drop out which opened it up for others to place a bid for the Championships. Kuntz says Tumwater stepped up and will host for this season only. Then in June they will announce the next 2-year cycle of hosting both girls and boys and Tumwater may again place a bid and could end up as the site for the next 2 years. Kuntz was grateful to the Tumwater administrators for stepping forward and accommodating the new schedule.

Here are the schedules at both sites:

2A and 1A Tournaments at Tumwater District Stadium

1A Tournament
Friday, May 27
12:00pm Semifinal #1
2:00pm Semifinal #2

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Match 10:00am
Championship 2:00pm

2A Tournament
Friday, May 27
4:00pm Semifinal #1
6:00pm Semifinal #2

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Match 12:00pm
Championship 4:00pm

4A, 3A and Unified Tournaments at Sparks Stadium

3A Tournament
Friday, May 27
12:00pm Semifinal #1
2:00pm Semifinal #2

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Match 10:00am
Championship 3:00pm

4A Tournament
Friday, May 27
4:00pm Semifinal #1
6:00pm Semifinal #2

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Match 12:00pm
Championship 5:00pm

Unified Tournament
May 27
The Unified Tournament quarter and semi-finals
May 28 (at Sparks Stadium)
2:00pm Championship
*The Unified Championship match features a modified field, 2 20-minute halves and a 5 minute halftime.

Baseball

The baseball format remains the same with the regular season leading into the individual district tournaments that will qualify the 16 state entries for classifications 4A, 2A, 1A and 2B. There will be 20 teams who qualify for the 3A tournament with 4 loser out play-in games on May 17th to cut the field to 16. In the 1B there are only 8 finalists. The reason for the different numbers is based on the number of teams in each classification and there is a sliding scale on the number of state entries based on the number of teams competing.

The next step is the Regional tournaments which all will be played on May 21. There will be 4 regional tournaments of 4 teams for each classification except the 1B’s who will have 2 Regional tournaments. So on May 21 there will be 22 4-team Regional tournaments all across the state at designated locations. Only 1 team will survive in each of those tournaments and for classifications 4A-2B that will leave a final 4 and for the 1B’s a final 2.

The Regional tournaments are the 1st 2 rounds of the State tournament leaving the 4A-2B the 4 semi-finalists who will all play on Friday, May 27 with the winners playing for the Championships on Saturday, May 28. The losing teams of the Semi-finals will play on Saturday for 3rd/4th place. The 1B will only play a Championship game on Saturday.

The locations for 2 of the State Tournaments remain the same but there is a change for 1 of the tournaments. The 4A-3A final 4 will again be played in Pasco at Gesa Stadium. The 2A-1A tournament remains anchored at County Stadium in Yakima but the 2B-1B will be on the move from Centralia down to the new facility in Ridgefield at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex. 

4A-3A Tournaments at Gesa Stadium in Pasco

4A Tournament
Friday, May 27
Semi-Final #1 10:00am
Semi-Final #2 1:00pm 

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Game 10:00am 
Championship 4:00pm 

3A Tournament
Friday, May 27
Semi-Final #1 4:00pm
Semi-Final #2 7:00pm 

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Game 1:00pm 
Championship 7:00pm 

2A-1A Tournaments at County Stadium in Yakima

2A Tournament
Friday, May 27
Semi-Final #1 10:00am
Semi-Final #2 1:00pm 

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Game 10:00am 
Championship 4:00pm 

1A Tournament
Friday, May 27
Semi-Final #1 4:00pm
Semi-Final #2 7:00pm 

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Game 1:00pm 
Championship 7:00pm 

2B-1B Tournaments at Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex

2B Tournament
Friday, May 27
Semi-Final #1 4:00pm
Semi-Final #2 7:00pm 

Saturday, May 28
3rd/4th Place Game 10:00am 
Championship 1:00pm 

1B Tournament
Saturday, May 28
Championship 4:00pm 

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