The Bellarmine Lions   

Coming off of a very successful season in which the Lions came within one game of the state playoffs, Bellarmine will have to retool as five starters have departed. The Lions early-season strength will be that all three outfielders are back. Cole McLeod, Connor Unruh and Connor Davis should carry Bellarmine’s early season offense until the young infielders have time to develop. Coach Rick Barnhart expects that two of the new infielders who will contribute to be third baseman Roman Mitchell and shortstop Jordan Hatch.

Both players are sophomores who are coming off of solid years with the junior varsity.

Barnhart, in his 27th year at Bellarmine, expects his pitching staff to come around quickly.

Cole McLeod, Dylan Micheau and sophomore Roman Mitchell are at the front of the rotation. Another potential factor in the starting staff will be the emergence of highly touted freshman Marcus Fielder, who Barnhart thinks has a very bright future. Behind the plate for Bellarmine is junior Ben King, who spent some time last year as a backup and should be able to contribute early.

With the influx of new talent this year for the Lions, one never knows how they are going to respond, but Barnhart is optimistic.

“We’re a little green, but we should get better as the season progresses. We can’t fall too far behind the leaders early and hope to contend with Central Kitsap, Stadium, and Olympia, who all have veteran teams returning. We can make a run in the postseason if our youngsters develop.”

The Wilson Rams      

Taking their lumps last year with a young team, things should change this year for the Rams in coach Mark Bowman’s third year at the helm. The strength of this Wilson team is their young and talented pitching staff that could be one of the deepest in the league. The front of the rotation features right-handers Kurtis Longver and Warren Sadler. Longver, a junior, should contend for all-league honors, while Sadler, a senior, should produce well, too. Two  sophomore left-handers Dillon Sandoval and Spenser Ready will anchor the back of the rotation.

“I like their potential” Bowman said.

The Ram offense will be headed by 2009 honorable mention all-league sophomore outfielder Eric Lund, Adam Anuraga, a junior all-Narrows infield selection and Longver, who will play first when he’s not pitching.

With pitching being the strength of this Ram squad, another factor is that this team has only two seniors on their roster and that also gives Wilson a deep roster that can only make them better as the season goes a long.

“I expect our pitching to carry us a long way. We’ll battle offensively and should get better as the season goes a long. The team did a lot of great work in the off season to prepare for this year, and that development was very important. With our team’s progression from last year, it would not surprise me if we won 10 league games against good clubs like Gig Harbor, South Kitsap and Stadium. We should be able to compete with our added year of maturity and should surprise some people, with the added offense and our pitching, we should be in good shape.”

Foss

Coach Roy Young will expect some improvement from this team as they gain more experience.

“It’ll depend on how much they come together,” said the veteran Falcon coach who is in his 23rd year at Foss.

The Falcons will be headlined by two sophomores, leftfielder/pitcher Tim Annoni and third baseman/pitcher Jace Guild, who Young expects a lot from this year.

Other Falcons expected to contribute this year are centerfielder Grayson Bullinger, shortstop JJ Fullmer, catcher Billy Barker and third baseman Noah Hunthausen.

“This is going to be a very tough division, with Gig Harbor, South Kitsap and an up-and-coming Wilson team,” Young said.

“We’ll have to get off to a good start to stay close.”

Another factor, a common theme this season, will be how fast the team comes together as a team.

“We’ll have to be close to contention by spring break,” Young said.

“We will be a year older and we should be better. We’ll also have to stay away from injuries and not beat ourselves on the field if we hope to compete in this very tough league, let’s see how the season progresses and hopefully not get the rain we did last year.”