The career of Archbishop Murphy head baseball coach Stan Taloff was decorated before Saturday. He had more than 500 career victories, numerous league titles, district titles and even state championship game appearances in his 34 years as a head baseball coach.

But up until Saturday, he had never won the big one.

That has all changed.

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The Meadowdale softball team came from three runs down in the seventh inning to beat Peninsula on 4-3 in the first round of the 3A state tournament at Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey.

Herald photographer Mark Mulligan got some great photos from the game and had this to say:

"Super dramatic seventh-inning. Meadowdale was down 3-0 in the top of the seventh. Lead off home run by freshman Haili Taylor followed by a three-run home run by catcher Shannon Haukap for the win. It was awesome."

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Today is a big day for spring sports playoffs as the first round of state tennis, softball baseball and the second day of track and field championships are being held all day long.

We'll be updating thisblog post so check back continually throughout the day:

TRACK & FIELD

Archbishop Murphy's Mark Schireman won the 2A boys javelin with a personal record throw of 179 feet, 2 inches.

Cascade's Tay'lor Eubanks won the 4A boys triple jump

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SNOHOMISH -- Austin Tippett, of Snohomish, scored four goals to lead the Snohomish club team to a 10-8 win over Nathan Hale in the Division II semifinals on Wednesday night.

Snohomish plays Garfield in the final on Saturday.

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SPOKANE -- Jackson's Kyle Cornett shot a 1-under-par 71 in the second round of the 4A Boys Golf State Championship on Wednesday for a two-day total of 145 to win an individual state title by two strokes.

The Kamiak boys team won the team title with 92 points, four better than Bellarmine Prep.

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Javier Gomez-Mora Rey, Marysville Getchell

Senior, forward

20 goals, three assists

David Linney, Glacier Peak

Senior, forward

17 goals, three assists

Aidan Huggins, Archbishop Murphy

Senior, forward

24 goals, six assists

Luke Hong, Jackson

Senior, defender/midfielder

3 goals, stalwart on Timberwolves defense

Reilly Cross, Snohomish

Senior, forward

21 goals, three hat tricks

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Jackson's Kyle Cornett shot a 2-over-par 74 at Hangman Valley Golf Course to sit atop the leaderboard after the first round of the 4A boys state tournament on Tuesday.

Curtis' Aaron Clare and Eastlake's Spencer Weiss both shot 75s and are tied for second.

Stanwood's Halen Davis shot a 78 and is tied for 12th.

On the girls side, Jackson's Laura Gray shot an 81 on the MeadowWood Golf Course and is tied for 16th.

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Meadowdale softball parent Greg Taylor recently emailed me a fantastic photo from this past weekend's 3A District 1 softball tournament in Sedro-Woolley. The photo below is of Mavs hitter Lindsey Milner coming home after hitting a two-run HR against Wesco rival Mountlake Terrace in the consolation final.

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Jordan Silva, Lynnwood

Senior, 3B

.516 avg., .581 OBP, .710 slugging, 18 RBI

Keenan Miller, Glacier Peak

Senior, OF

.455 avg., .667 slugging, 25 RBI

Anthony Blackie, Lake Stevens

Senior, P/1B

.515 avg., 25 RBI, 4-0 rec., 1.12 ERA

Jake Nelson, Lake Stevens

Senior, P/OF

.406 avg., 30 RBI, .525 OBP

Levi MaVorhis, Archbishop Murphy

Senior, P/1B

8-0 rec., 2.08 ERA, .469 avg., 26 RBI

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Lynsey Amundson, Arlington

Junior, C

.639 avg., 29 RBI, 13 doubles

Megan Cooley, Jackson

Senior, CF/SS

.624 avg., .722 OBP, .891 slugging, 14 stolen bases, six triples

Monica Clow, Marysville Pilchuck

Senior, P

Alyssa Egan, Monroe

Junior, P

14-8 rec., 3.13 ERA, .498 avg., three HRs, three triples, 23 RBI

Erica Gott, Lynnwood

Sophomore, P/SS

Jessica Gott, Lynnwood

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Boys Division II | Quarterfinals

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Two Shoreline area high schools made a pair of hires last week. Shorewood hired Ben Scheffler as its new head basketball coach and King's hired Jeff Fransen as its new head volleyball coach.

Here's the press releases:

Ben Scheffler hired as Shorewood Boys Basketball Coach

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BASEBALL

MVP: Tyler Clark, Concrete, Senior

Coach of the Year: Jim Newby, Concrete

Team Sportsmanship: Cedar Park Christian (MLT)

1ST TEAM

Austin Lambright, Friday Harbor, P

Wil James, La Conner, C

Brandan Lambright, Friday Harbor, INF

Amer Melic, Friday Harbor, INF

Otis Cooper-West, Friday Harbor, INF

Tanner Cyr, La Conner, INF

Hayden Schmidt, La Conner, INF

Tyler Kales, Concrete, OF

Jordan Clontz, Concrete, OF

2ND TEAM

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MUKILTEO -- Bellarmine Prep scored seven unanswered goals in the second quarter to take the lead for good and advance to the quarterfinals of the Washington Lacrosse Boys State Championship tournament with a 16-13 opening round win over Mukilteo, Tuesday at Kamiak High School.

The opening round win over Mukilteo sets up a Friday quarterfinal date with Mercer Island, which had a bye in the opening round.

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SEATTLE –The Washington High School Boys Lacrosse Association today announced the 2012 All-State teams for Boys Division I high school lacrosse. The All-State selections are made by coaches from each of the league's Division I teams in Washington state.

Forty-two student-athletes from 18 high schools across the state were among the first, second, third and honorable mention team honorees.

In total, 20 seniors, 12 juniors, and 10 sophomores were named to All-State teams.

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GIRLS VARSITY | STATE TOURNAMENT, QUARTERFINALS

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As any student-athlete knows the game on the field is only half the battle. Homework, quizzes and tests in the classroom make up the other half and juggling all of that can be a real headache.

So a big congratulations to these local teams who were honored recently by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association as the spring season academic state champions.

Meadowdale baseball

Archbishop Murphy baseball

Stanwood boys track and field

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Lake Stevens shooting guard Katie Goddard signed a National Letter of Intent to take her game to Western Oregon University next year.

Goddard, who was first-team All-Wesco selection, averaged 14.9 points per game and shot 49 percent from the field for the Vikings this past season.

Here's the press release announcing her decision:

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REDMOND – Lake Sammamish advanced to within one win of the Washington Lacrosse Girls State Championship game with a 17 – 9 quarterfinal victory over Snohomish, Thursday at Marymoor Park in Redmond.

The win over sixth-ranked Snohomish sets up a semifinal matchup with Friday’s Lakeside, Seattle Prep winner. It is the second trip to the semifinals since 2010 for third-ranked Lake Sammamish, which is making its sixth post season appearance in the past seven years.

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SEATTLE – The road to the Washington Lacrosse State Championships gets underway for high school boys on Friday and Saturday with the opening round of Division II postseason playoffs. Boys Division I postseason action gets underway May 15 and 16.

BOYS | DIVISION II

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The Mariner boys soccer team forfeited Saturday's playoff victory over Lake Stevens due to a violation according to assistant principal and athletic director Michael Moore.

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Mike Bartley took over the Archbishop Murphy boys soccer team this past winter, intrigued by the opportunity to coach his son, Josh.

He seems to have enjoyed the experience.

After coaching the Wildcats to a perfect regular season, Bartley was named the school's newest girls soccer coach on Friday, according to a press release from the school.

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The Glacier Peak and Shorecrest softball teams are teaming up to pink the diamond.

The Grizzlies-Scots will be playing the first annual Softball Pink Night on Monday, May 7 at 6 p.m. at Shorecrest High School. All donations from the fundraiser and BBQ will benefit the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

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When John Richer walks onto the court for the first time as Everett's newest boys basketball head coach he'll be stepping back into history.

Not only is Richer a former Seagull player himself, but he's the son of legendary Everett head coach Joe Richer.

In fact, that court he'll be stepping onto, it's called Richer Court, named after his father.

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Here's a look at where Wesco boys teams and individuals stand after four matches. The final Wesco Champioships are May 8 at Cedarcrest Golf Course in Marysville, where the final placement and qualification to the first round of districts. The top 70 percent of both the North and South will qualify for districts after the League championships.

Here's the team rankings after four matches:

1. Kamiak-S 5-5-5-5--20

2. Snohomish-N 4.5-5-5-5--19.5

3. Jackson-S 4-4-4-4--16

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The website prepvolleyball.com recently released The Soph 79, or the best varsity-playing sophomores in the country from this past season and Snohomish's Lanesha Reagan was honored as one of just seven volleyball players from Washington to make the prestigious list.

Here's what prepvolleyball.com had to say about the Panthers star:

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BOYS | DIVISION I

Mukilteo 15, Puyallup 9: (Austin Hall, M, 4 goals, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Kevin McGowan, M, 3 goals, 2 assists; 1 ground ball; Alex Okemah, M, 3 goals, 11 ground balls; Miles Craggs, M, 1 goal, 2 ground balls; Jordan Gagnon, M, 1 goal, 2 assists, 1 ground ball; Keenan Haugen, M, 1 goal, 5 ground balls; Ryan Hooper, M, 1 goal, 5 ground balls; Nicholas Gregory, M, 8 saves)

BOYS | DIVISION II

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With the district playoffs set to begin Saturday it seemed like a good idea to take one last look at the rankings. The folks over at scoreczar.com released their newest baseball polls on Tuesday and the favorites in each classification are pretty clear.

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BASEBALL STARS

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The people have spoken.

And they like "On the Mat."

The documentary about the 2010-2011 Lake Stevens wrestling team won the Tribeca (Online) Film Festival Best Feature Film award at a ceremony at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26.

"It's been a total surprise," said director Fredric Golding. "More than met our expectations. Very well received. I think people got it and realized it was more than just a sports film. It's a character study of kids in America today."

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