Baseball programs at Edmonds, Everett CCs are usually NWAC contenders

Last season all the pieces came together for the Edmonds Community College baseball team.

Under second-year coach Scott Kelly, and with a largely veteran squad, the Tritons went 39-8 and won a regular-season division championship, a division tournament championship, and ultimately a Northwest Athletic Conference tournament title.

“That team was so much fun,” said Kelly, now in his third season. “They showed up (to work) every day and their personalities were a lot of fun. … They really dedicated themselves to winning a title and it was pretty cool to actually watch them do it.”

But this is a new season and the Tritons have a lot of new faces in their quest to repeat as NWAC champions. “Winning a title brings good players in,” Kelly said of the recruiting process. “So we’re a talented team, but we’re also (mostly) an 18-year-old team.”

And with the exception of a handful of veterans, he added, “it’s a whole new team.”

Among the returners, Edmonds CC will rely on Conor Plaisance, a Jackson High School graduate, to take over in center field for T.C. Florentine, an all-league choice a year ago who is playing this season at Santa Clara University. Through 13 games, Plaisance is hitting .346 with one home run and 11 RBI.

“He does a heck of a job,” Kelly said. “Conor has put on some weight and he’s putting a little power into some balls.”

Another top returnee is third baseman Jamie Umbinetti, who played at Mariner. Umbinetti, who is batting .265 with one home run and six RBI this season, hits in the middle of the lineup, “and defensively he’s as good as they come,” Kelly said.

On the mound, Jackson alum Alec Kisena, a freshman, has emerged as one of the team’s top pitchers. Through three starts, he is 2-0 with 28 strikeouts and just two walks in 19 innings pitched, and a 1.89 ERA.

Coming off a four-game weekend sweep of Southwest Oregon CC, Edmonds CC is off to an 11-2 record. The brisk start that has Kelly hopeful his Tritons can contend for this season’s divisional title and perhaps another league championship as well. After all, he pointed out, a team from the North Region has won six of the last eight league titles.

“The North Division is so tough,” he said. “Whoever comes out of the North (to the NWAC tournament) is going to have a real good shot to make some noise in that tournament and maybe to walk away with it. … We have to figure out how to win games in our division, and in doing that it will prepare us for the high level of the NWAC tournament.”

Another likely contender is 2013 league champion Everett CC, which also has a squad comprised largely of newcomers. And the good news, said longtime Trojans coach Levi Lacey, “is that we brought in a really good class. We’re starting five freshmen now and I really like our ballclub. We’re young and athletic, and it’s a good group of young men.”

Despite starting slowly at the plate, sophomore first baseman John Naff from Marysville Pilchuck should be one of the top bats in the Everett CC lineup. Naff has already committed to play next season at the University of Washington.

Another Marysville Pilchuck product, freshman Alex Gray, is one of the team’s starting pitchers, along with freshman Kyle Francis (Redmond) and sophomore Michael Wood (South Kitsap). Among other freshmen Lacey will count on are center fielder Kory Longacre from Shorewood and Tate Budnick from Edmonds-Woodway.

Every year Edmonds CC and Everett CC have a healthy rivalry on the field and in their quest for fresh talent from in and around Snohomish County. The rivalry “is a lot of fun,” Kelly said. The teams traditionally close their regular seasons with a four-game weekend series, and “we know those games are going to be high energy.

“We want to compete against the best teams,” he added, “and year in year out (the Trojans) are usually one of those teams.”

Lacey agrees. The rivalry with Edmonds CC “is fun and I like it. It’s what it’s all about. And what it does, it teaches (both teams) how to win. I think it brings the best out of their guys and out of our guys.”