Lakewood High School softball coach Steve Barker joined an exclusive club over the weekend.
Barker was one of three coaches inducted into the Washington State Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Saturday at a ceremony in Sea-Tac. He was inducted with Tom Swapp (Anacortes) and Bob Vanderhaak (Lynden Christian) at the association’s fourth annual event.
In 27 years as a head coach at Arlington and Lakewood, Barker has a record of 369-255 – an average of nearly 14 victories per season. His teams have won 10 league championships, two district championships and two state championships (Arlington slowpitch in 1984 and 1986).
“It was a great feeling, obviously, any time you’re recognized by your peers,” said Barker, one of the hall of fame’s nine members.
Barker said he plans to coach two more years at Lakewood.
Also on Saturday, Archbishop Murphy’s Brad Johnson was named District 1 Softball Coach of the Year. Johnson guided the Wildcats to a Cascade Conference championship, including a perfect record (15-0) in league games, and a trip to the 2A state tournament. Murphy finished 25-2 in Johnson’s second season.
Wesco foursome among UW baseball signings
Four of the 11 players in the University of Washington baseball team’s early signing period recruiting class hail from the Western Conference. The Wesco signees are pitcher Geoff Brown of Jackson, pitcher Ricky Denham of Meadowdale, pitcher Joey Dettrich of Arlington and infielder Pierce Rankin of Shorecrest. In a press release, Washington head coach Ken Knutson said, “This is one of those special classes that would rival any class we’ve ever brought in, at least on paper.”
Jackson’s Brown, who was 10-0 for the 4A state champion Timberwolves last season, is “a hard thrower and one of the top left-handed pitchers in the state,” said Knutson.
11 as one
The undefeated Archbishop Murphy football team has reached the 2A state quarterfinals for the third straight year. Seniors Tony Houts and John-Paul Blair said the difference between this year’s squad and previous Wildcats teams is balance.
“We definitely don’t have the big stand-out guy, one person who … is just dominating every aspect of the game,” Houts said last week.
Murphy, which plays top-ranked Prosser on Saturday, has “had to come together more as a team and work 11 guys as one.”
“It definitely helps to have standout players,” said Blair, “but it’s more personally rewarding after a game when you know it wasn’t just one guy who dominated. … It was a team effort and everybody contributed in some way.”
Edmonds-Woodway ends Curtis coach’s career
The Edmonds-Woodway football team’s 41-38 victory over Curtis on Friday ended the career of legendary coach Bob Lucey. Lucey, 58, won four state titles in 31 seasons at Curtis. He announced during the summer that this would be his last season. E-W coach John Gradwohl said that if Lucey’s career had to end on a loss, Friday’s game was worthy of a sendoff. “I’m sure glad he went out with a heck of a football game,” said Gradwohl. “If we would have beat him 49-0, I would have felt bad.
“But, if he had beaten me 49-0,” Gradwohl added, “I would have felt worse.”
Herald writers Mike Cane and Aaron Coe contributed to this report.
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