Meadowdale’s Alisa Sagdahl and Matt Hirsch wrapped up their respective high school athletic careers with some impressive accomplishments on the field.
Sagdahl helped lead the Mavericks girls soccer team to fourth place in the Class 3A state tournament, the best finish in school history. After an uneven start to the season, Hirsch and the Meadowdale baseball team won 13 of their last 14 games to capture the league title for the first time since 1991.
Sagdahl and Hirsch then capped off their senior years by being named Meadowdale High School’s athletes of the year.
Sagdahl also played basketball and softball but the soccer team’s postseason run stands out as the highlight of the year.
“The team was just really close,” Sagdahl said. “We had a bond that a lot of other teams didn’t have.”
In a first-round state playoff game against Bonney Lake, Sagdahl spearheaded a stunning comeback after Meadowdale struggled in the first half and went into halftime trailing 2-0.
Sagdahl scored a pair of goals and assisted on another as the Mavericks pulled out a 4-3 victory.
Coming into high school, Sagdahl planned to just play soccer, her main sport. Her friends had other ideas, though.
“My friends talked me into basketball, track and softball,” Sagdahl said.
Sagdahl especially enjoyed basketball, saying she enjoyed the competitiveness of the sport.
Sagdahl will be continuing her soccer career at Montana State in Billings, Mont. A visit to the campus and meeting her future teammates solidified Sagdahl’s decision to become a Bobcat.
“All the girls were really nice,” she said. “My coach said that if I work hard and passed the fitness test there’s a good chance that I’ll be starting.”
It was important for Sagdahl to continue playing soccer after high school.
“It’s everything to me,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to play soccer in college.”
Sagdahl plans to study criminal justice and is thinking about a career in law enforcement. Sagdahl’s grandmother, Mae, was one of the first female police officers in Seattle. She passed away before Sagdahl was born but Sagdahl’s mother, Lorrine, often talked about her mother’s time with the Seattle Police Department.
“I just want to be a cop,” Sagdahl said. “They help people out a lot. I want to also work with inner city kids. Being a police officer will help me to understand what the kids are going through.”
Matt Hirsch and eight of his baseball teammates came into their senior season with the goal of going out with a bang, both on and off the field.
On the field, Hirsch and the Mavericks won the Western Conference 3A title, ending a 22-year drought for the school. Meadowdale also was honored as the state academic baseball champion. The team finished with a 3.6 GPA.
“For the seniors it was a big thing for us. There was a core group of us, nine of us,” said Hirsch, who also played basketball. “We were really looking forward to our senior year. It turned out the way I wanted it to.”
Hirsch will continue his baseball career at Willamette University in Salem, Ore. Baseball has been an important part of Hirsch’s life since he was 5 years old. Through the years sports were more than just a way for Hirsch to have fun. As an athlete, Hirsch learned how to pick himself up after disappointments.
“You’re going to have your failures,” Hirsch said. “It’s how you respond from it that kind of makes who you are. It’s about character and getting over failure. Getting over the past and focusing on the present and what you can control is what’s important.”
Hirsch would agree with those who say baseball is the hardest sport of all. He noted that if you look deeper into baseball, there is a lot of strategy involved — and the challenge of hitting a 90-plus-mile-per hour fastball with a bat that is 2 inches wide.
“It’s the best sport out there,” Hirsch said.
Ever since Little League, Hirsch has thought about playing baseball in college. “That’s a goal I’ve wanted to achieve,” Hirsch said. “I’m fortunate I have the opportunity to do that now.”
Hirsch wants to study business management or marketing. Since sports have been a part of his life for so long, Hirsch would like eventually to get involved with a professional sports team.
This summer Hirsch will be a coach at the Skyhawks Sports Camps in Edmonds, where he hopes to impart some of what he’s learned through sports to young people.
“One of the things about sports is how it is so comparable to life,” Hirsch said. “It has taught me life lessons and helped me mature into a young adult.”
Read about athletes of the year at other Edmonds district high schools in The Weekly Herald Sports section.
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