ENUMCLAW BASEBALL

The Hornet diamond squad had a brief taste of postseason play a season ago and will be looking for more this time around.

The 2017 squad needed a play-in victory to make it do the district tourney. Things didn’t go the Hornets’ way and the season came to a close.

Enumclaw will begin this year’s campaign Friday, hosting the neighboring White River team in a nonleague matchup.

Coach Eric Fiedler has some familiar faces to work with, including a trio who were honored at the close of last season for their performances. Cameron Bogard was a first-team all-league outfielder, Austin Wilson made the second team at shortstop and Trevor Cassell received honorable mention as a pitcher. All are seniors.

ENUMCLAW FASTPITCH

This spring’s Enumclaw High fastpitch team is looking to take things a step further than last year’s squad.

The 2017 came within one game of advancing to the state Class 4A fastpitch tournament, losing their final contest of the season by a single run.

Coach Mike Eckhart likes what he sees during early-season turnouts. “We will have strong hitting and strong defense with veteran players in key positions,” he wrote in an email. That leaves the pitching staff, which isn’t quite as established.

“We will have a young pitching crew, so when we get that under control, we’ll compete with anyone,” Eckhart said.

Among the key returnees for EHS are seniors Cortney Hunt, who was an all-league second team outfielder last year, and Hailey Roberts, a second-team infielder. Hunt hit .443 a season ago and Roberts hit at a .441 clip. Junior Logan Breidenbach was a first-team infielder last year after hitting .355. Eckhart also is high on players like Danika Seabrands, who hit .295 last year; Emma Gunter, who hit .273; and Taylor Anglin, who hit .409.