Yokota catcher Claire Smith gets set to tag Kubasaki runner Amaya Seranno during this weekend's inter-district play at Yokota. (Greg Holladay/Special to Stripes)
Interarea competition in a variety of sports this weekend saw E.J. King’s softball team go a perfect 3-for-3 on the Korea diamonds.
Playing against DODEA-Korea’s three softball teams on Saturday, the Cobras struck for three wins: 33-7 over Daegu, 20-9 over host Osan and 9-6 over Division I Humphreys.
More than racking up wins, the Cobras used the weekend as valued preparation for the Far East Division II tournament, scheduled for May 19-22 at the same field at Osan Air Base where they played Saturday.
“We gained an insight on our D-II competition and realized that if we work hard and together, we can accomplish our goals on the field,” said McKinzy Best, coach of the Cobras – seeking their first D-II Far East title next month.
Especially key was beating the Blackhawks, Best said. “Humphreys is a good team and both teams played well,” he said.
The three wins gave King girls teams a perfect 7-0 ledger in inter-district regular-season competition on Korea’s fields and courts.
The volleyball team beat Osan and Daegu in late September and the basketball team did the same in mid-November. Best’s daughters, senior twins Moa and Miu, played for the basketball team as well as the softball team on Saturday.
Kubasaki's Jyunia Darson tries to settle the ball in front of Zama's Kai Bundy. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
King senior Damian Perez leads Pacific boys with 26 goals this season. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
It wasn’t just Cobras who were making the athletic rounds this weekend.
Kubasaki’s softball and baseball teams and Kadena’s softball team visited the Tokyo area over the weekend and played both DODEA and international school opponents.
The Panthers’ softball team faced Yokota for the second time this season, in a matchup of the reigning two-time Far East D-I and D-II champions. The teams tied 7-7 on Saturday and Yokota fell 6-3 to Kubasaki on Friday.
Kadena and Kubasaki also faced off with Robert D. Edgren in inter-division matchups in both softball and baseball.
In a rematch of last May’s D-I final, Luka Koja fanned 12 batters and the Dragons edged American School In Japan 3-1, breaking a 1-1 tie on Jacy Fisk’s RBI single to right that scored Lukas Gaines in the top of the seventh inning.
On the soccer pitch, Kubasaki’s boys traveled to Matthew C. Perry, where they did not score a goal in three games, losing Friday to the host Samurai 5-0. But the Dragons did manage scoreless draws against E.J. King and Zama.
Perry’s Samurai Field and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni’s Northside Field played host Friday and Saturday to DODEA-Pacific’s two leading goal scorers.
Samurai freshman Priscilla Ramirez scored six goals to give her 35 on the season, and sophomore Leilani Zuniga tallied eight to boost her total to 20 as Perry’s girls won four matches over the weekend.
Cobras senior Damian Perez scored twice Friday in a 4-0 win over Zama, giving him 26 goals for the season, tops for Pacific boys.
Humphreys sophomore distance star Cassandra Jarzabek came within .78 seconds of the 1,600-meter record. (Emma Watson/Special to Stripes)
Kadena relay team, Humphreys triple jumper beat Pacific records
Lighting and thunder cleared out of the sky before Friday’s weather-delayed Okinawa track meet. Then, lightning struck on the track.
Neil Kentish had kept his focus primarily on beating the Pacific’s 100-meter dash record of 10.53 seconds, and he’s come close in four meets thus far this season.
But the Kadena senior and his 400-meter relay teammates did something Friday at Kubasaki’s Mike Petty Stadium that hasn’t been done in nine years – break the Pacific’s record in that event.
Kentish, senior Carmelo Ward, sophomore A.J. Webster and junior Alexzander Hye teamed to run the event in 42.49 seconds. That was .39 seconds better than the old mark of 42.88, set in 2016 by American School In Japan.
“We were working in depth in practice Wednesday and Thursday, making sure our steps were correct,” Kentish said. “We were talking about breaking records right before the race. We all played our parts.”
The goal of the event is to post the best times, but more importantly get the baton safely across the finish line without dropping it or missing a handoff.
“Their handoffs were perfect,” Kubasaki coach Joshua McCall said.
At Camp Humphreys, Blackhawks triple-jumper Jordan Johnson shattered the 18-year-old Pacific record, jumping 11.39 meters.
The freshman who transferred to Humphreys from Fayetteville, N.C., topped the old Pacific mark of 11.05, set in 2007 by Amelia Clark of Jakarta International School in Indonesia.
“I thought the jump was bad, but I guess it wasn’t,” Johnson said. Her personal best, which she jumped last year in Georgia, was 12.06. “I wanted to set the record; I’ve been trying all season.”
Blackhawks distance star Cassandra Jarzabek, the reigning Far East cross country champion and Pacific record holder, just missed breaking the 1,600-meter record on a gusty Saturday.
Jarzabek clocked the event in 5:06.75, .78 seconds shy of the Pacific mark of 5:05.97, ran last May 2 in the Far East meet by Perry’s Jane Williams. Jarzabek and observers said they felt she could have beaten the record if it wasn’t so windy.
“I’m extremely confident I can do the same at Far East (and) I think I can also do it before Far East” in the league finals next week, Jarzabek said. “I was really close today and if it weren’t for the wind, I know I would have gotten it.”
