It was an exciting week. The girls had to play in the Wildcat Tourney just to get to State. They won the Wild Card and ended up finishing #6 in the State Tourney!!!!
I remember when it all started. I was driving the girls over to have lunch with their Grandma. Jessica says "Dad, I joined Water Polo".. Water Polo? say what? Jessica is a gifted swimmer, they have tried to get her to join the swim team many times. Jess tried it, but was just not that interested in swimming laps over and over again. Water polo? I know nothing about Water Polo. Never seen it, don't know anyone who has played it. My reaction was mixed, but happy for Jessica to get involved with something.
Jessica joined the team in 2012, weeks before the regular season started. She was very inexperienced, but she made up for it with effort. It was a long first season, they lost every game. They played an exhibition game after the regular season, and they girls finally won a game! It was a great way to end the first season and get some momentum for next season.
Jessica went to Hawaii to compete over the Summer. I don't know how they did, but they were in Hawaii, so I don't think winning or losing was that big a deal..
Senior year, Jessica worked out in the Winter program, while working an after school job and several babysitting jobs. I dreaded the decision Jessica needed to make. I encouraged her to stick with Water Polo. Don't make the same mistake as me when I dropped out of Wrestling my senior year. I told her she has her whole life to work. I don't give myself any credit for her decision, I just told her what I believe, but she is 18, and can make her own decision. She chose to play Water Polo!!!!!!!!!
The season started with an away game at Mercer Island. I was there of course, and the girls did show some signs of improvement, but they lost. Here we go again? The girls then had 6 games at home. They won most of these! The girls were getting better each and every week! Jessica scored some goals!!!!! Due to injury and a new JV squad this year, they had no bench to speak of. Jessica played most of the entire games. She was getting a lot of playing time and it was paying off.
The final regular season game was in Newport. Newport is the best high school in the State and their water polo team is very good. Anchored by all Seniors, all going to play collegiate polo. Needless to say, they beat us. In the 4th period, with Newport up by at least 10, they ran a trick play to get a cheap score for one of the girls who had yet to score. The girls were demoralized. It was a low class move by the coach of Newport. I remember one game with Bainbridge, when everyone on the team had scored except Jessica. Coach Drew ran legitimate plays for Jess to get her open and she did get a score. After Jess had scored, Coach Drew had the team stop scoring. They passed the ball around and before the shot clock would run out, they would lob it in the corner. A practice known as "Dumping' the ball. These girls and their coach displayed true sportsmanship. It was an impressive feat and even the Bainbridge fans showed support for the other team by cheering their late goals.
The girls finished the regular season in third place, behind Newport and Mercer Island. They earned a spot at the wild card tourney to compete for a chance to play in the State Championship!
The Wild Card Tournament opened on on May 10 at Lakes high school. The pool is a deep pool, no shallow end. They played their first game against Emerald Ridge. Bainbridge beat ER earlier this year convincingly. I was still a bit concerned by the last game at Newport, and how that would affect them. It was 4 days later, so hopefully they are ready to put it behind them.
The game started slowly. Tied 1-1 at the end of 1. Then the girls started to get their groove back. They won 10-5!
The next day Bainbridge played Auburn. If BI wins, then they won't play again today. They go on to State. They WON! 15-2!!!! Jessica had 3 goals! Here comes State!
The State Tourney kicked off on Wednesday at Lakes vs Gig Harbor. Gig Harbor has won the State Championship 4 times in a row, and is enjoying an undefeated season. Needless to say, it was too much for our girls. They lost 24-4. Jess was disappointed.
The second game of the day was vs Enumclaw. The girls jumped to an early lead and never let go. Jess got a late goal. This game was memorable because of the ending. Bainbridge was up 10-2 in the 4th period. It looked over.. Madeline was putting on a defensive clinic, pushing the ball handler, back, back back... time was running out, the Enumclaw girl was nearly in back court, she somehow gets off a shot, a high arching lob.. it goes in! The entire crowd gasped! Everyone, including Bainbridge, cheered this goal. It was an amazing shot. Enumclaw was fired up, they scored 3 more quick goals before time ran out. WOW!
Since they beat Enumclaw and Gig Harbor beat Enuclaw, that puts them in Fridays games. Friday started off with a game against Auburn Mountain Ridge at Curtis. Jess and I broke down the competition and bracket on Thursday and she felt this was their best shot to beat a #1 place team.
They played Auburn Mountainview tough the whole game, but AMV was too much for them. It was a good game to watch but the outcome was not what we wanted, but it was expected. The Curtis pool seemed huge. It is a beautiful aquatic center with high tech score boards. Even the goals looked bigger. The fan seating in upper deck, in the end zone. They seemed so far away!
Since they lost, they had to stick around to play the last game of the night, at 8:50 but it didn't start till 9. This was a match up I was very interested in. It was vs Puyallup. Puyallup was the wild card winner of their pool. They never played Bainbridge, they both advanced to the Tourney in 2 games. The remaining two wild card teams had to play a third game to get in.
The Puyallup game was great! The girls dominated and won 9-3. They proved they are the best team to come out of the wild card! This put them in a final game on Saturday to play for 5th or 6th place!
The final game on Saturday was a tough one, against Mercer Island again. MI beat Bainbridge twice in the regular season. It ended 15-6. Bainbridge went on a run in the 4th period, but couldn't close the gap. Jess had one shot on goal, but missed. Her defense was stellar though, as it was in every game.
All the Bainbridge fans stood up and gave the girls a standing ovation at the end. We all crowded the rail as they made their way to the locker room for the last time. Jessica had a big smile on her face. I was glad to see it.
We all waited outside the locker room for them to come out. Jessica came out first and the whole crowd erupted in cheers for her! It was a moving experience. I hugged her and told her how very proud of her I was. I asked her if this was better than working at the Dry cleaners. She smiled and gave me an emphatic YES!
I met a Curtis fan at the game, she was the former Secretary at Bainbridge High when I was there. We vaguely remembered each other. She retired and moved to Tacoma and her granddaughter was playing on Curtis team. I wished her good luck against Newport. They beat Newport. HURRAH!!!! Curtis went on to beat Gig Harbor 4-3 to win the State Championship.
Jessica is going to Central Washington State University next year. I hope she will continue with water polo at college. I really want to see her compete again! In two short seasons I went from not knowing water polo to having it be a part of my life, a huge part the last few weeks. I miss it already.
Picts to follow.
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