COMMUNITY6 l April 3, 2013 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

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Hundreds come to the YMCA’s annual egg hunt

Duke Swenson, 2, of Sammamish, wearing purple reindeer headgear, grabs a plastic egg as his mom Allie, looks on during his hunt for toys and prizes.

Sanaya Tripathi, 2, of Sammamish, picks up two plastic eggs next to an Easter bunny garden decoration as she scrambles with other toddlers to win toys and candy March 30 during the annual Spring Fun Eggstravaganza held at the Sammamish YMCA.

The 3- to 6-year-olds dash onto the field at the starting horn to gather hundreds of plastic Easter eggs filled with toys and candy.

Ryan Larsen holds his daughter Brooklyn, nine-months old, as she puts a yellow egg in her basket during her first Easter egg hunt.

Kids scoop up eggs by the

handful on the YMCA lawn dur-

ing the mad dash March 30 at

the Spring Fun Eggstravaganza.

Emmett Roughgarden, 2, of Issaquah (far left), holds three eggs as he looks for more.Sanjana Sriram, 6, of Bellevue, in her finest purple Easter bonnet and dress, finds a wrapped package of candy in one of her plastic eggs after the wild scramble for toys and prizes. Photos by

Greg Farrar

sports8 l April 3, 2013 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

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By Lillian O’Rorke

No ribbons were cut, nor did a bunch of balloons billow down on the Eastlake gym March 26 when the high school had its first ever badminton league match. But there were a lot of smiles.

One of those smiles belonged to Cassidy Hemphill. The 15-year-old sophomore had played on Inglewood Junior High School’s badminton team in sev-enth through ninth grade, but didn’t think she would get to play once she moved up to Eastlake.

“It’s cool because everyone was asking ‘when are you going to get a bad-minton team at Eastlake’ because all the girls from Inglewood wanted to move on and still play,” Hemphill said. “In the past, they haven’t been able to, so it’s cool that they have it.”

The sophomore added that the sport is a lot more than just a game played at family reunions.

“It’s not just all about hitting the birdie,” Hemphill said. “You actually have to think ‘oh, she’s

on this side. I should hit over there,’ and if she is in the back you do a drop shot and if she’s in the front, you do a clear. It’s just thinking really fast of where you want to hit it compared to where she is.”

The Lake Washington School District announced last summer that it was adding badminton to the spring line-up of girls’ sports. The district was already offer-ing it at all seven of its junior highs, where 280 girls came out

for the racquet sport last year. The decision to extend it to high school play was made to ensure Title IX compliance.

Leading Eastlake’s inau-gural 31-mem-ber badminton

team is Gene Dales, who coached the school’s football team for a little over seven years and guided the Eastlake Wolves to the 2011 4A state quarterfinals.

During that time, Dales also helped coach girls basketball in the winter and girls golf in the spring.

“This has kind of been that second sport for me that I always just really enjoyed because this is

a totally different setting than the Friday nights, you know, with the thousands of people watch-ing the ball game,” he said adding that it’s not as big of a time com-mitment either.

“We don’t breakdown much film,” Dales joked. “It’s just fun to watch something in its baby stages, because this will end up being a big deal, I think, down the road. I think badminton is a fun sport that everybody kind of enjoys and anybody can play.”

For its first ever league match, the badminton team hosted Bellevue and after playing six single and four double matches, best two-out-three, the two teams ended the afternoon in a 5-5 tie.

One of Eastlake’s wins was thanks to Sahana Melkris. As a junior this year, she said she is happy to be back playing the sport that she first started to enjoy in junior high. Not leaving any doubt on the court March 26, she won her No. 4 singles match 21-9, 21-1.

“I think the whole game depends on strategy. That’s what makes a good player,” Melkris said. “I made sure to hit it where she couldn’t get it.”

As the final match finished up, Bellevue was leading 5-4.

Photo by Lillian O’RorkeCassidy Hemphill prepares to return a yellow birdie shot during her No. 2 singles match.

Eastlake’s first ever badminton season kicks off with a tie

See BADMINTON, Page 9

“I think the whole game depends on strategy. That’s what makes a

good player.”– Sahana Melkris, Badminton player –

After winning the Metro League Championship and tak-ing second in state last year, the Eastside Catholic baseball team is at it again this season, already boasting a 6-0 record as of March 31.

“This is an amazing group of young men, both on and off the field,” said coach Kyle Larsen in an email. “These boys have an incredible work ethic and great team chemistry.”

Much of the team is still intact from last season with several returning varsity players, includ-ing third baseman Hayden Meier of Sammamish. Meier was busy last week in the team’s back-to-back victories over Lakeside March 26 and 27. Those two games combined, Meier went 4 for 7, earned three runs, two doubles and two RBI’s.

Eastside has undefeated start to year

Photo by Rhonda BunkerHayden Meier of Sammamish sprints for home plate.

By Christina Corrales-Toy

The Issaquah High School softball field was host to an explosion of offense when rivals Issaquah and Skyline squared off March 25. It was the Spartans’ bats that proved to pack the most punch, though, defeating the Eagles, 9-6.

The schools combined to produce 25 hits, but the game remained scoreless through two innings, before Skyline pushed six runs across the plate in the third.

Skyline’s Madisen Camp-Chimenti put the Spartans on the board first, driving in two runs with a double laced to the

Skyline softball victorious

See SOFTBALL, Page 9