Rene Ferran of the Tri-City Herald has compiled the all-state teams for baseball, softball and boys soccer, and you can see them by clicking on the following links:

Softball
Baseball
Boys soccer

These are the local players selected as the player of the year in their classes:

Class 4A softball: Amanda Fitzsimmons, Auburn Riverside
Class 3A softball: Lindsay Willmann, Bainbridge
Class 3A boys soccer: Michael Harris, Shorecrest
Class 3A baseball: Eric Peterson, Liberty
Class 2A baseball: Travis Cook, Cedarcrest

An interesting story takes us to West Burlington, Iowa, where a baseball umpire booted more than 100 fans from a prep baseball game for unruly behavior.

The umpire, Don Briggs, said he had no issue with any of the players from Winfield-Mount Union or West Burlington but the people in the stands were "unruly, yelling and arguing."

However, West Burlington Superintendent James Sleister said he didn't see any unusual behavior and said he thought the umpire overreacted.

The game resumed after a 40-minute delay. West Burlington won 12-11.

The umpire called police as a precaution. West Burlington police officer Al Waterman says there were no arrests. He says he saw no unruliness himself.

On the positive side, that potential error in judgment would have a minimal effect on the game played. Some bad calls from officials unfairly cost kids their games and seasons.

What do you think about this one? What do you do when a ref/umpire appears to overreact and use his/her power in the wrong way? Certainly if personal safety is in danger it's another issue, but should we expect officials to have shorter 'rabbit ears' in these situations?

I'm keeping a running count today of the players from local high schools and colleges that have been selected in the MLB Draft:

Day 1:

3rd (106)/Kyrell Hudson, OF, Evergreen HS/Philadelphia

Day 2:

4th (134)/Darrell Ceciliani, OF, Columbia Basin CC/Mets
5th (167)/Matt Way, LHP, Washington State/Philadelphia
7th (219)/Kyle Conley, OF, Washington (Richland HS)/St. Louis
8th (244)/Braden Tullis, RHP, Skagit Valley College (Timberline HS)/Texas
9th (269)/Brian Pearl, RHP, Washington (Cascade HS)/Cincinnati
10th (306)/Tyson Van Winkle, C, Gonzaga (Hudson's Bay HS)/Arizona
10th (321)/Jake Locker, OF, Washington (Ferndale HS)/Angels
11th (335)/Kirk Wetmore, LHP, Bellevue CC (Tahoma HS)/Cleveland
13th (395)/Jeremy Johnson, RHP, Washington State (Centralia HS)/Cleveland
17th (504)/Jorge Reyes, RHP, Oregon State (Warden HS)/San Diego
17th (517)/Steven Ames, RHP, Gonzaga (Hudson's Bay HS, Columbia Basin College)/Dodgers
18th (559)/Jake Partridge, LHP, Rogers HS-Spokane/Tampa Bay
22nd (670)/Matt Fields, RHP, Gonzaga (Lake Stevens HS)/Toronto
24th (715)/Jason Erickson, RHP, Washington (White River HS)/Pittsburgh
24th (717)/Alex Burg, C, Washington State (Mount Rainier HS)/San Francisco
25th (762)/Tony Bryant, RHP, Kennewick HS/Minnesota
27th (818)/Nate Simon, 2B, Pepperdine (Redmond HS)/Florida
27th (820)/Brian Justice, RHP, St. Mary's (Issaquah HS)/Toronto
28th (842)/Eric Peterson, 1B, Liberty HS/Kansas City
30th (900)/James Robbins, 1B, Shorecrest HS/Detroit

Day 3:

32nd (971)/Greg Peavey, RHP, Oregon State (Hudson's Bay HS)/Houston
34th (1024)/Jared Prince, OF, Washington State (North Kitsap HS)/Texas
35th (1052)/Levi Cartas, CF, Marysville-Pilchuck HS/Kansas City
38th (1135)/Jake Lamb, SS, Bishop Blanchet HS/Pittsburgh
38th (1137) AJ Proszek, RHP, Gonzaga (Jenkins HS)/San Francisco
40th (1193)/Jorden Merry, RHP, Washington (Pasco HS, Lower Columbia)/Mariners
40th (1199)/Mike Robertson, CF, Bellevue CC (Jackson HS)/Cincinnati
42nd (1253)/Stephen Hagen, 3B, Eastern Oklahoma State JC (Peninsula HS)/Mariners
42nd (1266)/Zach Hendrix, 2B, Emerald Ridge HS/Arizona
43rd (1286)/Brad Decater, SS, Cuesta College (Skyline HS)/Baltimore
43rd (1306)/Kyle Dhanani, 3B, Thompson Rivers (Blaine HS)/Milwaukee
44th (1323)/A.J. Huttenlocker, LHP, Missouri Western State College (White River HS, Edmonds CC)/Oakland

Three months ago, Franklin said goodbye to a starting five of seniors after a state championship run in boys basketball. Three of those seniors were Division I prospects, including Peyton Siva, a McDonald's All-American at point guard.

So no, Franklin was not the favored team to make it through its summer tournament, the 32-team Quaker Summer Slam. But with five wins in three nights, capped by a 90-83 victory against Jefferson of Oregon, Franklin won the tournament for the second straight year.

To get there, Franklin beat Garfield (wihtout Tony Wroten) 79-59 in the quarterfinals and Kentwood (with Josh Smith) 68-62 in the semifinals. Then the Quakers beat Jefferson, which features top forward prospect Terrence Jones (who has an offer from Washington, among many) and tournament MVP Antwan Hosely.

Jefferson had beaten Rainier Beach in semifinals and defending 4A Federal Way in the quarters.

You can see the entire bracket, along with scoring leaders and the all-tournament selections here.

Our athletes of the year bios and stories were published today (online Saturday) in what is our last major piece of prep coverage for the 2008-2009 school year.

Skyline's super sophomore Kasen Williams earned top honors for the boys.

Lakeside's do-it-all senior Morgan Merriman was our consensus choice for the girls.

Williams and Merriman competed and excelled in three sports throughout the year and beat out a talented field of competitors from all regions of our coverage area.

Here are our finalists:

BOYS
North: Geoff Meinken, Lynnwood
South: Andre Barrington, Federal Way
East: Kasen Williams, Skyline
City: Jon Humphrie, Seattle Prep

GIRLS
North: Caroline Towles, Shorecrest
South: Jessie Genger, Kentwood
East: Janelle Chow, Mercer Island
City: Morgan Merriman, Lakeside

Feel free to offer some thoughts in the comments section.

Lars Anderson, 13 innings pitched, 18 K's, 201 pitches.
Cody Conners, 11 innings pitched, 21 K's, 204 pitches.

Here are the lines of two Minnesota preps pitchers in the same game last Saturday. The first thing I thought of was Tom's story last year on overuse injuries from inflated pitch counts.

Of course, Anderson, who also hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the 13th, had a blast. Dad, admittedly, was a little more reserved.

"It was the most fun I've ever had playing baseball," said Anderson, whose team advances to the Minnesota Section 8AA semifinals today against Detroit Lakes. "That home run was just icing on the cake. It was to left field, and as soon as I hit it I knew it was gone."

Lars' dad, Paul, couldn't even celebrate.

"I didn't even pump my fist," Paul said. "I was just relieved. He really showed courage and determination."

Am I the only one that cringes when I see that pitch count? How can that be allowed to happen?

So how did Anderson feel a couple days after the game?

"Alright," Anderson said. "I had some pretty good advice from one of the coaches to ice it for two hours.

Here are the scoring summaries, courtesy of Shorecrest boys soccer coach Drew Thompson.

Boys: South 5, North 1

South goals
Tye Hastings-Jackson
Manix Alvarez-Mountlake Terrace
Ben Todd-Jackson
Devin Mendiola (2)-Jackson

North goal:
Jack Fortune-Monroe

Girls: North 5, South 1

North goals
Annie Sittauer (3)-Everett
Carson McKole-Oak Harbor
Sele Vance-Everett

South goals
Cara Wagner-Jackson

* * *

If you still have prep-sports fever, there are still some opportunities to watch local talent in action. Today at Shoreline Stadium, WesCo girls and boys soccer players from the league's North and South Divisions will face off in all-star games.

There should be some good talent out on the field as the Everett girls won the Class 3A state championship in the fall and the Shorecrest boys won the 3A title last Saturday.

Admission is free.

GIRLS: WesCo North v. WesCo South, 6 p.m.
BOYS: WesCo North v. WesCo South, 8 p.m.

What are some of the other all-star games coming up? Feel free to share in the comments.

Skyline quarterback Jake Heaps will announce where he plans to play in college on Thursday, though the time and place of the announcement has yet to be finalized.

Heaps, one of the country's top quarterback recruits, told several recruiting services in April that he had narrowed his choices to Washington, BYU, LSU, California and Tennessee.

Heaps, a junior, has never lost as a starter at Skyline, winning a pair of state championships the past two years.