Former Southridge ballplayer for LA Angels in Tri-Cities snapped up by another team

Mason Martin has already had an interesting baseball season.

The Southridge High graduate asked for and received his release from the Pittsburgh Pirates last November.

Martin had spent seven seasons in the Pirates organization, and had made it as high as Triple-A. But he could never get into a regular-season game with the big-league club.

A new start was what the 25-year-old first baseman and designated hitter wanted.

But an offseason contract offer never came.

He missed spring training, and in April he signed with the Lancaster Stormers, an unaffiliated team in the independent Atlantic League.

He spent a few days there in Pennsylvania getting ready for the season to start when his agent called him: the Los Angeles Angels wanted to sign him.

That happened on April 23. On April 24, he was assigned to the High-A Tri-City Dust Devils.

It was a great situation. He could live at his parents’ home, and have family and friends come to Gesa Stadium nightly during homestands.

But he was never able to get things clicking. Martin had 112 plate appearances and hit .191. He had 5 home runs and 14 RBIs.

Over the last few weeks of his stay, Martin started sparingly.

On June 20, the Angels released him.

But the beauty of baseball is there’s a good chance another at-bat is coming.

On June 29, the Stormers welcomed Martin back with open arms, and he’s been playing there ever since.

That’s where he’ll stay, unless another major-league team comes calling.

Signings

David Kuku, who will be a senior this fall for Kamiakin, has already determined where he’ll be playing college football in 2025.

The standout cornerback — who was named the Class 4A Defensive Player of the Year last season by the Washington State High School Football Coaches Association — announced his verbal commitment to Washington State University on July 4.

Kuku is considered a 3-star prospect by many scouts.

Last season for the Braves, he had 5 interceptions, returning one for a touchdowns. On offense, he caught 20 passes for 336 yards (16.8 yards per catch) and 3 touchdowns.

▪ Chiawana senior-to-be Kaia Foster has verbally committed to play for the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team.

Foster is a 6-foot-3 standout for the Riverhawks who averaged 13.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 4.2 assists last season as a junior.

She is also an outstanding shooter, sinking 35 treys last season.

▪ Richland High senior Jazmyn Soldat has committed to running women’s track and field next year for Whitworth University. Soldat is a sprinter.

Golf

Pasco’s Jillian Breedlove placed sixth out of 39 golfers at the Washington Women’s Amateur, which was held June 18-20 at Whidbey Golf Club.

Breedlove, who recently finished her freshman season at Austin Peay University in Tennessee, fired a three-round total of 227.

Seattle’s Lauryn Nguyen, with a 215, won the tournament.

Softball

Scorebook Live Washington recently announced its all-state fastpitch softball team, with Richland High junior outfielder Sophia Sams and Hanford senior pitcher Carah Sweet named to the first team.

Richland junior outfielder Payton Chacon and Othello senior pitcher Amalie Guzman were honorable mention selections.

Royal sophomore Jill Allred was named the 1A Player of the Year, while DeSales senior Kate Dunham was named 1B Player of the Year.

▪ Othello senior Amalie Guzman was named the 2A Central Washington Athletic Conference Fastpitch Softball MVP recently by conference coaches.

Guzman was also selected to the first team, and was a joined by three Huskies teammates: junior Lovie Franco, senior PK Garza, and junior Emi Pruneda.

Grandview senior Gabriella Ledesma also was named to the first team. East Valley-Yakima’s Jeff Place was named Coach of the Year.

Soccer

Kevin Mendoza scored a team-best 4 goals this spring season for the 3-Cities Football Club in the Washington Division of the United Premier Soccer League.

3-Cities finished the spring season with a 5-4-1 record, but lost in the Washington playoffs, falling 2-0 to the Snohomish Sky in the semifinals on the road on June 23.

Bellevue Athletic won the Washington playoffs and will compete in the national tournament.

The fall season for 3-Cities begins in August.

Honors

Josh Woodard, recently graduated from Richland High, earned one more athletic honor recently when he was named the Washington 4A/3A Senior Boy Athlete of the Year by Scorebook Live Washington.

And why not? Woodard was named the Mid-Columbia Conference Offensive Player of the Year as a quarterback in football for the Bombers.

In boys basketball, Woodard was named MCC Player of the Year while helping lead Richland to a second-place finish at state.

And it was his clutch relief pitching appearance that clinched Richland’s 4A state baseball championship, helping the Bombers complete a 27-0 season.

Woodard is headed on a two-year mission to Brazil for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints late this summer.