Reign Scoreless Streak Hits Five, Seattle Falls to Gotham at Home
SEATTLE, Wash. — After the Seattle Reign failed to score in their fourth straight game in a 1-0 loss to Washington last Sunday, defender Madison Curry said goals would pour in if they could make it rain once.
Five days later, Seattle didn't even manage a drizzle, losing 2-0 to defending champion Gotham FC to drop to 3-4-2. Gotham (5-2-3) notched its fifth straight result as Jaedyn Shaw scored in the 24th, while Tierna Davidson scored in the 57th on Friday night.
Unlike in its last few showings, Seattle didn't create many real chances until late in the game, when veteran substitute Brittany Ratcliffe had a 1-on-1 chance that was kick-saved by Ann-Katrin Berger, and Maddie Dahlien was tripped up in the box with no penalty call.
Outside of those chances in the 85th and stoppage time, the Reign didn't threaten the defending champs on a 0.8 expected-goal night.
Well-Traveled Spanish Forward Izan Almansa Commits to Gonzaga
Continuing to sink its teeth into the international player pool, the Gonzaga Bulldogs reportedly received a commitment from 6-10 forward Izan Almansa, who, at just 20 years old, has already played at several competitive levels in his basketball career.
The Spaniard’s stops range from Overtime Elite to the Australian league to sitting in the NBA Draft green room last summer. Because of this, Almansa’s eligibility is still a question mark heading into the fall, and there’s a chance his commitment to the Zags is all for naught if the NCAA doesn’t distribute him a waiver. GU had a messy eligibility situation as recently as last year when Tyon Grant-Foster needed an injuction hearing to finally get on the court. But for the time being, Almansa is GU’s third new addition this offseason, joining Massamba Diop and Houston transfer Isiah Harwell. If he is cleared to suit up for the Bulldogs, Almansa becomes a considerable addition to the roster, bringing valuable depth behind Diop and Braden Huff in the frontcourt, which was something the team did not have last season.
Sounders Down Western Conference Front-Runner San Jose in Heritage Cup Classic
Emerald City Spectrum reporter Qasim Ali breaks down a 3-2 barn-burner between the Seattle Sounders (7-1-3, 3rd in Western Conference) and San Jose Earthquakes (9-2-2, 2nd in Western Conference).
Osaze De Rosario netted an 89th-minute game-winner as the game swung back and forth after an early Sounders mistake led to a second-minute San Jose goal. Albert Rusnák scored off a penalty kick late in the first half to equalize before Jesús Ferreira went coast-to-coast in a spectacular individual effort to give Seattle the lead.
The goals come at good times for Ferreira and De Rosario, who have both been lacking on the scoring edge as Seattle finally met its expected-goal mark after two frustrating draws against Kansas City and San Diego.
The win also meant history for the Sounders, who swept San Diego in the regular season for the first time.
Arozarena, Canzone Crush Stros Pitching, Raleigh Breaks Slump in 10-2 Mariner Win
Monday night and Tuesday night represented two very different kinds of Mariners victories. In the bottom of the ninth on the first night, the M’s got a win by the skin of their teeth, with Andrés Muñoz getting the better of Yordan Alvarez to finish out a badly-needed win for the M’s.
When Domingo González wrapped up the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday, things were far less tense. Although the Astros had runners on first and third, the M’s were already up 10-2, and with the final out, that was the final score. It was sublimely special for González, who had just completed his very first inning, but the Mariners’ offensive explosion had long since shattered all but the slightest chance of even the mighty Astros offense clawing back into the match.
Against the whole gamut of Houston hurlers they faced on Tuesday, the Mariners put up numbers. They scored 10 runs on 11 hits, six walks, and two batters hit by a pitch; they got hard hits on 57.6% of their batted balls. With runners in scoring position, the M’s went 2-for-8, but one of those hits was Dominic Canzone’s first career grand slam, which he slammed on the first pitch Astros starter Tatsuya Imai sent his way in the fourth inning.
Seattle took Tatsuya Imai to Randyland and the Can-zone.
The Astros’ big pitching signing of the offseason, Tatsuya Imai, hasn’t turned out how Houston had hoped in the first month and a half of the season. The last time he faced Seattle, he had to be pulled with one out in the first inning due to four walks and one hit batsman, then he wound up on the IL with right arm fatigue. He did better on his return start on Tuesday on account of the fact he went four innings. That’s about the only positive Joe Espada’s club got out of the outing.
Former Gonzaga Bulldogs Forward Brandon Clarke Passes Away at 29
Former Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Brandon Clarke passed away, his current team, the Memphis Grizzlies, announced on Tuesday. No cause of death has been announced at this time. He was 29 years old.
“Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten,” the team wrote in a statement.
His agency, Priority Sports, also released a statement: “Everyone loved BC because he was always there as the most supportive friend you could ever imagine. He was so unique in the joy he brought to all of those in his life. It’s just impossible to put into words how much he’ll be missed.”
Gonzaga has not released a statement on the news at this time.
Bullpen Locks Down Four Frames, Mariners Eke Out 3-1 Win in Houston
It was power on power in the bottom of the ninth. Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz, who had reached 101.3 miles an hour two pitches earlier, had a 2-2 count against Yordan Alvarez himself. Alvarez represented the tying run, and with 13 home runs already this season, he was a real threat to knot the game.
Muñoz tossed his rarest pitch, a 93.2 mile an hour changeup that tailed away from Alvarez. Expecting either a roaring fastball up or a slider along the lower edges, he was completely flummoxed; the Mariners won 3-1 as Alvarez struck out.
For a team desperately in need of a hot streak, getting any win on the board against Houston was a plus. George Kirby didn’t go as deep into the game as the M’s would have hoped and the bats fell silent for nearly the entire game, but they got just enough production while Kirby and every other arm stepped up enough run-prevention wise to notch Seattle’s 20th victory.
Mariners hitters put three early runs on the board but fell familiarly silent as the game wore on.
The second inning was fruitful for Seattle. Randy Arozarena knocked a one-out single into right and Luke Raley walked to set a two-runner table, and with two outs, both Dominic Canzone and Cole Young found the outfield for an RBI each. Julio Rodríguez rocked a towering homer to begin the third.
And then 20 of the next 23 batters made outs.
Seawolves Take Down Old Glory in Second Half, Move Up Table with Second Straight Road Win
The magnitude of the Seawolves’ 30-25 win on Mother’s Day afternoon might not have been immediately obvious. A three-game rut against Anthem, the Legion, and the Hounds early in the 10-game season meant that the team, just as in 2025, needed to put together a massive run to get back in the hunt.
Now, the situations weren’t identical. While Seattle needed to go on a big run just to make it back into a playoff spot by the end of the season in last year’s powerhouse Western Conference, the league’s contractions have resulted in a six-team MLR with four teams bound for the playoffs.’
The big prize, then - though a playoff spot can never be taken for granted - is the guarantee of a home playoff game. The Chicago Hounds, who won their sixth game of six on Sunday, are virtually guaranteed to be the top seed in the MLR, with 30 points in the table.
California is in second with 18 points. And after the Seawolves’ windy, rainy win against Old Glory DC on Sunday afternoon, they have 16. A home semifinal is well within reach.
Reign Devastated By Late Washington Goal in Loss, Continue Scoreless Streak
Seattle Reign coach Laura Harvey was dejected in her postgame presser.
Sunday saw her team try to break a three-game scoreless streak against a hot Washington Spirit team led by USWNT star Trinity Rodman. Though the Reign hit the crossbar in the early going, their issues with quality in the final third continued to frustrate the team as the game wore on.
With six minutes of regular time to play, the Spirit, which hadn't generated many of their typical chances all night, drove a dagger into the Reign as substitute Claudia Martinez scored off a Seattle turnover.
Seattle dropped to 3-3-2, now winless in their last four with zero goals to show in each.
Former Gonzaga WBB Forward Yvonne Ejim Searches for WNBA Opportunity
With the WNBA’s 30th season now officially underway, Gonzaga women’s basketball is still searching for more representation at the highest level. To this point, only two former Zags have logged minutes: future Hall of Famer Courtney Vandersloot and point guard Katelan Redmond, who played 42 total minutes over seven games with the New York Liberty in 2012.
Yet, the Bulldogs have had nine players drafted to the W throughout their history, including three across the last three years. In 2024, GU had a couple of second-round selections, Brynna Maxwell and Kaylynne Truong, who were taken 13th and 21st overall, respectively. But Maxwell suffered an injury in training camp and was cut by the Chicago Sky, opting to play professionally in Spain for a year before becoming an assistant coach at Eastern Washington. Meanwhile, Truong was waived by the Washington Mystics shortly before regular-season games commenced and has played the last two years competing overseas in Greece and Poland.
Their teammate of six seasons combined in Spokane, 6-1 forward Yvonne Ejim, heard her name called in New York a year later. The Indiana Fever selected Ejim 33rd overall and waived her less than a month after drafting her as well. But unlike some of her alma mater peers, Ejim recently signed a training camp contract with the Toronto Tempo, remaining in the mix as one of those on the cusp of making her WNBA debut.
Washington State Signs Roman Stathis, Dips Into Australian Pipeline Again
The Washington State Cougars continued their aggressive offseason rebuild with another international addition, landing 6-7 wing Roman Stathis from Sydney, Australia.
Stathis spent his lone prep season at Golden State Prep in Napa, California, and becomes one of several newcomers added to a dramatically reshaped Cougar roster heading into the 2026–27 season.
There is limited publicly available information on Stathis, but early film suggests he possesses intriguing upside. In the clips currently available, the Australian wing shows a smooth perimeter shooting stroke and appears comfortable operating as a catch-and-shoot threat from beyond the arc. At 6-7, his size and shooting ability give Washington State another developmental piece to mold, as he’s the second Australian addition of the offseason along with Fraser Roxburgh.
Sounders Equalize Late, Survive San Diego with Draw Despite Missed Chances
It's becoming a theme, and the Sounders don't seem thrilled with it.
For the second straight game, the Seattle Sounders have taken a 1-1 draw in a game where they generated far more than one goal's worth of opportunities. Last time came at a struggling Sporting Kansas City squad, and this time was against a floundering San Diego FC squad (3-5-4, 11th in Western Conference), trying to pick up the pieces after a slow start.
In all, Seattle (6-1-3, fourth in Western Conference) took 25 shots, just four on frame, and generated 3.6 expected goals.
To create all of that, the Sounders forced eight corner kicks, crossed the ball into scoring chances 11 times, had seven of their shots blocked, and touched the ball 52 times in San Diego's box after doing the same over 40 times against KC.
But after all those chances that ended in poor decisions or a lack of quality in bringing them to fruition, the Sounders finally broke through in the 80th. They had trailed nearly all night thanks to an 18th-minute goal from San Diego's Marcus Ingvartsen as Nouhou failed to mark the Danish national in a run-of-play goal.
After multiple chances ended in a Seattle corner, though, Albert Rusnak found Cristian Roldan at the near post, who flicked the ball back to Danny Musovski through a sea of bodies in the box. Musovski did what he does best, tapping it in with precision just moments after hitting the crossbar on one of many frustrating opportunities on the night.
Jacks Full of Threes: Raley Clubs Seven RBIs, M’s Bash White Sox 12-8
Things go a lot more easily for a baseball team when they hit three home runs to score three or more men each. Good offense over nine innings can more than smooth out a bad inning on the other side, though the Mariners’ 12-8 win on Friday night against the White Sox took a while to get to the coasting stage.
In a sense, it wasn’t nearly as close as the score said; most of the high-end relievers were able to rest as Chicago scored three runs in the final two innings to turn a giant lead into a respectable one.
But in another sense (it was a one-run game until the seventh), the game was closer than its final score. M’s starter Emerson Hancock slipped quite a bit in the third inning and gave up five runs on the night, but recovered enough to go six innings and preserve the bullpen. Seattle’s first chance with the bases loaded didn’t produce anything else, but they broke the gates later on.
The big hero of the night was the still-mashing Luke Raley, who upped his season line to .258/.314/.567 with eight homers and 23 RBIs.
Luke Raley began the barrage with the first grand slam of his career.
The Mariners gave White Sox starter Sean Burke a couple of easy innings on Friday, falling in seven pitches in the first and 11 in the fourth. But crucially, they also put tons of traffic on the bags in the second and third, and though the second was underwhelming, things came together in the following frame.
Instant Takeaways: Inexperienced Storm Lose Early Mojo in Season-Opening Loss to Valkyries
A hot start for the new-look Seattle Storm and first-time head coach Sonia Raman rapidly fell back to Earth in a 91-80 loss against the Golden State Valkyries in the 2026 regular season opener on Friday, May 8, at Climate Pledge Arena.
Dominique Malonga unsurprisingly led the way for the Storm to begin her second season, totaling 21 points (8-of-15 FG), eight rebounds and two blocks in 29 minutes. The Valkyries were led by an impressive 20 points from forward Janelle Salaun.
Seattle stormed out of the gates early with efficient shooting, but that quickly fell off, the turnovers piled up and its lead evaporated. The potential was apparent in the new lineup, which included six players who didn’t play for the team last season, but it also proved they have a long way to go.
Sounders, Reign Look to Make Statements Ahead of World Cup Break
The Seattle Sounders (6-1-2, 4th in MLS Western Conference) and Seattle Reign (3-2-2, 7th in NWSL) have gotten off to strong starts, but are both coming off draws in which they could have come away with more on the offensive end.
The Reign’s Mia Fishel also spoke with The Spectrum on Wednesday about reigniting the team’s offense, which is coming off three straight scoreless showings as the striker recovers from an injury-riddled stretch.
Big-Time Bryan Woo Bounce-Back Outing Gives Mariners Series Win vs. Atlanta
It might have seemed that the Atlanta Braves were the worst possible team for a struggling Bryan Woo to face. Woo, whose arsenal depends almost entirely on two zippy fastballs thrown over the plate, was set to face an aggressive squad that feasted on fastballs. That ability to jump on the heater has been the lynchpin of Atlanta’s stellar opening salvo of the 2026 campaign, and Woo had to stare them down as the M’s tried to be the very first team to hand the Braves a series defeat.
On the other side of the ball, the Mariners needed to produce more with the stick, having logged quite a few uncompetitive innings on offense in both previous games in the series, with a pair of well-timed homers providing just enough runs on Monday but not on Tuesday. The hitting took a bit of an improvement overall on Wednesday, and though the sequencing didn’t do them many favors, the runs they scraped across were enough for a 3-1 victory.
There were banner days for several involved. For Julio Rodríguez, who came about 20 feet from denting the newly-unveiled Randy Johnson plaque with a mammoth homer; for Cole Young, who put together a three-hit outing; and for Josh Naylor, who showed up with the glove, the bat, and the well-renowned mind to find stolen bases.
But it all started with the guy on the mound, who gave his team an excellent chance to win the game.
Storm Nearing Final Roster After Waiving 2 Players
One day after re-signing rookie No. 14 overall pick Taina Mair to a developmental contract, the Seattle Storm waived guards Jaelyn Brown and Rennia Davis, the team announced. They are now one player away from finalizing their 12-player roster.
Davis and Brown were battling tough odds to try to make the Storm’s roster, but Davis looked like she might have a legitimate chance to be a surprise retention after a pair of strong preseason performances. Instead, it’s down to Mackenzie Holmes and rookie No. 39 pick Grace VanSlooten for the final spot.
Kraken Receive No. 7 Pick in 2026 NHL Draft Lottery: What Now?
The NHL lottery for draft picks 1 through 16 took place on Tuesday night, ahead of the draft on June 26 and 27. The Seattle Kraken entered the lottery sixth in line, with a 7.5% chance at getting the No. 1 overall pick with an average projected draft position of 5.9.
For yet another season, Seattle got the short end of the lottery. The Toronto Maple Leafs nabbed the top pick, followed by the Sharks getting second overall. Seattle did not hear their name called until No. 7. They will pick seventh, which is one spot higher than their slot last year when they selected Jake O'Brien.
Picking seventh means for another season, they are picking lower than their initial position in the final standings. However, this will actually be Seattle’s highest draft pick since taking Shane Wright fourth overall in 2022.
Mariners Bats Give Kirby Vintage King Félix Treatment, M’s Drop Winnable Contest to Braves
The names and faces change but the general concept remains the same. Gone are the days when a pitcher like Steve Carlton could win 27 games for a team that only won 59 games total; in modern baseball, such pitchers get saddled with no-decisions, a concept pioneered by a 13-12 Félix Hernández in 2010 who won the Cy Young Award on the back of his league-leading 2.27 ERA.
That was still 21.3% of that awful Mariners team’s wins. They weren’t quite as bad as Carlton’s old side. They may have given 702 plate appearances to Chone Figgins and 278 more to Milton Bradley, but there are few teams who were ever as bad as the ‘72 Not-Really-Phightin’ Phils.
Arisen during the career of that selfsame Hernández was the term “Félix Quality Start”, based on the definition of quality start (six innings or more, three earned runs or less) but narrowed in scope to seven innings or more and two earned runs or less. Hernández got plenty of those in his career.
Another Mariner got such a start on Tuesday night, and like a lot of those “King Félix” outings of old, his team lost 3-2. Whether it is an aberration or a harbinger, it is still too soon to tell. But the hour of judgment is drawing nearer than those in T-Mobile Park might like to admit.
George Kirby put together a “Félix Quality Start” against one of the best teams in baseball.
With a direly stretched bullpen, the Mariners needed their starter to go deep into the game. And with an offense once again struggling to put anything together, he needed to keep the Braves to a low score.
Two Electric Homers Give Mariners Comeback Win against White-Hot Braves
Home runs are thrown, not hit. That is an adage that holds up among the best and most consistent hitters in the game, who take what is given to them and do the most they can with it, whether that means lining one the other way or launching it in the air. When a hitter tries to force a home run on a pitch that won’t allow it, there are a whole lot of outcomes like strikeouts and rolled-over grounders that end up much worse for the hitter.
Paradoxically, this also means that home runs are determined by the hitter. Pitchers who allow fly balls will allow home runs, but it’s up to the hitter to put that swing on it when it comes.
A lot of hitters tried to hit homers on Monday night in Seattle as the Braves took on the Mariners, the visitors white-hot and the home crew struggling. While nobody could get it done with the bases loaded, six hits left the yard: four for Atlanta and two for Seattle, but the M’s got theirs with men on base and won 5-4.
Logan Gilbert got through six innings by the skin of his teeth, with three solo shots coming in the last frame.
Gilbert’s efficiency issues over the past two seasons are well documented. After throwing a combined 3.8 pitches per plate appearance from 2022 through 2024, Gilbert threw 5.2 per plate appearance from May 2025 through the end of 2025. Batters’ adjusted to his style of pitching, laying off the splitter thanks to the predictability of its usage, but they still had issues squaring up the pitches, jacking up his pitch counts thanks to tons of foul balls and good takes.
Huskies Land Commitment From Coveted 2027 Offensive Line Target Reis Russell
The Washington Huskies football team received its first offensive lineman commitment from the Class of 2027 on Monday.
Reis Russell, a three-star interior line prospect from Valor Christian (Littleton, Colo.) chose UW over Georgia, Miami and USC. With recent additions of Russell and Glacier Peak (Snohomish, Wash.) tight end Zach Albright, Washington head coach Jedd Fisch’s 2027 class stands at No. 10 in the 247Sports composite rankings.
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