What’s it like to be wanted by dozens of Division I colleges? You can find out in this Sports Illustrated article.

It’s a compelling read that examines the scholarship offer letters sent to Tate Forcier, a high school quarterback from San Diego. The junior has posted the letters from 21 universities on his Web site. It’s interesting to see the approaches each school and coach take, trying to woo and court Forcier.

Washington and Washington State fans will be interested in the letters sent by Huskies coach Tyrone Willingham and Cougars coach Paul Wulff.

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Here are the most recent rankings from WashingtonBaseballPoll.com.

Puyallup overtook Redmond for No. 1 in Class 4A, while Bishop Blanchet and Ellensburg maintained the top spots in 3A and 2A. Friday Harbor is the new No. 1 in 1A, overtaking Kiona-Benton.

Class 4A

1. Puyallup (15-1)

2. Richland (9-1)

3. Redmond (14-2)

4. Mead (13-1)

5. Snohomish (13-2)

6. University (12-2)

7. Jackson (11-2)

8. Woodinville (11-4)

9. Kentlake (13-2)

10. Olympia (13-2)

Class 3A

1. Bishop Blanchet (13-0)

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A Japanese high school pitcher threw 250 pitches and allowed 66 runs in two innings before the game was called.

No, those figures are not misprints. You can read the story about the Kawamoto Technical High School baseball team here.

The most interesting part of the story is what the unnamed Kawamoto coach said after the game:

“At that pace the pitcher would have thrown around 500 pitches in four innings,” he said. “There was a danger he could get injured.”

But throwing 250 pitches is OK. Gotcha.

I wrote a story for today’s paper on Gig Harbor pitcher Brandon Rohde coming back from Tommy John surgery. Rohde was one of the state’s top pitchers as a sophomore when he suffered the ligament tear in his left elbow. He missed his junior season, but that didn’t stop the University of Washington from offering him a scholarship and Rohde signed a letter of intent in November. He’s been dominant this spring, posting a 3-1 record.

While Rohde has a made a complete recovery like most who undergo ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction — that’s the medical term for

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Puyallup pitcher Adam Cimber almost threw a second no-hitter in as many starts. The junior right-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Graham-Kapowsin on Wednesday before losing his bid. The Vikings still won, beating the Eagles 3-0.

Cimber no-hit Spanaway Lake on Friday and has been nearly untouchable in his last three starts, allowing only three hits. The submarine sidearm pitcher gave up two in a 10-0 win over Rogers on April 8.

Cimber’s no-hitter last week earned him TNT Athlete of the Week honors. You can find

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Chene Cooper, Lakes’ 5-foot-1 senior point guard, signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play at Eastern Washington University.

“The team is cool and the coaches were really cool,” Cooper said. “A lot of coaches don’t think I can play at that level and (head coach Wendy Schuller) gave me a chance and that’s all I wanted and that’s all I needed. Now I’ve got to try to make a home there.”

Cooper, who was an all-state honorable mention selection, helped the Lancers’ place fourth at the Class 3A state tournament in March. In her four years as

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Here are the April 14 rankings from WashingtonBaseballPoll.com. Like last week, we’ve got new teams at the top in Class 4A and 3A. Richland overtook Redmond and Bishop Blanchet unseated Skyline. Ellensburg and Kiona-Benton maintained their No. 1 rankings in 2A and 1A.

Class 4A

1. Richland (8-1)

2. Puyallup (12-1)

3. Redmond (12-1)

4. Snohomish (11-1)

5. Jackson (10-1)

6. Kentlake (11-1)

7. Mead (10-1)

8. Prairie (10-1)

9. Olympia (10-2)

10. University (9-2)

Class 3A

1. Bishop Blanchet (10-0)

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Reporter Mike Vlahovich of the Spokane Spokesman-Review wrote this week that radical changes could be coming to the way the state basketball tournaments are played. To view the story, click here and scroll down to the “Thursday Prep Page stuff” blog entry to bypass the site’s log-in and password restrictions.

One proposal calls for a return to the regional format, which is similar to how baseball is done. Each of the four regions would send one team to the Final Four.

Another, more complex proposal, would combine the 4A-3A, 2A-1A and 2B-1B tournaments at three different sites.

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