Renton’s top sports stories of 2025

It was a year full of upsets and heartbreak across Renton athletics this past year. Here are some highlights from professional and high school sports in 2025.

• Suarez delivers Mariners salvation with eighth inning slam: It was a roller coaster ride for the Mariners in 2025 as they came closer than ever to their first World Series in franchise history. In the biggest game of his career, Eugenio Suarez delivered with a grand slam in the eighth inning to send Seattle into chaos and put the Mariners up 3-2 in the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays. It was no doubt the biggest swing of the Mariners’ season and possibly one of the most clutch moments in Seattle sports history. The grand slam led to a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Oct. 17, allowing the Mariners to lead the series 3-2. The Mariners ultimately lost the ALCS in seven games.

• Liberty soccer controls the Tides, advances to state semifinals: Walking off the field after a win on penalties against the No. 1 seed in Gig Harbor, Liberty High School Head Soccer Coach Ryan Johnson joked that he should just get an apartment outside Sparks Stadium. For the second straight soccer season following Hazen’s boys team in the spring, Johnson has led his team to the state semifinal round. Johnson had a thought that Liberty had top four potential, but after the injuries and harsh regular season, he saw an incredible fight from his group.

“I knew we had it in us. We had to just come together. The injuries at the start of the season put us on the back foot. Then we had the tough schedule playing a lot of 4A teams that are still in their tournament. We just knew we had to keep the faith and keep going. I couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” Johnson said.

Liberty’s Spencer Bogh stretches his arms out after scoring a touchdown against Hazen.

• Liberty fastpitch wins state title: Two years ago, Liberty High School’s fastpitch team had a historical collapse in the state tournament — one that haunted the players, coaches and fans for two years. The Patriots were the number three seed in the state tournament and were up 6-1 in the seventh inning in the quarterfinals against Walla Walla. In that fateful seventh inning, the Patriots allowed eight runs to come across, sending the Patriots to the loser’s bracket and dashing their state tournament hopes. That pain made the jubilation two years later worth all the pain as the Liberty Patriots crowned themselves state champions for the first time since 1993 in a 6-4 win over Garfield on May 24 at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey.

• Renton school district and coaches union sign a contract: After over two years of organizing and months of deliberation, the Renton coaches and Renton School District reached an agreement, and the union (American Federation of Teachers) voted unanimously to accept the school district’s offer on Aug. 25. According to Hazen High School coach Buddy Ryan, the leader of the organizing effort, the contract doesn’t have everything the coaches were wanting. But it is a massive step in the right direction, he said. “This was a vast improvement from what we had for decades. Better pay, job descriptions, job protections and much more,” Ryan said in an email to the Renton Reporter.

Liberty’s Peyton Warns and Mylene Augila embrace each other after beating Gig Harbor.

• Renton falls to Rainier Beach and No. 1 National recruit Tyran Stokes: It’s not often that anticipation for a regular season high school basketball game reaches the level of a sellout crowd. But Renton High School’s boys basketball team experienced what few teams have felt before: a date with the number six team in the country in Rainier Beach, and the number one recruit in all the land, in his and the team’s first game of the season. “We have a thing sometimes playing against schools from the Metro League and it’s more about the name on the jersey than who you are playing against,” head coach Rashaad Powell said. “I am just extremely proud to the fact that we came out and played the basketball game and competed.” A Redhawk gymnasium that sold 1,200 presale tickets, and has a capacity of 2,000 that was reached an hour before tip-off, was ready to see Renton take on Tyran Stokes in his first game action since moving up from California.