A new season always brings with it new coaches, players, leagues and hopes. Locally, the 2022-23 winter sports season will be a memorable one — win, lose or draw .

Be prepared for more league championships and at least one state title. For heightened entertainment, start with Astoria girls’ basketball.

The Lady Fish are favored to finish their season March 11 at the state tournament, holding a trophy at center court — and it won’t be a one-year deal. Astoria has no seniors in their starting lineup, their main competition in the Cowapa League is long gone, and the Astoria roster is deep and talented, enough for the Fishermen to land their first girls basketball state championship in school history.

Since the 2017-18 season, the Astoria girls have lost 10 games to Cowapa League competition — six to Banks and four to Valley Catholic. The Braves and Valiants have left the Cowapa for the 3A level.

The newcomers, St. Helens and Scappoose, don’t pose much of a threat, as the Fishermen beat Scappoose last year (45-28) in a nonleague game. Look for Astoria to win all of its league games by an average of 30 to 40 points this season.

More importantly, the defensive-minded Fishermen have added scoring power. In addition to the return of sophomore scoring leader Shelby Bruney, Astoria went fishing and landed junior Maitlin Young and sophomore guard Kya Lindell .

Young played in Alaska’s state championship game last season, and will look to play in an Oregon state title game this year. In Astoria’s first two games, Bruney, Lindell and Young all scored in double figures in both games.

Just a few years after the Seaside boys played in four straight state championship games, the Astoria girls are on the verge of reaching dynasty status, beginning with the 2022-23 season.

The Lady Fish will rebound after a loss to Corbett, and will see their best competition in some early season tournaments. Coaches around the state voted Baker as the 4A pre-season favorite with eight first-place votes, while Astoria was ranked sixth with no first-place votes. Here’s one first-place vote for Astoria and a state championship prediction for the Lady Fish.

Elsewhere, the Seaside girls’ team is on a positive rebuilding road, and could be Astoria’s best competition in league play. Marla Olstedt’s rebuilding job includes a good mix of returning experience, with several freshmen in the starting rotation.

The Warrenton girls’ team is under new management, as Cole Jannusch takes over for Jake Mullins. Knappa also has a young lineup, with just one senior starter, four freshmen and two sophomores in the regular rotation.

On the boys’ side, Seaside will also look to run the table for another Cowapa League title, the Gulls’ sixth in seventh seasons. Seaside has shared the league title five times, three with Banks. Since the 2018-19 season, the Braves were the only Cowapa team to defeat Seaside (eight times), while Seaside’s only loss in their 2016-17 championship season was to Valley Catholic.

Fans will miss the annual league battles with the Braves, but it won’t hurt Seaside in the Cowapa standings. The Gulls were the only team from the Cowapa League to pick up votes in the recent pre-season coaches poll.

They’ve still got Ruger Thompson , Jordan Westerholm , and 6-foot-6 sophomore Austin Palmer in the starting lineup.

After losing in last year’s semifinals, the Gulls are back and ready for a run at a fifth championship game appearance under Bill Westerholm. Astoria is now under the direction of new coach Alex Eterno, a well-respected assistant coach in several sports at Astoria, making his varsity coaching debut.

With freshmen in the program who have already won state championships at the middle school level, the next four years could bring lots of wins to the Brick House.

The Fishermen lost leading scorer Colton McMaster, but returners include Owen Williams, Niko Boudreau and Merrick Benesch, with a freshman class led by Quinn Gohr.

Warrenton also has a new coach, as Nikita Smith takes over for Nate McBride.

After a couple tough losses, the Warriors gave Smith his first win Dec. 6 over Gervais, as the Warriors prepare to put up another tough battle in the Coastal Range League.

Defending league champion Willamina is gone, but former 4A power Banks is the league’s newest addition.

The Warriors have “have some kids who haven’t played in previous years,” Smith said. “We have a big sophomore class, so a lot of young talent. We’re very small as far as the seniors. I have Dawson (Little) and T.J. Hicks coming back, and Cam’Ron Daniels played some varsity minutes last year.”

Smith is also somewhat familiar with the Coastal Range League. “Being at Seaside, I know Banks pretty well,” he said. “They have (Ben) Mayo and (Wyatt) Selleck coming back. They graduated a lot of kids, but they had a really good JV team.

“Our first three games are Clatskanie, Knappa and Ilwaco. It’s a good pre-season start that will let us know where we’re at, and how we’ll measure up against the competition.”

At the 2A level, the Knappa boys lost a big senior class last season, but the expectations are always high for the Loggers, who should collect yet another Northwest League title this year. Knappa was 16-0 in league last season and won every game by an average of 32.7 points per game. The gap may be closer, but not enough for any team to challenge the Loggers.

Knappa’s first two games included wins over 3A Warrenton, and Naselle, a Washington 1B power. Returners including Jude Miller, Tucker Kinder, Nick Rusinovich, Raymond Ramirez and Treven Moreland should have the Loggers right back in Pendleton for the fifth straight season.