12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 15, 2015
Polk County Sports
CLASS 5A PREP BASEBALL
Hatley, Dragons ready for stretch run
Dallas to face Mid-Willamette Conference’s top teams in consectutive weeks
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
Rough Road
DALLAS — After a three-
game sweep of Woodburn,
Dallas’ baseball team ap-
pears ready to face a critical
stretch of its season.
The Dragons opened the
series with a 19-0 win on
April 7 be-
fore win-
ning 9-4
and 7-0 on
Thursday.
Pitcher
Tucker
Weaver
gave up
two hits
Weaver
while re-
cording 13 strikeouts in the
first game.
“Tucker ( Weaver) was
dominating,” Dallas coach
Scot McDonald said. “As a
team we hit the ball well and
controlled the game from
the get go.”
Hatley struck out 12 bat-
ters in the first game of the
doubleheader on Thursday.
Freshman pitcher Jaret
Stewart earned the victory in
the final game of the series.
Hatley, one of the Drag-
ons’ top starters, had nine
straight strikeouts to open
• Dallas entered the
week in third place in the
Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence.
• The Dragons’ 5-1
league record trailed
Central and Corvallis,
both of which entered
the week unbeaten in
MWC play.
• Dallas faces the first-,
second-, fourth- and fifth-
place teams in the confer-
ence over the next four
weeks.
his start against the Bulldogs
before giving up two walks
in the fourth inning.
“I wasn’t upset that I
walked the first batter, I was
upset that I let him steal on
the very next pitch,” Hatley
said.
But, much like he has all
season, Hatley took a mo-
ment to gather himself be-
fore returning to close out
the inning.
“I just needed to step off
the mound, listen to what
coach (McDonald) had to
stay,” Hatley said. “I just
needed to take a step back
and get back to what I was
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas pitcher Logan Hatley strikes out 12 batters against Woodburn on Thursday.
doing.”
The Dragons’ pitching
staff will likely need to be at
its best going forward.
Dallas entered the week at
5-1 in Mid-Willamette Con-
ference play, one game be-
hind Central and Corvallis
and two games ahead of
Crescent Valley and Silver-
ton.
The Dragons opened a
three-game series against
the Raiders Tuesday after
press time.
Dallas will also face the
Silver Foxes, Spartans and
Panthers in a stretch that
will go a long way in decid-
ing the league’s champion
between the MWC’s top five
squads.
“Our coaches went to a
game between Crescent Val-
ley and Corvallis. We asked
about what they saw but
they wanted to leave it until
after the series,” Hatley said.
“We never talk about things
like who are we facing after
this team or anything like
that.”
They may not be looking
ahead, but the Dragons
know the next four series are
critical and that they are
ready to try and clinch a reg-
ular season conference
championship.
“I know they all are going
to be good teams,” Hatley
said. “We will see better
pitching than we’ve seen for
a while. We just need to go
out there, throw strikes and
do what we can to get the
win.”
Pair: Dallas duo still refining Course: Senior
Continued from Page 10A
“Coach (Gillette) told us
to be more aggressive, and I
thought we played more ag-
gressive today,” Gumpinger
said. “I think we did OK.”
Gumpinger has played
doubles in each of his three
seasons, but is on his third
partner. Gillette has played
both singles and doubles
during his high school ca-
reer.
“At the start of the season,
we tried different pairs,”
Gumpinger said. “We just
didn’t complement each
other and didn’t communi-
cate as well.”
That all changed once
Gillette was paired with
Gu m p i n g e r. T h e p a i r’s
chemistry was apparent al-
most immediately.
“If I’m playing singles and
I get into a funk, it’s hard for
me to pick myself up,”
Gumpinger said. “I don’t
have that mental strength.
Having (Gillette) out there
keeping my spirits up and
telling me what I’m doing
wrong really helps me.”
For Gillette, playing with
Gumpinger has introduced
him to a whole new style of
tennis, one that is bringing
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas’ Cameron Gumpinger (left) prepares for the start
of a game on Thursday afternoon.
out the best in him.
“It’s faster paced and I
think it’s more fun,” Gillette
said. “I think there’s more
consistency. I like the pace
better because I’m not con-
sistent enough to play high
singles.”
Gumpinger and Gillette
have the most important
keys to being a successful
doubles pair down. Now,
they are looking to refine
their game.
“We had a few errors
( a g a i n s t Co r v a l l i s ) ,”
Gumpinger said. “We had
some issues with our foot-
work where they hit some
hard shots that we could
have gotten to.”
Gumpinger and Gillette
PREP SOFTBALL ROUNDUP
are helping to lead a young
Dallas squad that is looking
to improve rapidly.
The Dragons, which lost
to Corvallis 7-1, have been
affected by inexperience,
but are showing signs of
their potential.
“We're progressing at a
steady pace, and I thing
that's what you hope for
when you have a young
team that hasn’t played the
sport long,” Caleb Gillette
said. “… These guys are ex-
tremely hard workers, very
coachable with great atti-
tudes. At the end of the day,
that will lead to improve-
ment when you possess
those fundamentals. It just
takes time. ”
Dallas, which played at
Crescent Valley Tuesday
after press time, hosts
Lebanon Thursday at 4 p.m.
The Dragons hope to see
improvement throughout its
lineup, while Gumpinger
and Gillette are hoping to re-
fine their games to make a
deep run at the district
championships.
“We want to take as many
games as possible and start
to make other teams worry
about us,” Gumpinger said.
having a blast
Continued from Page 10A
“We definitely started off
pretty unskilled,” Brinton
said. “We’ve worked hard
and have gotten a lot better
as time goes on.”
The Panthers finished
last in their first two tour-
naments, but took sixth on
Monday.
Central has seen its total
team score lower in each
tournament so far this sea-
son.
Brinton, who shot a
team-low 95 on Monday,
knows this is a long process
for everyone involved.
They believe better days
are rapidly approaching.
Brinton is one of the team’s
leaders, offering a hand to
the squad’s less experi-
enced players.
“When you start out,
you’re going to be frustrat-
ed,” Brinton said. “Possi-
bly, you won’t want to play
it anymore. But you’re not
going to be the best when
you start. Everybody on
our team is getting better.
And we play on some nice
courses for free, which is a
good thing. I think every-
one on this team loves the
game of golf.”
While the Panthers hope
the experience they gain on
the course leads to better
play, Brinton isn’t shy about
setting high goals for his
teammates.
“I think one of our goals
is to finish in the top three
as a team in at least a cou-
ple of tournaments,” Brin-
ton said. “We want to fin-
ish higher than we have
been.”
For Brinton, this season
is a possible stepping stone
to playing golf beyond high
school, with plans to play in
tournaments once he grad-
uates.
Even if those plans don’t
work out, getting the
chance to spend time play-
ing golf with his friends
makes this season more
than worthwhile.
“Being able to go out
with your buddies and play
golf for free, you don’t have
to worry about much,”
Brinton said. “It’s a good ex-
perience.”
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Panthers remain Freshman wins two events
unbeaten all year Cody Warner sweeps the 100- and 200-meter runs Friday
Itemizer-Observer staff report
INDEPENDENCE — The
Central softball continued
its perfect start, improving
to 9-0 overall. The Panthers
defeated Lebanon 5-1 on
April 7 before blanking Cor-
vallis 10-0 on Friday. Cen-
tral, which held the Spar-
tans to two hits on Friday,
scored five unearned runs
in the fifth inning to build
its lead to 10. The Panthers’
game against Crescent Val-
ley on Monday has been
rescheduled for Saturday at
noon. The Panthers faced
Woodburn Tuesday after
press time. Central hosts
South Albany Wednesday
(today) at 4:30 p.m. before
playing at Dallas on Friday.
DALLAS SPLITS: The Dal-
las Dragons split a pair of Mid-
Willamette Conference games
as Dallas fights for position in
the league standings. The
Dragons opened by defeating
Corvallis 10-0 in five innings
on April 7.Yasmine El-Hato hit
a home run and a double and
pitcher Erin Taylor held the
Spartans to two hits. Dallas (3-
5 overall, 2-2 MWC) could not
retain momentum, however,
losing to
Lebanon 6-
5 in 10 in-
nings on
Friday. Dal-
las hosted
Silverton
Tuesday
after press
time. The
El-Hato
Dragons
play at Woodburn Wednesday
(today) before hosting Central
Friday at 4:30 p.m. and South
Albany on Tuesday.
PIRATES OPEN LEAGUE
PLAY: Perr ydale’s softball
team earned a split of its first
two Tri-River Conference
games of
the season.
The Pirates
lost to
Kennedy
12-2 on
April 7 be-
fore de-
feating
Western
Mennonite
Nelson
7-3 on
Thursday. Emily Nelson and
Kieley Griffin hit doubles for
Perrydale. The Pirates play at
Western Mennonite Wednes-
day (today) before playing at
Regis on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MONMOUTH — Fresh-
man Cody Warner swept the
men’s 100- and 200-meter
runs for the fourth time this
season to lead the Wolves’
track and field team.
Wa r n e r
won the
100
in
11.00 sec-
onds at the
J o h n
Knight Twi-
light meet
on Friday
and fin-
Sultessa
ished the
200 in 22.09. Warner was
also part of the 4 x 100 relay
team, which placed third.
Junior Badane Sultessa
placed first in the 800 in
1:51.88, while freshman
Kaleb Dobson won the 110
hurdles in 14.95.
“This was a fun meet all
around for our team,” WOU
coach Mike Johnson said.
“There are a lot of positive
things that we can take from
today and build toward the
Great Northwest Athletic
Conference championships
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon freshman Cody Warner (right) races to-
ward the finish of the 4 x 100-meter relay on Friday.
in a few weeks.”
Senior Rebecca Laible and
junior Emmi Collier led the
women’s squad. Laible
placed second in the triple
jump with a mark of 36 feet,
11¾ inches. Collier finished
second in the shot put with
a throw of 44-6¼.
Western Oregon will send
athletes to the Oregon relays
in Eugene Thursday through
Saturday, the Mount Sac re-
lays in Walnut, Calif., on
Thursday and Friday, and
the Lewis & Clark open in
Portland on Saturday.
SOFTBALL EARNS KEY
SPLIT: Western Oregon’s soft-
ball team picked up a trio of
key Great Northwest Athletic
Conference
victories to
remain in
the confer-
ence tour-
nament pic-
ture. The
Wolves split
a double-
h e a d e r
Gardner
against
Western Washington on Satur-
day, falling 9-5 before winning
8-5. Sophomore Destiny Kuehl
went five-for-five at the plate,
including a home run. WOU
(18-23 overall, 10-6 GNAC)
swept Simon Fraser on Satur-
day 21-4 and 6-5. Sophomore
Kelsie Gardner went seven for
nine with five RBIs. WOU enters
the week in fourth place in the
conference standings. Central
Washington (9-7 GNAC) is in
fifth. The top four seeds ad-
vance to the softball champi-
onship. The Wolves host Saint
Martin’s and Central Washing-
ton for a pair of doubleheaders.
First pitch is scheduled for 2
p.m. Thursday and noon Satur-
day.