SPORTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2020
THE OBSERVER — 7A
Mounties finish off sweep of UBC
Observer staff
LA GRANDE — A huge
sixth-inning rally Saturday lifted
the Eastern Oregon University
softball team to a sweep of Uni-
versity of British Columbia as the
Mountaineers scored six times in
the sixth to come back for a 9-8
win in Cascade Collegiate Confer-
ence play. The final game of the
series, which was scheduled to be
a nonconference tilt, was canceled.
The Thunderbirds seemed
primed to salvage a win in the se-
ries as they scored five runs in the
first, led by as many as six and
were up 8-3 entering the sixth.
But EOU chipped away, loading
the bases with nobody out and
trimming the margin to four on
Photo by Samantha Flett/EOU Athletics
Payton Pocklington’s sacrifice fly.
Eastern Oregon University’s Natalee Hall tossed 3-1/3 shutout innings in Katie Silvestri scored on a bases-
relief to earn the win Saturday against University of British Columbia.
loaded walk to Brittney Bertrand,
and Jordan Henley made it 8-7
with a two-run single.
A pitching change by UBC did
nothing to stop the bleeding, as
Haley Ebner greeted pitcher Da-
mara Begin with a single to drive
in Bertrand and tie the score, and
Amanda Smith followed with a
single to drive in pinch-runner
Tina Furado for the lead.
Natalee Hall closed the door
in the seventh for EOU as she
pitched 3-1/3 innings of shutout
relief for the win as Eastern moved
to 3-0 at Peggy Anderson Field.
UBC dominated early. A sacri-
fice fly by Olivia Malesku, a Nicole
Salas two-run single and run-
scoring singles by Emily Chorpita
and Jordan Britten-Yung gave the
Thunderbirds a five-run first-in-
ning lead, and the margin reached
six in the second when Cassa
Courtney hit a sacrifice fly.
A bases-loaded walk to Mandy
Fetters in the second got EOU
on the board. UBC pushed the
lead back to six twice, but EOU
responded both times. Henley
scored on an error in the third
after Britten-Yung had hit an RBI
single earlier in the frame, and
after Hanna Hansen homered
in the top of the fourth, Alaina
Carson knocked an RBI single in
the bottom half of the inning to
make it 8-3.
Eastern won despite being out-hit
13-7, taking advantage of eight
walks issued by UBC pitchers. Hen-
ley and Ebner both had two hits, and
Henley finished with two RBIs.
Eastern (6-15 overall, 5-4 CCC)
is on the road for the next 10
games, beginning Friday with a
series at Northwest Christian.
Eastern Oregon wrestlers denied hardware at nationals
Observer staff
PARK CITY, Kan. — It was a
tough day Friday for the Eastern
Oregon University men’s wres-
tling team, which saw all six of its
competitors at the NAIA national
tournament leave short of earning
an all-American nod, though two
finished one win shy, losing in the
“blood round.”
Both Noel Orozco (285 pounds)
and Marco Retano (184) reached
the fourth round of the consolation
bracket, and one win from a top-
eight finish and an all-American
bid. There, though, both suffered
heartbreaking losses.
Orozco and Graceland (Iowa) se-
nior Shawn Beeson, the third seed
at 285, were tied 1-1 after seven
minutes of wrestling and forced
to go into overtime. There, Beeson
scored an escape in the second
EASTERN
Continued from Page 6A
in competition and to know
that all the hard work was
paying off. Not to mention
it broke the record that I’ve
had my eye on since the
beginning of this indoor
season.”
Kate Grint of Doane was
the national champion with
a mark of 48-feet-7.
“That was monstrous,”
Welch said of Ledbetter’s
effort. “She had a good mark
going in, and to throw three
foot farther then she has
ever thrown (prior to Satur-
day) is astonishing.”
Eastern’s 4x400 relay
team followed with a
seventh-place finish, with
Elizabeth Herbes, Jasmine
Never, Michelle Herbes and
Bolton finishing in a time of
3:54.28, and Michelle Herbes
clocked in a time of 3:04.54
in the 1,000 to place eighth.
Payton Jolley added a
overtime round to go ahead 2-1,
and in the third scored a four-point
near-fall to earn a 6-1 victory.
The loss brought an end to Oro-
zco’s national run at 2-2. He had
dropped his opening round match
to second-ranked and eventual
runner-up Tanner Farmer of Con-
cordia (Nebraska) by a 6-0 decision,
but then earned two wins in a row
— a win by fall in overtime against
Missouri Valley’s Joshua Isaac and
a 7-4 decision over Gage Johnson of
Oklahoma City, a match in which
he grabbed an early 4-1 lead and
never trailed.
Retano suffered a third-round
loss by fall to Kendrick Jones of
Grand View (Iowa) in his opening
match, then received a double-bye
into a consolation round-match
against Jeremiah Smith of Life
Pacific (California), which he won
mark of 37-feet-0-1/2 to take
15th in the triple jump.
Welch pointed to the team
mentality going to the na-
tional meet as to why it was
able to place in the top 10.
“They didn’t care that they
weren’t ranked in the top 10
or 12. They went in there to
get that done, and they did,”
he said. “Very impressive.
That was the attitude they
went in with.”
The men’s team finished
in 17th, getting all-American
efforts Saturday from Corey
Sledge in the pole vault and
Alex Navarro in the 1,000 as
five of the seven members of
the men’s team came away
with hardware.
Sledge cleared a mark of
16-feet-8-3/4, doing so on
his second attempt, on his
way to the third-place finish,
though he was hoping to
reach a higher mark.
“I know I can do better
and I hold myself to a higher
standard than that,” he said,
in overtime with a takedown for a
6-4 sudden victory.
His all-American hopes, though,
were dashed by Antonio Stewart of
Reinhardt (Georgia) who used first-
round and third-round takedowns
on his way to a 6-0 decision.
Keegan Mulhill (174) and Ryan
Redford (197) were the only two
Mountaineers to win their first
matches. Mulhill, seeded seventh,
scored an early takedown and
near-fall for a 4-0 lead on the way
to a 7-0 decision over Logan Bowen
of Saint Mary (Kansas), then lost
by fall to Mahlic Sallah of Camp-
bellsville (Kentucky). The two were
tied at 3-3 in the final seconds of
the match before Sallah scored a
takedown and registered the pin
with three seconds to go.
In the consolation round, Mulhill
opened with a 6-3 decision over
Blake Castillo of Concordia, scoring
a takedown in the first and third
rounds to push him to the win, but
was knocked out by a 7-4 loss to
Sam Osho of Marian (Indiana).
Redford, meanwhile, notched two
third-round takedowns to secure
a 7-2 decision over Jacob Hender-
son of Reinhardt, but lost by fall
to Ramsey Bloy of Cumberlands
(Kentucky) in a match that saw
Bloy score four takedowns. Redford
recovered to defeat James Caniglia
of Thomas More (Kentucky) by fall
in the third round of a high-scoring
bout. Redford had four takedowns
and two four-point near-falls on his
way to building a 19-9 lead before
finishing with the pin. He was
bounced, though, by Southeastern
(Florida) wrestler Blake Rypel by
fall.
Josh Pine (165) and Blake Mc-
Nall (141) both were eliminated in
two matches. Pine dropped a close
4-0 decision to eventual national
champion Brennan Swafford of
Graceland in his first match, then
nearly staged a miraculous come-
back in his match against Jerrod
Mullins of Rochester (Michigan)
before losing 15-12. Pine was down
12-0 after two rounds, and 14-0
early in the third. But he scored a
reversal to get on the board then
earned two four-point near-falls
and a two-point near-fall to get as
close as 14-12.
McNall opened with a 6-3 loss to
Reinhardt’s Trent Leon then fell to
Jaime Mullins of Dickinson State
(North Dakota) by a 10-4 decision.
McNall led 4-3 after two rounds,
but Mullins scored seven points in
the third to earn the win.
EOU as a team placed 28th.
Photo by Connor Bracken/EOU Athletics
Photo by Connor Bracken/EOU Athletics
Maggie Ledbetter, shown earlier this season in the
weight throw, took third at nationals in the shot put.
Corey Sledge, shown earlier this season, earned third at
nationals in the pole vault.
later adding, “I was very
happy with how I was vault-
ing, but in the end there was
a mistake made that could/
should have been avoided
that cost me the win.”
Navarro turned in a time
of 2:31.18 to take sixth in the
1,000.
Alex Kosel finished 18th
in the triple jump at 45-feet-
8-1/2, and Noah Chaney
Sledge said he should have
moved to a bigger pole later
in the event, but he also gave
credit to John Hunter James
of Columbia International,
who won at 17-feet-0-3/4.
failed to hit a mark in the
pole vault.
Eastern opens the outdoor
season Saturday when it
hosts the EOU Team Chal-
lenge.
UNION
Continued from Page 6A
Photo courtesy of NNU Athletics
Northwest Nazarene senior Avery Albrecht, a former La
Grande standout, was named GNAC play of the year.
ALBRECHT
Continued from Page 6A
sophomore and stepped out
her junior year, started in
31 games. That season, she
averaged 13.9 points, 3.4
rebounds and 1.4 assists
per game whole shooting
49% from the floor, 48%
from 3-point range and 91%
from the free-throw line on
her way to a spot on the all-
GNAC first team.
The Nighthawks earned
their third-consecutive
berth to the NCAA Divi-
sion II tournament Sunday,
and will begin play Friday
against UC San Diego
in a first-round game in
Honolulu.
spanned seven minutes for a
42-22 lead with 1:14 remain-
ing in the quarter.
Union senior Taylar
Daggett sunk two of her four
attempted 3-pointers in the
latter three minutes of the
quarter, but the effort beyond
the arc would not be enough
to recover the game.
Daggett went on to lead
Union with 12 points on the
night. She also shot 4-for-6 at
the line.
“We’ve got girls that can
get hot at every game, and
Taylar is definitely one of
them,” Rickman-Johansen
said. “It was nice to see her
knock down some 3s today. We
have a unified front and we
have girls that have bought
in. They really celebrate when
everyone has a great game.
Everyone has a role.”
Arana scored five points
at the line in the final eight
minutes — a quarter where
foul trouble dug Union’s hole
even deeper.
“Bandon has a lot of all-
around players,” Daggett
Photo by Kathy Aney/EO Media Group
Union’s Kaylee Lantis defends Bandon’s Sterling Williams during Saturday’s OSAA 2A
state basketball girls third-place game at the Pendleton Convention Center.
said. “(Arana) is really quick.
Keeping up with her and
staying out of foul trouble
was really hard. That was
a big one for us. You have to
be quick on your feet. If they
set a screen, you have to talk
with your teammates, or
else you’re just going to get
caught in it.”
With a fifth place trophy
in tow, the Bobcats finished
their season at 25-5 over-
all. Junior Kylie Marriott
followed Daggett in scoring
with nine points, and hauled
down a team-high seven
rebounds. Sophomore Callie
Glenn chipped in five points
to Union’s season-ending
game.