B4 Columbia Gorge News Wednesday, May 5, 2021 www.columbiagorgenews.com SPORTS TD girls netters continue improvement Risley ■ By For Brandon Columbia Gorge News As we reach the mid- way point of the spring sports season, The Dalles Riverhawks girls tennis team has shown marked im- provement since its opening match last month. While the scores have not quite reached the goals that Dufur freshman Henry Begay, on right, arrives safely at second base on a steel as the Lyle baseman Justin Ingram just misses the catch. the team has set for itself, Dufur swept Lyle in the doubleheader. Mark B. Gibson photo Coach Debby Jones remains positive despite not having a team win so far. “Overall, I knew this would be a rebuilding year,” said Jones. “Even though we have not won a team match I am very pleasantly surprised that we are as competitive as we’ve been. We haven’t been blanked in any of our Josh Taylor and Roden hom- matches and we wanted to against Lyle, three Dufur loss, 3-0, Saturday at home Staff report Columbia Gorge News ered — Taylor’s was a grand keep that going. Win at least pitchers combined on a against Weston-McEwen. slam. The Rangers led 12-2 no-hitter, recording 14 one match in the overall The Rangers bounced back before Riverside made things team score.” strikeouts of the 18 Lyle Base running is somewhat in the second game (the interesting with a six-run outs. Elijah Thomas, Brock Heading into last month’s non-leaguer) of the dou- of a lost art at the major fifth inning. Dufur scored match against HRV, Jones ble-header by a football-like LaFaver and Henry Begay league level nowadays, but five times in the seventh kept Lyle hitters off balance challenged her team to focus in Central Wasco County, it’s 34-11 score. to put the game well out of the entire six-inning game. on something that would ul- That result was more in a major weapon. Jason Peters and Begay both reach. timately help them win more line with this year’s Ranger If opponents want to slow Sherman lost its first had two hits for Dufur; Begay points going forward. offense, which is averaging down the Dufur High base- league game Saturday, 3-1, and Gabe Petroff knocked “We’ve lost a lot of points more than 15 runs a game. ball team this season, they at Heppner, and continues in three runs apiece. The off what we call ‘first strike The 4-0 start included had better keep the Rangers to keep pace with Dufur. Rangers took advantage of balls,’” she said. “That could doubleheader sweeps of off the basepaths, or at the their team speed, stealing 13 The Huskies also lost the be serves or serve returns. If very least, learn how to keep Riverside and Lyle. Dufur’s non-league game of the bases in as many attempts. we can’t get the ball in the season started late because those runners close. Dufur double-header, 10-5. The Against Riverside, Dufur’s court during our first strike of COVID, but Coach CS was a perfect 44 of 44 in May 4 Sherman-Dufur dou- opportunity it automatically stolen base attempts through Little’s team made up for lost 15-hit attack was led by ble-header begins at 2 p.m. LaFaver with three; he also puts us in a hole. With that time in a hurry with a 20-1 four games, all wins. in Dufur. said, improving our first and 17-10 sweep of Riverside had five RBI. Elijah Roden, The run-first Rangers Petroff and Kaleb Pence serve percentage is key.” on April 23, followed by a were 5-1 heading into their added two apiece. In game HRV won six of eight 13-0 and 12-1 sweep of Lyle May 4 contest against rival two, Petroff was 4-for-6 and matches during the contest on April 27. Sherman (4-3, 2-1 District knocked in three runs, and but the effort and deter- In the second game 7) after suffering their first mination was there for the Riverhawks. Number one singles player Hannah Biehn and the No. 4 doubles team of Maia Thomas and Giselle Ortega came away with their first victories in impressive fashion. Biehn, a senior and undisputed leader of the Riverhawks, got in a groove early, striking the ball with with an 8-0 first-inning lead. an error, making it 9-1 to is May 5 at 4:30 p.m. on the By Mike Weber For Columbia Gorge News The Buckaroos, who have the help the Riverhawks avoid a precision and confidence as road against the Redmond shutout. No. 1 ranked offense (10.11 Panthers. Riverhawk sophomore runs per game average) out The Dalles plays a dou- It was a learning expe- bleheader Saturday at Crook of 31 Class 5A squads, added pitcher Riley Brock was a rience for the young The a run in the third and scored bright spot on the mound for County High School in Dalles High Riverhawks The Dalles. Brock had three four more in the fourth to Prineville. The Dalles faces baseball team in an strikeouts, walked four and build a 13-0 advantage. the Bend Lava Bears at 1:30 Intermountain Conference allowed four hits in four in- The Dalles scored two in three-game series versus the p.m., followed by a matchup the bottom half of the frame, nings pitched. In the second against Crook County at 3 highly regarded Pendleton Hood River Valley High game, The Dalles enjoyed making it 13-2. Pendleton, p.m. The Dalles meets area Buckaroos last week. School’s baseball team is two an early 1-0 first inning lead. games behind league-lead- which outhit The Dalles 10- rival the Hood River Valley Pendleton won 14-2 at 3, got a run in the fifth for the Schwartz (1-for-3), singled Eagles (4-2, 5-4) in a 4:30 Quinton Street Ballpark in ing Pendleton and riding and scored on a sacrifice fly final margin. The Dalles April 27, followed p.m. home game contest a four-game league win RBI by junior Austin Agidius. streak into this week’s Last Friday in Pendleton, May 11, followed by a 4:30 by wins of 11-1 and 10-1 in It was short-lived though. The Dalles continued strug- p.m. home game versus an April 30 doubleheader at Intermountain Conference Pendleton responded by gling in two games against Redmond May 12. Pendleton High School. tests against Redmond. scoring two in the bottom of The young Riverhawks (10 the Buckaroos. In the first The Dalles was hoping The Eagles (4-2 IMC, 5-4 the first and then outscored freshmen, four juniors), who game, Pendleton scored in to snap a four-game losing overall) defeated Ridgeview The Dalles 8-0 over the next have no seniors, were simply every inning, while jumping streak when it faced the by identical 5-0 scores last five frames. Pendleton had in front 9-0 after four in- unable to overcome a much winless Crook County week, April 27 at home and more experienced Buckaroo nings. The Dalles sophomore six hits in its sixth straight Cowboys at home Tuesday May 1 in Redmond. HRV fac- win. The Buckaroos only loss es Redmond High this week, squad that has seven seniors. Braden Schwartz (2-for-3, (results came after the this year was 11-3 to Hood single, double) singled in In the April 27 contest, printed edition deadline). at home May 4 (too late for River April 16 at Hood River. press time) and on the road the fifth and later scored on Pendleton jumped in front The Riverhawks next game Swift Dufur baseball team making the best of its on-base prowess ■ Experienced Pendleton too tough for young Riverhawks ■ she went on to defeat HRV’s Cassandra Moreno, 6-2, 6-2. After winning the first set routinely, the second set became a little dicey for Thomas and Ortega, as they found themselves in a 4-2 hole in the second. The pair won the next four games, completing the comeback to take the match 6-3, 6-4. Jones has high standards for her team. “To be honest I am seeing more progress during practice,” she said. “The effort and enthusiasm are definitely there. We are struggling a bit to translate that into match situations. That is the mental part of the sport. We’ve been working on that part most recently. In comparing match and practice play we’ve discov- ered that our stress response is really triggered during match play. We are working on being able to regulate that stress and turn it into an asset instead of a negative. Playing matches is the best way to work on that.” Jones said a lot of her tennis players are participat- ing in their first high school sport. “Learning to deal with losses and not judge effort and the score on the same level has been important,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of team circle chats where we’ve asked team members individually to talk about their effort as compared to results. “We then talk about what went well and what the play- er feels they need to work on in order to be more prepared for the next match. Because of our youth we need to build that resiliency within our players so that they are able to bounce back from losses. Every match is a learning op- portunity, and the hard work will pay off if we are patient enough.” HRV moves into second place; league win streak now at four May 8. Pendleton remained un- beaten in league games with a sweep of The Dalles (see related story in Sports). Redmond is 2-2 in league and 2-4 overall. The Panthers will have a tough, three- game stretch midweek. After their game at HRV, the Panthers host The Dalles on Wednesday and then HRV again on Saturday. Columbia girls third at district meet Reyes, Acosta win individual titles Joe Petshow ■ By Columbia Gorge News Columbia High capped off a successful track and field season Friday at the District IV 1A championships in Vancouver, where the Bruin relay teams won the meet’s final events. “That’s just such a great way to end the season, fin- ishing on top of the podium,” Coach James Anderson said of the Bruin girls and boys 4x400 relays. Junior Chanele Reyes won both hurdle races and was the top point scorer for the Bruin girls, who finished third overall behind Montesano and Hoquaim. She also ran legs on Columbia’s second place 4x100-meter relay and its champion 4x400 relay, which won in a season-best, 4 minutes, 18.55 seconds. Both of those relay races were ultra-competitive events which weren’t decid- ed until the final few meters over the Seton Catholic track. There were anxious moments for the Bruin long relay, as LaCenter anchor, frosh Shaela Bradley, ran a 57-second final 400 split to make things interesting at the finish. Columbia’s Ella Zimmerman ran the opening leg, making up the stagger on the rest of the field. Reyes was next, as she and Hannah Polkinghorn combined to give the Bruins about a 20-meter lead. Bradley, who earlier in the meet had won the 100, 200 and long jump, closed the gap quickly on Bruin anchor, Makayla Fies. “When LaCenter took off they were in third place and by the 200-meter mark she had already caught the Seton girl,” Anderson said. “She was closing fast. Makayla held on and got it home for us. For the girls it was a great way to end.” Three seconds separat- ed the first three teams; Columbia’s 4:18.55 was fol- lowed by LaCenter at 4:19.69 and Seton at 4:21.33. Polkinghorn added 16 team points, with sec- ond-place finishes in the sprints. The Columbia junior recorded a personal best in the 100 of 12.63 seconds, and just missed her best in the 200. Fies also PR’d in her specialty, the 400 (61.41), where she finished second, and was eighth in the 200. Reyes won the 100-meter hurdles in 17.45 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 50.06. Zimmerman ran a lifetime best 51.13 in the longer race to finish second and earn eight team points for the Bruins. Anderson said Zimmerman’s race for second in the low hurdles Attention Hunters! Now is the time to select your 2021 hunts Complete your Controlled Hunt Applications Online at MyODFW.com behind Reyes was one of the more competitive ones on the day. “At about hurdle six, Ella and the King’s Way girl (Camille Vaughan) were hitting the hurdles at the same time,” Anderson said. “They crossed the last hurdles at the same time and Ella just had a better sprint at the finish. I was looking right across at the finish and I was going, ‘She got it.’” Both hurdlers ran life- time bests; Zimmerman 51.13 and Vaughan 51.15. “The smile on her face at the end of the race was great,” Anderson said of Zimmerman’s PR. “Most of our runners either PR’d or had season bests at the meet. That’s all you can ask for.” Frosh Jessica Polkinghorn added 10 other points for Columbia, with her third place in the shot put (30- 5.75) and fifth in the javelin (90-07). Columbia’s other individual points came from Esther Kline, who ran BACKED BY A YEAR-ROUND CLOG-FREE GUARANTEE CALL US TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE 15 % OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE * + 1-855-536-8838 10 % Mon-Thurs: 8am-11pm, Fri-Sat: 8am-5pm, Sun: 2pm-8pm EST Don’t wait to apply this year. Apply Now at MyODFW.com + OFF SENIOR & MILITARY DISCOUNTS 5 % OFF TO THE FIRST 50 CALLERS! ** | Promo Number: 285 *For those who qualify. One coupon per household. No obligation estimate valid for 1 year. **Offer valid at time of estimate only 2The leading consumer reporting agency conducted a 16 month outdoor test of gutter guards in 2010 and recognized LeafFilter as the “#1 rated professionally installed gutter guard system in America.” Manufactured in Plainwell, Michigan and processed at LMT Mercer Group in Ohio. See Representative for full warranty details. 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Montesano’s team depth was evidenced by the fact that it won just one individu- al event — Madolyn Olson’s 400 victory. The Bulldogs won both short relays and finished with 135 team points. Hoquaim was second with 118 and Columbia had 91 points for third. The Columbia boys were fifth with 63 points (Montesano also won the boys competition with 137). Columbia senior Juan Acosta was the lone Bruin individual boys district champ, winning the shot put BEST OF HAWAII FOUR-ISLAND TOUR by a quarter inch over Elma sophomore Landon Ritter, 39-8.25 to 39.8.00. Acosta unleashed a 40-footer, but he was unable to maintain his position in the circle and scratched. “He wanted 40 so bad,” Anderson said. “But, he watched it too long; he needed to turn his body away from it (to maintain his balance).” Acosta also finished sec- ond in the discus, in a per- sonal-best 118-4. Teammate Eli Nielson was eighth. Montesano spoiled the Columbia boys’ bid to win the 4x100 relay, so the Bruin squad did the next available thing — it won the 4x400 instead to finish off the day’s competition. In the shorter race, Angel Sanchez, Peter Schlegal, Ryan Howard, and Jace Greenwood finished second to Monty, 45.81 to 46.07. Sanchez and Howard joined Calvin Andrews and Dylan Muehlbauer on the first-place long relay. FROM $ $ 2,599 2,349 * 12 days, departs year-round TM 1-888-817-0676 promo code N7017 * Free date changes anytime up to 45 days prior to departure for land tours, up to 95 days prior to departure for cruise tours. Deposits and final payments remain non-refundable. Prices are per person based on double occupancy plus $299 in taxes & fees. Single supplement and seasonal surcharges may apply. Add-on airfare available. Offers apply to new bookings only, made by 6/30/21. Other terms & conditions may apply. Ask your Travel Consultant for details.