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KHS PREVIEW 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 Daily Astorian File Devin Lewis Allen is head- ing into the home stretch for another great season. Knappa track team is on the young side By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian GARY HENLEY — The Daily Astorian A sight that most hitters will fear in 2015: Facing Knappa lefty Chase Rusinovich. Watch out! Loggers aim high By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian THE NW LEAGUE KNAPPA BASEBALL “Competitive,” is how coach Mill- er describes Northwest League Base- Coach: Jeff Miller, 14th year If there’s one sure thing in Ore- ball, 2015. 2014: 28-2 (21-0 NWL) gon high school baseball this season, “There were very few seniors in State Playoffs: Defeated Lost River (25-1) and Portland Christian it’s the Knappa Loggers. They’re go- our league last year,” he said. “Some (5-3); lost state semifinal to Weston-McEwen (2-3). ing to score a lot of runs, win another teams had no seniors on their roster. I All-League Losses: Austin Palek All-League Returners: Tyson Burnard, Sr.; Noah Kinney, Jr.; Andy league title and advance deep into expect a lot of competitive games, no Miller, Sr.; Jason Miller, So.; Chase Rusinovich, Sr.; Nate Truax, Sr. the state playoffs. Guaranteed. matter who’s playing. Faith Bible and No Oregon team — at any lev- Neah-Kah-Nie are off to great starts.” el — scored more runs last season It may be competitive for second than the Loggers, who opened 2014 suring more league titles for at least One thing is certain — no team is place, but don’t expect the Loggers to with a loss to Clatskanie, then won the next four years. as strong as Knappa up the middle, give up the top spot. “Some of the freshmen won’t with Truax behind the plate, Burnard 28 in a row before a 3-2 loss to While the rest of the league beats Weston-McEwen in the 2A state VHH WKH YDUVLW\ ¿HOG EXW VRPH ZLOO LQ FHQWHU ¿HOG D VWURQJ PLGGOH LQ- up on itself, Knappa could wrap up have a big role with the varsity,” said ¿HOGDQG5XVLQRYLFKRQHRIWKHWRS a league title by midseason, which VHPL¿QDOV In those 28 wins, Knappa scored Knappa coach Jeff Miller. “Mason pitchers in Class 2A. would give the Loggers league cham- 414 runs (averaging nearly 15 per Hoover, Reuben Cruz, Dale Takalo Junior Noah Kinney is a three- pionships in football, basketball and game), topping 20 runs eight times. … Colton Weirup has been outstand- \HDUVWDUWHULQWKHLQ¿HOGZLWKPRUH baseball. 7KH /RJJHUV ¿QLVKHG ZLWK UXQV ing and a huge plus. We have some all-league talent in the sophomore The only team that gave Knappa in 30 games. State champion Monroe really quality freshmen; it’s more class — Austin Dragoo, Michal a challenge in baseball last year was depth than we’ve had in a long time.” Goodman, Andrew Goozee and Ja- Portland Christian. The Loggers beat was the next-closest, with 358 runs. Nearly every one of the Knappa son Miller. Knappa already has nonleague the Royals four times, three in league wins this season over 3A power seniors is a potential all-state player, And even if Andy Miller does play and again in the state playoffs. including Dragoo, Tyson Burnard, not pitch, the Loggers still have one Clatskanie and Monroe. Portland Christian has moved on So it’s all there for the taking for Andy Miller, Chase Rusinovich and of the deepest pitching staffs in the to the 3A level, leaving Faith Bible, the Knappa Loggers, who have their Nate Truax. Gaston, Neah-Kah-Nie, Nestucca, state. Miller is slowly working himself best chance at winning a state title “Michal Goodman will be in Portland Lutheran and Vernonia as back into shape, after offseason arm the mix; Dale Takalo will throw the returners. IRUWKH¿UVWWLPHVLQFH surgery and an ankle sprain in bas- some innings; Colton Weirup, Ma- The Loggers outscored those six THE LOGGERS ketball. son Hoover can pitch; the younger teams last season, 305-26. Needless The defending league champions “It’s an unknown right now,” Dragoo can pitch, and the we’ll try to say, it will be a major upset if any- were loaded with talent last year, and said his coach and father, Jeff. “He’s to get some innings out of the older body beats Knappa in league play this they’ve added even more to the line- working hard and wants to play Dragoo,” coach Miller said. “Reuben year. up this season. VRPHUROHDWVRPHSRLQW+HZLOO¿QG Cruz is a good pitcher; Andrew Goo- The battle for second place in Senior Justin Dragoo is back in a way to contribute. I highly doubt zee has shown some promise early. league could be between Faith Bible, a Knappa uniform, and the Logger he will pitch, but I guess you never I tell them all when they come in, Neah-Kah-Nie and Portland Luther- roster is full of athletic freshmen, en- say never on anything.” an. ‘You’re all pitchers.’” Lady Loggers in search of a state playoff win By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian If Knappa Lady Logger softball is going to break the “state playoff jinx,” this would be the year. Over the last six years, Knappa is 6-for-6 in making the state playoffs — but the Loggers are 0-6 once they get there. As they enter the 2015 season, the Loggers have the league’s best pitcher (Pitcher of the Year Kacie Cameron), with experienced seniors and a load of promising, talented newcomers. THE LOGGERS True, the Lady Loggers lost four all-league players (Maddy Pitts, Iris Rankin, Jasmine Reynolds, Haley Ru- bus) — but they’ve got plenty back to be competitive. Stacey Aho and Cameron KNAPPA SOFTBALL Coach: James Nichols, 3rd year 2014: 18-10 (9-6 NWL) State Playoffs: Lost at Bonanza, 3-6 All-League Losses: Maddy Pitts, Iris Rankin, Jas- mine Reynolds, Haley Rubus All-League Returners: Stacey Aho, Sr.; Kacie Cam- eron, Sr. THE LOGGERS Daily Astorian File Knappa senior Kacie Cameron, left, will be throwing lots of strikes and scoring lots of runs for the Lady Loggers in 2015. are in the senior year of their stellar careers, both having made all-league last season. Cameron has already looked dominating in the circle in nonleague games this season. The only other returning senior on the roster is Alyson Olheiser. Go Loggers! Knappa Office (503) 458-6671 42894 Old Hwy. 30 Knappa, OR 97103 The Knappa Loggers enter the 2015 track season with one state champion, a sec- ond-year coach, and a very young roster. Knappa’s most recent meet ZDV WKH 3DFL¿F /HDJXH PHHW at Ilwaco, in which the Log- gers competed against several small schools in Washington. Coached by Brittany Fer- JXVRQ .QDSSD ¿QLVKHG ¿IWK RXWRI¿YHWHDPVRQWKHER\V¶ side, and fourth in the girls’ standings. Individually, the Log- gers have one returning state champion, as Devin Lewis Allen enters his senior sea- son, after placing third in the 200 meters and winning the 400 meters in last year’s state meet. Allen won the 100 meters LQWKH3DFL¿F/HDJXHPHHWDV well as the 400, showing that he will be the favorite to re- peat in the Class 2A state meet in May. Another positive from the early-season meet was junior Chris Montano, who won the long jump (18 feet, 11 inches) and took second in the triple jump (39-4 ¼). The Knappa girls appear to be strong in the sprints and middle distance events, where sophomore Devin Vandergriff ran the lead leg in the winning 400-meter relay in last week’s meet, teaming with Alisha Geisler, Meranda Godwin and Chelsea Sapp. $VWDWHTXDOL¿HULQWKH ODVW \HDU ZKHUH VKH ¿QLVKHG VHYHQWK LQ WKH ¿QDO9DQGHU- griff also won the 400 in last week’s meet in 1:04.81. Vandergriff may also run the longer distance races, as she competed in the 800 and 1,600-meter races in the Pa- FL¿F/HDJXHPHHW Geisler took third in both the 100 and 200 meters, and is one of just two seniors on the Knappa roster. Rainier Office (503) 556-0410 29191 Dike Road Rainier, OR 97048 www.teevinbros.com • CCB #133907 After that, the Loggers get very young, in a hurry. Chloe Little is the only junior, while the sophomore class includes returners Ali- sha Murphy, Hailey Murray and Emilee Olson, with new- comers Desiree Andrade and Ellie Smith. The rest of the roster is made up of freshmen, eight to be exact: Ryain Killion, Jaden Miethe, Mikayla Retha- ti, McKailyn Rogers, Mack- enzie Strain, Emma Taggert, Kaitlyn Truax and Paris Van- derburg. THE NW LEAGUE At one point last year, the Lady Loggers appeared head- ed for a certain Northwest League championship, as they opened league play with a 7-1 record. After a 13-0 win over sec- B est of luck this season! T H E D AIL Y A STORIAN ond-place Vernonia in a cru- cial league showdown, Knap- pa was 8-2. But Vernonia bounced back with two wins over .QDSSDDQG.QDSSDORVW¿YH of its last six league games. Vernonia went on to win the league title with a 13-2 record to Knappa’s 9-6. Finishing in the top three in the league standings should be no problem for Knappa this year, especially with Port- land Christian now out of the OHDJXHZKLFKLVGRZQWR¿YH teams. GIRLS Alisha Geisler, Sr. Meranda Godwin, So. Sophia Hansen, Fr. Mikayla Morton, Fr. Chesea Sapp, So. Devin Vandergriff, So. BOYS Noah Bagnall, So. Braedon Eltagonde, Fr. Spencer Fulton, Fr. Noah Gothro, So. Cody Hobbs, So. Devin Lewis Allen, Sr. Chris Montano, Jr. Samual Nauha, So. Elijah Patterson, Jr. Good Luck Loggers We Deliver! 3693 LIEF ERIKSON DR. ASTORIA (JUST EAST OF SAFEWAY) 503.325.4927 HOURS: SUN-THUR 11AM-10PM; FRI-SAT 11AM-11PM