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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com SPORTS IN BRIEF Seaside’s Jackson Januik scores MVP honors The Daily Astorian Pitchless intentional walks could start this week Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Pitchless intentional walks could start in spring training games this week. Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said the change, which the players’ association has said it will agree to for 2017, is among the rule changes that have been distributed to teams. Planned modifications to video review rules for this season include a 30-second time limit for managers to request a review, and a two-minute limit for the review umpire in New York to make a decision — unless a supervisor in the replay room gives permission for the umpire to take longer. Under the change to the inten- tional walk rule, a team can sig- nal for an intentional walk with- out pitches being thrown. Manfred said Major League Baseball staff has been going over the changes with teams, and the new intentional walk rule probably will go into effect this week. “As soon as we’re done with the clubs, we’ll start implementing the pitchless intentional walk,” Man- fred said Tuesday before the open- ing game of the new spring training ballpark of Houston and Wash- ington. “We need to give them a chance to at least look at the rules before we move ahead and imple- ment it on the field.” Wanting to speed the pace of play, management also discussed raising the lower edge of the strike zone from just beneath the kneecap to its pre-1996 level the top of the kneecap, the installation of pitch clocks and limits on trips to the pitcher’s mound. Daily Astorian/File Photo Seaside senior Jackson Januik was named the Most Valuable Player in the Cowapa League, and is a leading candidate for state Player of the Year. Last year’s Cowapa League co-Player of the Year received this year’s award all to himself, as Seaside senior Jackson Januik was selected as the boys basketball MVP for the 2016- 17 season. Januik — also a leading candi- date for the 4A state Player of the Year award — was one of five Seaside players on the all-league team, as the league co-champion Gulls had all five starters on the all-league squad, as did Valley Catholic. Seaside’s Bill Westerholm and Val- ley Catholic’s Joel Sobotka shared the annual co-Coach of the Year honor. Januik was joined on the first-team by senior teammates Attikin Babb and Hunter Thompson, and sopho- more Chase Januik. Sophomore Pay- ton Westerholm was selected honor- able mention. Astoria senior Olaf Englund was named to the first team, and Fisher- man senior Ryan Palek was honorable mention. Daily Astorian/File Photo Seaside’s head coach Bill Wester- holm disagrees with a call during the 4A State Championship at Liberty High School in 2016. Mariners ace Hernandez focuses on his fastball Associated Press Korbut’s gold medal nets $66K Associated Press How much is a 1972 gold medal won by Soviet gymnast Olga Kor- but worth? According to a recent auction, $66,000. Korbut let go of five of her med- als, including the gold she won in team competition in 1972. Heritage Auctions said in a release Tuesday her 1976 gold was auctioned for more than $57,000 last weekend. Korbut, nicknamed “The Spar- row from Minsk,” sprang onto the Olympic scene by performing acrobatics no one had seen before. She won three golds and a silver as a 17-year-old at the 1972 Munich Games, and added a gold and sil- ver at Montreal in 1976. Korbut, who lives in Arizona, says she sold her medals to share her Olympic experiences, not because she is in any sort of financial crisis. SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE THURSDAY Girls Basketball — Washington 2B State Tournament: TBA vs. Ilwaco (at Spokane), 3:45 p.m. FRIDAY Boys Basketball — 4A State Playoff: Cascade at Seaside, 7 p.m. SATURDAY Girls Basketball — 4A State Playoff: Seaside at Molalla, 7 p.m. BOYS BASKETBALL Cowapa All-League Player of the Year: Jackson Januik, Seaside Defensive Player of the Year: Daniel Hardy, Valley Catholic Coaches of the Year: Bill Westerholm, Seaside; Joel Sobotka, Valley Catholic First Team Jackson Januik, Sr., Seaside Attikin Babb, Sr., Seaside Jacob Berge, Sr., Tillamook Ian Collett, Jr., Tillamook Olaf Englund, Sr., Astoria Blake Gobel, So., Banks Colin Haggerty, Sr., Valley C. Daniel Hardy, Sr., Valley C. Chase Januik, So., Seaside Andrew Plambeck, Jr., Valley C. Dalton Renne, Jr., Banks Hunter Thompson, Sr., Seaside Joey Wagenknecht, Jr., Scappoose Honorable Mention Chris Bendle, Jr., Scappoose Joey Braun, Sr., Valley Catholic Jake Evans, Sr., Banks Jack Grasberger, Jr., Valley C. Tanner Kramer, Sr., Scappoose Ryan Palek, Sr., Astoria Payton Westerholm, So., Seaside Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Astoria’s Olaf Englund takes a shot during practice in November at Astoria High School. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio Detroit Pistons guard Reggie Jackson, left, makes a layup defended by Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic (27) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Auburn Hills, Mich. Morris, Pistons outlast Portland 120-113 in OT By NOAH TRISTER Associated Press AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Detroit Pistons rallied for another win after trailing by double digits. “That’s not a good formula,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I applaud our resilience. ... To be good, I’d like to play a more solid game from beginning to end.” Marcus Morris scored a career-high 37 points, including Detroit’s first seven in overtime, and the Pistons rallied from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 120-113 on Tues- day night. Ish Smith had 12 points, seven assists and seven steals for the Pistons, who pulled within one game of seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Damian Lillard had 34 points and 11 rebounds for Portland while falling an assist shy of his first tri- ple-double. He had only one assist after the start of the fourth, however, and the Trail Blazers were even- tually done in by turnovers. “We’ve always been a team that takes care of the ball, but that’s not happening right now,” Lillard said. “We can’t give the ball away all the time and expect to win games, especially on the road.” Smith was scoreless heading into the fourth quar- ter but gave Detroit a huge lift down the stretch. The Pistons came back from an 18-point deficit to beat UP NEXT: TRAIL BLAZERS • Oklahoma City Thunder (35-25) at Portland Trail Blazers (24-35) • Thursday, 7:30 p.m. TV: TNT Charlotte on Thursday, and they rallied from 16 down to win at Toronto on Feb. 12. “We’re playing with a lot of fight,” Detroit’s Andre Drummond said. “We’re not out of the game, ever. When things get tough, we really come together.” C.J. McCollum scored 25 points for Portland. The Pistons trailed 75-62 in the third before clos- ing that quarter on a 13-4 run. It was Portland that had to rally late in the fourth, and Lillard’s driving layup with 2.8 seconds left tied it at 109 and forced overtime. Morris opened the scoring in overtime with a 15-footer, and after Portland tied it on a layup by Maurice Harkless, Morris answered with a three- point play and an 18-footer to make it 116-111. “He’s a great one-on-one player, especially because of his high release, and it is tough to double him in that offense because they can get him the ball in so many different places,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “When he’s hitting from the perimeter, it is tough to stop him.” GLENDALE, Ariz. — Felix Her- nandez pitching in February is an aberration. But there was the Seattle ace on Tuesday, making his spring debut as the Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox split squad 8-1. Hernandez gave up one run and three hits in two innings. He threw 33 pitches, walked one and struck out none, and also got a pair of groundball double plays. The Mariners normally hold Her- nandez out of early spring training games. He did not make his initial appearance last year until March 14. It was March 10 in 2015. But with the World Baseball Clas- sic looming and Hernandez joining the Venezuelan team Monday, there is a sense of urgency to get him ready sooner. “I feel real strong,” Hernandez said after his outing. “I feel real good. I feel healthy and I’m happy.” Hernandez is scheduled to make one more start for the Mariners on Sunday against Oakland. “The next one is going to be differ- ent,” Hernandez said. “I’ll probably throw more pitches and just be ready for my first start in Mexico.” Venezuela’s first game is March 10 against Puerto Rico. Hernandez focused on fastball command against the White Sox. “I’ve got to command my fastball a little bit more,” he said. “I was throw- ing a four-seamer and a two-seamer. I was falling behind a couple of times in the second inning and I got hit.” “I threw a lot of fastballs today and it looks pretty good. The results tell me that it works fine. I was 100 percent. I was throwing everything. The slider was really good. It was sharp. The curve was good, too. The changeup I still have to work on it.” Hernandez, who turns 31 in April, missed six weeks last season with a right calf strain, his first time on the disabled list since 2008. His 25 starts and 153 1/3 innings were career lows, and he went 11-8 with a 3.82 ERA. Most alarming is his diminishing fastball velocity. His fastball average was 90.54 last season. In his 2010 Cy Young season, it was 94.13 and in 2015 he averaged 92.1. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez participates in a drill during spring training base- ball practice in Peoria, Ariz., last month Hernandez is beginning his climb back from one of his toughest seasons, when he went 11-8 with a 3.82 ERA and his low- est innings total since 2007.