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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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NCAA TOURNAMENT
BOUND TO HAPPEN
1 VS 16 MATCHUP INCHES CLOSER TO AN UPSET
Fishermen outlast
Gladstone in nine
The Daily Astorian
Astoria bounced back from a
Wednesday loss to North Marion
with a 2-1 win over Gladstone in
nine innings Thursday in a non-
league baseball game at CMH
Field.
Trey Hageman’s single off
Gladstone pitcher Ben McCoy
drove in Burke Matthews with the
game-winning run, as the Fisher-
men posted their first victory of
the season.
The Gladiators had tied the
game at 1-1 in the top of the sev-
enth, scoring on an error.
Ole Englund picked up the vic-
tory on the mound, as the senior
tossed three innings, giving up
two hits with two strikeouts.
McCoy took the loss, allowing
one hit and one run in one-and-a-
third innings.
Jackson Arnsdorf was Asto-
ria’s starting pitcher, and gave up
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Softball — North Marion at Astoria, 3
p.m.
SATURDAY
Baseball — Blanchet Catholic at War-
renton, 3 p.m.
just two hits with six strikeouts in
six innings.
At the plate, the Fishermen had
six hits from six different players.
Tyler Lyngstad had a triple for the
only extra-base hit of the game,
while the Fishermen drew five
walks and had three hit batters.
Matthews drove in Jasyn Gohl
with a single in the bottom of the
fourth for the game’s first run.
In the bottom of the ninth,
Matthews drew a leadoff walk
and advanced to third on an error
before scoring on Hageman’s
game-winning hit.
Trojans top Loggers
The Daily Astorian
MT. ANGEL — In their first
time outdoors this season, the
Knappa softball team faced a
tough task at Kennedy in a non-
league season opener.
The Trojans — a Final Four
team from a year ago — allowed
just two hits (two singles by Kait-
lyn Truax), and scored a 15-0 win
over the Lady Loggers.
Madelynn Weaver took the loss
in the circle for Knappa, as she
struck out five in five innings.
The Loggers return to action
next Wednesday at Portland
Christian, followed by a road trip
to eastern Oregon, March 27 to
March 30.
Lady Fish, Gulls both fall
In local softball action Thurs-
day, Gladstone defeated Astoria
8-0 in the season opener for the
Lady Fishermen at CMH Field;
and Molalla got past Seaside, 8-2,
in nonleague action at Broadway
Field.
Area students ride in
equestrian contests
The Daily Astorian
AP Photo/Bill Wippert
Mount St. Mary’s guard Elijah Long (55) drives to the basket against Villanova forward Kris Jenkins
(2) and guard Josh Hart (3) during the first half of a first-round men’s college basketball game in the
NCAA Tournament Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y.
Upset likely
some year soon
By EDDIE PELLS
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — It’s
going to happen. Maybe not Fri-
day, when Kansas and North Car-
olina take their turn at trying to
avoid history. But if not then,
well, some year soon.
A No. 1 seed is going to lose
to a No. 16, and with the direction
college basketball is going of late,
it may not even be considered that
big of an upset.
“The extremes are scooting
closer to the (middle), year in and
year out,” Gonzaga coach Mark
Few said after his top-seeded
Bulldogs slowly inched away
for a 66-46 victory over South
Dakota State on Thursday.
“When you look, statisti-
cally, at all these things, and say,
‘The 1 seed did this or that,’ that
might have been back in the day.
When you look at how close these
games have been” lately, it’s a dif-
ferent story, he said.
Well, technically, Few isn’t
right. In the first five years of
the 64-team bracket, there were
six games between 1s and 16s
decided by single digits — none
more excruciatingly memora-
ble than Georgetown’s 50-49
squeaker over Pete Carril’s Princ-
eton team back in 1989.
In the last five years, only four
games have come down to single
digits, including Gonzaga’s too-
close-for-comfort 64-58 win over
Southern in 2013, the last time the
Bulldogs were a 1 seed.
But there’s more to these
games than the final score, and
Thursday’s action — a pair of
20-point wins for the 1s — might
have been Exhibits 1 and 1A.
Mount St. Mary’s, fresh off a
First Four win two nights earlier,
looked more in sync and better
prepared for one half against Vil-
lanova. Sparked by the guard play
AP Photo/Bill Wippert
Villanova head coach Jay Wright
reacts during the second half of
a first-round men’s college bas-
ketball game against Mount St.
Mary’s in the NCAA Tournament
Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y. Villa-
nova won, 76-56.
of Miles Wilson and Elijah Long,
the Mountaineers had an 8-point
lead early, and trailed by only 1 at
the half before falling 76-56 .
“I do think some of it was
Mount St. Mary’s. I really do,”
Villanova coach Jay Wright said
about his team’s slow start. “I
think those guards are smaller and
quicker than any guards we played
against. It gave us trouble.”
Every bit as telling was Gon-
zaga’s win over South Dakota
State, a team that, by almost any
measure, had the wrong number
next to its name coming into this
tournament. Yes, the Jackrabbits
were only 18-16, a fourth-place
finisher in their less-than-power-
house conference. But they had
the nation’s second-leading scorer
in Mike Daum and had won nine
of 11 coming into the tournament.
Few said they looked better
in person than they did on film
— and after a grinder of a win,
he’s certainly more familiar with
Daum and the Jackrabbits than
members of the NCAA selection
committee whose job it was to
seed them.
“Really organized,” Few said
of the Jackrabbits. “They have an
elite-level player that can get 30
on anybody in this tournament.
And then their toughness. We got
to the first timeout, I was like, ‘All
right, this is going to be a war.’”
There figure to be more like
this.
Parity is, quite simply, as much
a part of college hoops these days
as brackets and one-and-dones. It
helps get the George Masons and
VCUs of the world to the Final
Four; eventually it figures to play
into a 16 finally knocking off a 1.
Asked to explain it all a few
years ago, when Wichita State
made a surprise run to the Final
Four, Bill Raftery of CBS said
AAU and summer leagues have
leveled the playing field by mak-
ing everyone familiar to everyone.
“The kids all know one
another, so they’re not in the
least bit in awe of an oppo-
nent,” he said. “You get Wichita
State playing Louisville and they
don’t really give a damn. It’s just
another team to them.”
On Friday, two more 16 seeds
get a chance to bust the bracket,
even if it might not shock the
world.
Coming off a First-Four vic-
tory Wednesday over North Car-
olina Central, UC Davis plays its
second-ever NCAA Tournament
game, this time against Kansas.
Texas Southern brings the
worst 3-point-shooting and defen-
sive-rebounding stats in the
64-team field into a game against
North Carolina.
If things go to form, No. 1s
will move to 132-0 lifetime in the
1-16 matchup.
If they don’t — well, nobody
will say they didn’t see it coming.
“Someone can have that from
here on out,” Few said of the top
seeding. “I’ve served my time.
I’ll go ahead and land somewhere
else.”
Do Fishermen and Loggers ride
horses?
The answer is yes, as riders from
Astoria and Knappa are taking part
in the Oregon High School Eques-
trian Team competitions, with one
meet remaining in the season.
Competing for Astoria are
Kaisa Israel (with Bo), Barry James
(Malie and Mia) and Rahlie Osburn
(Miley and Luke); and Knappa rid-
ers are Kaitlyn Landwehr (Jake),
Haylee Skipper (Jigger and Doc),
Ellie Smith (Bluzee and Mazie),
Kourtney Tischer (Bruno) and
Madison Johanson (Katie).
The Astoria coaches are Brit-
tany Israel and Michelle Osburn,
and coaching Knappa are Judy
Skirvin and Suzie Smith.
Some of the top finishes for the
locals in Meet No. 1 included Kaisa
Israel (fifth out of 26 riders in Hunt
Seat Equitation); Ellie Smith (fifth),
Rahlie Osburn (seventh) and Barry
James (10th) out of 72 competitors
in Barrels; and James and Osburn
combined to take fourth out of 42
teams in the Two-Man Birangle.
In the second meet, Israel
won the Saddle Seat Equitation;
Landwehr was second in Dres-
sage, second in Showmanship and
tied for third in Hunt Seat Equita-
tion; Smith was fifth out of 71 rid-
ers in Barrels and sixth (out of 67)
in Figure 8; Tischer placed seventh
(out of 25) in Dressage; James was
seventh (out of 59) in Keyhole and
seventh in Figure 8.
Submitted Photo
Kaisa Israel, left, and Kaitlyn Landwehr are two of the top Oregon
High School Equestrian Team riders for Astoria and Knappa.
Drive 4 local sports nears
The Daily Astorian
Ford Motor Co. and Dane
Gouge’s Astoria Ford will donate
$20 to Astoria Youth Athletics or
Warrenton High School (spec-
ify which) for every person from
a unique household who test
drives a brand new Ford vehicle
Saturday.
The “Drive 4 UR Community”
event takes place at Dane Gouge’s
Astoria Ford, 1809 SE Ensign
Lane in Warrenton, beginning at 9
a.m. Saturday.
The program can help raise
up to $6,000 split between Asto-
ria Youth Athletics and Warrenton
High School.
No purchase is necessary. In
previous years, Astoria Ford has
helped raise over $50,000 for
Astoria High School through the
Drive 4 UR Community program.