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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2017)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com GUEST COLUMN Gulls defeat Cascade Florida State tops Oregon State in Elite Eight The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — The Seaside base- ball team opened their spring break with a big 9-5 victory over Cascade Friday at Broadway Field. And all it took was one big inning for the Gulls, who rallied from a 5-1 defi cit with eight runs in the bottom of the fi fth inning to record their second victory of the season. Cascade outhit the Gulls (9 to 7), but the Cougars also committed four errors, while Seaside played fl awless defense. Offensively, nine different players scored runs for the Gulls. Brent Walsh got the start on the mound for Seaside, which trailed 4-0 going into the bottom of the third. Ashton Boyd scored on a sin- gle by Duncan Thompson for Sea- side’s fi rst run. After a scoreless fourth, the Gulls erupted for their biggest inning of the young season. The rally started with one out, when Payton Westerholm reached fi rst on a dropped ball-third strike. The Gulls followed with three consecutive singles, from Duncan Thompson, Brent Walsh and Daw- son Blanchard. Otto Hoekstre was hit by a pitch and Gage McFadden drew a walk, and Isaiah Jantes sin- gled to right. Hoekstre scored on a wild pitch and McFadden sprinted home on an error to give Seaside a 7-5 lead. Jantes later scored on a wild pitch, and Astor Landwehr came in on a single by Thompson for the fi nal run. Seaside reliever Scotty Plampin did the rest, as he entered the game in the fourth and allowed just three hits in three and two-thirds innings pitched. Thompson and Jantes had two hits apiece for the Gulls, with Thompson driving in two runs. Lady Gulls triumph over Cascade in 15-14 win The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — The Seaside soft- ball team snapped a three-game losing skid and recorded their fi rst win of the season Friday, a wild 15-14 victory over Cascade at Broadway Field. It was the second loss in a row for the Cougars, who dropped a 13-12 decision to Molalla just the day before. The Gulls are hosting their annual preseason tournament today and Tuesday. Seaside opens against Cottage Grove at 3 p.m., then face Ilwaco at 7 p.m. Seaside is scheduled to play twice Tuesday (1 p.m. vs. Jeffer- son; 5 p.m. vs. Cowapa League rival Valley Catholic). R.A. Long 13, Lady Fish 1 The Daily Astorian A 10-run fi fth inning broke things open for R.A. Long Friday at CMH Field, where the Lumber- jills scored a 13-1 win over Astoria in a nonleague softball game. R.A. Long held a slim 3-1 lead after four innings, before scoring 10 in the fi fth. Madysen Bjorge got the win for the Lumberjills, allowing four hits with fi ve strikeouts and a walk in fi ve innings. Hileigh Todd had three hits and two RBIs for R.A. Long, which is 2-0 overall, while the Lady Fish- ermen slip to 2-2. Kaylee Strahan added two doubles and two RBIs, and teammate Cassidy Donaldson had two hits and two RBIs. Astoria returns to action today in the Seaside Spring Break Tournament. By NEIL BRANSON For The Daily Astorian STOCKTON, Calif. — Given the time and opportunity, I headed for Stockton, Calif., to watch the Oregon State University Wom- en’s basketball team in NCAA Regional action. Ducks beat Jayhawks to punch Final Four ticket AP Photo/Orlin Wagner Oregon forward Dillon Brooks, right, shoots over Kansas guard Lagerald Vick during the first half of the Midwest Regional final of the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. By DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ore- gon lost one of its best players to an injury just before the NCAA Tournament, had to survive two nail-biters to reach the Midwest Regional fi nals, and then faced a top-seeded Kansas team that had romped to the brink of the Final Four. Of course, the Ducks would rise to the occasion. With swagger and verve and downright prolifi c shoot- ing, the plucky team that every- body wanted to count out rolled UP NEXT: OREGON • Oregon Ducks (33-5) vs North Carolina Tar Heels (31-7) • Saturday, 5:49 p.m. TV: CBS to a 74-60 victory over the Jay- hawks on Saturday night, earn- ing the Ducks their fi rst trip to the national semifi nals in nearly 80 years. “You feel so good for so many people,” said Ducks coach Dana Altman, who is headed to his fi rst Final Four after 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament. “It’s a team effort. You feel good for a lot of people.” Indeed, a whole lot of people had a hand in it. Tyler Dorsey hit six 3s and poured in 27 points, Dillon Brooks added 17 and Jordan Bell fi nished with 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks in a virtuoso per- formance for the Ducks (33-5), who seized the lead with 16 min- utes left in the fi rst half and never trailed the rest of the way. Now, they’ll face the North Carolina Tar Heels (31-7) in the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona. It will be Oregon’s fi rst trip since 1939, when the Tall Firs won it all. NCAA WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT Oregon needs monumental upset to reach Final Four By DOUG FEINBERG Associated Press BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Ore- gon coach Kelly Graves planned a trip with his family in January to watch the men’s Final Four next week. It couldn’t have worked out bet- ter for the Ducks women’s basket- ball coach that his former school Gon- zaga and his current one have already qualifi ed for the national semifi nals in Arizona. That was until his 10th-seeded team started winning its own NCAA Tournament games. Now the Ducks stand one win away from their fi rst trip to the Final Four. For that to happen, they would have to pull off one of the greatest upsets in women’s basketball history, knocking off No. 1 UConn on Monday night in the Bridgeport Regional fi nal. “I tell you, I wouldn’t mind if I had that problem and had to miss the men’s Final Four,” Graves said smiling. “I’d gladly take the hit fi nancially.” Graves knows his team will need to UP NEXT: OREGON • Oregon Ducks (23-13) vs Connecticut Huskies (35-0) • Today, 4:06 p.m. TV: ESPN AP Photo/Jessica Hill Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu, right, is embraced by teammate Mallo- ry McGwire as she comes off the bench during the second half of a regional semifinal game against Maryland in the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament, Saturday in Bridgeport, Conn. be at its best to pull off the win. “It’s going to take our absolute best. There’s no doubt about it, and we’ve got to play for 40 minutes,” he said. “You know, watching them play and what Coach Auriemma has done is incredible. It truly is. I think they’ve set a standard that is good for our sport.” His young team, led by three fresh- men, has played with a nothing-to-lose attitude in upset wins over No. 7 seed Temple, No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Mary- land. Facing the Huskies, who have won 110 straight games doesn’t seem to change that. “We’ve played against top-ranked teams and we’ve been down. I think we have six or seven wins from com- ing from down in the fourth quarter,” freshmen Sabrina Ionescu said. “So, we’re pretty used to doing that. But, we’ve made it this far by not being nervous, so I don’t see why UConn would make us extra nervous.” SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE TODAY Baseball — South Umpqua at Astoria (CMH), 1 p.m. Softball — Knappa at Pilot Rock, 4:30 p.m. Seagulls Spring Break Tourney Today’s Schedule 9 am: Warrenton vs. Valley Catholic 11 am: Valley Catholic vs. Jefferson 1 pm: Cottage Grove vs. Seaside 3 pm: Cottage Grove vs. Warrenton 5 pm: Ilwaco vs. Seaside 7 pm: Ilwaco vs. Astoria Tuesday’s Schedule 9 am: Warrenton vs. Astoria 11 am: Astoria vs. Cottage Grove 1 pm: Valley Catholic vs. Seaside 3 pm: Valley Catholic vs. Ilwaco 5 pm: Cottage Grove vs. Jefferson 7 pm: Jefferson vs. Seaside TUESDAY Baseball — Madison at Astoria (CMH), 5 p.m. Softball — (At Irrigon HS) Knappa vs. Burns, 1 p.m.; Knappa vs. Grant Union, 4:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY Baseball — Yamhill-Carlton at Astoria (CMH), 1 p.m. Softball — Knappa at Riverside, 10 a.m.; Knappa at Irrigon, 3:30 p.m. It seemed like an appropri- ate adventure after the wild suc- cess of both Seaside High School boys’ state basketball champion- ship and the girls’ third-place tro- phy at state just a few weeks ago. What I recalled was how both the girls and boys won their games by playing with great passion. To begin their quest for join- ing the Oregon Duck women in the Elite Eight, the Oregon State Beavers came out racking up an impressive early lead against Flor- ida State, making 9-of-16 shots from the fl oor while Florida State took an equal 19 shots yet making only six (31.6 percent). At the end of one, the Beavers led 23-12. To me, it looked like the Beavers thought the script was already set and the game would continue the same into the sec- ond quarter. The stats of course tell a different story as the shoot- ing percentages for the teams took a bit of a fl ip in the next segment with the Beavers dropping to 28 percent and Florida State jumping hitting at 47.4 percent. Yet, there was more to it than shooting per- centage as I could feel the pulse of the game turning toward the Seminoles. The teams headed to the locker room with OSU holding a 35-30 edge. Talk about a change of the tides. The Beavers got the ball to start the second half, but in a mat- ter of seconds FSU’s Ivey Slaugh- ter made a steal which was quickly converted for 2 points. More than narrowing the score, the takeaway ignited the Seminoles as within the next few minutes they were either making steals or getting rebounds at both ends of the court. Their level of intensity put the Oregon State women on their heels. Flo rida State’s Leticia Romero, a 5-foot-8 guard who played for the Spanish Olympic Team, was making amazing shots that where highly contested. As if they needed more inspiration, 6-1 senior Ivy Slaughter continued to make steals and take care of the boards. She ended with nine steals and eight rebounds, six of those being on the offensive boards. Basketball, as with many sports, is a matter of getting and keep- ing momentum. From the start of the second quarter, it was Florida State’s as they played with happy feet, constantly moving with inten- sity. How intense? With 29 sec- onds to go and a 9-point lead, the Seminoles created an OSU turn- over as they force a 5-second vio- lation on an inbound play. In the press conference follow- ing the game, Oregon State’s Syd- ney Wiese and Gabriella Hanson gave full credit to their opponent’s athleticism and intense play. When it was Seminoles head coach Sue Semrau’s turn to address the media, she spoke to the success of the program and yet emphasized, while it is wonder- ful to move on in the tournament, the main goal of their program is to get the girls who come to play for Florida State to know they are strong, beautiful, intelligent and powerful women. Any program with that has the priority is a auto- matic champion. Neil Branson is the former Sea- side High School cross-country coach.