10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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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.