10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Warriors cruise to fifth straight win
Warrenton could
challenge Rainier
for a league title
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Two teams on a roll
met on the field late Tuesday night to
finish up the Seaside Spring Break
Softball Tournament.
When it was over, the Warrenton
Warriors were still on a roll.
The Warriors — who could be
challenging Rainier for a league
championship a month from now —
continued their hot streak by cruis-
ing past Astoria 11-0 on a cold, rainy
night at Broadway Field.
Warrenton pitcher Niqui Blodgett
allowed just three hits with eight
strikeouts and four walks, and her
defense backed her up for the War-
riors’ fifth straight victory, with no
losses.
“I am very pleased with our pre-
season performance,” said Warren-
ton coach Staci Miethe, off to one of
her best starts ever. “At this time we
have five players hitting over .500.
That’s pretty impressive, but what’s
more impressive is that three of them
are freshmen. If we can continue to
put the ball in play and make the easy
plays we will be competitive.”
Meanwhile, the Fishermen trailed
just 3-0 through five innings, but
some late-game defensive miscues
allowed the Warriors to pull away
for the win. Astoria finished with five
costly errors, and a few more men-
tal mistakes in the sixth and seventh
innings.
Blodgett worked her way out of
the few jams that she was in, as the
Fishermen stranded six baserunners.
Offensively, it was “Ground Rule
Double Night” for the Warriors.
Back-to-back ground rule dou-
bles in the top of the second inning
led to three runs.
Freshman Melia Kapua reached
on an error to lead off and scored
on another throwing error moments
later.
Freshman Natalie Duncan had the
first of her two ground rule doubles,
and scored on a ground rule double
by Claire Bussert, whose hit to the
outfield bounced over the fence (not
hard to do, since the fence was laying
flat on the ground).
Bussert later scored on an error.
That was more than enough for
Blodgett, the junior who was mow-
ing down the Fishermen all night.
“Niqui hasn’t pitched a game
when it wasn’t wet yet, and she is
still solid,” Miethe said. “We haven’t
been able to use all her arsenal yet,
so I — like everyone else in the state
— can’t wait to play in normal soft-
ball weather.
“We’ve played games in con-
ditions this year we wouldn’t nor-
mally play in because we need to get
games in,” she said. “It’s tough on
the girls but at least we are getting on
the field. I keep telling them that this
is the toughest conditions, so the fair
weather games should be easy.”
Blodgett struck out two in the
fourth inning, giving up a single to
Astoria’s Lexi Lyngstad in between.
The Warriors had another poten-
tial rally squashed in the fifth, when
Landree Miethe led off with a single,
but was caught stealing by Astoria
all-league catcher Caitlyn Hougham.
Warrenton returned the favor in
the bottom of the fifth, when Rylee
DeMander had a leadoff walk, but
was thrown out at second by Miethe
on a steal attempt.
Freshman Kenz Ramsey had a
two-run single for the Warriors to
highlight a five-run sixth inning,
while Bussert and Ramsey had back-
to-back run-scoring singles in the
seventh to cap Warrenton’s night.
Earlier in the day, Astoria
defeated Cottage Grove 20-1, drop-
ping the winless Lions to 0-7.
Warrenton (5-0) is scheduled to
host a doubleheader with Willamina
(0-1) Saturday at noon.
Astoria
rallies for
win over
Madison
The Daily Astorian
Astoria overcame a 2-1 defi-
cit through five innings with three
runs in the sixth on its way to a 4-2
win over Madison in a nonleague
baseball game Tuesday at CMH
Field.
Astoria’s three-day tournament
concludes today at CMH, with the
Fishermen (4-1 overall) taking on
Yamhill-Carlton (1-0) at 1 p.m.
Class 6A Madison falls to 0-5.
Kyle Strange and Jasyn Gohl
had back-to-back singles in Asto-
ria’s sixth inning rally, with
Strange scoring on a bases-loaded
walk to tie the game.
Samboy Tuimato was hit by a
pitch to force in the go-ahead run,
and Gohl scored on a sacrifice fly
by Zach Patterson for the final run.
Astoria starter Olaf Englund
pitched four-and-a-third innings,
allowing four hits with four strike-
outs, three walks and four hit
batters.
Englund gave way to Trey
Hageman and eventually Fridtjof
Fremstad, with Hageman picking
up the win and Fremstad earning
the save.
Madison stranded 10 baserun-
ners in the loss.
Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian
Ilwaco, Wash., junior Makenzie
Kaech was named first team
all-state Monday.
Loggers
drop two
on eastern
road swing
Kaech
named
first team
all-state
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
ILWACO, Wash. — Ilwaco
basketball player Makenzie
Kaech was selected first team
Class 2B all-state by the Associ-
ated Press.
Kaech is one of two juniors on
the first team, with all five spots
going to players from South-
west Washington District 4. The
all-state team was voted on by
sportswriters and editors from
around Washington state.
The Class 2B state Player
of the Year was senior Peyton
Souvenir of Wahkiakum, while
the state co-Players of the Year
(for all classes) were seniors
Jadyn Bush of Bishop Blan-
chet and Anna Luce of Mercer
Island.
In addition to Kaech and
Souvenir, the first team included
seniors Parker Esary and Kaelyn
Shipley of Kalama, and junior
Mollie Olson of Napavine.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside’s GeriAnn Klaffke attempts to tag out a runner at third base.
Lady Gulls fall short against
Valley Catholic despite rally
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
Seaside had the winning runs on second and third
Tuesday, when Valley Catholic recorded the final out
for an 11-10 win over the Gulls on Day 2 of Sea-
side’s Spring Break Tournament.
The Valiants jumped out to a 7-0 lead after a
half-inning, before the Gulls rallied and eventually
took the lead.
Seaside’s Jetta Ideue came on in relief in the
second inning pitched a great game, finishing with
seven strikeouts.
The Gulls scored one run in their first at-bat, fol-
lowed by two runs in the second, one in the third and
two in the fourth to take the lead.
Valley Catholic retook the lead in the top of the
fifth, and the Gulls answered with four in the bot-
tom of the fifth, with their rally falling one run short.
Seaside opened the day against Jefferson, which
posted a 16-7 win over the Gulls.
Ideue started and struck out eight, while Emma
Meyer entered in the fourth inning and finished with
two strikeouts.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Baseball — Yamhill-Carlton at Astoria,
1 p.m.
THURSDAY
Baseball — Amity at Warrenton, 4:30
p.m.; Ocosta at Ilwaco (2), 3 p.m.
SATURDAY
Baseball — Willamina at Warrenton
(2), Noon; Knappa at Santiam (2), 1 p.m.
SOFTBALL
Warrenton 11, Astoria 0
Warrenton 030 005 3—11 11 2
Astoria
000 000 0—0 3 5
WP: Niqui Blodgett (8 K’s, 4 walks).
LP: McKailyn Rogers (2 K’s, 1 walk).
RBI: War, Ramsey 3, Bussert 2, Miethe,
Duncan. 2B: War, Duncan 2, Bussert;
Ast, Hougham. HBP: War, Kapua. LOB:
Warrenton 5, Astoria 6.
BASEBALL
Astoria 4, Madison 2
Madison
101 000 0—2 4 0
Astoria
001 003 x—4 4 0
Bennett, Powers (6) and Dunster; En-
glund, Hageman (5), Fremstad (7) and
Gohl. W: Hageman. L: Powers. S: Frem-
stad. RBI: Mad, Glenn, Bains; Ast, Tui-
mato, Patterson, Arnsdorf. HBP: Mad,
Powers, Bennett, Bains, Stuhr; Ast, Tu-
imato. LOB: Madison 10, Astoria 6.
Blazers defeat Nuggets to take 1-game
lead for 8th seed in Western Conference
By ERIK GARCIA
GUNDERSEN
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Jusuf Nurkic
knows what his former team is miss-
ing. He illustrated that Tuesday night
and got serenaded by his new fans in
the process.
Nurkic had a career-high 33 points
with 16 rebounds against his ex-team-
mates, CJ McCollum had 39 points
and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the
Denver Nuggets 122-113 on Tuesday
night to take hold of the eighth seed in
the Western Conference.
“They know definitely what
they’re missing,” Nurkic said. “But
they’re happy for me that I find my
spot, and I’m happy for me, too.”
Portland leads Denver by a game
UP NEXT: TRAIL BLAZERS
• Houston Rockets (51-23)
at Portland Trail Blazers (36-38)
• Thursday, 7:30 p.m. TV: TNT
for the final playoff spot in the West-
ern Conference. The Blazers also
clinched the season-series tiebreaker
with the Nuggets, giving them an
upper hand with eight games to play.
After the game, Nurkic’s former
coach could only tip his hat.
“Jusuf Nurkic kicked our ass,”
Nuggets coach Mike Malone said.
“(He) was very physical.”
Jameer Nelson led Denver with 23
points.
The Blazers got Nurkic involved
early against his former team. On
Portland’s first possession, Nur-
kic scored on a post-up play against
Nikola Jokic, who took Nurkic’s
starting spot in Denver.
After another first-quarter basket,
Nurkic called on the crowd to pick up
the noise, which was a theme for him
throughout the night, even while on
the bench.
When Nurkic left the game late in
the third quarter, he did so to a stand-
ing ovation.
It wouldn’t be his last of the night,
as Blazers coach Terry Stotts pulled
Nurkic for a curtain call with 19 sec-
onds left.
Nurkic spoke to the crowd after
the game, even taking a shot at his
former team.
“I wish those guys a happy sum-
mer,” Nurkic said.
IRRIGON — The Knappa
softball team ran into a tough
Grant Union squad Tuesday after-
noon on the second day of the
Loggers’ road swing through east-
ern Oregon.
Hours after an eight-inning loss
to Burns, the Loggers went down
in five innings to Grant Union,
which posted a 13-2 win over
Knappa.
Paris Vanderburg was 2-for-3
with a double and two RBI’s for
the Loggers, and Sophie Carlson
added a hit.
Knappa held a 6-1 lead in Tues-
day’s opener with Burns, before
the Hilanders rallied.
Vanderburg was 2-for-3, and
Katie Denny highlighted a Knappa
rally with a two-run single.
Logger freshman pitcher Mad-
elynn Weaver struck out eight with
two walks.
Tryouts for
Merchants
youth softball
this Sunday
The Daily Astorian
Tryouts for North Coast Mer-
chants 2017 softball season
are Sunday at Warrenton High
School, rain or shine.
There are two teams in the
association, which provides com-
petitive fast-pitch softball for
North Coast girls ages 10-14: a
12-and-Under team (2004 birth-
day or younger) and a 14-and-Un-
der team (2002 birthday or
younger).
Summer fees are $200 per
player. Tournaments are two-day
events out of town.
Sunday’s tryout will be from
10 a.m. to noon for 12U, and 1
p.m. to 3 p.m. for 14U. There is a
$10 tryout fee for all new players.
To preregister or for more
information, leave a message on
the North Coast Merchant Face-
book page or email coach Staci
Miethe at: stacimiethe@msn.
com.