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11A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017 ASTORIA FISHERMEN • SPRING SPORTS 2017 AHS boys golf — a young team in a tough district By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian A young team competing in a strong district was not a good mix for the Astoria boys golf program last season. Once again, the state cham- pion came out of Special Dis- trict 1. Following back-to- back state titles for Seaside, Crook County won last year’s state championship, with Scappoose fourth and Val- ley Catholic fifth. The Indians had actually won the Regional title, a week before Crook County won state. The Fishermen, mean- while, got lost in the shuffle, placing ninth out of 10 teams Senior Kirk Fausett is Astoria’s top returner for the boys golf team. Daily Astorian File Photo in the Regional meet. Astoria competed at dis- tricts with one senior, two juniors and three freshmen. Some are back and some are not for head coach Kevin Goin. “We’re seven deep, with 10 total” golfers, Goin said. “A lot of those kids are equal in talent, and that gives us some options,” with the top returners being senior Kirk Fausett and sophomore Taylor Palmberg. Fausett had Astoria’s top score in last year’s Special Dis- trict Regional, with Kyle Meis- ner and Joe Scott in between Fausett and Palmberg. Rounding out Astoria’s top seven this year will be Dylan Altheide-Nielson and Trevor Altheide-Nielson (who played two years ago), sophomore returner Conner Long, new- comer Josh Olson and senior Brian Wilder. Others on the roster include Sergei Davis, Tryton Matlock and Marcus Soderstrom. Team-wise, not much has changed atop the Cowapa, Goin said. “Scappoose should be good — they’ve got six tough kids, and depth makes a lot of dif- ference,” he said. “Then Val- ley Catholic and Seaside third, just given their past accom- plishments. Then it’s Banks, Tillamook and us all fighting for fourth.” Gasser: ‘Looking forward to one more shot’ ASTORIA BASEBALL By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian hey’re loaded with talent, T stacked with seniors, and the coach is ready for one more go-round, as Astoria baseball prepares for the 2017 season. The goal: To win the Cow- apa League. And in the Con- ference of Champions, if you do that, you’ve got an inside track to a state title. Astoria was 8-7 in league play last year — certainly not the best ever for the Fish- ermen — but the Fish also advanced all the way to the 4A semifinals. To head coach Dave Gas- ser, it’s pretty simple: “Goal-wise, it’s a realistic goal to win our league. And if we win our league, we might be home for a long time in the playoffs. Any team that wins our league is going to be highly rated. Simple as that.” For Gasser, the winningest coach in Oregon high school baseball history, the coach has already announced that the 2017 season will be his last. “Definitely. I made it offi- cial the end of last summer. I’m going to graduate with the kids who were 7 and 8 when I started. It’s good timing. Just looking forward to one more shot.” Coach: Dave Gasser, 10th year 2016: 17-12 (8-7 league) Playoffs: Won state playoff games at North Bend (7-6) and Cottage Grove (4-2); lost semifi- nal at Henley (2-5). All-State Losses: Carter Wal- lace, OF All-State Returners: Fridtjof Fremstad, Sr. Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian Entering his final season of a long and storied coaching career, Astoria’s Dave Gasser has the Fishermen pointing in the right direction for a great spring. THE COWAPA In the recently completed boys basketball season, four of the final eight teams were from the Cowapa League. Baseball could be equally strong. The league was “one one- run ballgame from three out four teams being in the semis last year,” Gasser said. “If Valley Catholic wins, they’re in the semifinals. “Banks is the returning league champion, and they have a number of good play- ers returning,” he said. “Val- ley lost some kids, but they have good athletes and are well-coached; Scappoose is always solid. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had three top 10 teams.” Goal No. 1 for the Fish- ermen: avoid last year’s 1-3 start in league play. THE FISHERMEN Some of the key players are still recovering from inju- ries suffered in other sports. The list includes Astoria’s only all-state returner, senior pitcher/shortstop Fridtjof Fremstad. Senior outfielder Kyle Strange broke his leg playing football, and senior Jared Lucore did the same in wrestling. “Fritz is recovering from a sprained ankle, and making The Daily Astorian/File Photos ABOVE: Astoria’s Fridtjof Fremstad is “one of the state’s best shortstops,” according to Astoria coach Dave Gas- ser. RIGHT: Astoria’s Ole Englund plays at second base and is the No. 2 pitcher. progress; and Kyle is about 85 percent,” Gasser said. “Over- all, the kids are good.” The final nine Astoria puts on the field will be one of the best at the 4A level. And the talent level goes far past the first nine. “We’re probably two- deep at every position,” Gas- ser said. “The kids up front should be fine. It should be as good a team as we’ve had in quite some time.” Six-foot-4 Jackson Arns- dorf, a hard-throwing senior, will always be in the lineup, either on the mound as the No. 1 pitcher, or at first base. Arnsdorf will play at the next level with Corban College. Senior Tyler Lyngstad is currently on the inactive list, working his way through a torn patellar tendon, suffered when he was trying to stretch a double into a triple against Gladstone. “We’re hoping that it will be rectified, and we can get him back soon,” Gas- ser said. Rounding out the infield, the Fish have senior Ole Englund at second base, Fremstad at shortstop and Trey Hageman at third. Englund will serve as the No. 2 pitcher, Fremstad as a closer and potential starter, and Hageman has already seen action on the mound, where Astoria will still have one of the deepest pitching staffs at the 4A level. “Ole is 6-2 and has really grown up,” Gasser said. “His arm’s a lot better than it was last year. He’s got a strong arm, and he’s a four-year let- terman with great poise.” Fremstad is “one of the state’s best shortstops. With Fritz and Ole up the middle, most any team in the state, any classification, would be happy with that. They’re legitimately good players, and their IQs are very high.” In addition, Hageman “has two years of varsity under his belt. When we moved him to third and Kyle Strange to ... is one of the most unique Cafes in the world. Located on the Columbia River in the West’s oldest cannery building historic Hanthorn Cannery at the end of Pier 39 L IFE HAPPEN S... Tha t’s w hy w e’re here! Com e vis it us for your S ports P hys ica ls on ly $40 ! K eith K la tt, M D • S a lly B a k er, PA -C M a rk Ta b o r, PA -C • H o n ey M a rqu es , PA -C 503-325-0333 2120 Excha n ge S t., S u ite 111 Ho u rs : 9 AM - 7 PM Ope n 7 Da ys A W e e k! W a lk-in s W e lc o m e A CCEPTING M OS T I NS URA NCE , O HP & M EDICA RE • 20% C A S H D IS CO UNT A S T ORIA Y OUT H Friendly services, high quality espresso, sumptuous fresh pastries, unique breakfasts and lunches. “oooooh...” Have a Great Season! “aaaaah...” center last year, we took off. Trey has a very strong arm, nice glove and handles the hot stuff well.” The Fishermen have more players than spots in the out- field, with Cade O’Brien (Sr.), Samboy Tuimato (Sr.), Tristan Wallace (So.) and Strange. “Cade has started two years, Samboy was close to being a first-team all-leaguer last year, hitting in the high .300s … Tristan Wallace is also in the mix,” Gasser said. “He’s a left-handed hitter, a better-than-average contact guy who can bunt and run, and very solid as an outfielder.” Behind the plate is Jasyn Gohl (Sr.), who “hit over .300 last year, can run well, he’s 6-2 and has a very good home-to-second arm. He’s going to throw people out.” Finally, Astoria’s top three or four pitchers could be No. 1 or 2 pitchers on pretty much any team in the Cowapa. “Ole did a lot of pitching last summer and did real well in the state tournament,” Gas- ser said. “He was good. Ole’s there, and when Fritz gets healthy, we’ll be looking for him to close. “Fritz is around 6-0, 195; Linky (Lyngstad) is 5-11, 195; Ole’s 6-2 … Arnsdorf, Olaf and Fremstad are the top three (until Lyngstad’s possible return), with Trey and Wallace,” he said. “And a sixth coming up is Calvin Kaul (also an outfielder/first baseman). He’s going to be a good one. “Tristan is a solid left- handed pitcher, decent fast- ball, decent curve and very good command. If we play five games in a week, by the fourth day we could throw Trey and Tristan, and it wouldn’t be a badly pitched game.” Adding depth to the lineup will be Burke Matthews (So.), Zach Patterson (Jr.) and Will Reed (So.). With the talent, depth, experience and coaching … the 2017 season could be a special one for the Fishermen, who are looking to get back to the state title game for the first time since 2011. Of this year’s senior group, “three of them started as freshmen, and we lost in the first round that year,” Gas- ser said. “The next year as sophomores they lost in the quarters (at Hidden Valley), 12-10; and last year we lost in the semi’s. “So the kids have been moving up with each year. Realistically, if we play well, we should be a very good team. There’s no mystery to that.” MON-THU 7am–4pm FRI 7am-5pm SAT 8am-5pm SUN 8am-4pm 100 39th Street #2 ASTORIA OREGON 503.325.6900 TheCoffeeGirl.com A T H L ET I C S would like to thank M C DONA L DS, FUL T A NOS P IZZA , VA N DUSEN BEVERA G ES, C L A T SOP DIST RIBUT ING & the Astoria community for their continued support of youth athletics. AY A is a no n-pro fit a thle tic bo o ste r c lub c o m m itte d to suppo rting a nd pro m o ting yo uth spo rts, k -12 in Asto ria , thro ug h vo lunte e r se rvic e a nd fina nc ia l a ssista nc e . “ G row ing C om m unity through Y outh Athletic s ”
