9A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2017
SEASIDE SEAGULLS • SPRING SPORTS 2017
Gulls look to ‘earn their wings’
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
aving endured the last
H
two years with very
young lineups on the field,
the Seaside Gulls are ready
to “earn their wings,” so to
speak, in 2017.
Even so, the Gulls will still
be one of the youngest teams
in the Cowapa League, as they
played the 2016 season with
six freshmen and three soph-
omores on their varsity roster.
Many of those players
started or were more than part-
time contributors for a team
that struggled to a 6-20 finish,
2-13 in league play.
But the Gulls have already
shown that they’ve made
strides, early in the 2017 sea-
son. They advanced to the
championship game of their
own tournament, losing to
Hockinson, Wash., in the final.
“I see us improving this
year,” said coach Joel Dier-
ickx, entering his 20th year
at Seaside. “We’re improving
and getting better every day,
and we’ll see how that plays
out.”
THE COWAPA
Success in basketball just
hasn’t carried over into base-
ball for the Gulls, who are
a combined 5-40 in league
games over the last three
years.
Of course, it’s not easy
when there’re three Cowapa
teams in the final eight of the
state playoffs, as there was last
season.
As it is in most sports, the
Cowapa will be the tough-
est league in the state at the
4A level, with Astoria, Banks,
Scappoose and Valley Cath-
olic all legitimate state title
contenders.
“It’s as tough as ever,” Dier-
ickx said. “Astoria, Banks,
Valley Catholic, Scappoose …
are all right up there.”
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Gage McFadden plays in the middle infield and pitches for Seaside. The Cowapa League will be the toughest league in the state at the 4A level.
THE GULLS
The good news: the Gulls
had just two seniors last year,
and return most of their start-
ing lineup intact.
A more experienced Sea-
side team will have four
seniors on the field, with three
juniors among the regulars.
Returning seniors include
catcher/outfielder Otto Hoek-
stre, pitcher/infielder Scotty
Plampin,
outfielder/pitcher
Dylan Wallis, and infielder/
pitcher Brent Walsh, who
is “solid on the mound and
behind the plate and as a mid-
dle infielder,” Dierickx said.
Dawson Blanchard, a
6-foot junior outfielder/util-
Freshman Brayden Johnson fields a ground ball and
throws to first base.
SEASIDE BASEBALL
Coach: Joel Dierickx, 20th year
2016: 6-20 (2-13 league)
Key Losses: Jacob Bassett, Michael Lewis
Key Returners: Dawson Blachard, Jr.; Otto Hoekstre, Sr.; Gage
McFadden, So.; Scotty Plampin, Sr.; Dylan Wallis, Sr.; Brent Walsh,
Sr.; Payton Westerholm, So.
ity player, will be one of the
Gulls’ big hitters at the plate
this season. Just recently, he
had three hits in the first of two
Sunday games in the Seaside
tournament, with a two-run
home run in the second game.
Ashton Boyd enters his
junior year, and “we’re trying
to find a spot for him,” Dier-
Pitcher/infielder Scott Plampin attempts to tag out an Estacada runner at second base.
ickx said. “He’s grown a lot,
he’s putting the ball in play
and doing a great job.”
Junior Astor Landwehr will
see most of his action in the
outfield.
The rest are sophomores,
with one freshmen.
Gage McFadden and Pay-
ton Westerholm are both mid-
dle infielders/pitchers; Isaias
Jantes is at third base, with
Dylan Meyer at first; and Dun-
can Thompson is a pitcher/
infielder.
Other sophomores include
Jacob Derby, Travis Fenton
and Paxson VanNortwick, a
pitcher/first baseman.
Freshmen Brayden John-
son and Ledger Pugh are both
on the Seaside varsity roster.
Dierickx is assisted by Ross
Knutsen and Dan McFadden.
Gulls enter rebuilding year
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
EO Media Group/File Photo
Jackson Kunde is Seaside’s most experienced golfer.
The state 4A champions of
2014 and 2015 are in full-on
rebuilding mode in 2017.
Seaside boys golf coach
Jim Poetsch can proclaim
one thing: He has one of the
youngest teams in the region.
That fact was evident in the
first two tournaments of the
new season for the Gulls.
Just two years after win-
ning their second straight state
championship, Seaside has
youth up and down the roster,
with no seniors and just one
junior.
Seaside’s second out-
ing of the current season was
a 43-stroke loss to Cowapa
League rival, on Seaside’s
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“We got a chance to see
where we need to be if we
want to compete at season’s
end this year,” Poetsch said
after the match. “Valley Cath-
olic returns five players from
a team that led the state tour-
nament after the first day last
year, and they should have a
shot at the title this year.
“We have a bunch of young
guys that don’t have a lot of
experience, but they are get-
ting a little better every day,”
he said. “Jackson (Kunde)
showed some flashes of good
golf today, as he birdied two
of the last three holes on the
front side.”
Seaside opened the season
by finishing seventh out of 10
teams at The Dalles Invita-
tional — a tough tournament
for a young team to make its
debut.
Sophomore Connor Mer-
rell led the Gulls with a 93,
followed by another sopho-
more, Samson Sibony, with
a 96. Kunde — Seaside’s
most-experienced player as
the lone junior — shot 100
followed by two more soph-
omores, Mason Shamion and
Mason Crawford.
The Dalles Invite “was a
good test for our young guys,”
Poetsch said. “Besides the
home team, only five players
were able to break 90. Con-
nor was only a few strokes off
joining that elite group. He
has worked hard during the
off-season, and I expect him
to get a little better each week
as the season progresses.
“This course points out
any flaws in your game, and
it showed us we have some
work to do,” he said. “But for
as young as we are, we only
scored a few higher than last
year. I’m hoping this group
sees their potential to be a
good team and works to reach
that goal this year.”
Scappoose is the defend-
ing district regional cham-
pion, as the Indians took the
team title last season over
Crook County, Valley Catho-
lic and Seaside. All four teams
were within 16 strokes of each
other.
Kunde was Seaside’s sec-
ond-highest scorer in the
regional meet, behind the
graduated Aaron Richardson.
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