The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, April 21, 2017, Image 8

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Newspaper Page Text8A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Warriors lower the boom on Toledo, 8-1 Fishermen cruise to another win The Daily Astorian The result was predictable Thursday at CMH Field, where the ﬁ rst-place Astoria Fish- ermen hosted last-place Til- lamook in a Cowapa League baseball game. In their daily trek from the The Daily Astorian TOLEDO — The Warrenton softball team took a break from league play with a nonleague game Thursday at Toledo, the No. 7-ranked team at the 2A level. And the Warriors had no prob- lems against the Boomers, as War- renton scored eight runs on just four hits in an 8-1 win. “We struggled getting our tim- ing in the ﬁ rst three innings,” said Warrenton coach Staci Miethe, whose team is 10-3 over- all. “Toledo threw their No. 2 (pitcher) at us, which was actually pretty effective because of the off speed. We were just starting to dial in when she began having control troubles.” Two Toledo pitchers combined to walk 11 batters. For Warrenton, Niqui Blodgett was dominant in the circle, allow- ing just two hits with seven strike- outs and four walks. “We had a pretty good defen- sive day,” Miethe said. “Niqui only gave up two hits,” one of which was a triple that scored Toledo’s lone run. Warrenton catcher Landree Miethe later picked the base run- ner off at third to end the inning. The Warriors host Clatskanie Tuesday. school to the Fish Bowl, the Fishermen ran their league- best record to 6-0, in an 11-1 drubbing of the Cheesemakers, now 0-6. Astoria gave their top three pitchers the day off and decided to go deep into the pitching staff, as junior Trey Hageman and sophomore Tris- tin Wallace tossed a two-hitter for the Fishermen. Hageman and Wallace combined to strike out seven with just two walks, and the Fishermen — who rarely lose an inning — rallied from a 1-0 deﬁ cit after a half-inning SPORTS IN BRIEF Merchants’ fast-pitch tryout coming Sunday The Daily Astorian Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian Seaside first baseman Dylan Meyer receives a pick -off attempt during the Seagulls game Thursday with Banks. More photos from Thursday’s game are available online at DailyAstorian.com/sports Braves blank Gulls Researchers to examine Hernandez’s brain for CTE The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — After scor- ing a near-upset over Banks on Tuesday, the Seaside Gulls couldn’t quite keep pace with the Braves’ bats Thursday night at Broadway Field. Banks banged out 11 hits off two Seaside pitchers, plenty for an 8-0 win over the Gulls in Cowapa League baseball action. The Braves used three pitch- ers — Justin Bral, Kobie Lyche and Casey McGough — who combined to toss a three-hit shutout, with six strikeouts and two walks. After a scoreless ﬁ rst inning, Banks scored three times in the top of the second, highlighted by an RBI double from Jared Evans and a run-scoring single by Blake Goble. The Gulls committed ﬁ ve errors in the game, including two in the third inning, when the Braves tacked on two more runs on just one hit. Seaside had its chances — Payton Westerholm reached base on an inﬁ eld single in the bottom of the third, followed by a single to left by Brent Walsh, before Bral was able to get out of the inning. The Gulls stranded two more runners in the fourth and left two runners on in the sixth, when back-to-back errors by the Braves gave Seaside two base runners with no outs, before McGough retired three Associated Press BOSTON — Boston Univer- sity researchers will study Aaron Hernandez’s brain to determine if the former NFL star suffered from the same degenerative brain dis- ease as Hall of Famer Junior Seau and former Bears defensive back Dave Duerson, who also took their own lives. Hernandez hanged himself in prison early Wednesday, days after winning an acquittal in a 2012 double homicide case. He was already serving a life term in a 2013 killing. After a brief public dispute between Massachusetts authori- ties and Hernandez’s family, the former Patriots tight end’s brain was released to BU’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Cen- ter. In addition to Seau and Duer- son, CTE has been found in the brains of NFL Hall of Famers Ken Stabler, Frank Gifford, Mike Webster and dozens of other for- mer players. Hernandez attorney Jose Baez wouldn’t say Thursday if he or the family believed potential brain damage from football led to Her- nandez’s suicide. The Daily Astorian Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian Seaside third baseman Duncan Thompson chases down an er- rant throw during a game with Banks Thursday. Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez OAKLAND, Calif. — Cesar Val- dez waited so long to step on a major league mound again, he can only hope his return all these years later might eventually lead to a long stay. The second chance he has been so coveting. One to make his late father proud. In the minds of many, Valdez earned a victory just by getting back at long last to pitch in the big leagues for the ﬁ rst time in nearly seven years during the Oakland Athletics’ 9-6 win against the Seattle Mariners on Thurs- day night. “I thank God ﬁ rst and I thank Oak- land for the opportunity to return to the majors after seven years,” Val- dez said. “It’s preparing me for the next opportunity, whenever the second CORNELIUS — The Astoria girls golf team competed against golfers from Scappoose Thursday at Forest Hills Golf Club. The match was not team-scored — although the Lady Fishermen would have ﬁ n- ished with a season-low score of 462, as four of Astoria’s ﬁ ve golf- ers shot either career or season low scores. Samantha Hemsley topped Astoria with a season-best 103, followed by Jenna Travers (106) and Kristen Travers (124) — both personal best scores; Sadie Wooldridge added a 129, and Sarah Lertora shot a personal best 157. Sariah Dieffenbach, Anna Gimre and Jasmin Mabry also took part in Thursday’s match at Forest Hills, which will be the site on Day 2 of this year’s Regionals tournament. Seaside assistant coach Dan McFadden walks out to remove start- ing pticher Gage McFadden during a game with Banks Thursday. in a row to end the threat. Otto Hoekstre had a lead- off double for the Gulls in the second inning, but was thrown out on a steal attempt. Valdez makes ﬁ rst start in nearly seven years By JANIE MCCAULEY Associated Press The North Coast Merchants’ fast-pitch softball program is holding a tryout session Sunday at Warrenton High School, rain or shine. The Merchants offer competitive fast-pitch softball for North Coast girls age 10 to 14. There are currently two teams in the association — 12U (2004 birthday and younger) and 14U (2002 birthday and younger). Summer fees are $200 per player. Tournaments are two-day events out of town. There is a $10 tryout fee for all new players. Tryouts for 12U are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 2-4 p.m. for 14U. To pre register or for more information, leave mes- sage on North Coast Merchant Facebook page, or email Staci Miethe at stacimiethe@msn. com. Astoria golfers perform well at Forest Hills ATHLETICS 9, MARINERS 6 Oakland Athletics starting pitch- er Cesar Valdez throws to a Se- attle Mariners batter during the second inning of a baseball game Thursday in Oakland, Calif. with two runs in the bottom of the ﬁ rst and never looked back. Jasyn Gohl had three of Astoria’s 10 hits, while Sam- boy Tuimato had two hits and scored three runs, and Zac Pat- terson hit a solo home run to highlight the win. UP NEXT: MARINERS • Seattle Mariners (7-10) at Oakland Athletics (8-8) • Tonight, 7:05 p.m. TV: NSCA, RTNW chance comes.” He allowed three runs and ﬁ ve hits in four innings, struck out four and walked two. This marked just the third start of his career at age 32 and 10th appearance in all — and he is probably headed right back to the minors soon. A right-hander from the Domini- can Republic, he was called up from Triple-A Nashville to ﬁ ll in for injured opening day starter Kendall Grave- man. Valdez last pitched in the big leagues on June 10, 2010, with Arizona just more than a month after his previ- ous start on May 8. “Oh, that’s amazing right there,” teammate Rajai Davis said. Valdez was traded to Pittsburgh that December to complete the trade that sent pitcher Zach Duke to the Diamond- backs, and his contract was bought by Florida in July 2011 and by Toronto later that month. He was released by Toronto after two days, played several years in Mexico, spent 2016 in Hous- ton’s organization and signed with the A’s during the offseason. “What a great story. It’s been a while since he’s been in the big leagues,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “You really feel good about guys that have perse- vered and hang around with the aspi- rations to get back to the big leagues. He performed well for us this spring, he’s done well early in the season in Triple-A so we’re rewarding him with a start and it’s great to see because very competitive guys like that don’t take no for an answer.” SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TODAY Baseball — Catlin Gabel at Warrenton (2), 3:30 p.m.; Nestucca at Knappa (2), 3 p.m. Softball — Valley Catholic at Astoria (2), 4 p.m.; Tillamook at Seaside (2), 4 p.m. SATURDAY Baseball — Astoria at Rainier, 1 p.m. Babe Ruth Baseball — Naselle at Warrenton, 10:30 a.m.; Ilwaco at Knap- pa, 10:30 a.m. Softball — Estacada at Astoria, 1 p.m. Track — Centennial Invitational, 11 a.m. BASEBALL Banks 8, Seaside 0 Banks 032 012 0—8 11 2 Seaside 000 000 0—0 3 5 Bral, Lyche (4), McGough (6) and Mc- Gough, Herb (6); McFadden, Wester- holm (5) and Landwehr. W: Bral. L: McFadden. RBI: Banks, Thiessen, Jar. Evans, Goble, Herb, Vandehey. 2B: Banks, Jar.Evans; Sea, Hoekstre. HBP: Banks, Vandehey; Sea, Hoekstre. LOB: Banks 7, Seaside 6. Astoria 11, Tillamook 1 Tillamook 100 000—1 2 2 Astoria 202 421—11 10 0 Wilkes, Brown (4), List (6); Hageman, Wallace (5) and Gohl, Reed. W: Hage- man. L: Wilkes. RBI: Til, Wagner; Ast, Strange 3, Fremstad 2, Tuimato, Hage- man, Gohl, Patterson, Arnsdorf. 2B: Ast, Arnsdorf. HR: Ast, Patterson. HBP: Ast, Hageman. LOB: Tillamook 2, Astoria 6.