12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Astoria
girls shoot
season
best on
the links
The Daily Astorian
BANKS — After one round
of the Special District 1 girls golf
Regional Championships, Oregon
Episcopal leads the team standings
over Valley Catholic, with Astoria
a distant fourth.
The Aardvarks carded a 397
team score Monday at Quail Val-
ley Golf Course in Banks, where
12 schools are competing for the
Regional title.
The final round takes place today
at Forest Hills Golf in Cornelius.
Morgan Hall of Scappoose is
atop the leaderboard with an 85,
a one-stroke lead over Anni Li of
Oregon Episcopal.
Team-wise, Valley Catholic is
23 strokes off the pace with a 420,
followed by Crook County (437),
Astoria (446) and Gladstone (521).
The top three teams advance to the
state tournament.
The Lady Fishermen had a
good day on the course, firing a
season-best team score, following
personal best days for three of their
five golfers.
Samantha Hemsley shot 48s on
the front and back nine for a first
round 96, her personal best. Jenna
Travers carded a 107, and was fol-
lowed by Kristen Travers with a
career-best 120, Sadie Wooldridge
(123) and Sarah Lertora (personal
best 133).
Five schools are competing
with incomplete teams, including
Seaside.
Caroline Kotson led the Lady
Gulls Monday with a 111, fol-
lowed by Madeline Brown (141)
and Caitlin Hillman (155).
Braves defeat
Gulls, 10-0
The Daily Astorian
BANKS — Banks was holding
a slim 3-0 lead after three innings
Monday, before the Braves erupted
for seven in the bottom of the
fourth, on their way to a 10-0 win
over Seaside in Cowapa League
baseball action.
Braves pitchers Thomas Cook
and Justin Bral teamed up on the
three-hit shutout, striking out three
with two walks.
Brent Walsh, Payton Wester-
holm and Isaias Jantes had the only
hits for the Gulls, who return to
action today vs. Astoria at Tapiola
Park.
Bral had three hits and Hayden
Vandehey scored three runs for the
Braves.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Baseball — Seaside at Astoria, 5 p.m.;
Warrenton at Catlin Gabel, 4 p.m.; Knap-
pa at Vernonia, 4:30 p.m.
Softball — Astoria at Valley Catholic, 5
p.m.; Seaside at Tillamook, 4:30 p.m.
Girls Golf — Regionals, at Quail Valley,
11 a.m.
Boys Golf — Regionals, at Quail Valley,
TBA
SOFTBALL
Warriors 6, Cougars 1
Warrenton 310 110 0—6 12 0
Portland AA 000 100 0—1 3 6
WP: Niqui Blodgett (7 K’s, 1 walk). LP:
Tori Johnson (6 K’s, 0 walks). RBI: War,
Blodgett, Duncan, Bussert; PA, K.Blank.
2B: War, Little; PA, E.Blank. LOB: Warren-
ton 8, Portland Adventist 2. DP: Portland
Adventist.
BASEBALL
Astoria 2, Tillamook 0
Astoria
000 001 1—2 6 0
Tillamook 000 000 0—0 1 1
Arnsdorf, Fremstad (7) and Gohl; Har-
mon and Wagner. W: Arnsdorf. L: Har-
mon. S: Fremstad. RBI: Ast, Englund,
Lyngstad. 2B: Ast, Lyngstad. HBP: Ast,
Tuimato; Til, Wagner. LOB: Astoria 4, Til-
lamook 2.
Banks 10, Seaside 0
Seaside
000 00—0 3 0
Banks
102 7x—10 12 0
Thompson, Westerholm (4) and Walsh;
Cook, Bral (3) and Herb. W: Bral. L:
Thompson. RBI: Banks, Applegate 2,
Thiessen 2, Evans 2, Partain, Bunn, Mc-
Gough. 2B: Banks, Applegate, Evans. 3B:
Banks, Vandehey. HBP: Sea, Blanchard;
Banks, Partain. LOB: Seaside 5, Banks 4.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Tyla Little reaches second for the Warrenton Warriors during a game Monday versus Portland Adventist Academy.
Lady Warriors one
step closer to state
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
UP NEXT: LADY WARRIORS
WARRENTON — Other than a top-three
finish in league play, the Warrenton Lady
Warriors have not officially clinched any-
thing, with two games still remaining on the
regular season schedule.
But with their 6-1 win over Portland
Adventist Monday, the Warriors just put a
downpayment on second place in the Lewis &
Clark League standings — along with a spot
in the state playoffs, which Warrenton softball
hasn’t seen since 2013.
With two no-hitters over the last two
weeks, Warrenton pitcher Niqui Blodgett is
hitting her stride, while the Warriors bats are
heating up.
It was all working in Monday’s big league
showdown with the Cougars, who split a dou-
bleheader with the Warriors earlier in the
season.
• Warrenton Lady Warriors (8-6)
at Clatskanie Lady Tigers (7-7)
• Friday, 3:30 p.m.
And Monday’s contest was actually no
contest, as Warrenton scored three runs in the
top of the first inning (the Warriors were the
visiting team) and never looked back.
Warrenton had 13 hits off Portland
Adventist senior Tori Johnson, played
errorless ball in the field, and Blodgett tossed
a three-hitter for another complete-game
win.
With the victory, the Warriors improve to
6-4 in league play, 1 1/2 games ahead of Clats-
kanie (4-5), which plays No. 1-ranked Rain-
ier today.
Warrenton finishes the league season Fri-
day with a doubleheader at Clatskanie, where
the Warriors only need to win one game to
clinch second place in the standings. War-
renton (which defeated the Tigers 10-3 in the
first meeting) would then host a league play-
off May 19.
“It doesn’t clinch (second), but if we hadn’t
won today, getting second place would have
been pretty tough,” said Warrenton coach
Staci Miethe. “We would have had to sweep
Friday, so we needed this one to stay in the
hunt.
“My girls are pretty confident,” she said.
“We beat (Clatskanie) pretty soundly the last
time. Their pitching isn’t as strong as PAA’s,
and we hit the ball well today. So I think we’ll
be able to get some hits and score some runs.
It will come down to keeping them off the
bases.”
Monday’s game was Senior Day for the
Warriors, who had just one senior.
See LADY WARRIORS, Page 11A
Warriors await challenge after
cruising to 8-0 in NBA playoffs
By KAREEM COPELAND
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — The
Golden State Warriors are four wins
from their third consecutive trip to
the NBA Finals — and likely a third
straight showdown with the Cleve-
land Cavaliers.
With four All-Stars, including two
MVPs, it’s not hard to see why.
The Warriors eliminated the Utah
Jazz in a sweep Monday night and are
8-0 in the postseason for the first time
in franchise history. The Cavaliers,
coincidentally, also swept their first
two opponents.
For Golden State, the games
mostly haven’t been close. Only one
victory, Game 3 against the Portland
Trail Blazers, was decided by fewer
than 11 points, and the Warriors never
trailed in three of the four games
against Utah. The trio of Stephen
Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond
Green has been consistently domi-
nant, and Golden State’s elite length
and athleticism on defense have been
stifling.
“We are mostly impressed with
how we are playing our brand of
basketball,” Green said. “We really
imposed our will on the other team.
That’s big. In the playoffs, you let a
team get in a groove and it’s hard to
win games like that.
“We have imposed our will all
eight games. That’s important on the
offensive and defensive end, and if
you can do that, with the talent that
we have, with the experience that we
have, it will be tough to beat us.”
In the Western Conference finals,
Astoria win
low-scoring
battle with
Tillamook
The Daily Astorian
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, left, and JaVale McGee (1) share
a laugh as they sit on the bench at the end of the second half during
Game 4 of the NBA basketball second-round playoff series against
the Utah Jazz Monday in Salt Lake City. The Warriors completed a sec-
ond-round sweep of the Utah Jazz with a 121-95 victory.
Golden State will face the winner of
the Spurs and Rockets, who are tied
2-2.
The Warriors are averaging a play-
off-high 115.3 points per game, ahead
of the Cavaliers’ 114.5. Golden State
is allowing 98.8 points in the postsea-
son to lead all teams still alive and has
a playoff-best 96.9 defensive rating.
The offense has come in waves.
One second, it’s Curry shining, then
Durant or Green the next. All-Star
Klay Thompson has been in a bit of a
slump, but still scored 21 points in the
121-95 victory Monday night.
Even as games have gotten more
physical, Golden State has stayed
strong on the ball and kept turnovers
to a minimum, said interim coach
Mike Brown. The Warriors’ 11.5
turnovers per game lead all teams
still playing, and Brown thinks com-
bining that with their elite shoot-
ing and defense makes for a peerless
combination.
“We feel like have good shoot-
ers, good scorers and we would rather
take a bad shot than us trying to make
a hero play,” Brown said. “And we
have a tendency, at times, to try to
make hero plays with the basketball
because these guys all appreciate
See NBA PLAYOFFS, Page 11A
TILLAMOOK — Last-place
Tillamook put up a fight against
first-place Astoria Monday, but in
the end, the Fishermen moved one
win closer to clinching another
Cowapa League baseball title, fol-
lowing a 2-0 victory at Tillamook
Monday.
Astoria (11-2) hosts Seaside
(3-10) today at Tapiola Park. A
Fishermen win and a Banks loss
vs. Valley Catholic Wednesday
would wrap up the league’s No. 1
spot to the state playoffs.
Astoria starter Jackson Arns-
dorf and reliever Fridtjof Frem-
stad allowed just one hit with 15
strikeouts and one walk. But Til-
lamook pitcher Justin Harmon
countered with a six-hitter, with
four strikeouts and a walk, and the
Cheesemakers (0-13) were locked
in a scoreless tie after five innings.
In the sixth, Astoria’s Cade
O’Brien drew a leadoff walk, stole
second and eventually scored on a
grounder by Ole Englund.
Kyle Strange led off the sev-
enth with a single, Samboy Tui-
mato was hit by a pitch, and both
advanced on a bunt by Jasyn Gohl.
A line drive single to cen-
ter from Tyler Lyngstad scored
Strange for the two-run lead.
That’s all Fremstad would
need, as he retired the Cheese-
makers in order to pick up the
save.