10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MAY 29, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Scott Stoddard/Grants Pass Daily Courier
While Astoria coaches celebrate in the background, Fishermen
Fridtjof Fremstad (2), Zac Patterson (10) and Jasyn Gohl begin
the player celebration following the final out in Friday’s win.
Astoria advances
after Mustang
rally falls short
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Reuben Acosta-Cruz tees off on a pitch for Knappa during Friday’s game against Sherman.
Loggers cruise, 22-2
The Daily Astorian
KNAPPA — The march to a state
championship is looking more like a
stroll in the park for the Knappa Log-
gers. Make that a walk in the park.
Lots and lots of walks.
Knappa’s state title run is pick-
ing up steam, as the Loggers rolled
past Sherman in a 2A/1A quarterfinal
baseball game Friday at Teevin Field,
22-2.
Five Sherman pitchers combined to
walk 14 batters and hit two more.
In addition to the 16 free baserun-
ners, Knappa pounded out 14 hits, six
for extra bases, and led 8-1 after three
innings, then tacked on 11 insurance
runs in the sixth.
The Loggers — who have out-
scored their first two playoff oppo-
nents by a combined 37-3 —
advance to the semifinals for the
fourth year in a row (and seventh
time in the last nine years), where
Knappa will host Regis, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday.
Junior Kaleb “Bubba” Miller was
Knappa’s big hitter on the day, with a
two-run home run and a two-run sin-
gle for four runs batted in. Eli Takalo
also drove in four runs, with a pair
of doubles in the sixth inning, while
nine different players had hits for the
Loggers.
And when they weren’t drawing
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Mason Hoover slides home safe for Knappa during Friday’s game versus
Sherman.
walks, the Loggers were rounding the
bases on wild pitches. Knappa base-
runners scored three times on eight
wild pitches, in addition to scoring
twice on bases-loaded walks and once
on a balk.
Brothers Dale and Eli Takalo had
an easy day on the mound for the
Loggers, combining on a six-hitter
with nine strikeouts and four walks.
Sherman (18-7 overall) finished
second behind No. 1-ranked Dufur
in Special District 6. Dufur — a
potential matchup for the Loggers
in Saturday’s championship game
— defeated Sherman three times,
but only by scores of 10-0, 12-6
and 5-0.
Mason
Hoover tags
out a runner
at second
during Knap-
pa’s game
Friday against
Sherman.
Colin Murphey/
The Daily Astorian
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TUESDAY
Baseball — 4A Semifinal: Astoria at
La Grande, 3:30 p.m.; 2A/1A Semifinal:
Regis at Knappa, 4:30 p.m.
BASEBALL
Astoria 8, Hidden Valley 7
Astoria
023 210 0—8 14 1
H.Valley
400 012 0—7 8 2
Englund, Fremstad (6) and Gohl;
C.Kissel, Lawson (3), B.Kissel (5),
Pereira (6) and Pereira, C.Kissel (6).
W: Englund. L: C.Kissel. S: Fremstad.
RBI: Ast, Strange 2, O’Brien, Hageman,
Gohl; HV, Fisher 4, B.Kissel, Wright,
Dimatteo. 2B: Ast, Fremstad 2, Hage-
man 2, Tuimato; HV, B.Kissel. HR: Ast,
Strange; HV, Fisher 2, Wright. HBP: Ast,
Tuimato, Englund. LOB: Astoria 10, Hid-
den Valley 2.
Knappa 22, Sherman 2
Sherman 010 000 1—2 6 1
Knappa
503 12(11) x—22 14 2
Justesen, Winslow (1), M.Martin (4),
Fields (6), T.Martin (6) and Winslow;
D.Takalo, E.Takalo (6) and K.Miller. W:
D.Takalo. L: Justesen. RBI: Sher, Ho-
mer, Winslow; Kna, K.Miller 4, E.Taka-
lo 4, Hoover 2, J.Miller 2, Goozee 2,
Cruz, Bartlett, Weirup. 2B: Sher, Homer,
Winslow, Colby; Kna, E.Takalo 2, J.Mill-
er, Goodman. 3B: Kna, Goozee. HR:
Kna, K.Miller. HBP: Kna, Bartlett, Goo-
zee. LOB: Sherman 8, Knappa 7. DP:
Sherman; Knappa.
Fishermen in
semifinals
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
GRANTS PASS — Those
“Road Warriors” from Astoria
are at it again.
The same Fishermen magic
that worked in 2006, 2009 and
2011 — and a few other years
in between — is working again
in 2017. Winning on the road,
in the playoffs.
Since their championship
run in 2006, no program at the
4A level has done it better than
Astoria baseball.
Two days after a victory
at Estacada, the Fishermen
knocked off the top dog Fri-
day, with an 8-7 win over No. 1
seed Hidden Valley in quarter-
final action in Grants Pass.
Now it’s on to La Grande
for another long road trip and
another semifinal (La Grande
had just one hit in a 4-0 win
over Sweet Home).
“It’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride,”
said Astoria coach Dave Gas-
ser, who has been on similar
road trips before. Then again,
road games seem to work well
with this group, he said.
“For whatever reason, we
just don’t play well at Aiken
Field,” Gasser said. “It’s just
pop-up after pop-up after
pop-up.
“For the last two games,
we’ve been facing all-league
pitchers and Players of the
Year, and we’re just crushing
it.”
Still, after one inning Fri-
day, Astoria trailed 4-0. From
there, the Fishermen scored
eight runs over the next four,
then held off a Mustang rally
to advance to the semifinals
for the second consecutive
year.
The Fishermen bats also
came alive, and Astoria scored
their most runs in a game in
three weeks, since a 15-4 win
over Valley Catholic.
Trey Hageman had three
of Astoria’s 14 hits, with two
doubles and two runs scored;
Kyle Strange was 2-for-4 with
an opposite field home run;
and Fridtjof Fremstad added
two line-drive doubles in five
at-bats.
Even Samboy Tuimato was
back doing what he does best,
getting hit by a pitch.
Hidden Valley’s player of
the day was Kolton Fisher, who
belted two home runs with four
RBIs.
On the mound, Astoria’s
Olaf Englund pitched five
innings, allowing just four hits
with five strikeouts and two
walks, before Fremstad closed
out the game for the save.
But not without some anx-
ious moments.
In the bottom of the sev-
enth, “First pitch, a single
up the middle (by Jaykob
Pereira),” Gasser said. “Sec-
ond pitch, a bunt back to the
mound, and Fritz showed his
shortstop skills — fielded it
and all in one motion throws
a laser to Ole at second (to get
Pereira).”
Not only that, but Pereira
went in cleats high, slid past
the bag and took out Englund
on the play, resulting in the bat-
ter being called out for a dou-
ble play.
“That was the play of the
game,” Gasser said. “Frems-
tad to Englund. If he doesn’t
make that out, it’s first and
second with no outs, with
the tough part of their lineup
coming up.”
Hidden Valley, the 4A’s
No. 1-ranked team, finishes
22-4 overall, while Astoria
improves to 20-5. With a win at
La Grande Tuesday, the Fish-
ermen would advance to the
state championship game Sat-
urday against either Philomath
or Henley.
It’s more long travels for the
Fishermen — something Asto-
ria baseball is familiar with in
the post-season.
“Our kids just play better on
the road,” Gasser said. “We’re
like a Single A ball club, trav-
eling all the time. We stop for
lunch and some batting prac-
tice (at Grants Pass High
School, before Friday’s game).
No proms, no distractions …
it’s just us.”
Sato holds off Helio to give Andretti another Indy 500 win
First Japanese
winner of race
By JENNA FRYER
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — At the end of
500 miles around Indianapolis Motor
Speedway, it was a former Formula
One driver who took the checkered
flag.
He even drove for Andretti
Autosport.
It just wasn’t Fernando Alonso.
Takuma Sato became the first Jap-
anese winner of the Indianapolis 500
on Sunday when he denied Helio Cas-
troneves a record-tying fourth victory
as the two traded the lead in the clos-
ing laps.
“I know Helio is always going to
charge,” Sato said. “But he’s just such
a gentleman and such a fair player.”
The Andretti family has struggled
for decades to win this race, but as a
car owner, Michael Andretti certainly
knows the way to victory lane.
Sato’s victory gave Andretti a sec-
ond consecutive win in “The Great-
est Spectacle in Racing.” An Andretti
AP Photo/Michael Conroy
Takuma Sato, of Japan, cele-
brates after winning the Indianap-
olis 500 auto race at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway Sunday.
driver has now won the 500 three
times in the last four years, and five
times overall dating to 2005 with the
late Dan Wheldon.
Last year, it was with rookie Alex-
ander Rossi. This time it is with Sato,
who joined the team just this sea-
son and had largely been overlooked
at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The
Andretti camp expanded to six cars for
the 500 to add Alonso, a two-time F1
champion who brought massive Euro-
pean interest to the race.
Six cars never seemed to spread the
team too thin, and the main issue fac-
ing Andretti Autosport was the reli-
ability of its Honda engines. Alonso
put on a thrilling show and even led 27
laps — third most in the race — but
he was sent to the paddock when his
engine blew with 20 laps remaining.
“We didn’t build the thing that was
smoking down the front straight,” said
McLaren boss Zak Brown, who engi-
neered Alonso’s trip to Indianapolis.
Part of the reason Alonso was able to
skip F1’s showcase Monaco Grand
Prix earlier Sunday for Indy is because
the McLaren team — and its Hondas
— have grossly underperformed this
season and Alonso is not a current title
contender.
Alonso did have a spectacular race
and simply fell victim to his engine late
in the race. The crowd gave the Span-
iard a standing ovation as he climbed
from his car.
“I felt the noise, the engine friction,
I backed off and I saw the smoke and,
yeah, it’s a shame,” Alonso said. “It’s
a very nice surprise to come here with
big names, big guys, the best in open-
wheel racing and be competitive.”
He still drank from a carton of milk
to close out his experience at Indy, and
didn’t rule out a potential return.
“The last two weeks, I came here
basically to prove myself, to challenge
myself,” Alonso said. “I know that I
can be as quick as anyone in an F1 car.
I didn’t know if I can be as quick as
anyone in an Indy car.”
The Honda teams had a clear
horsepower advantage over Chevrolet,
but things were dicey in Indy for more
than a week and certainly on race day:
Before Alonso’s failure, 2014 winner
Ryan Hunter-Reay lost his Honda and
so did Charlie Kimball. Hunter-Reay
led 28 laps and was a strong contender
late.
“I’m really happy for Honda. They
worked really hard to get us here,”
said Andretti. “I know how big this
news is going to be tomorrow when
they wake up in Japan. It’s going to be
huge. I’m really happy for them, that
we were able to give them a win with
our Japanese driver here.”