8A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Stayton Eagles
defeat Seaside
in boys soccer
The Daily Astorian
STAYTON — The Eagles were
fl ying higher than the Seagulls
Thursday night, in a nonleague
boys soccer game at Stayton.
The Stayton Eagles rang up a
5-0 win over Seaside, which was
coming off a 4-0 win over Molalla
two night earlier.
In other action involving Cow-
apa League boys soccer Thurs-
day, Corbett beat Banks, 5-0, Taft
defeated Tillamook 2-0; and Val-
ley Catholic edged Gladstone,
3-0.
No score was reported to the
OSAA from Stayton at Seaside
girls soccer.
‘Run with the
Fishermen’
Saturday
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria cross country team
will host its annual “Run with
the Fishermen” event Saturday at
Coffenbury Lake.
The event starts
with a race at 5:30
p.m., followed
by a potluck
at
Picnic
Shelter A.
Astoria
High School
alumni and
supporters are
in the
invited to join
run or cheer on the current Fisher-
men cross country runners.
The scenic course is slightly
less than three miles and fol-
lows the trail around Coffenbury
Lake. For more information, con-
tact Astoria coach Andrew Fick at
503-325-3911, afi ck@astoria.k12.
or.us.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Football — Philomath at Astoria, 7
p.m.; Yamhill-Carlton at Seaside, 7 p.m.;
Neah-Kah-Nie at Warrenton, 7 p.m.;
Knappa at Regis, 7 p.m.; Ilwaco at Ka-
lama, 7 p.m.; Wishkah Valley at Naselle,
7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Volleyball — Vernonia Tournament,
9 a.m.
Girls Soccer — Estacada at Astoria,
3 p.m.
Boys Soccer — Astoria at Estacada,
3 p.m.
Cross Country — Astoria Alumni
Meet, 11 a.m.; Seaside at Oregon City
Invite, TBA
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Madi Landwehr, right, spikes the ball on the Seaside defense . The Lady Fishermen scored their first official league victory since 2015.
Astoria volleyball back in the
win column: ‘It feels good’
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
If you’re going to win your fi rst Cowapa
League match in almost two years, you might
as well make it a victory over your rivals.
That’s what the Astoria volleyball team
accomplished Thursday night on their home
fl oor, as the Lady Fishermen scored their fi rst
offi cial league victory since 2015 … and did it
with a win over Seaside, 25-13, 24-26, 25-20,
25-23.
“It’s a great feeling — it feels good to
get a win,” said Astoria coach Jessie Todd.
“We were 0-10 last year, and this is my fi rst
league win as coach. It’s a testament to how
hard these girls are working. They come in
and work hard every day, and I could not be
prouder of them.”
In a match that seemed destined to go fi ve
games, Astoria ended it in four, with the Gulls
battling right to the fi nish.
The Lady Fishermen opened with an easy
victory in Game 1, as Astoria senior Corrin
Howard connected on eight straight serves for
an 8-0 lead. Howard — who was on Seaside’s
junior varsity roster last year — fi nished with
four aces.
Meanwhile, Astoria’s lead reached 22-9,
before Julia Norris fi nished it with a kill off a
block.
The Gulls turned the momentum their way
in Game 2. An ace serve by Alyssia Gonzales
helped Seaside reel off an 11-5 run to open the
game.
Astoria rallied to force ties at 16, 17, 23 and
24, but the Lady Fish could never take the lead.
After Norris set Madi Landwehr for a kill
that tied the game at 24-24, the Gulls scored the
next two points, with Anna Huddleston giving
a back-set to Gonzales for a kill, and Jette Ideue
aced the next serve for game point.
Astoria built a quick 6-1 lead in Game 3, but
Seaside fought back, tied the game at 9-9 on
an off-speed kill from Ideue, then took a 14-13
lead following an Astoria attack error.
But the Fishermen caught the momentum
wave again and rode it all the way to the fi nish.
Landwehr served up a pair of aces to put
Astoria up 17-14, Norris had back-to-back ser-
vice aces to make it 22-17, and Howard fi n-
ished it off with another ace for the win.
Landwehr fi nished with six ace serves, to
with a team-high 12 kills.
The Gulls hurt themselves with missed
serves in each game — four in Game 2, four in
Game 3 and three in the fourth game.
Still, the Gulls led 19-16 in Game 4, follow-
ing kills by Tori Tomlin and Gonzales, and two
points off long rallies.
Emy Kiser’s ace made it 21-18 and the
match appeared headed for a fi fth game, but
Astoria saved its best for last.
During a timeout, “I told them to keep the
unforced errors down, and to get to their spots
defensively,” Todd said . “Most of all, we had
the confi dence that we could come back.”
Chelsea Christensen took over at the ser-
vice line, and with the help of a pair of sets by
Norris that led to kills for Kes Sandstrom and
Landwehr, Christensen served the Lady Fish
into a 22-21 lead.
After the Gulls tied it at 22-22, Astoria took
advantage of an attack error by the Gulls, and
a kill from Darian Hageman. And another Sea-
side attack went into the net at match point,
ending one long night.
And one long wait for the Lady Fishermen.
“We started off strong defensively, and
(Howard’s) serving gave us some confi dence
right away in the fi rst game,” Todd said. “That
and our student section. They were really hyped
up tonight and played a big part in this win.”
In other Cowapa League volleyball action
Thursday, Valley Catholic beat Banks, 27-25,
25-13, 25-18; and Tillamook defeated Scap-
poose, 15-25, 25-14, 25-20, 26-24.
M’s beat Rangers as wild card race tightens Seahawks hope they didn’t
spill too many secrets to 49ers
By SEAN SHAPIRO
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas — Time is
starting to run out in the AL wild card
race.
The Seattle Mariners got a bit of
a boost with the return of Felix Her-
nandez in a 10-4 victory over the
Texas Rangers on Thursday night
that extended a three-game win
streak.
“After losing the fi rst game of
the series here, kind of regrouping,
understanding where we were at was
important,” Seattle manager Scott
Servais said. “I thought our urgency,
our intensity level was right on point
the last three nights.”
Nelson Cruz went 4 for 4 with a
home run and Kyle Seager hit a two-
run homer as Seattle remained 3 1/2
games behind Minnesota for the sec-
ond AL wild card with 15 games
remaining.
“It’s exciting to see everybody,
not only with the patience that we go
up there and battle,” Cruz said. “It’s
nice to see everybody on the same
page.”
Texas entered the game one-half
game behind Seattle in the wild card
race and fi elded a surprise lineup
looking for a spark from injured vet-
erans Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli.
One night after making an unex-
pected appearance as a pinch hit-
ter Beltre was batting fourth as the
designated hitter. This was just two
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Seattle Mariners’ Mike Zunino follows through on an RBI single. The
hit scored Nelson Cruz.
weeks after suffering a Grade 2 strain
in his hamstring and he was expected
to miss at least four weeks, likely the
remainder of the season.
Beltre, who joined the 3,000-hit
club this season, went 1 for 3 with a
single and was replaced by a pinch
runner in the seventh inning.
Napoli is dealing with a stress
reaction in his lower right leg and is
playing through pain. General man-
ager Jon Daniels said Wednesday the
Rangers would have to manage his
playing time, but Napoli was in the
lineup and playing fi rst base Thurs-
day. He went 0 for 2.
Texas departs on nine-game trip
with its season on the line.
“We’ve been punched in the
mouth,” Rangers manager Jeff Ban-
ister said. “We’re not out. We’re
going to play to the end.”
Hernandez made his fi rst start
since being put on the disabled list
with right shoulder bursitis on Aug.
5. He was on a pitch count and threw
54 pitches, allowing three hits and
striking out three in 3 2/3 innings.
“It was good, man. It was fun,”
Hernandez said. “Didn’t try to do
too much, trying to get through 50
pitches, out there as long as I can.”
SEATTLE — In recent seasons,
Pete Carroll found himself in pro-
duction meetings with John Lynch as
the television commentator for those
games sharing information about the
opponent that week and the founda-
tions of his football philosophy.
Carroll certainly didn’t expect
that sharing those kinds of details
could come back to have an adverse
effect someday — except when
Lynch took the job as the general
manager of Seattle’s division rival,
the San Francisco 49ers.
“I don’t think there’s any ques-
tion, the way he went about fi nding
his information and getting answers
to things. He was in-depth beyond
where most guys go. He wanted to
know why and what were you think-
ing. Those kinds of things,” Carroll
said of those production meetings.
“I didn’t really put it together.
I thought he’d be doing ‘Monday
Night Football’ or something. ... He
was adding up his background and
reservoir of information at the time.
It makes sense it came out to get him
a GM job.”
Lynch may someday be able to
use some of Carroll’s wisdom in
reconstructing the 49ers. For now,
San Francisco is in another rebuild
as it heads north to face Carroll’s
Seahawks on Sunday.
Eventually Lynch may succeed
in making San Francisco a con-
tender again, but the opener showed
just how far the 49ers have to go in
a 23-3 loss to Carolina. And they
will be trying to show improvement
against one of the best defenses in
the league.
“I don’t think I can comple-
ment them enough,” San Francisco
QB Brian Hoyer said. “I think it’s
a great combination of scheme and
players.”
Seattle does have its issues to
solve that were highlighted in the
opening loss at Green Bay. The
offensive line continues to be the
biggest concern, as it was over-
whelmed by Green Bay’s defensive
front, leaving quarterback Russell
Wilson to scramble for safety and
disrupting the Seahawks offense.
Take away Wilson’s 40 yards
rushing on two scrambles and a
30-yard run from rookie Chris Car-
son, and the Seahawks rushed for
just 20 yards on 15 carries.
For a team that continues to say
its offense is predicated by the run,
those numbers aren’t acceptable.
“Everyone has to be on the same
page on offense for every play to
work. Most of the time it was just
one guy, one block and that’s what
kind of killed the play,” Seattle
guard Luke Joeckel said.