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8A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com SPORTS IN BRIEF Naselle spikers top Knappa in three games The Daily Astorian NASELLE, Wash. — The Knappa volleyball team took a break from league play Thursday with a nonleague match across the Columbia River against the Naselle Comets. District champions at the 2B level last season, the Comets are still very good, as Naselle scored a 25-19, 25-16, 25-18 sweep over the Loggers. “I was very happy with our defense tonight, especially from our back row players,” said Knappa coach Jeff Kaul. “Jaden (Miethe), who is normally our main defense in our back row, had to share the digs tonight with many others,” as the Com- ets “were avoiding her at all costs, aiming towards our younger play- ers, Jordan (Walter), Sophia (Carl- son) and Aiko (Miller). “Fortunately the entire back row was awesome tonight,” Kaul said. “And while we missed our share, the majority of the Comets’ hard hits were returned with some exceptional passing.” Miller and Kourtney Tischer were a combined 19-for-19 from the service line for Knappa, while Vanderburg finished with eight assists and five digs. Miller added eight digs, and Kaitlyn Truax led the Loggers with five blocks and three kills. Warrenton Warriors battle for win at Clatskanie The Daily Astorian CLATSKANIE — Warren- ton stayed in contention for a league playoff spot, and Clats- kanie remained winless in league play, as the Warriors outlasted the Tigers in a five-game Lewis & Clark League match Thursday, 25-19, 21-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-6. Shelby Blodgett had 10 aces and Madeline Moravec added 10 kills for Clatskanie, which lost to Warrenton for the second time this season. The Warriors will open the first of three straight home matches Tuesday against Riverdale. SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE TODAY Football — Astoria at Valley Catholic, 7 p.m.; Seaside at Scappoose, 7 p.m.; Warrenton at Nestucca, 7 p.m.; Ilwaco at Toutle Lake, 7 p.m.; Naselle at Oakville, 7 p.m. SATURDAY Girls Soccer — Astoria at Seaside, 5:30 p.m. Boys Soccer — Astoria at Seaside, 7:15 p.m. Cross Country — 3-Course Chal- lenge (at Camp Rilea), 9 a.m. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Chelsea Christensen makes a diving save for Astoria during Thursday’s game at home against Banks. Lady Fishermen ‘Rally Kings’ dig up victory over Banks By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian It was a milestone win for the Astoria vol- leyball program Thursday night at the Brick House. And the Lady Fishermen did it in thrill- ing, historic fashion. In a marathon night of volleyball, Asto- ria played the part of the “Super Rally Kings” in a five-game win over Banks, 24-26, 19-25, 27-25, 25-12, 15-12. “It was so fun to watch. And to coach. I don’t think I’ll have a voice tomorrow,” said Astoria coach Jessie Todd, following her big- gest victory since coming to Astoria last year. Banks had won the first two games, and held leads of 24-23 and 25-24 in Game 3. But the Fishermen fought off both match points and took the third game, 27-25. After that, there was no stopping Astoria, as the Lady Fish held leads of 8-1 and 17-6 in cruising to the Game 4 win. And even trailing 9-5 in the fifth set, the Fishermen seemed to have things in control. When Astoria digs started going back over the net for points, the Fishermen Fanatics knew it was their night. “Again, (the crowd) played a big part,” Todd said. “They were loud, and I think they gained some confidence in us. “My girls were not going to give up in that third game,” she added. “And once we won it, it definitely gave us a lot of confidence. From then on, we were not going to let up.” Stamina “was a huge part of it,” Todd said. “I like our stamina. We’re able to wear teams down, and that definitely happened tonight. (The Braves) are a great team, they’ve got some great hitters, and they battled, too.” Granted, the Braves are struggling this year, having slipped to 1-7 overall, 0-4 in league. But any Astoria victory over Banks can be consid- Kes Sandstrom keeps the ball in play for the Astoria Lady Fishermen on Thursday against Banks. ered a milestone victory. The Lady Fishermen had not beaten Banks since Nov. 9, 2012 — when Angee Hunt’s team (which had lost to the Braves twice during the regular season) knocked off Banks in a semi- final state tournament match in Eugene on the way to a second-place finish at state. Since then, the Braves had scored 10 straight wins over Astoria, eight by three-game sweeps. So maybe it was no surprise that Banks won the first two games of Thursday’s match, with an impressive display of hitting, setting, serv- ing, blocking and digging. The Braves held an 18-14 lead in Game 3, and were likely thinking of a quick return to Banks, after Astoria had won the junior varsity match, also in five games. But Astoria’s varsity rallied and took a 23-22 lead. Banks came right back and led 24-23, and then 25-24. Astoria’s hard hitter, junior Kes Sandstrom, delivered a pair of kills through the Banks block, then scored the final point off a set from Madi Landwehr to win the game. And the entire match seemed to swing from there, as the Fishermen were never threatened in Game 4. Sandstrom led Astoria with 15 kills, fol- lowed by Chelsea Christensen with 12. Landwehr added nine kills and Julia Norris fin- ished with seven kills. But it was ultimately their “never give in, never give up” defense that brought Astoria back into the match. By the end of Game 5, the blocks and digs were all going Astoria’s way. “Madi made a great save that went back over the net for a point,” Todd said. “And we’ve worked a lot on that, being a good defensive team. I was real happy with some of the blocks that we put up, since we work a lot on tooling off the blocks,” with blocks resulting in points. “My setters also moved the ball real well. It was just a fantastic night,” she said. “We had a couple players off the bench who came in and made a huge difference. It was so fantastic. None of my seniors had ever beat Banks … I think we found some confidence tonight.” The Lady Fish had three players with 30-plus digs — Christensen led with 39, fol- lowed by Corrin Howard with 35 and Hailey O’Brien with 30. Darian Hageman also had six blocks to lead Astoria, while Hageman, Howard and O’Brien combined for eight service aces. In other Cowapa League action Thursday, Tillamook swept the Gulls at Seaside, 25-12, 25-16, 25-21; and Valley Catholic defeated Scappoose in three games, 25-14, 25-10, 25-19. Junior Varsity: Astoria defeated Banks, 17-25, 25-19, 25-21, 27-29, 15-10. Hamels tames Mariners, Rangers stay close in wild-card hunt Associated Press AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cole Hamels throws to a Seattle Mariners batter during the fourth inning of a baseball game Thurs- day in Seattle. The Rangers beat the Mariners, 4-2. SEATTLE — Cole Hamels has a long history of winning down the stretch, and he gave the Texas Rang- ers exactly what they needed Thursday night. Hamels dominated for eight innings, Adrian Beltre and Shin-Soo Choo went deep and the Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 4-2 to hang around the AL wild-card hunt. Texas and the Los Angeles Angels are 2 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the second wild card. The Angels lost to Cleveland, while the Twins blew out Detroit. Hamels (11-4) allowed three hits and a run while striking out eight. He gave up a solo homer to Nelson Cruz — his 35th — in the seventh, along with a pair of singles to Jean Segura. Hamels has a 29-16 career record in September and October, including 8-3 in three seasons with Texas. “That’s veteran leadership show- ing up,” Rangers manager Jeff Ban- UP NEXT: MARINERS • Cleveland Indians (96-57) at Seattle Mariners (74-79) • Tonight, 7:10 p.m. TV: RTNW ister said. “That’s knowing how to go out and perform and put your team in a winning situation. We’ve seen it so many times before from him.” Keone Kela got his second save despite yielding a solo homer to Rob- inson Cano in the ninth. It was Cano’s 22nd this season and 300th of his career. “It means a lot,” Cano said. “In a humble way, it’s something that makes me proud of myself, proud of my fam- ily and the way they raised me to help me get to this level.” The Mariners have lost five straight games and are five back in the wild- card chase with nine games remaining. James Paxton (12-5) allowed two runs in 3 2/3 choppy innings. The hard-throwing left-hander was making his second start since a pectoral injury landed him on the disabled list, and he’s struggled both times. “I was moving the fastball around better, breaking stuff was sharper,” Paxton said. “Not as sharp as I can be, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Tonight, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.” Carlos Gomez had a two-run dou- ble in the first that caromed off the glove of Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager. “It’s important for us to finish strong,” said Gomez, now in his 11th big-league season. “We showed the young guys that this is going to be tough but we never give up.” Beltre hit his 17th home run in the sixth and Choo hit his 20th in the sev- enth. For Beltre, that tied him with Jose Canseco, Adam Dunn and Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera for 35th on the career home run list with 462. Safe at home Mariners closer Edwin Diaz, whose home island of Puerto Rico has been battered by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, finally heard from his fam- ily Wednesday. His cousin called and said the damage was minimal. “Noth- ing bad. I’m happy for that,” he said, although he doesn’t know the status of his house or his grandmother’s house. Diaz has been anxious but said he has to block it out. “The game is one part and my family is another part,” he said. “When I’m in the game, I have to do my work. I think about them, but I have to concentrate 100 percent on what I do.” Trainer’s room Mariners: RHP Dan Altavilla, rested the past couple games with a bruised foot, entered with two outs in the fourth inning. Up next Mariners: RHP Erasmo Ramirez (5-6, 4.56), re-acquired in a July 28 trade with Tampa Bay, makes his 10th appearance with Seattle.