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.