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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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SPORTS
IN BRIEF
TRACK
Warrenton team
opens season in
‘Icebreaker’ meet
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s Ian Hunt, center, clears a hurdle.
Astoria hosts Seaside,
Tillamook in opener
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BASEBALL
Gladstone shuts
out Astoria, 7-0
ILWACO, Wash. — Seaside
pitcher Jetta Ideue tossed a per-
fect game Thursday, leading the
Gulls to a 13-0 nonleague softball
win at Ilwaco to open the 2018
season.
Offensively, Alyssa Goin led
Seaside by going 4-for-4 at the
plate.
In the five-inning game, Ideue
recorded 14 strikeouts. The 15th
out was a pop fly out to Seaside’s
Kandice Flaigg at third base.
The Gulls host Estacada
Tuesday.
Merchants
hold tryouts
Members of a relay team from Astoria High School execute a handoff.
Oregon leery of
teams looking to
turn the tables
The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s scheduled game Thursday at
Gladstone became the home opener for the
Fishermen, when the game was switched
early in the day to Astoria’s CMH Field.
So the Gladiators made the long trip to the
coast, and responded by playing a near-per-
fect game in a 7-0 win over the Fishermen.
Gladstone pitchers Ben McCoy and Mat-
thew Lehrbach combined on a two-hit shut-
out, with three strikeouts and two walks.
Offensively, the Gladiators collected six
hits, three for extra bases, and Gladstone was
errorless in the field in its first game of the
season.
The Fishermen slip to 0-2, and return to
action Friday at Sandy.
A positive start for Astoria took a quick
turn for the worse in the first inning.
In the first Fishermen at-bat, Dylan Rush
had a leadoff double to center field.
Rush advanced to third, and tried to score
on a grounder by Trey Hageman, vaulting
over catcher Otis Lundgren on a play at the
plate.
Rush was tagged out, and was ejected
from the game for his attempted dive over the
catcher, illegal at the high school level.
Gladstone’s Austin Conner had a lead-
off triple to start the second inning, and later
scored on a ground ball by Matthew Kuhn.
Gladstone added single runs in the fifth
and sixth, then tacked on four in the seventh,
highlighted by a two-run double from Damian
Alvarado.
Hageman had Astoria’s only other hit.
After giving up the triple to Conner,
Stutznegger retired 10 in a row.
SOFTBALL
Perfect game
leads Seaside
past Ilwaco
The Daily Astorian
storia hosted a three-way, season opening track meet
Thursday, along with Cowapa League rivals Seaside
and Tillamook.
The three teams ran a series of relays and individual
events, in a tune-up for the actual league season.
Highlights included personal best times on the track for
Astoria’s Michael Kee in the 110-meter hurdles (16.35 sec-
onds) and Niko Caruana in the 300-meter hurdles (46.14),
while Fishermen senior Tim Barnett — a state favorite in
nearly every throwing event — won all three events Thursday.
Barnett had personal best efforts in the shot put (52 feet,
8 inches) and the javelin (167-0), and won the discus with a
throw of 155-0.
For the Astoria girls — favored to win their fourth straight
state title later this season — senior Darian Hageman opened
her season with wins in the high jump and long jump, while
Taylor Cosner won the javelin with a PR toss of 115-10.
Seaside’s Gretchen Hoekstre is looking to have a big sea-
son for the Gulls, as the junior won the shot put (37-2) and
discus (121-2) events.
On the track, Astoria freshman Kelsey Fausett won the
400 meters (1:09.31) and Elizabeth Barnett took the 100-
meter hurdles (16.98), while Seaside’s Katie Zagata scored a
victory in the mile race, finishing in 6:07.86.
FOREST GROVE — The
Warrenton track team took part in
the Forest Grove Icebreaker meet,
held Wednesday at Dick Hen-
dricks Stadium in Forest Grove.
The Warriors joined five other
schools (Clatskanie, Forest Grove,
Faith Bible, North Marion and
Veritas) in the season opener.
Warrenton had four individual
victories on the girls’ side, includ-
ing two wins for Kaisa Liljenwall.
The sophomore scored one
victory on the track, taking first
in the 300-meter hurdles in 52.35
seconds. She added a win in the
long jump, soaring 14 feet, 10 ¾
inches.
Junior Fernanda Alvarez is
headed for a big season in the
throwing events.
She won the shot put compe-
tition with a toss of 31-9 ½, and
added a personal best throw of
78-9 for third place in the discus.
Adriana DeJesus won the 800
meters in 2:54.36.
On the boys’ side, Warrenton’s
Mark Warren took second in the
javelin (128-3), and added a per-
sonal best toss of 41-1 for third in
the shot put.
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
The Oregon women were the surprise of last
year’s NCAA Tournament. Now the Ducks have got
everyone’s attention.
It’s the price of success for the second-seeded
Ducks , who open the tournament at home on Fri-
day against No. 15 seed Seattle.
Oregon finished the regular season 30-4 overall
and 16-2 in the Pac-12. In addition to the league’s
regular-season title, the Ducks also won the confer-
ence tournament.
The seeding is the highest in team history, as
are the 30 wins. The confer-
ence championship was also a
first.
Oregon made history last
season, too, going to the Elite
Eight for the first time in
school history. The Ducks fin-
ished that season 23-14 over-
all and lost to Stanford in the Pac-12 tournament
title game.
But after earning an at-large spot in the tourna-
ment, Oregon swept through seventh-seeded Tem-
ple, No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Maryland before getting
bumped by top-seeded UConn.
Teams are going to try to turn the tables on the
Ducks this year.
“A little different,” coach Kelly Graves said
of the Ducks’ position. “I don’t think you can tell
that it’s different from the way we’ve practiced this
week. I think the focus has been tremendous. We
have the luxury of knowing that we better come
ready to play. We were in a situation last year where
we were a 10 and we had to beat a No. 7 and then
we had to beat a No. 2.”
Norvell Jr. makes key
3 to help Gonzaga
escape UNCG 68-64
By EDDIE PELLS
Associated Press
BOISE — Zach Norvell Jr. watched Gonzaga’s
greatest moments play out from the sideline last year.
This year, the redshirt freshman will be part of
the highlight reel.
The shooting guard from Chicago hit the
go-ahead 3-pointer with 20.8 seconds left Thursday
to help the fourth-seeded Bulldogs escape a major
scare in the West Region with a 68-64 victory over
UNC Greensboro.
“He has a knack for that,” coach Mark Few said.
“When I saw him size the guy up, I knew that, A, he
was probably going to shoot it, and, B, it was proba-
bly going to go in.”
Last season’s national runners-up trailed 64-62
with 1:48 left after squandering a 12-point lead they
took early in the second half.
Josh Perkins tied the game at 64 with a long
jumper, and after Greensboro’s Francis Alonso
forced up a miss, Gonzaga got the rebound and
worked the ball to Norvell, who spotted up from the
right elbow and made the 3 for the lead.
As a highly touted recruit, Norvell chose Gon-
zaga (31-4) over Florida State and Georgetown, to
name a few, but he hurt his knee leading up to last
season. A long recovery, plus the fact that the Zags
had a stockpile of talent at the guard position, turned
Norvell into a bystander last year while the Bulldogs
were making the program’s first run to the Final
Four.
He’s been front and center 2017-18, starting most
of the season and averaging 12 points a game. And
even though he was 2 for 11 before his game-winner,
he had the confidence to keep shooting.
“Every time I missed, all the guys came to me
and said, ‘The next one is going in, the next one is
going in,’” Norvell said. “So I had no choice but to
make a bucket.”
Tryouts will be held Sunday
for the North Coast Merchants’
2018 softball summer team.
All players should report to
Warrenton High School, rain or
shine, Saturday from 11 a.m. to
1 p.m. Pitchers and catchers will
also work from 1-2 p.m.
The Merchants provide com-
petitive fastpitch softball for girls
on the North Coast, for the 12U
age group.
Summer fees are $200 per
player. Tournaments are two-day,
out-of-town events.
To pre-register or for questions,
leave a message on the North
Coast Merchant Facebook page,
or text/call coach Ian O’Brien at
253-720-7970, or coach Morgan
at 541-226-6535.
— The Daily Astorian
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Baseball — Astoria at Sandy, 4:30
p.m.; Fort Vancouver at Seaside, 3:45
p.m.; Warrenton at Nestucca, 4:30 p.m.;
Knappa at St. Paul, 4 p.m.
Softball — Astoria at North Marion,
4:30 p.m.; Warrenton at Nestucca, 4:30
p.m.; Knappa at St. Paul, 4:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Softball — Taft at Warrenton (2), 2
p.m.
Baseball — Seaside Spring Break
Tournament, TBA
SUNDAY
Baseball — Seaside Spring Break
Tournament, TBA
BASEBALL
Gladstone 7, Astoria 0
Gladstone 010 011 4—7 6 0
Astoria
000 000 0—0 2 1
McCoy, Lehrbach (6) and Lundgren;
Rush, Stutznegger (2), Feldman (7),
Reed (7) and Hillard. W: McCoy. L:
Stutznegger. RBI: Gla, Alvarado 2,
Conner 2, Kuhn, Meyers. 2B: Gla,
Lee, Alvarado; Ast, Rush. 3B: Gla,
Conner. HBP: Gla, Wick, Simmons.
LOB: Gladstone 6, Astoria 3. DP:
Gladstone.