Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2018)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2018 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Seaside 33 strokes better than Banks The Daily Astorian Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian Daniel Paswerck shot an 84 to lead Astoria. Valiants post win over Astoria The Daily Astorian WARRENTON — Valley Catholic carded a 319 team score Tuesday, to defeat Astoria in a Cowapa League boys golf match, hosted by the Fishermen at the Astoria Golf & Country Club. Astoria finished with four golfers for a 382 team score. Valley Catholic’s Cole Schmidlin was medalist with a 74, and teammate Cole Heinsen scored 78. Daniel Paswerck led Astoria with an 84, followed by Taylor Palmberg (91), Dylan Nielsen (98) and Con- ner Long (109). The junior varsity match was much closer, with the Valiants scoring a two-stroke victory, 425 to 427. Jacob Ficken led the Fish- ermen with a 98, with other scores from Marcus Soder- strom (105), Tryton Matlock (106) and Aaron Rickenbach (118). SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE THURSDAY Baseball — Valley Catholic at Astoria, 5 p.m. Softball — Astoria at Valley Catholic, 5 p.m.; Seaside at Tillamook, 4:30 p.m. Track — Lewis & Clark League meet, Port- land Christian, 3:30 p.m. Boys golf — Astoria Invitational, Noon FRIDAY Baseball — Tillamook at Seaside, 5 p.m.; Rainier at Warrenton (2), 3:30 p.m.; Knappa at Vernonia (2), 3 p.m. Softball — Ilwaco at Seaside, 4:30 p.m.; Rainier at Warrenton (2), 3:30 p.m.; Knappa at Vernonia (2), 3 p.m. SATURDAY Track — Lower Columbia Invitational, St. Helens, 11:30 a.m.; Meet of Champions, Wil- lamette U., 10 a.m. BOYS GOLF Seaside at Banks Medalist: Connor Merrell, Seaside, 81 Seaside (339) Connor Merrell, 38-43—81 Jackson Kunde, 43-39—82 Samson Sibony, 45-43—88 Curtis Kunde, 44-44—88 Mason Shamion, 49-42—91 Banks (372) Trevor Geraci, 44-40—84 Liam Birr, 42-46—88 Zach Streblow, 53-47—100 Hunter Giesbers, 42-48—100 Risdon White, 57-53—110 Valley Catholic at Astoria Medalist: Cole Schmidlin, Valley Catholic, 74 Valley Catholic (319) Cole Schmidlin, 74 Cole Heinsen, 78 Andrew Plambeck, 80 Solomon Reeves, 87 Jake Quinones, 96 Astoria (382) Daniel Paswerck, 84 Taylor Palmberg, 91 Dylan Nielsen, 98 Conner Long, 109 Seahawks sign former San Francisco CB Johnson Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — The Seat- tle Seahawks have signed former San Francisco cornerback Dontae John- son to help with the depth in their over- hauled secondary. Johnson has a chance to step in as a starter immediately since Richard Sher- man was cut and signed with the 49ers this offseason. The Seahawks are set with Shaquill Griffin at one cornerback spot but the other will be open to com- petition heading into Seattle’s offsea- son program and training camp. Johnson started all 16 games last season for San Francisco and finished with 77 tackles, seven passes defensed and one interception. Last year was the first time Johnson was a full-time starter after starting just six games in his first three seasons with San Francisco. John- son was a fourth-round pick by the 49ers in 2014 out of North Carolina State. BANKS — The Seaside boys golf team continues to roll through the competi- tion in Cowapa League dual meets. The Gulls traveled Tues- day and scored a 33-stroke victory over Banks at Quail Valley Golf Course, 339-372. Seaside was nine strokes ahead after just two holes and never looked back. Junior Connor Mer- rell was only one over par through 11 holes and finished the day with a career-low 81 to earn medalist honors. Jackson Kunde finished one stroke back at 82 and Samson Sibony and Curtis Kunde added a pair of 88s to complete the scoring for the Gulls. Mason Shamion shot 91 as the fifth Seaside player. The Gulls took advan- tage of most of the par five holes, as they played three out of four at two-under par as a team. All the birdies from Seaside golfers came on those holes, as Sibony bird- ied No. 3, Merrell the 10th, and both Jackson Kunde and Shamion the 17th. “Other than a few holes, we played the course pretty well,” Seaside coach Jim Poetsch said. “We didn’t fin- ish either side very well as we went 20 over par on the finishing holes. “I don’t know if that was due to thinking of our scores before we were done, or whether we just didn’t play Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian Seaside’s Connor Merrell, shown here in last week’s match at Astoria, was Tuesday’s medalist at Banks. them very smart,” he said. “But if we can finish a little stronger we should be down in the 320s, which is were we would like to be.” Merrell shot a 38 on the front nine, ahead of the 42 by Liam Birr of Banks. “Connor quadrupled the last hole and still had a good round to win medal- ist,” Poetsch said. “His short game has been really good lately and he is playing better every day. Mason quadrupled nine and tripled 18 and still just missed giving us all five guys in the 80s.” Jackson Kunde had a good back nine “after being on the bogey train for a while on the front,” Poetsch said. “He just missed his second medalist honor of the year. Samson and Curtis were pretty steady all day long with nothing on the card higher than a six.” The Seaside junior varsity team shot a 444 to win their match, as John Whittle was medalist with a 97. Mason Crawford shot 103, followed by freshmen Chris Bod- ner and Leif DeWinter (both 122) and Dalton Smith (127). Seaside hosts Scappoose at Gearhart on Monday, in a match between the two teams that have won the last 14 Cowapa League titles and three of the past four state titles. Jim Poetsch/For The Daily Astorian Curtis Kunde tees off during Seaside’s match Tuesday at Banks. Blazers claim No. 3 seed with 102-93 win over Utah By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press PORTLAND — The Trail Blaz- ers already knew their opponent for the first round playoffs, and they had already locked up home-court advantage. But they were still inspired for their regular-season finale against the Utah Jazz. Damian Lillard had 36 points and 10 assists and the Blazers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 102- 93 victory over the Jazz Wednesday night to earn the Northwest Division title. With the win in the regular-sea- son finale, Portland claimed the third seed in the Western Conference and will play the sixth-seeded New Orle- ans Pelicans in the opening round. “One game and we’re playing for the third spot and the division cham- pionship,” Lillard said about the team’s motivation against the Jazz. “And that’s something to be proud of it. That’s something to care about and to play for. We worked too hard not to go and get that, especially on our home floor.” The Jazz, who saw a six-game winning streak snapped, fell to the fifth seed. They’ll face No. 4 Okla- homa City on the road to open the playoffs. The schedule had not been set. Utah rookie Donovan Mitch- ell, who the night before set the new single-season record for 3-point- ers with 186 — breaking Lillard’s rookie mark — was 1-for-8 from the perimeter but finished with 17 points. Steve Dykes/Associated Press Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, right, drives to the bas- ket on Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum. Ricky Rubio also had 17 while Rudy Gobert had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz, who were Seager’s homer in 8th sends Mariners past Royals 4-2 By DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Scott Servais reclined in a chair in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium, a big smile on the Seat- tle manager’s face, and spoke before the first reporter could ask a question. “Long road trip, happy road trip,” he said. “Cold road trip.” Most of it. The weather finally turned Wednesday and gave Seattle a warm, sun-splashed afternoon in Kansas City, and Servais’ club made sure to relish the spring-like temperatures. Kyle Seager hit a go-ahead homer with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Mariners held on to beat the Royals 4-2 to wrap up a winning seven-game journey that covered 10 days and about 5,200 miles. Seattle went 4-3 on its visits to San Francisco, Minnesota and Kan- sas City. “I thought we played really good baseball, and getting these wins the past two games really sets the pace for us going home,” said James Pax- ton, who matched a career-best with 10 strikeouts over six sharp innings before turning the game over to the Seattle bullpen. Nick Vincent (1-0) worked a perfect seventh, and Juan Nicasio retired three in a row after putting runners on the corners, before closer Edwin Diaz entered for the ninth. Diaz worked around shortstop Jean Segura’s second error of the game to earn his fourth save. coming off a 119-79 victory at home against the Warriors on Tuesday night. “We rushed a little bit. We weren’t all on the same page at times,” Mitchell said. “We were really taken off our course. When they get into you, you gotta get the guy off you and make the play. Over time that really disrupts you.” CJ McCollum had 19 points for the Blazers, who led by as many as 24 points in the second half. For both teams, the game was all about seeding because the first- round playoff matches were deter- mined earlier in the evening. The Blazers secured home-court advan- tage for the first round for the first time since 2009. Before the game Terry Stotts said the outcome of the Pelicans’ finale against the Spurs was unlikely to have an impact on how Portland approached the Jazz. New Orleans won 112-98. “Like I told the team, winning the division is a big deal. It’s always going to be there. It’s always going to be in the rafters, the banner will be up in the practice facility,” Stotts said afterward. “It’s been an up and down season, but I’m really pleased with the way we played tonight. We played well, and have some momen- tum going into the playoffs.” Dante Exum, who left Utah’s vic- tory against the Warriors the night before with leg soreness, played for 20 minutes with six points. The Blazers went up 39-27 on McCollum’s reverse layup in the second quarter and led by as many as 16 points in the first half. Portland led 55-41 at the break and Lillard led all scorers with 19 points. Seattle NHL expansion group names Leiweke team president By TIM BOOTH Associated Press SEATTLE — During his first stint in Seattle, Tod Leiweke helped develop the Seattle Seahawks into a benchmark franchise. He’s returning to the Northwest this time with a chance to build a franchise from scratch — pending NHL approval. Leiweke was introduced Wednesday as the CEO and presi- dent of the prospective NHL expan- sion franchise seeking to call Seattle home beginning with the 2020 sea- son. The announcement has been expected since Leiweke announced he was stepping down from his role with the NFL earlier this year. But it was another step forward for the expansion bid. “It’s kind of fun to start from scratch because you can build a culture the way you would want a culture to be built with likeminded people who want to serve, who love the game of hockey. In this, it is a grand opportunity,” Leiweke said. The prospective majority owner of the franchise, David Bonder- man, said he believed there could be a possible conditional announce- ment about the franchise from the NHL in June and a potential formal announcement in September coin- ciding with upcoming NHL Board of Governors meetings. “We hope there is not any doubt about it and it’s certainly not just a formality. However, there is a pro- cess with the NHL and we expect to play through that process,” Bonder- man said.
