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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2019
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Athletes of the Week
EBBY
MCMULLEN
Ilwaco
CHASE
JANUIK
Seaside
T
he Lady Fishermen had already clinched their fi fth-straight Pacifi c League
title, but it took an overtime win over Ocosta Jan. 30 to keep their league
win streak alive, now at 37 straight. McMullen banked in a shot from 10 feet
behind the half-court line to end regulation, sending the game to overtime.
Ilwaco eventually won it, 56-53. McMullen, a senior point guard, fi nished with
18 points. Two days before, she scored 17 (11 in the fi rst quarter) in a 60-52 win
over Willapa Valley to clinch the league title.
Rebuilding
Cavaliers
trade Hood to
Trail Blazers
By TOM WITHERS
Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Rodney
Hood made minimal impact on
the Cavaliers’ postseason run
last season. He’ll get a chance to
do more with Portland.
Hood was traded Monday
by the Cavaliers, who acquired
guards Nik Stauskas and Wade
Baldwin — and their expir-
ing contracts — along with sec-
ond-round picks in 2021 and
2023 from the Trail Blazers.
Before the trade could be
completed, the Cavaliers needed
Hood to agree to the deal because
he signed a one-year $3.4 mil-
lion qualifying offer this sum-
mer. The 26-year-old waived his
no-trade clause to join the Blaz-
ers, who are 32-20 and have the
fourth best record in the Western
Conference.
Hood will give Portland some
more scoring punch and can
take some pressure off guards
Damian Lillard and CJ McCol-
lum. He is averaging 12.2 points
and 2.5 rebounds this season.
The Cavaliers acquired Hood
at the trade deadline from Utah
last season, and they envisioned
him being another scoring option
to complement LeBron James
and Kevin Love. However, the
6-foot-8 forward never fully fi t in
with the Cavs, and after starting
Cleveland’s fi rst playoff game,
he was pulled from the rotation
by then-coach Tyronn Lue.
The rebuilding Cavaliers
are collecting draft assets fol-
lowing a four-year run to the
Finals. It is possible they will
deal Alec Burks or J.R. Smith
before Thursday’s trade dead-
line. Stauskas and Baldwin have
expiring contracts, which will
allow the Cavaliers to clear more
salary-cap space to pursue free
agents.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Girls basketball — Astoria at Tillamook, 6 p.m.;
Livingstone Adventist at Jewell, 5:30 p.m.
Boys basketball — Astoria at Tillamook,
7:30 p.m.; Livingstone Adventist at Jewell,
7 p.m.
FRIDAY
Girls basketball — Knappa at Seaside, 6 p.m.;
Rainier at Warrenton, 7:30 p.m.; Jewell at C.S.
Lewis, 5:30 p.m.
Boys basketball — Knappa at Seaside,
7:30 p.m.; Rainier at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Jewell
at C.S. Lewis, 7 p.m.
Swimming — District 1/4A, at Newport, TBA
Wrestling — District 1/4A Regionals, at Tilla-
mook, TBA
SATURDAY
Swimming — District 1/4A, at Newport, TBA
Wrestling — District 1/4A Regionals, at Tilla-
mook, TBA
I
n addition to his long-distance buzzer beaters, Seaside’s senior is also
scoring lots of points. Januik erupted for 33 in a 70-43 win at Astoria, which
included a 12-0 run by him in the fi rst quarter. Three days earlier, he and the
No. 1-ranked Gulls posted their biggest win, 60-51 over previous No. 1 Banks.
Januik scored 16, and had the shot of the night with a 3-pointer just beyond
the midcourt line to end the fi rst half. He made the ESPN top 10 with his 80-
foot shot in Tuesday’s win over Valley Catholic.
Mariners begin spring with overhauled roster
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — The running joke is that when
the Seattle Mariners arrive for the fi rst day of
spring training everyone will need to wear “Hi,
my name is” nametags.
It might not be a bad idea for manager Scott
Servais to consider.
“I’m very excited to go to spring training, to
get with this group, and hit the reset button a little
bit on our clubhouse and what we’ve got going,”
Servais said.
Seattle begins spring training in a full rebuild
mode — although “step-back” or “reset” have
been the favored terms inside the front offi ce.
Instead of being a club contending for a wild-
card berth and likely hovering in the 85- to
90-win range, the Mariners embraced the need to
get younger, to relieve themselves of some hefty
contracts, and to provide fi nancial fl exibility for
the time when their crop of prospects are regular
contributors.
Seattle should not be a terrible team. They
aren’t tanking. But they begin spring with a
roster they hope won’t be the same by midsea-
son. In Seattle’s perfect scenario, the handful
of established veterans in the lineup will play
well enough early in the season that they can be
moved for more prospects.
The hope remains that the prospects they’ve
acquired will be ready to contribute by the sec-
ond half of the 2020 season, with some likely
making their debuts this year. Much of spring
training will involve seeing how a handful of
them stack up already.
“We have a chance to grow into something
special and we’re gonna watch that happen.
While we couldn’t tell you defi nitively we’re
gonna win 100 games, I can tell you we’re gonna
try to win every single one that we play,” general
manager Jerry Dipoto said. “We’re not going out
there with the intention to lose. I think that was
one of the things that got lost in the weeds. So
far back as two years ago when people started
talking about rebuilding and restructuring and
ripping it down. You don’t have to rip it down to
put yourself in a better position.”
Other things to watch as the Mariners start
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
New Mariners pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.
reporting next Monday, ahead of the early season
opener in Japan on March 20 against Oakland:
NEW LOOK: Gone are Robinson Cano,
Nelson Cruz, Jean Segura, Mike Zunino, Ben
Gamel, Guillermo Heredia, and with them a lot
of the offensive production from recent seasons.
The Mariners’ offseason trades and roster deci-
sions saw them bid farewell to the heart of their
batting order in Segura, Cano and Cruz. Yet the
drop-off shouldn’t be signifi cant at the plate.
Seattle added speed in outfi elder Mallex Smith
and shortstop J.P. Crawford. They got a poten-
tial big bat in outfi elder Domingo Santana and
likely improved offensively behind the plate
with Omar Narvaez.
One to watch in spring will be third baseman
Kyle Seager. If he can rebound from a terrible
2018, Seattle will be similar offensively to what
it was a year ago.
THEY’RE SET: The rotation could be good
enough to keep the Mariners competitive. Marco
Gonzales, Mike Leake and newcomer Yusei
Kikuchi will be the headliners, although Seat-
tle will limit Kikuchi’s innings during spring and
through the regular season. Wade LeBlanc will
have a spot after a solid 2018, which begs a ques-
tion about Felix Hernandez. The former All-Star
had the worst season of his career in 2018 with a
5.55 ERA and 27 home runs allowed, but Seat-
tle insists he’ll be in the rotation entering the fi nal
season of his current contract.
THEY’RE NOT: The bullpen is the biggest
question mark. There are no jobs predetermined
outside of perhaps Hunter Strickland having the
inside track on the closer spot. Seattle is likely
to have a fairly regular shuffl e between Triple-A
and the majors this season to help keep arms in
the bullpen, especially on days where Kikuchi
makes his short starts and it essentially turns
into a bullpen day.
ROOKIES TO WATCH: Pitcher Justus
Sheffi eld and Justin Dunn, infi elders Shed Long
and Evan White, and 18-year-old top prospect
Julio Rodriguez all will get long looks during
the spring. They will be key to Seattle’s hopes of
remaining competitive over the next few years.
Oregon’s recruiting class ranks atop the Pac-12
in Cristobal’s fi rst year. The team
got a boost heading into the upcom-
ing season when quarterback Justin
Herbert decided to stay in Eugene
for his senior year. One of the pros-
pects that Oregon signed in Decem-
ber was Herbert’s little brother, tight
end Patrick Herbert.
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
The traditional signing day
Wednesday merely padded Ore-
gon’s already stellar recruiting
class, the best in school history.
The major ranking services all
had Oregon’s class in the top 10
nationally, which also put the Ducks
atop the Pac-12 Conference.
Oregon got commitments from
21 prospects when the early sign-
ing period opened in December.
Among them was fi ve-star defen-
sive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, who
was ESPN’s top overall prospect and
the highest-ranked signee ever for
the school. The Ducks added three
more recruits Wednesday, including
defensive tackle Kristian Williams,
a four-star prospect out of Memphis,
Tennessee, who announced on Twit-
ter last weekend that he had decom-
mitted from Minnesota.
Oregon also added Jamal Hill, a
Washington gets defensive
Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard
Oregon head football coach Mario Cristobal talks to the media on signing
day Wednesday.
safety from Morrow High School in
Georgia, and cornerback DJ James
from Spanish Fort High School in
Mobile, Alabama.
“You think that a second signing
day is a little anticlimactic, but it’s
not. It ended up being a really good
start to the day. We were able to land
the exact prospect we wanted at the
exact position that we needed. So
for us it’s been an extremely excit-
ing and satisfying morning with the
addition of Jamal Hill, DJ James
and Kristian Williams,” coach
Mario Cristobal said.
The Ducks went 9-4 last season
Washington capped its recruit-
ing class by landing two of the
top defensive players on the West
Coast. The Huskies signed safety
Asa Turner out of Carlsbad, Cali-
fornia, and linebacker Daniel Heim-
uli from East Palo Alto, California.
Landing Turner capped a
lengthy recruiting battle. Turner
was expected to commit in Decem-
ber, but decided not to sign then
as he considered an offer to play
linebacker for Notre Dame. Wash-
ington viewed Turner as a defen-
sive back and that ultimately was a
deciding factor.