A8
THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, MAy 21, 2019
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Seaside senior Gretchen
Hoekstre stands next to her
winning mark in the discus,
a new state meet record.
Photos by David Ball
STATE TITLES FOR HOEKSTRE, LONG AND WARREN
Astoria girls seventh
in team standings
By DAVID BALL
For The Astorian
G
RESHAM — Seaside senior
Gretchen Hoekstre knew it was a
special throw right away, but she
had to wait a few moments to learn
just indeed how special.
Hoekstre was already tops on the lea-
derboard when she stepped into the dis-
cus ring for her first throw of the finals
Saturday at the 4A state track and field
meet hosted by Mt. Hood Community
College.
She spun in a tight circle and flung
the metal disc high into the air. It hung
there for a long breath before landing
deep in the sector. Fans packed onto a
grassy hillside on the north end of the
stadium erupted in whoops and hollers,
and Hoekstre gave a fist pump on her
way out of the ring.
She paused by the event signboard
waiting for her mark to be displayed.
The officials spun the dials to show
157 feet even (official mark was 156-
11). Hoekstre jumped away pumping
her arms over her head, while rejoining
the celebration with her fans across the
track.
The mark beat the meet record, held
by one of her heroes, Laura Bobek of
Astoria, by more than four feet.
“She had a goal, and she likes to get
those records. She admires Laura, and
that was a little motivator to push her
through to that mark,” Seaside throws
coach Krystal Pike said. “She was feel-
Astoria’s Sophie Long accepts the first-place medal from Astoria distance runner coach
Andrew Fick.
ing good and relaxed, and everything
just hit right when it needed to.”
Hoekstre spun another deep one out
there on her final attempt, touching
down at 155-3. Four of her six attempts
went over 145.
Hoekstre climbed to the top of the
awards podium, collected her first-place
medal, then rushed off to the shot put
ring to compete in her next event.
She won it on her first throw, sending
the ball 43-8¾.
Meanwhile, Astoria finished sev-
enth in the girls team standings with 31
points, highlighted by Sophie Long’s
win in the 800-meter final Saturday.
She was a member of the three-per-
son breakaway pack at the bell and
made her winning surge late on the
backstretch.
“I wanted to stay with that front pack
and use my speed at the end,” Long said.
“Right before we hit 200 to go, I could
tell the girl in first was getting tired, so
I took my chance. After that I was just
trying to get to the finish, thinking about
how good it would feel to be done.”
She clocked in at 2:20.57 for the two-
lap race.
Teammate Kes Sandstrom finished
third in the discus (125-8), Elizabeth
Barnett was fifth in the pole vault (9-0)
and Nara Van De Grift was sixth in the
triple jump (34-4 3/4).
Astoria also got points from each of
its relay teams.
On the boys side, Astoria senior Ian
Hunt had the team’s top performance by
Warrenton’s Mark Warren takes a break
between throws in the discus.
clearing a personal-best of 6 feet on his
first attempt. He then moved to a bench
on the infield and watched seven com-
petitors drop out at that bar.
“It was exciting to get that clearance
on my first try today — it set me up for
a good spot on the podium,” Hunt said.
“I was feeling the adrenaline of being at
state, and that bar didn’t seem as high as
it usually does.”
See Track, Page A7
Seaside wins play-in game at Ontario, 6-3 Lakeview defeats Knappa
First postseason win
for Gulls since 2005
The Astorian
It’s on to state for the Seaside
baseball team.
A long road trip (900-plus miles,
round trip) that turned into a three-
day stay in Ontario was worth it for
the Gulls, who defeated the Tigers
6-3 Saturday morning in a Class
4A play-in game.
A two-run home run by Sea-
side’s Brayden Johnson in the sixth
inning highlighted the win, the
Gulls’ first postseason victory in 12
years, to the day.
The Gulls left Thursday for the
Friday game in Ontario, where
rain postponed the play-in game to
Saturday.
The 11th-ranked Tigers finish
12-9 overall, while Seaside (11-
12 overall), advances to the round
of 16, where the Gulls will play
Wednesday at Henley (4 p.m.).
In Saturday’s win, Seaside
pitchers Travis Fenton and Payton
Westerholm scattered eight hits
with seven strikeouts and
two walks, while Ontar-
io’s Seth Forsyth went
the distance, allow-
ing nine hits with seven
strikeouts and a walk.
Seaside scored a run in
the first inning (a double
by Alex Teubner driv-
ing in Duncan Thomp-
son), before the Tigers
answered with two runs in the bot-
tom of the second.
The Gulls came right back with
two in the top of the third, with a
single by Teubner scoring Gage
McFadden for the go-ahead run.
After Ontario tied the game,
Seaside took the lead for good in
the fourth, when the Gulls loaded
the bases with one out, and Fenton
scored on an error. The Tigers got
out of the inning without any fur-
ther damage.
From there, Westerholm and the
Gulls kept Ontario scoreless over
the final four innings.
In the sixth,
Justin Mor-
ris
reached
base on a bunt,
and came in
moments later
on Johnson’s two-run
homer.
McFadden, Teub-
ner and Isaias Jantes
all had two hits apiece
for Seaside, which had
four stolen bases.
It was Seaside’s first playoff vic-
tory since May 18, 2007, when the
Gulls won 12-6 at Sweet Home.
Wednesday’s game will mark
Seaside’s first appearance in the
state playoffs since 2010, when
the Gulls lost a first-round game at
Sutherlin, 14-6.
Meanwhile, Seaside’s last
play-in appearance was in 2011, a
6-4 loss at Gladstone.
All four Clatsop County base-
ball teams (Astoria, Seaside, War-
renton and Knappa) will be in
Sweet 16 action Wednesday at the
2A, 3A and 4A levels.
softball team in playoff, 5-3
The Astorian
The first-round playoff jinx
struck again Monday afternoon at
Knappa, where Lakeview posted a
5-3 win over the Loggers in a first-
round game of the 2A softball state
playoffs.
Over the last 10 years, the Log-
gers are now 1-8 in first-round
games, as Knappa saw its 2019 sea-
son come to an end.
With 10 wins in their last 11
games, Lakeview advances to the
round of 16, where the Honkers will
play Wednesday at Weston-McE-
wen. The Loggers — who were rid-
ing an eight-game win streak — fin-
ish at 19-8 overall.
Meanwhile, Lakeview pitcher
Alyson Yates struck out the first
eight batters she faced in Monday’s
game, while her team gave her a 2-0
lead in the top of the third inning on
two Logger errors and a two-run
single by Zoe Suba.
Lakeview managed two runs
in the fourth and one in the fifth to
make it 5-0.
Knappa finally went to work
offensively in the bottom of the fifth.
Katie Patterson had a leadoff
double and took third on an error,
then scored moments later when
Raven Corcoran reached on another
error.
Katie Denny reached base on
a third error, which brought in
Corcoran to make it 5-2.
After a scoreless sixth, Knappa’s
Madelynn Weaver doubled with
two outs in the seventh to bring in a
run, but that’s where the rally ended,
as Yates struck out the final batter to
end the game.
Lakeview’s junior pitcher struck
out 14 Loggers, while allowing
three hits with two walks.
Weaver — who had two of
Knappa’s three hits — pitched the
entire game for the Loggers, allow-
ing seven hits with two strikeouts,
but Knappa committed five errors
of its own.