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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, MAy 28, 2019
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Warrenton
is Final Four
bound, with
win over
Brookings-
Harbor
Astoria on a
playoff roll,
after win at
Sweet Home
The Astorian
The Astorian
The team no one wants to
face right now in the Class
3A baseball state playoffs?
The answer, all of a sudden,
is the Warrenton Warriors,
who took down No. 2 seed
Brookings-Harbor, 3-2, in a
quarterfinal game Friday in
Brookings.
The win sends Warrenton
— for the first time since 2003
— on to the semifinals, where
the Warriors will play Santiam
Christian, which defeated Taft
in another quarterfinal.
“Gosh … we just pitched
and defended well, and did a
fantastic job,” said Warrenton
coach Lennie Wolfe, shortly
after the game ended. “And
as everybody has been texting
me and telling me, it’s going
to make for a nice ride home.”
Three runs in the first
inning was all the Warriors
could score in Friday’s game
… and three runs was all they
would need.
In their one big inning,
Gabe Breitmeyer drew a one-
out walk in the top of the first,
and Jake Morrow singled to
center and took second on the
throw.
Duane Falls followed with
an infield hit to score Breit-
meyer with the first run, and
Dalton Knight singled to right
to plate Morrow and Falls for
a 3-0 lead.
The Bruins scored a run in
the second inning — a line-
drive homer to left by Jacub
McCollum — but Knight gave
up little else. The senior threw
94 pitches, and allowed eight
hits with one strikeout and one
walk.
Brookings starter Adam
Shew (“he’s going to be pretty
special,” Wolfe said) also went
the distance, and scattered
seven hits with 10 strikeouts
and two walks.
The Bruins cut the deficit
to 3-2 in the fifth inning, and
had runners at first and sec-
ond with one out in the sixth
before Knight retired the side.
“The key was Dalton,”
Wolfe said. “He kept the ball
down and got us out of some
tight spots in almost every
inning. He only had one strike-
out, which tells you a little
about how we played defen-
sively. The kids just made play
after play after play.”
The Warriors turned one
double play, running their sea-
son total to “17 or 18” DPs,
according to Wolfe.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Baseball — OSAA semifinals: (4A) Astoria at
Henley, 4:30 p.m.; (3A) Warrenton at Santiam
Christian, 5 p.m.; (2A) Umpqua Valley Chris-
tian at Knappa, 4:30 p.m.
Photos by Krissy Barendse-Goodman
Knappa’s Eli Takalo slides into home plate, where Regis catcher Joe Alley awaits to apply the tag.
KNAPPA KNOCKS
OUT REGIS, AS
LOGGERS CLOSE
IN ON THREE-PEAT
The Astorian
T
he Knappa Loggers are
making their march to a
three-peat look easy, as
they scored a 9-1 win Friday
over Regis in a Class 2A base-
ball quarterfinal.
The game was moved to
Ridgefield,
Washington
to
avoid soggy field conditions in
Knappa.
Winners of 10 straight playoff
games since their loss to Burns
in the 2016 championship, the
Loggers will be at home Tuesday
(4:30 p.m.) to play Umpqua Val-
ley Christian, with top-ranked
Knappa the favorite to make its
fifth consecutive trip to the title
game, and fourth championship
in five years.
Knappa jumped on Regis
starter Tyler Voltin right away,
as Tristin Wallace had an infield
hit, Shawn Lackey reached on an
error, and Eli Takalo’s single to
center scored Wallace. Lackey
sprinted home on a ground ball
by Logan Bartlett.
The 2-0 lead was more than
enough for Wallace on the
mound.
Knappa’s starting pitcher
threw 85 pitches over six
innings, allowing three hits
with 11 strikeouts and no walks.
Logan Flues pitched the seventh.
“It was Tristin’s best per-
formance of the season,” said
Knappa coach Jeff Miller. “He
had seven strikeouts over the
first three innings. And we were
able score a couple runs in the
first inning, which is always nice
in a playoff game, because it sort
of settles everybody down, and
you’re able to take a breath.”
Knappa pitcher Tristin Wallace
allowed just three hits in Friday’s
win over Regis, with 11 strikeouts
and no walks.
After a scoreless second
inning, the Loggers tacked on
three runs in the third, high-
lighted by doubles from Takalo
and the first of two by Ryson
Patterson.
With one run already in,
Devin Hoover drew a walk to
load the bases, and Wallace
helped his cause with a two-out
single to score two runs for a 5-0
lead.
In the fourth inning, Patter-
son had an RBI single and a pair
of Regis errors eventually led to
a steal of home plate by Luke
Goozee to make it 7-0.
Regis helped the Loggers
with four errors, while Knappa
finished with eight stolen bases.
The Loggers added two runs
in the bottom of the sixth, all
without a hit, as they took advan-
tage of one hit batter and three
straight walks.
Knappa’s victory sets up a
semifinal with an old playoff
foe, Umpqua Valley Christian,
which defeated Reedsport 8-1 in
another Friday quarterfinal, scor-
ing all eight runs (on two hits) in
the first inning.
The Loggers defeated the
Monarchs (at Umpqua) in the
semifinals in Knappa’s march to
the 2010 state title.
In 2009, Umpqua Valley beat
Knappa 10-0 in the quarterfinals,
and the Monarchs defeated the
Loggers 8-6 in a 2008 quarterfi-
nal at Knappa.
“And (the No. 4 seed Mon-
archs) have everybody available
to pitch,” Miller said. “Their top
two guys could be No. 1 pitchers
for anybody, and they’re deep
through No. 4. So they’re deeper
than we are in that area.
“They’ve got the same coach,
Dave York, who has built that
program, which is sort of the
gold standard of programs.”
After two straight losses
to North Douglas earlier this
month, the Monarchs defeated
North Douglas 14-1, the first of
six straight wins in which they
have outscored the opposition
69-3.
The Loggers, however, are
unmatched in victories, at any
level.
Knappa has won 20 in a row,
and the Loggers are 62-1 over
their last 63 games. Over the last
three years, Knappa’s only loss
to an Oregon 2A team was to
Nestucca, April 18, 2017.
BASEBALL
Astoria 8, Sweet Home 1
Astoria 400 040 0—8 15 2
S.Home 000 100 0—1 2 3
Reed and Hillard; Virtue, Zanona (5) and
Thorpe. W: Reed. L: Virtue. RBI: Ast, Feld-
man 3, Hirsch 2, Kolee, Reed. 2B: Ast, B.Mat-
thews 2, Rush, Hillard. HR: Ast, Feldman. HBP:
Ast, Reed. LOB: Astoria 9, Sweet Home 3. DP:
Sweet Home.
Warrenton 3, Brookings-Harbor 2
Warrenton 300 000 0—3 7 0
Brookings 010 010 0—2 10 1
Knight and Morrow; Shew and McCollum. W:
Knight. L: Shew. RBI: War, Knight 2, Falls. 2B:
BH, Shew. HR: BH, McCollum. LOB: Warrenton
3, Brookings-Harbor 6. DP: Warrenton.
Knappa 9, Regis 1
Regis 000 000 1—1 5 5
Knappa 203 202 x—9 7 1
Voltin, Bishop (6) and Alley; Wallace, Flues (7)
and Patterson. W: Wallace. L: Voltin. RBI: Reg,
Koenig; Kna, Patterson 3, Wallace 2, Bartlett,
Takalo, Hoover. 2B: Kna, Patterson, Takalo.
HBP: Reg, Campbell; Kna, Bartlett. LOB: Regis
4, Knappa 8. DP: Knappa.
Naselle track athletes earn medals
The Astorian
CHENEY, Wash. — The
Naselle track team celebrated
success in two field events at the
WIAA state championships Friday.
Senior Lilli Zimmerman placed
fourth in the shot put with a toss
of 33 feet, 4 3/4 inches. Senior
Liz Fink of Trout Lake won with
a state record throw of 38-10 1/4.
In the pole vault, Naselle senior
Sophie Scrabeck earned fourth
place, successfully clearing the
bar at 8-0. The winner was junior
Brooklyn Emerson of Glenwood,
last year’s state runner-up, who
cleared 9-9. Freshman Grace Hunt
of Naselle also competed, clearing
6-6.
Photos by Patrick Webb
LEFT: Sophie Scrabeck of Naselle placed fourth in the WIAA 1B state pole
vault championships Friday. RIGHT: Lilli Zimmerman of Naselle placed
fourth in the WIAA 1B state shot put championships Friday.
At first a long shot to get past
the first round, the Astoria Fish-
ermen now have a very real shot
at their first state championship
since 2011.
The Fishermen are halfway
there, following an 8-1 win Fri-
day at Sweet Home in a Class
4A baseball state quarterfinal.
With a win over No. 3 seed
North Marion already under
their belt, Astoria will play
No. 2-seed Henley in a Tues-
day semifinal, with a trip to the
championship on the line.
A win will put Astoria into
the title game (with their third
different coach) for the sixth
time since 2006.
But first, it will be another
long road trip to face the
Hornets.
“Bring it on,” said Astoria
second-year coach Glen From-
willer. “The kids are getting
acclimated to being on the road.
We’re playing well everywhere,
so we’ll just jump on the bus
and go wherever we have to.”
The Fishermen wasted little
time in jumping on the score-
board in Friday’s contest.
In the top of the first inning,
Astoria’s Burke Matthews had a
one-out double to center field,
Ryan Stutznegger reached base
on an error, and Ebin Hillard
singled to load the bases.
Will Reed was hit by a pitch
to force in the first run, and
with two outs, Josiah Hirsch
lined a single to center to score
Stutznegger and Hillard to
make it 3-0.
Reed advanced to third on
a wild pitch, and he scored
moments later on Balan Kolee’s
infield single.
Dylan Rush walked on four
straight pitches to re-load the
bases, but Sweet Home pitcher
Nate Virtue retired the final bat-
ter to end the half-inning.
But it was far too late, as the
4-0 lead for the Fishermen was
plenty for Reed to work with as
Astoria’s starting pitcher.
Reed did not give up a hit
until the fourth inning, and went
the distance on the mound, toss-
ing a two-hitter with one strike-
out and three walks.
“We played great defense,”
Fromwiller said. “(The Hus-
kies) put the ball in play, so give
some love to Reed. He did a
great job.
“But the four runs in the first
inning … that settles every-
body’s blood pressure and the
heart rate goes down, and it defi-
nitely helps the pitcher,” From-
willer said. “We batted through
the entire order (in the first
inning), which gave everybody
a chance to see their pitcher —
who also pitched well, but he
struggled at times, and we just
sat on the fastball.”
And offensively, the Fisher-
men jumped all over the Hus-
kies, racking up six hits through
just two innings, after collecting
just four hits in their win two
days earlier at North Marion.
Adding some insurance in
the fifth inning, the Fishermen
basically took batting practice
on Sweet Home reliever Zach-
ary Zanona.
After a fly-out to start the
inning, Balan Kolee reached
on a single and advanced to
third on a double from Dylan
Rush, and everybody scored
on a three-run homer by Adam
Feldman.
Still not done, Matthews had
his second double and eventu-
ally scored on a double steal for
an 8-1 lead, as the Fishermen
collected 14 hits through just
five innings.
Astoria finished with 15 hits,
three apiece for Matthews and
Hillard.
The first four batters in Asto-
ria’s lineup combined for nine
hits.
“Adam did great — he hit
the three-run homer, and that
helps,” Fromwiller said. “And
Burke has been hitting every-
thing. The last few games he
has hit every ball hard.”