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S PORTS www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Saturday, May 16, 2015 A7 HRV grabs last play-in spot with win over Hermiston Eagles softball battles and comes out on top in close contest with the Bulldogs on Tuesday By BEN MITCHELL News staff writer With both teams fighting for their playoff lives, Tuesday’s game between the Hermiston Bulldogs and the HRV Eagles saw a scrappy contest between the two squads that featured five lead changes and more than a few frayed nerves. Thanks to some productive late innings, HRV was able to overcome a two-run deficit midway through the game and hold off multiple Hermiston rallies to escape with a 10-7 win and qualify for the remaining play-in game in the Columbia River Conference. “It was a stressful game on Tuesday,” said coach Eric Keller. “We struggled in the first inning, then bounced back defensively in the second inning to help give some confi- dence to the bats that started to come alive in the third in- ning. Once the bats woke up, it was a fun game to see the suc- cesses offensively.” Hermiston knocked HRV back on its heels early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second to give the Bulldogs a 2- 0 lead. After another two scoreless innings, HRV tied things HRV AT HERMISTON 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 0 0 2 3 2 3 HRM 2 0 0 0 0 5 0 HRV up when Jenni Packer hit a fly ball to center field for a single that sent Kelsey Wells and Breanna Weekly home. The Eagles held the Bulldogs scoreless for another inning and then pulled ahead in the top of the fifth thanks to a sin- gle from Zoe Munn — another fly ball to center field — which allowed Hannah McNerney and Jessica DeHart to put HRV up 4-2. HRV added another in the inning when JoJo Karr scored off a double from Weekly, making it 5-2. The Bulldogs came up empty once again in the bottom of the fifth and HRV was able to extend its lead to 7-2 in the top of the sixth after Makena Zeller and Kaylin Winans scored off a line drive to short stop hit from Munn, who reached first on the play. With things looking good for HRV, and after five straight innings with no Hermiston runs, the Bulldogs went off-leash in the bottom of the sixth, shelling HRV with five runs to even the score at 7 heading into the final inning. As they have done at other times this season, the Eagles weren’t fazed by the setback, and exhibited their team’s men- tal toughness by firing back with three runs in the top of the seventh. Zeller first pushed HRV back into the lead, scoring on a popup to right field that was hit by DeHart. R H E On the next play, Winans ad- vanced from third after 10 14 5 Munn hit one to short stop and then was able to reach 7 6 4 first on an error. A similar Photo by Ben Mitchell FRESHMAN ZOE MUNN connects with a pitch in a game against Hermiston earlier this season. Munn led HRV in Tuesday’s game with two hits and five RBI. See HRV, Page A8 End of the road HRV’s playoff run comes to a close with rough loss to Lake Oswego By BEN MITCHELL News staff writer Photo by Mike Weber DISTRICT RACES HRV track and field got off to a good start at the District Championships on Wednesday, and was scheduled to wrap up the meet Friday afternoon with the finals in the running events. Above, HRV’s Jestena Mattson (Bib No. 291) and Clarissa Najera (to the left in Bib No. 292) race in the preliminary heat of the 100-meter dash, which Mattson took with a time of 12.33 seconds, and which Najera placed fourth in with a time of 13.45. HRV had a field day in the field event finals, particularly Sebastian Barajas, who crushed the competition in the discus with a toss of 188 feet, 11 inches, breaking his own school record, and beating the next closes competitor in the event by 40 feet. Barajas also won the shot put with a throw of 55-3.5. Parker Irusta won long jump with a personal record leap of 21 feet 10 inches. On the girls’ side, Mattson won high jump with a leap of 5-7, good enough to break the school record of 5-5, set back in 2006 by Jacquie Mattson (no relation, coach Donnie Herneisen tells the News). The girls also had a good day in the javelin, where Terri Hewitt had a throw of 105-10, good for third. In pole vault, Kimberlee Boquist and Amber Kennedy tied for third with vaults of eight feet. Look for a full report on HRV’s results in the meet in the Wednesday edition of the News. With loss to Central Catholic, HRV boys lacrosse dangles on the playoff precipice Other teams’ final games determine whether the Eagles are in or out By BEN MITCHELL tie the game up 1-1. Another goal from Brown gave HRV the lead once again, but Central Catholic scored again to make it The HRV boys lacrosse team didn’t do itself any favors 2-2. The horse race continued with a goal from middie Bruce Thursday night in the team’s quest to secure one of the final Ostler, assisted by middie Elliot Cramer, to push HRV to a 3- spots in the Oregon High School Lacrosse Association play- 2 lead. However, Central Catholic grabbed a quick two goals off bracket, losing to Central Catholic, 14-3, in the final game in the final minutes of the first period, escaping with a 4-3 lead to end the period. of the regular season. “We played the first quarter awe- As of Friday morning, HRV was some,” said coach Matt Luchsinger. “It ranked 25th in the state — just one spot was a hell of a way to start out.” too low to qualify for the playoffs, since For the rest of the game though, it was HRV did not finish high enough in the all Central Catholic, who flipped a Portland League to receive an automat- switch to start the second period, wrest- ic post-season berth, ending up with an ing control of the ball and the game 8-6 overall record and a 2-6 divisional away from HRV, burying the Eagles with record that put the team fifth of seven 10 unanswered goals. teams in the league. Other teams in the “Pretty much the thing that changed OHSLA still had games to play late into was the face offs,” Luchsinger ex- Friday evening, so whether the Eagles plained, saying that Central Catholic’s made the playoffs or not wouldn’t be MATT LUCHSINGER face-off man was the best his team had known at least until very late Friday, if encountered this spring. “We just didn’t not longer (check Wednesday’s edition have the ball for pretty much the rest of of the News for updates). Playing on Milwaukie High School’s turf field, HRV got off the game.” It’s an issue Luchsinger says he has seen crop up before in to a great start against the No. 9 in the state, drawing first blood midway through the first period off a shot from attack other games this season — a phenomenon the first-year HRV head coach has dubbed, “The Curse of the 3.” The Eagles will Torsenn Brown, assisted by fellow attack Levi Glass. For the rest of the period, the two teams traded goals. See LAX, Page A8 Shortly after Brown’s goal, the Rams got one of their own to News staff writer Coach Andrew McElderry and HRV Eagles girls lacrosse team knew they had their work cut out for them, having to defeat the No. 2 team in the state, Lake Oswego, if they wanted to advance past the second round of the playoffs on Wednesday. The Lakers, who have the sixth-best plus/minus out of the 39 girls lacrosse teams in the state, played a game Wednesday evening in Lake Oswego that mirrored that stat, scoring 17 goals against HRV, while only giving up one. The loss ended HRV’s playoff run in the second round, after HRV had crushed Marist Catholic on Monday, 14-2, in Hood River. “The Girls were aware that it was gonna be tough, but, I think the pace and skills of the Lake Oswego team defi- nitely still surprised them a bit,” McElderry said. “But, here’s the cool thing: At the end of the day, the players came off understanding what it takes to play at the top level and what could be done to get there. I would say the majority are looking forward to working hard in the off- season to raise our level of play.” Lake Oswego dominated the game, outshooting HRV 25- 3, winning the ground ball battle 20-12 and winning 15 draws to HRV’s six. They also didn’t give HRV much of an opportunity to score, possessing the ball for the majority of the game. “The game was extremely fast-paced. While the score does not reflect the effort, I think the defense did excep- tionally well (Wednesday) night,” McElderry said. “I would say that at low defense, Savanna Boersma and Vic- toria Kohner-Flanagan had their best games of the sea- son.” The lone goal of the evening came from swing player Lauren Orr, who scored unassisted off a fast transition, McElderry said. It was the second game in a row where Orr scored a goal, the culmination of all the hard work McElderry said the frosh has put in this season. “We had talked earlier in her season about her stick skills needing improvement. It became clear within two weeks after that discussion that she was putting in time outside of practice to improve,” McElderry recalled. “I would say that goal was the culmination of a lot of work and determination to improve.” HRV had three shots the entire evening, which besides the one that resulted in Orr’s goal, came from Savannah Brentlinger and another swing player, freshman Kat McElderry. In net, freshman Ella Rand faced a barrage of shots and was able to save eight of 25 for a save percentage of 32. The Eagles had a markedly improved season over last year, during which they won four games. This year, the team finished the regular season 7-8, with a 7-5 record in the Portland league. McElderry said it was a “great, great season,” and with only one player leaving due to gradua- tion (Kelli Clarke), he expects next season could be even better. “The future of Hood River lacrosse is bright,” he said. “I would say that we are on a good trajectory. If the girls re- turn next season with the passion, focus, and determina- tion they showed this year, it’s gonna be fun.” ‘I told the boys we could definitely play with these guys, and we could – we just didn’t have the ball to do it.’ Photo by Ben Mitchell FRESHMAN LAUREN ORR looks for an open lane in Monday’s game against Marist. Orr, a swing player, scored HRV’s lone goal in the team’s playoff loss to Lake Oswego on Wednesday.
