Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2015)
S PORTS www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Saturday, June 6, 2015 B1 Eagles off to the finals Photos by Ben Mitchell HRV will be heading to the OSAA 5A state finals for the second year in a row after defeating Columbia River Conference opponent Pendleton, 1-0, in extra innings. Clockwise, starting above: the HRV dugout empties following the conclusion of the game; catcher Adam Cameron makes a huge play to prevent a Buckaroo from scoring; Patrick Harvey, who had the final hit of the game, signs a popcorn bag for young fans; Kam Walker sprints to score the winning run as coach Erich Harjo (to the right in the background) pumps his fist in celebration. HRV defeats Pendleton, 1-0, in extra-innings thriller; faces No. 1 Liberty in title game Saturday By BEN MITCHELL News staff writer For the second time in as many years, the Hood River Valley Eagles baseball team is heading to the OSAA 5A State Champi- onship game, ousting the Pendleton Bucka- roos in a gutsy, 1-0 semi-finals game that bore witness to more than a few nail-biting mo- ments during its eight innings. It was the third playoff victory in a row for the Eagles, as well as the third consecutive playoff game where HRV shut out its oppo- nents — the only 5A team to do so once, let alone twice, in the playoffs and the only team do it three consecutive times out of any OSAA team in the post-season. The two teams, who had three of their five “Pendleton is so tough — every time we meetings this year decided by one run, were play them they’re tough,” said HRV coach at 0-0 through seven innings — a defensive Erich Harjo. “You know, we had to play them deadlock that was finally broken in the bot- five times last year, five times this year, meet tom of the eighth thanks to a walk-off single up in the playoffs again. It’s extremely hard by right fielder Patrick Harvey, to beat a team four times in one who sent second baseman year.” Check out the Kameron Walker home for the win- The victory brought an end to ning run. throwback to play- Pendleton’s scrappy playoff run The victory was a sweet one for that drew comparisons to HRV’s ers’ Little League the Eagles, who ousted their worth Days on Page B2 2014 season. A 14 seed in the tour- Columbia River Conference rivals ney, the Buckaroos saw their from the playoffs for the second post-season come to an end after consecutive year. No. 7 HRV will play No. 1 remarkable road upsets that included a 10-3 Liberty at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer on win over Corvallis in Round 1 and an 8-3 win Saturday, June 6 at 1:30 p.m. over Crescent Valley in the quarterfinals. I have so much respect for (Pendleton head coach) Greg Witten… it’s his last year coach- ing,” said Harjo. “Unfortunately, it’s not the way he wanted to go out, but still, so much fun to go on a run late in the year like that.” Pendleton’s defense proved a thorn in HRV’s side for the majority of the game, throwing a wrench in the Eagles’ M.O. of jumping out to an early lead and letting their pitching and defense carry them for the re- maining innings. HRV starting pitcher Ryan Ward and Pendleton starting pitcher Quinn Cockburn kept opposing batters quiet for the most part, with Ward giving up just three Please see FINALS, Page B2 Strong second half puts HRV over Canby in Cascade Cup semis Eagles defeat Cougars, 19-10; will play LaSalle Saturday in Cascade Cup final By BEN MITCHELL News staff writer The HRV boys lacrosse team is heading to its first-ever Cascade Cup finals, thanks to a high-octane third and fourth quarters that more than made up for the team’s sluggish start against the Canby Cougars Wednesday evening in Hood River. The No. 3 Eagles defeated No. 7 Canby, 19- 10, to set up a Cascade Cup showdown in Hillsboro, Satur- day at 3 p.m., a g ainst No. 8 LaSalle, who de- feated No. 4 Glen- coe, 9-7, Thursday night. In addition to a Cascade Cup fi- MATT LUCHSINGER nals berth, the vic- tory was even more satisfying considering that HRV was booted out of the cup in the same round by the same school last year, with the Cougars beating HRV, 17- 10. “I think these guys wanted to go back and prove themselves,” HRV coach Matt Luchsinger said of his team, “and not let Canby take them out again.” It took a while for that motivation to shine through, though, as HRV spent the majority of the first quarter trying in vain to put some distance between itself and Canby. The Eagles got down early, with the Cougars scor- ing a goal within about the first 15 seconds of the game. Jackson Lebsack scored one to get HRV on the board. The two teams traded goals for the remainder of the quarter, with HRV finally getting out in front to go up 4-3 at the end of the quarter. Canby continued to hound HRV through- out the second quarter, keeping within a goal of HRV for the majority of the quarter, but goals by attack Torsenn Brown and midfielder El- liot Cramer helped push HRV’s lead out to 8-5 at the end of the half. Not to be outdone, Canby came out firing in the start of third quarter, and scored three goals without an answer from HRV to put the score at 11- 10, HRV. Luchsinger saw his team needed a change. “Our defense was playing a really mellow relaxed style of zone defense, which was not typical. Probably for the first time in the his- tory of HRV lacrosse, we did not have a penalty; we played a really clean game. How- ever, we were letting them to control the ball probably more than we should have,” he ex- plained, adding that Canby was “doing a good job scrapping for ground balls in front ‘We’re playing the best ball of the season now.’ Photos by Ben Mitchell A STRONG PERFORMANCE: HRV’s offense really took off in the the second half, spurred on by at- tack Levi Glass (top), who bends the mesh of Canby’s net with a goal in the third quarter. Above, de- fender Alex Buschaver, who scored a goal in Wednesday’s game, keeps pace with a Canby player. Please see LAX, Page B2 Sports briefs Handball tourney raises $2,500 for Lila May The inaugural Hood River Handball Invitational Handball Tour- nament was held last weekend, with over 40 players from all over Oregon participating in the tourney put on by the Hood River Handball Association. The event raised $2,500 for Lila May — a local four-year old girl undergoing treatments for neuroblastoma. Sponsors for the event included 6th Street Bistro, Bell Design, HR 7/8 girls lax heading to state Bette’s Place, Dairy Queen, Dakine, Dave Tallman, Dehart Excava- tion Inc., Dog River Coffee Co., Double Mountain, Doug’s Sports, Full Sail, Glassometry Studios, Indian Creek Golf Course, JB Con- struction, JT Builder, Lanes Excavation Inc., Michael Scott Stenberg Construction, Mission Construction, Naked Winery, New York City Sub Shop, Papa Murphy’s, Pietro’s Pizza, Pita Pit, River City Saloon, Rosauers, Starbucks, Tum-A-Lum Lumber Co., and VLMK Engineer- ing + Design. Hood River 7/8 Girls lacrosse defeated OES, 10-8, at Delta Park Monday night to secure a place in the State Championship game this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Lakeridge High School. OES started off the evening game with two unanswered goals against a jittery Hood River team. As Hood River settled in, Katie Koenig dodged past two players to score the first of her four goals that night. She added two assists to teammates Emma Norris and Terra Mikkelsen later in the evening as the two teams traded goals. Alex Willis slammed in two bounce shots and had an assist and Abbly Bartles added a finesse high shot and one assist. Emma Norris then fired in a high corner shot for her second goal of the game. Hood River pulled ahead by three with seven minutes remaining and OES placed in one last hard fought goal to come within two goals in the last 30 seconds. Katie Lohr, a stand-in goalie this season due to the regular season goalie being injured, had a stellar game making nine dramatic saves in goal. “She was the big X factor in the game,” stated coach Margaret Koenig. “She made huge saves which fired up the team.” With their anchor defender, Rebecca Kiyakowa, out for more than half the game with an injury, other defenders stepped up their game. Elena Kroll, the only 8th grader left on defense with Rebecca’s absence, led the girls with her com- posed presence and Reed Bauer, on midfield, used her speed to drop in quickly down on defense to help stop OES’ strong fast break game. The rest of the 7th grade defense, Frances and Josephine Dickinson, Ellie Barton and Payton Bunch defended a taller and more aggressive team with composure and confidence. Event site now closed to kiteboard launching/landing The Port of Hood River announces that beginning Thursday, June 4, the summer policy of pump-and-dry-only for kiteboards on the Event Site grass will be in effect. Launching and landing kites from the Event Site grass will no longer be permissible for the re- mainder of the summer season. The policy aims to ensure safety for all users. The Port of Hood River wishes to thank the Columbia Gorge Kiteboarding Association and the Columbia Gorge Wind- surfing Association for their help communicating this policy to their members as well as the many visitors to the Event Site. Con- tact Waterfront Coordinator Liz Whitmore at 541-386-1645 or via email to porthr@gorge.net for more information.
