S PORTS
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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.