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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2016)
SPORTS WEEKEND, MAY 21-22, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON State Track & Field Scott wins twice for TigerScots Munson sends Bucks packing Umatilla’s Cardenas, Ione’s Flynn also win two events East Oregonian EUGENE — Weston-McEwen junior Hayden Scott and Cove sophomore Alex Graffunder have enjoyed a friendly rivalry throughout the season, and it was the two Eastern Oregon runners going head-to-head again on Friday with a state title on the line in the 2A boys’ 1,500 meters at Hayward Field in Eugene. Scott came into the meet with a gameplan in mind, and executed it perfectly to overtake Graffunder at the end and win his irst state gold in track and ield. Scott opened with the lead, then faded back to the pack before giving it everything he had to inish two seconds ahead of Graffunder with a time of 4 minutes, 9.32 seconds. “I wanted the loodgates to open and I would give it everything I had,” Scott told the East Orego- nian’s Kathy Aney after winning the race. “No matter where I was, I would go full throttle.” Graffunder also had beaten Scott by four seconds at a recent race in Baker, providing some extra motivation. “I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did (Friday) without Alex pushing me and giving me motiva- tion,” Scott said. Scott added another gold medal later in the day in the 800, and local athletes brought back numerous podium inished and 13 total medals from the inal day of competition for Classes 3A-1A. Umatilla senior Fabian Cardenas Wilsonville reliever makes clutch play East Oregonian 1 2 Staff photo by Kathy Aney Hayden Scott, of Weston-McEwen, leads the 1500-meter run Friday at the Oregon State OSAA Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene. Smith won the race in 4:09.32. earned his second gold of the meet by winning the 3A 1,500. Unlike Scott, Cardenas led start to win the event in 3:58.64. Cardenas said he planned to run splits of about 61 seconds every lap, but felt the residual effects of his dominant win in the 3,000 on Thursday. “After the irst 800, I was at 2:06 — a little slow,” Cardenas said. “My legs tanked after yesterday in the 3,000.” Ione senior Jessie Flynn also won two events in Eugene, and took gold in both 1A girls’ hurdles events. She won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.30, beating out Adri- an’s Morgan Bayes (16.93), and won the 300 hurdles in 47.49, again edging Bayes (47.92). Pilot Rock’s Abby Rigby also won gold on Friday. The sopho- more topped the 2A girls 200 dash in 26.37, and also was second in the 100 in 12.95. See SMALL SCHOOLS/2B HERMISTON Neal throws personal best for third in shot Tyler Rohr- man, of Hermiston (middle), races to second in his heat of the 110-me- ter hurdles Friday at the Ore- gon State OSAA Track & Field Champi- onships at Hayward Field in Eu- gene. Rohr- man will compete in Saturday’s inals. Bulldogs, Buckaroos look to inish big East Oregonian EUGENE — Hermiston senior Tre Neal was relaxed for a guy looking to inish his high school track career on the podium in the state shot put competition. He and 10 other athletes clapped rhythmically for Lebanon shot putter Zack Short as he stepped onto the pad. They broke into whoops and hollers when Short launched the metal ball in state record territory. Neal was the irst to shake Short’s chalky hand when he broke the 5A meet record of 59-10 with a throw of 62-08.75. “We knew he was going to set the state meet record – he’d already thrown 65 feet this season – and we thought we might as well root him on,” Neal said. Neal ended up with a third place inish, but felt no shame. His longest throw of 56 feet, 7 inches was a personal best and might have broken the school record. He came a touch short of the 57 or Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pioneers hold off Bulldogs Errors doom Hermiston softball in play-in round East Oregonian SANDY — The Hermiston softball team spent the inal half of Friday’s game against Sandy trying to make up for a disastrous third inning, but Softball couldn’t undo the damage as the Pioneers Hermiston held on for a 3-0 win in the OSAA 5A play-in round. The Bull- dogs (14-12), Sandy committed three errors in the decisive frame, and inished with ive in the game. Mackenna Brisbine started Sandy (17-9) in the third with a one-out single, and then inield See HHS SOFTBALL/2B 0 58-footer he’d envisioned, but he wasn’t wasting time lamenting a few inches. “I had a good time with the track team this year,” he said. With his third place inish, as well as a fourth place inish in the discus throw (169 feet), Neal helped the Hermiston boys team into the sixth place slot in the team standings with 11 points, trailing the No. 1 Hood River Valley that sits at the top with 25 points. The Hermiston girls did not score in any of the four events that took place on Friday, but look to do well on Saturday. See BIG SCHOOLS/2B HERMISTON Hermiston offense quiet in loss to Mustangs Baseball Offensive struggles follow Bulldogs into postseason By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian The Hermiston Bulldogs spent the irst 24 games of the season trying to solve the puzzle that is their offense. The Bulldogs averaged just over four runs per game this season, and scored more than ive runs just ive times as the team worked hard for but struggled to ind a consistent approach and attack that could lead to more runs. In their 25th and inal game, the Bulldogs still were not able to ind that missing piece as they fell to the Milwaukie Mustangs 3-1 in a 5A Play-in game on Friday at Armand Larive Middle School. Hermiston WILSONVILLE — Tucker Munson’s big seventh inning lifted the Wilsonville baseball team past Pendleton 2-1 on Friday in the OSAA 5A play-in round. Munson pitched a scoreless top half of Baseball the seventh in relief of starter Jax Evenhux, then drove in Pendleton the game-win- ning run on a walk-off single in the Wildcats’ at-bat. Pendleton Wilsonville pitcher Wyatt Morris threw the entire game, and going into the seventh hadn’t allowed a hit since Gage Gloster’s single in the third inning. But Adam Stevens led Wilsonville (16-9) off with a pinch-hit double, and Drake See BUCKS/2B Staff photo by E.J. Harris Milwaukie’s Gunner Murk slides into home plate as Hermiston’s Slade Gritz waits for the ball in the Bulldogs’ 3-1 loss to the Mus- tangs on Friday in Hermiston. coach Lance Hawkins said after the game that he’s sad to see this group of kids’ season come to an end. “I told the boys I’ve never had a bunch that’s worked so hard and worked so together as a team,” Hawkins said. “Everybody gets along here and it’s been a real plea- Milwaukie Hermiston 3 1 sure to coach them. I enjoy these guys and every year it’s tough, but this is a special bunch and I mean it. “They are dandies at practice, and it’s a fun bunch, but I want to be fun and win.” The postgame huddle was illed with plenty of emotion and tears from many of the underclassmen and the four seniors that played their inal game as Bulldogs. Seeing that emotion is something Hawkins said he is all too familiar with, having seen many of his teams have their seasons end before they believe they should. “I tell them all the time I wish I See HHS BASEBALL/2B 3 State Tennis Locals ousted from bracket on Day 2 East Oregonian PORTLAND — With 5A and 6A action ramping up and small-school action kicking off, Friday was a busy day for state tournament tennis at the Portland Tennis Center. But for the Hermiston Bull- dogs and lone Ione Cardinal competing on Friday, the day brought the ends to their seasons and their high school careers in getting bumped from the state bracket. In 5A singles action, Herm- iston senior Jake Snell began See STATE TENNIS/2B