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