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SPORTS FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS HERMISTON Bulldogs rollick past Eagles on opening day Boosted by great weather, Hermiston sweeps Hood River in dual track meet By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian For the fi rst time in what seemed like months, the Hermiston Bulldogs were greeted with lots of clear skies and sunshine as they arrived at Kennison Field to take on the Hood River Valley Eagles in a dual meet to open the 2017 track and fi eld season. Stuck indoors through much of the offseason, the Bulldogs showed they’d still been hard at work and swept the Eagles on the team scoreboard. The boys took an 85-50 victory and the girls “The track heats up, you can smell the track, and you just feel like track season is here.” — Tyler Rohrman, Hermiston junior won by a similar margin 81-47. The Bulldogs’ junior varsity teams followed suit the boys winning 57-48 and the girls winning 55.5-43.5. Bulldogs coach Emilee Strot said the wins might have been the least important part of the day. “With how much snow and stuff, we literally didn’t have a track to train on all winter long, so we were running inside in the hall- ways, on the carpet, trying to do what we can,” she said. “And so the last three weeks we’ve had to put in a lot of hard work, and our kids are beat up, they’re tired. So today I just told them to have fun and compete.” Hermiston junior Tyler Rohrman said the clear skies made it much easier to do that. “We kind of came out here and we were kind of surprised we were in Herm- iston, Oregon. I mean, it’s a See BULLDOGS/2B ATHENA Pioneers hang on to beat TigerScots Rachael Lyon, of Mac-Hi, scores during Thursday’s non-confer- ence game against Weston- McEwen in Athena. Charmayne Bennett (12), of Weston- McEwen, is greeted by the rest of her team at home plate after she hit a home run during Thursday’s non-confer- ence game against Mac- Hi in Athena. Mac-Hi wins season opener in offensive barrage By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian By the time Thursday’s season- opening softball game for both Mac-Hi and Weston-McEwen was complete, the fi nal score looked like it came from a football game instead. That’s because Mac-Hi left town with a 20-17 victory over the TigerScots, a game that featured a combined 31 hits between the two squads and took just over three hours to complete. “I don’t hink I’ve ever had that many runs for a season-opener,” Mac-Hi coach Nicole Christian said after the game. “To come out with a win you always feel good, but wow, 20 runs ... to put up that number of runs was great to see.” Mac-Hi (1-0) struck for two runs and three hits in the fi rst inning against Weston-McEwen pitcher Bailey Hillmick, but then Hillmick kept the Pioneers offense quiet over the next two frames to allow her team to get the bats going. Weston-McEwen (0-1) got its fi rst run in the second inning off a solo homerun that Charmayne Bennett blasted over the center Staff photo by Kathy Aney Staff photo by Kathy Aney Softball Mac-Hi Weston-McEwen 20 17 fi eld wall and then Tyree Burke scored later on a passed ball to tie the game at 2-2. Then in the third inning, Weston-McEwen touched up Pioneer pitcher Graci Bullock for four runs — two of which came on consecutive passed balls and then Courtney Cain follow up with a two-run blast over the right fi eld fence for a 6-2 lead. But then in the fourth inning, the Pioneers got things going in a big way. All-in-all, 14 batters came to the plate in the inning as Mac-Hi pushed across 10 runs on four hits and four walks to jump out to a 12-6 lead. “I think we fi nally adjusted to the pitcher,” said Mac-Hi senior Micha Fortune, who fi nished the game 5-for-6 at the plate with three runs scored and three stolen bases. “We were talking to eacho- ther, letting eachother know what she (the pitcher) was doing and it worked.” From that point on, Mac-Hi added three more runs in the fi fth, four in the sixth and one more in the seventh inning as the offense kept pounding away at the Weston-McEwen pitchers. Behind Fortune’s big day, Mac-Hi had big performances at See PIONEERS/2B Prep Roundup Stanfi eld baseball drops opener to Tri-Cities Prep Tigers issue several walks East Oregonian STANFIELD — The defending 3A state cham- pions fell fl at in their 2017 season opener, dropping the contest 18-9 to Tri-Cities Prep on Thursday afternoon at Madigan Field. Stanfi eld coach Brad Rogers said he decided against starting pitching aces Dylan Grogan or Brody Woods because of the short changeover from the duos deep playoff run on the basketball team. Rogers said the basketball players have had just seven days of practice and throwing to this point. But senior Klay Jenson got the start for Stanfi eld in his fi rst game back after missing all of 2016 with a knee injury and had some struggles walking four batters in one inning. As a team, Stanfi eld walked 13 Tri-Cities Prep batters in all. “I thought we might struggle today,” Rogers said. “Defensively and offensively we looked good, but walking 13 batters you just can’t win like that.” After Jenson allowed the two runs in the fi rst inning, Stanfi eld answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-2 lead. Grogan got the scoring started with an RBI single into left fi eld to bring home Thyler Monkus from third and then two batters later Ryan Bailey would score on an error by the second baseman to tie it at 2-2. The third run came on another TCP error, this time by the shortstop, which allowed Grogan to score for the 3-2 lead. But in the second inning, things fell apart for Stanfi eld as the walks began to pile up and the Tigers could just never recover. Bailey was Stanfi eld’s top performer at the plate Thursday, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI, while Grogan went 1-for-3 with three runs scored and a RBI and Hunter Barnes added one hit and two RBI. Stanfi eld next hits the road on Saturday for a game against DeSales (WA) at 11 a.m. ——— R H E TCP 293 004 0 — 18 11 5 SHS 330 102 0 — 9 6 2 (TCP) T. Mercado, J. Hartwig (2), C. Ritala (6). (SHS) K. Jenson, A. Renner (2), H. Barnes (2), D. Curiel (6) and T. Monkus. 2B — C. Wilson, C. Ritala (TCP). TOUCHET 21-16, UMATILLA 11-14 — At Irrigon, the Vikings will have to wait to make their home debut after Thursday’s games were moved to Irrigon due to a soggy fi eld in Umatilla. Touchet (WA) was more at home in Irrigon and used big innings in both games to get the sweep. Touchet scored 11 runs in the third inning of the opener to blow open a game that went into the inning with Umatilla down 6-4. Then in Game 2, Touchet plated 12 in the fourth to jump to a 16-6 lead. The Vikings (0-2-1) didn’t wilt, though, and scored two runs in the fi fth and sixth, then four in the seventh to make it a close outcome. “There’s no giving up in them, and that’s what I like about them,” said Umatilla coach John Garrett. “We just need to clean up our bad innings, and we’ve got more practice for that.” Seth Cranston had a big day despite the two losses. He hit a double and a grand slam to drive in six runs while going 3-for-4 in Game 1, and he added a double in Game 2. Umatilla’s next game is Tuesday when it hosts Union at 4 p.m. ——— Game 1 R H E THS 42(11) 13 — 21 10 3 UHS 400 61 — 11 11 7 L. Butler, J. Kates (4). D. Soto, U. Garcia (3), C. Sampson (3) and C. Sampson, A. Wislon (3). W — Butler. L — Soto. 2B — Ortiz, Kates, Laroque (THS); S. Cranston (UHS). HR — S. Cranston (UHS). Game 2 R H E THS 112 (12)00 0 — 16 12 3 UHS 330 022 4 — 14 16 5 Ortiz, Kates (5). S. Cranston, D. Soto (4), C. Sampson (5), C. Keller-Morris (7). W — Ortiz. L — Cranston. 2B — S. Cranston. M. Garcilazo (UHS). BOYS GOLF WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The Pendleton Buckaroos opened their season with a middling performance that leaves plenty of room for improvement as they took on Walla Walla Country Club for the fi rst time. See PREPS/2B Sports shorts Mounties earn postseason honors KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Senior standout Bryan McGriff earned NAIA Second-Team All-America honors, and senior guard Kentrell Washington was named Honorable Mention, the national offi ce announced on Thursday morning. The dynamic duo started and played in all 33 games this season, accounting for nearly 41 percent of the team’s scoring and 40 percent of the Mountaineers’ rebounding efforts. “I couldn’t be prouder of Bryan and Kentrell for the accolades they have accumulated this season,” said McGriff head coach Isaac Williams. “There is no higher individual award than being referred to as an All-American. It’s something they can hold onto for the rest of their lives, and I’m just humbled to have been a part of it.” McGriff fi nished 12th in the NAIA in points per game (21.6) and 15th in rebounds per game (9.4). Washington chalked up 15.2 points and 7.4 boards. “For me, I’m making best of the situation. I didn’t come back for personal goals, I came back to be in the spot I am right now and trying to make another run for a national championship, and I’m still able to do that. So there’s no regrets there.“ — Grayson Allen Duke junior guard on his decision to pass on the opportunity to be a fi rst-round pick in the NBA draft to return for this season. Longtime Oregon volleyball coach Jim Moore steps down EUGENE (AP) — Oregon women’s volleyball coach Jim Moore is stepping down after 12 seasons. Oregon announced Wednesday night that Moore is retiring as of May 15. The school said in a statement that Moore and the Ducks “have come to realize that his coaching style is mismatched” with Oregon’s standards. “He has acknowledged that his coaching style may have been viewed negatively by some student-athletes and for that he is sorry,” the statement said. Moore compiled a 186-98 record as head coach, leading the Ducks to the NCAA Tournament 10 times. He was Volleyball Magazine’s national coach of the year in 2012. Assistant Matt Ulmer has been named interim head coach. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1897 — Bob Fitzsimmons knocks out Jim Corbett in the 14th round to win the world heavyweight title in Carson City, Nev. It’s the fi rst boxing match photographed by a motion picture camera. 1955 — Canadien fans riot in the streets of Montreal protesting NHL President Clarence Campbell’s suspen- sion of Maurice “Rocket” Richard the previous day. The Canadiens forfeit the game to the Detroit after a smoke bomb goes off in the Forum, and crowds spill into the streets, setting fi res, smashing windows and looting. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
