SPORTS
WEEKEND, MARCH 18-19, 2017
1B
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PENDLETON
HERMISTON
Richards
sits down
Hillsboro
Hermiston lights up St. Helens
Bulldogs churn out 14
hits to win home opener
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Parker’s home run
gives Pendleton edge
in pitchers duel
The 2017 softball season did not start
the way the Hermiston Bulldogs wanted it
to, after Ridgeview handed them an 11-run
loss in the season-opener on Tuesday.
So when the Bulldogs gathered at the
field at Rocky Heights Elementary on
Friday for the team’s home opener, there
was a little extra motivation to bounce
back. And facing the St. Helens Lions
Friday, the Bulldogs were able to rebound
in a big way with a 16-2 victory in five
innings.
East Oregonian
Lauren Richards struck out
16 batters and Madi Parker
hit a two-run home run to lift
Pendleton over Hillsboro 2-0
on Friday in a non-league
softball game.
P a r k e r ’s
Softball
blast
to
left
came
with
two
outs in the
Hillsboro
fifth inning
with Kirah
McGlothan
standing
on
third.
McGlothan
Pendleton
had singled
for just the
Buckaroos’
second hit
of the game off Hillsboro ace
Payton Goodrich, then stole
second and got to third on a
wild pitch.
Parker’s hit was the last on
the day, but Pendleton (2-0)
had enough run support for
Richards, who didn’t allow
a runner to reach scoring
position in any of Hillsboro’s
subsequent at-bats and struck
out the side in the top of the
seventh.
She gave up just three hits
as well to earn her second win,
but did hit a pair of batters and
had a walk.
“She really beared down
and got it done,” said Pend-
leton coach Tim Cary. “She
mixes it up well, she’s not
afraid to throw any pitch, and
she was hitting her spots when
she needed to. She’s a heck of
a competitor.”
Goodrich finished with five
strikeouts and three walks in
Hillsboro’s season opener, and
Alexi Brehaut had Pendleton’s
only other hit.
“We knew coming in that
she was going to be tough for
us,” Cary said.
Today’s game against St.
Helens at noon could be a
different story as the Lions
gave up 16 runs in a loss to
Hermiston on Friday.
———
Softball
St. Helens
Hermiston
2
16
“I think it had a lot to do with the
atmosphere here,” Hermiston coach Kate
Greenough said. “The girls were excited
to have a lot of people here and they were
drilling the ball all game.”
Hermiston (1-1) tallied a total of 14 hits
in the game and four of the 10 batters in
the game finished with at least two hits.
Sydney Stefani and Ashley Cameron led
the Bulldogs with three hits apiece, with
Stefani adding three runs scored and an
See HERMISTON/3B
Staff photo by Eric Singer
Hermiston’s Sydney Stefani touches home plate while
scoring off a hit by Ellery Jones during Hermiston’s
game against St. Helens on Friday at Rocky Heights
Elementary in Hermiston. Hermiston won 16-2.
Prep Roundup
The Rock-
ets’ Levi
Theime
slides into
home plate
during Fri-
day’s game
against
Joseph/
Enterprise/
Wallowa in
Pilot Rock.
0
2
Staff photo by
Kathy Aney
Rockets split series with Eagles
Pilot Rock comes from
behind in first half of
doubleheader
10-5 11-4
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK — The Pilot
Rock baseball team scored six runs
in the fourth inning to take a lead it
would not relinquish and held off
R H E
HHS
000 000
0 — 0 3 0
PHS
000 020 X — 2 3 0
P. Goodrich and N. Kinney. L. Richards and K.
Solomon. W — Richards. L — Goodrich.
HR — M. Parker (PHS).
Joseph for a 11-10 win
three in the third,
Baseball
on Friday in the first
and when Joseph
half of a non-league
(1-1), which co-ops
doubleheader.
with Enterprise and
The Eagles got
Joseph
Pilot Rock Wallowa, answered
their revenge in the
with three of its
second half with a 5-4
own in the top of the
win.
fourth Pilot Rock
Joseph struck first in the opener unloaded.
with a pair of runs in the first and
“We just talked about, just keep
second inning to go up 4-1 through competing and good things will
two.
happen, we had a lot of baseball
The Rockets (1-2) tied it up with to play,” said first-year Rockets
Women’s NCAA Tournament
Oregon State survives first round scare
Long Beach misses
last-second shot as
Beavers move on
Men’s NCAA Tournament
Oregon for-
ward Kavell
Bigby-Wil-
liams hangs
on the rim
after dunk-
ing in Ore-
gon’s win
over Iona
on Friday in
Sacramento,
Calif.
First Round
#15 Long Beach #2 Oregon St.
55
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
CORVALLIS — Raven
Benton and Long Beach
State nearly made history.
With five seconds left and
the 15th seed 49ers down
by a point, Benton let go on
a jumper that she thought
looked good. All eyes were
on the ball as it hit the back
of the basket and bounced
away, and second-seeded
Oregon State hung on for
a 56-55 first-round victory
Friday.
A No. 15 seed had never
defeated a No. 2 in tourna-
ment history.
Afterward Jody Wynn
consoled her near-Cinderella
team.
“I told them they deserved
to win — and they felt the
same way,” Wynn said.
Breanna Brown scored
12 points while Mikayla
Pivec and Marie Gulich each
added 10 points for Oregon
State (30-4), which was also
seeded second last season
head coach Shane Leasy. “We’re
young and so we’re going to make
some mistakes, and we seem to
be improving and kids are getting
better. I’m proud of my kids for just
hanging in there and fighting.”
Reliever Braydon Postma got the
last two outs in the top of the fourth
and would get the win with three
strikeouts, two walks, four hits and
three runs allowed in 3 1/3 innings.
Levi Thieme got the last out
See PREPS/2B
AP Photo/ Timothy J. Gonzalez
Oregon State’s Mikayla Pivec (0) gets double teamed
by Long Beach State defenders during the first half of
Friday’s first round tournament game in Corvallis.
when they made a run to the
Final Four.
Benton finished with 17
points Long Beach State
(23-11). Madison Mont-
gomery added 15.
The 49ers took over
the lead on Jessica Gertz’s
3-pointer with 2:48 left, but
Sydney Wiese hit two free
throws to put Oregon State
back in front 56-55 with 1:07
to go.
Long Beach State tried
to manage the clock, but
Benton missed a long jumper
with 5 seconds left and Anna
Kim’s 3-pointer at the buzzer
bounced off the backboard,
ending the upset bid.
“It was a good look,”
Benton said. “So it felt
good.”
Oregon State coach Scott
Rueck said the story of the
game was Long Beach.
56
“This is a good team,” he
said about the 49ers. “You
throw seeds out the window.”
The 49ers, who edged UC
Santa Barbara 56-55 for the
Big West Tournament title
and the automatic berth, were
making their 12th overall
tournament appearance and
first since an at-large bid in
1992.
Ranked No. 8 in the final
AP poll, the Beavers were
coming off a loss to Stanford
48-43 in the Pac-12 Tourna-
ment final.
With four seniors in
its starting lineup, Long
Beach State was tenacious,
pulling in front 27-23 lead
on Montgomery’s 3-pointer.
Afterward she signaled “10”
to the crowd with her fingers,
her point total.
Oregon State, with a
distinct size advantage,
reclaimed the lead to go
up 29-27, but Benton’s
with a 30-29 lead at the
break, stunning the large
See OREGON STATE/3B
AP Photo/Steve
Yeater
Ducks fly by Gaels
Dorsey scores 24 against Iona to lead
Oregon into Round of 32
By JANIE MCCAULEY
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With star big man Chris
Boucher cheering in a bulky knee brace from the side-
First Round lines, Tyler Dorsey scored 24 points to
lead four players in double figures, and
No. 3 seed Oregon beat 14th-seeded
Iona 93-77 Friday in the first-round
#14 Iona
of the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest
Region.
The Ducks (30-5) showed they
have depth and sheer athleticism to
make a special March run, just as
#3 Oregon
coach Dana Altman hoped this week
when he challenged role players to
make larger contributions in shot-
blocker Boucher’s absence.
Iona star Jordan Washington gave his team a huge
See DUCKS/2B
77
93