Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
ATHENA
Knights smother Cougars in semifinals
Irrigon explodes
for 19 runs in
final two frames
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
The three regular season
meetings between Irrigon and
Echo softball went heavily
in favor of the Cougars, as
Echo won two of three and
outscored the Knights 24-11
in the three games.
As soon as the Special
District 1 semifinal game
between the Knights and
Cougars began on Saturday,
it appeared to be in Echo’s
favor as well as the Cougars
jacked three home runs in
the first inning and tallied
five hits to take a 5-0 lead.
The Knights could have
easily closed up shop and
waved the proverbial white
flag there, but they kept their
spirits high and did their best
to battle back.
And in the fourth inning,
Irrigon broke through.
Thanks to patience at the
plate, some timely hits and
several defensive miscues
by the Cougars, Irrigon put
together nine runs in the
fourth and then 10 more
runs in the fifth to stun the
Cougars with a 19-9 victory
in five innings.
“We really settled in after
that first inning,” Irrigon
coach Jeff Botefuhr said.
“We were rattled a little at
the start with nerves. I told
the girls that we’ve had
some games where we’ve
been down and came back
this season and we’ve
learned a lot more from
those games then we would
have just rolling through and
it showed today. There’s no
quit in that team.”
Casandra Fleming had
standout day at the plate
for Irrigon, as she went 2
for 4 with a double, two
runs scored and four RBIs
from the leadoff spot. Ema
Staff photo by Eric Singer
Irrigon’s Ema Combes connects on a two-RBI single during the fifth inning of Sat-
urday’s Class 3A Special District 1 semifinal against Echo in Athena. Irrigon won
the game 19-9 in five innings.
Softball
Echo
Irrigon
9
19
Combes also had two hits,
as well as two runs and two
RBI while Karrizima Luna
had a team-high three runs
scored.
“You tip your hat to them
(Irrigon),” Echo coach Javier
Garcia said. “Jeff (Botefuhr)
kept the girls in it, they kept
battling and gave themselves
opportunities and we gave
them one too many.”
The fifth inning especially
stung for Echo, as pitcher
Kenzie Gonzales began the
inning with two straight
strikeouts and finished off
her third, but catcher Alex
Putman couldn’t hang on to
the pitch and it rolled to the
backstop letting the runner
reach base to extend the
inning. Five batters later,
Staff photo by Eric Singer
Echo’s Hannah McCarty watches her solo home run
sail over the fence in center field during the first in-
ning of Saturday’s semifinal against Irrigon in Athena.
Gonzales induced another
strikeout but yet another
dropped third strike let
another runner reach.
In all, 12 batters came
to the plate in the fifth with
Irrigon registering four hits
and the Cougars scoring
three errors.
“Had you told us it
would rely on our defense
today I would’ve been fairly
confident we’d come out
winners but that’s why you
play the game,” Garcia said.
“Unfortunately the bounces
didn’t go our way ... We got
a little laxed and there’s no
switch to turn off you have
to ride the momentum and
we weren’t able to recover
enough.”
Kendra Hart, Gonzales
and Hannah McCarty all
homered in the first inning
for Echo, which was more
than the team’s previous
season total of just two. Hart
and McCarty each had a
team-high two hits along with
Samantha McQuown who
added a team-high three RBI.
“We’ve really not had
many home runs so that
was fun,” Garcia said with
a smile. “The wind was
helping out, we got some
balls up in the air and took
advantages of some bad
pitches early.”
TRICK DEFENSE
Irrigon shortstop Jada
Burns has flashed her defen-
sive ability throughout the
season and it came up big
again on Saturday. In the
third inning with a runner
on second base for Echo,
Putman hit a ball in the
air up the middle destined
for the outfield but Burns
stretched out to her left to
make a diving catch and
then stepped on second to
double up the runner for the
third out.
Then in the fifth inning
with Echo’s Alyssa Ray on
second, Jennifer Martinez
dribbled a grounder to Burns.
Ray watched Burns begin to
make the throw to first and
then left the bag to advance
to third, however Burns actu-
ally faked the throw and held
onto the ball, tagging Ray for
the second out.
Botefuhr said that was
actually a set play that he
had practiced with her just
this week in practice.
“We worked on that this
week, the sign when I yelled
‘Jada B! Jada B!’,” Botefuhr
said. “And she tricked me,
I thought she blew off the
sign and was going to one
because she came up and
sold it so well.”
———
R H E
IHS
000 9(10) — 19 10 1
EHS
500 22 —
9 11 7
W — M. Chapman, L — K. Gonzales.
2B — J. Burns, C. Fleming (IHS); A.
Putman (EHS). HR — K. Hart, K. Gonzales,
H. McCarty (EHS).
ALL-
DISTRICT:
Continued from 1B
seven, while allowing a
meager .182 batting average
against.
She was also a force atop
the TigerScots lineup, hitting
.621 in 11 district games,
with two home runs and four
doubles and an incredible
.750 on-base percentage.
“I’m really appreciative
that the coaches thought I was
player of the year,” Hillmick
said on Saturday, “because
I worked really hard in the
offseason for my senior year.
I really appreciate my team,
too, because if we don’t win
the league it would’ve been
harder for me to win this so
without them I wouldn’t be
here.”
Representing
the
TigerScots on first team
were catcher Sydney Peal,
infielder Jordyn Lambert and
outfielders Courtney Cain
and Amie Coffman.
District runner-up Irrigon
had two first team selections
with infielder Jada Burns and
outfielder Ema Combes.
Echo’s four first team
selections were pitcher
Kenzie Gonzales, infielder
Hannah McCarty, outfielder
Kendra Hart and utility
player Codi Hewlett.
Riverside landed two
first team spots with pitcher
Skylar
Wightman
and
infielder Sadie Hasbell, while
————
Special District 1 All-district teams
First team
P — Kenzie Gonzales, sr., Echo/Stanfield;
Skylar Wightman, jr., Riverside.
C — Sydney Peal, sr., Weston-McEwen
IF — Jada Burns, jr., Irrigon; Sadie
Hasbell, sr., Riverside; Hannah McCarty,
sr., Echo/Stanfield; Jordyn Lambert, soph.,
Weston-McEwen.
OF — Amie Coffman, soph.,
Weston-McEwen; Courtney Cain, soph.,
Weston-McEwen; Kendra Hart, fr., Echo/
Stanfield; Ema Combes, fr., Irrigon.
UT — Codi Hewlett, fr., Echo/Stanfield.
Second team
P — Kayla Gilman, sr., Irrigon; Mya Chap-
man, jr., Irrigon.
C — Lilly Mills, sr., Irrigon; Abby Hernan-
dez, jr., Riverside.
IF — Charmayne Bennett, jr.,
Weston-McEwen; Tyree Burke, soph.,
Weston-McEwen; Charlene Alvarez, soph.,
Umatilla.
OF — Alexis Villegas, Riverside; Lauryn
Journot, soph., Umatilla.
UT — Macy Hancock, Riverside.
Honorable mention
C — Alex Putman, soph., Echo/Stanfield
IF — Casandra Fleming, sr., Irrigon; Bailey
Botefuhr, fr., Irrigon; Monique Montoya, jr.,
Echo/Stanfield.
OF — Samantha McQuown, sr., Echo/
Stanfield.
UT — Emma Burke, sr., Weston-McEwen.
TRACK & FIELD:
Continued from 1B
onto the podium in eighth
as Rohrman, Felix Garcia,
Isaac Sanchez and Mercado
finished in 3:32.23.
Individual stars for Herm-
iston included Rohrman with
a silver medal in the 100
meter hurdles with a PR time
of 14.68 and a fifth place
finish in the 300 hurdles,
Hiram Maciel with a silver
medal in the high jump after a
PR of 6-feet-5, and Madison
Wilson with a silver medal in
the 100 meter hurdles with a
PR of 15.12 and a sixth place
finish in the 300 hurdles.
In the field, Ebony Wilson
capped a stellar season and
successful career with a
fourth place finish in the
triple jump with a PR of 36
feet, 2 inches and Maddy
Juul placed twice with a
bronze medal in the shot put
with a throw of 37-00.50
and then sneaked onto the
podium in the discus with a
PR toss of 108 feet, 10 inches
for an eighth place finish.
It was a quiet day for the
Pendleton Buckaroos, who
had just two athletes find the
podium. In the 400 meter
dash, Soren Wolf de Gavia
turned in a time of 51.29 for
a seventh place finish, and
Kiara Glover finished off her
career with a PR in the triple
jump as she flew 35-09.25 to
finish in fifth.
————
Staff photo by Eric Singer
The Weston-McEwen TigerScots pose with the Class 3A Special District 1 cham-
pionship trophy after defeating Irrigon 4-1 in the district championship game on
Saturday in Athena.
TIGERSCOTS:
Continued from 1B
OSAA Track & Field Championships
at Hayward Field, Eugene
Local placers in Saturday’s finals
Class 5A
BOYS
4x100 relay — 2. Hermiston (Gutierrez,
Ena, Rohrman, Mercado), 43.30
1,500M — 6. Isaac Sanchez, Hermiston,
4:06.02
400M dash — 7. Soren Wolf de Gavia,
Pendleton, 51.29
110M hurdles — 2. Tyler Rohrman,
Hermiston, 14.68
800M run — 8. Isaac Sanchez, Hermis-
ton, 2:00.10
300M hurdles — 3. Tyler Rohrman,
Hermiston, 41.16
4x400 relay — 8. Hermiston (Rohrman,
Garcia, Sanchez, Mercado), 3:32.23
High jump — 2. Hiram Maciel, Hermiston,
6-05
GIRLS
4x100 relay — 2. Hermiston (Wilson,
Reagan, Lincoln, Torres), 48.83
100M dash — 7. Scout Reagan, Hermis-
ton, 12.60
400M dash — 8. Elsa Torres, Hermiston,
1:02.63
100M hurdles — 2. Madison Wilson,
Hermiston, 15.12
300M hurdles — 5. Audrey Lincoln,
Hermiston, 47.05; 6. Madison Wilson,
Hermiston, 47.56
4x400 relay — 2. Hermiston (Torres,
Wilson, Reagan, Lincoln), 4:04.65
Discus — 8. Maddy Juul, Hermiston,
108-10.
Triple jump — 4. Ebony Wilson, Herm-
iston, 36-02; 5. Kiara Glover, Pendleton,
35-09.25.
Shot put — 3. Maddy Juul, Hermiston,
37-00.50; 8. Stephanie Miears, Hermiston,
35-01.75
Staff photos by Kathy Aney
TOP: Alexis Mercado, of Hermiston, leads the 4x100-me-
ter dash on Saturday. His team won the section and
placed second overall.
BOTTOM: Madison Wilson, of Hermiston, competes in
the 100-meter hurdles final on Saturday. Wilson placed
second with a time of 15.12 seconds.
starting a new game,” she
said. “It’s zero to zero and
we have to do what we have
to do.
“And for me, I just
needed to keep the ball low
and I knew we’d take the
bats at them.”
After Hillmick retired
Irrigon (16-10) 1-2-3 in
the top of the first, Weston-
McEwen jumped on the
Knights in the bottom of
the frame. Hillmick started
things with a leadoff single
and then a one-out walk by
Jordan Lambert set things
up for Charmayne Bennett,
who unloaded the bases
with a three-run home run
that was blasted to center
field for a 3-0 lead.
And the TigerScots
played add-on in the second
when
Courtney
Cain
blooped a single into shallow
left field, which took a funny
hop past the Irrigon defender
and allowed Tyree Burke to
score from third for a 4-0
TigerScot lead.
Irrigon’s only offense
came in the fourth inning,
when
Mya
Chapman
unloaded on a 2-2 pitch
that Hillmick left too far up
in the zone and sent it over
the center field fence for a
solo home run. Lilly Mills
followed Chapman with an
infield single, which proved
to be the Knights’ only hits
of the day.
In fact, Irrigon had just
three baserunners the entire
Staff photo by Eric Singer
Weston-McEwen’s Lillian Duckett slides safely into
third base as Irrigon’s Karrizima Luna corralls the
throw from the outfield during Saturday’s Class 3A
Special District 1 championship game in Athena.
Weston-McEwen won the game 4-1.
game as Weston-McEwen’s
defense never flinched and
made some tremendous
plays along the way. Head
coach Jeff Griggs said he
was ecstatic with the team’s
play in the field, especially
completing a game with
zero errors.
“Bailey stayed strong in
the circle, but in the middle
innings we really made
some nice defensive plays,”
he said. “And that had to
be a factor today, to keep
Irrigon off the basepaths
because they came into
this game with a lot of
momentum.
“Irrigon’s a really good
team and I look at this as a
huge win for us.”
Griggs was also happy
to have his lineup card
filled out the way he had
envisioned prior to the
season, something that has
been a rarity with a rash of
injuries and illnesses that
have continuously hit the
team this season.
“We were counting on
one hand this year when
we really ahd everyone all
healthy and all together, so
this felt fantastic,” Griggs
said. “All the spots one
through nine were filled in
with what we expected at the
first of the year, we weren’t
running with 11 or 12 or what
it had been in the past and I
was pretty excited to have
everybody ready to play.”
UP NEXT
Weston-McEwen will
host a first round playoff
game
on
Wednesday
afternoon in Athena, while
Irrigon will hit the road for
the first round.
———
R H E
IHS
000 100
0 — 1 2 1
W-M
310 000 X — 4 6 0
W — B. Hillmick, L — K. Gilman.
HR — M. Chapman (IHS); C. Bennett
(W-M).