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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2017)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian BUCKS: DUCKS: Continued from 1B Continued from 1B tans lineup. But after that point, Richards gave up just two hits and one walk the rest of the game, most notably a two-run home run in the third inning to Abbey Siroshton which put the Spartans up 6-1. But the Buckaroos battled back with a run in the sixth inning to make it a 6-2 game and in the seventh, Pendleton got within one on a three-run home run by Rylee Gentner. It put the Buckaroos right on the Spartans doorstep and riding the momentum, but Sparants pitcher Ariel Carlson was able to get the final outs and send her team to the 5A state championship game. Richards finished the game with just four hits allowed and six runs in seven innings and added five strikeouts. It was just the third time this season that the Buck- aroos allowed at least six runs in a game, the most recent of which was a 9-8 loss to Hood River on April 22. On offense Pendleton strung together 12 hits with Kirah McGlothan, Aspen Garton and Kila Solomon each picking up two hits apiece. “We didn’t give up, we battled back and I couldn’t be prouder of the girls today,” Cary said. ———— 5A semis R H E PHS 001 001 3 — 5 12 1 MCH 402 000 X — 6 4 2 W — B. Eaton, L — L. Richards. HR — R. Gentner (PHS); A. Siroshton (MCH). “I guess there is something to never quitting,” Oregon coach Casey Martin said. “I told the guys that, and they bought in. I kept telling them the weather is tough, but never quit. Hang in there somehow. And we got it done in match play. It will be a great match tomorrow and I’m really stoked that we get a chance to defend.” Oregon won last year at Eugene Country Club, its home course. The Sooners will go for their first NCAA title since 1989, when they won at Oak Tree in stroke play by 40 shots over Texas. Grant Hirschman never led in his quarterfinal match until he won the final hole for a 1-up victory that kept the Sooners alive. Rylee Reinertson took the lead with a birdie on the 17th in a 1-up victory, and then Dalke added to the suspense. He lost the last two holes to Matthew Perrine of Baylor, but won with a par on the first extra hole. Oklahoma had a much easier time in a 3-1-1 victory over Illinois, which earlier had eliminated Southern California. “Unlike this morning, we got off to a great start this afternoon,” Oklahoma coach Ryan Hybl said. “We had some Sooner magic this morning and built off of that this afternoon.” Vanderbilt had a tough time in the morning, beating UNLV when Patrick Martin holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 19th hole and Theo Humphrey outlasted Justin Kim for a 3-2 victory. The Commodores weren’t so fortunate in the afternoon. They were down to the Ducks until freshman John Augenstein made a 30-foot birdie putt from just off the green to win his match in 19 holes. That gave Vanderbilt hope, but only as long as it took Raza to close out his match over Schwab. The championship match is Wednesday. Wednesday, May 31, 2017 Stanfield’s Dylan Grogan throws the ball to first base as Tony Flores looks on in the Tigers’ 3-2 loss to St. Mary’s on Tuesday in Stan- field. Staff photo by E.J. Harris STANFIELD: Continued from 1B Staff photo by Kathy Aney The Rockets’ Rebekah Roe attempts to tag Ellie Clark of Union during Tuesday’s state semifinal 2A/1A softball game in Pilot Rock. Clark was ruled safe. ROCKETS: Play North Douglas in finals Pilot Rock’s Sara Weinke whips the ball to first base during Tuesday’s state semifinal 2A/1A soft- ball game against Union/Cove. Continued from 1B and Pilot Rock (25-5) punched its third-straight title berth when a pair of freshmen combined to take advantage of Union’s fifth error. Both teams had miscues in the field, but the Bobcats’ were more costly. The one that did them in came with Brielle Howland on second base to start the inning due to the international tie-break rule. Ayana Aguilar put down a text- book sacrifice bunt, but the throw to first came in high and glanced off the glove of Delanie Kohr and into foul territory. “I slid into third and I just heard everybody, ‘Go, go, go!’” Howland said. “And I just popped up and went. I took a quick glance and (the ball) was over first base.” Union (20-5) looked like it was going to take its first lead of the game in the top of the 10th when it loaded the bases with one out after an infield error by the Rockets, but Ostrom got Harley Davis to ground into a double play to end the threat. Ostrom fielded the ball and threw to catcher Rhyanne Oates for the force at the plate, and Oates then tossed the ball to Sara Weinke at third to easily double up the Bobcats. It was the second inning-ending double play of the game for Pilot Rock, and the first also came with bases loaded in the third inning and went from Ostrom to Oates, then to first baseman Stacy Fitzpatrick. “Situational defense is our strong suit. It’s what we practice all the time, it’s what we’re known for,” said Oates, who picked off a runner trying to steal second base in the fifth inning. “Our coaches, I just love them, they always make sure we’re prepared for anything and everything.” “The game wouldn’t have been the same if we didn’t have the IQ to even do that,” Ostrom said. “I just wanted to cry after every game- saving play that we had, because I knew that we had one more chance to fight.” After scoring three runs in the first inning, the Rockets offense went quiet against Union pitcher Jenna Monson, who retired 15 straight batters in the second through sixth innings. Bekah Roe led them off with a single in the bottom of the first, though, and went to third when Oates’ grounder went between Kohr’s legs. Roe then scored when Union compounded its mistake Staff photo by Kathy Aney with another error on the throw to third. Oates came in from second on the next at-bat when Sara Weinke sliced a line drive to right field where a misjudgment allowed the ball to roll all the way to the fence. Weinke ended up on third base and made it 3-0 after a wild pitch. “That’s been huge in this whole series, they’ve been capitalizing on all of our mistakes and we’ve been capitalizing on theirs,” said Fitzpatrick. “It’s kind of what it’s come down to, who makes the least mistakes wins. And I think that’s what happened today.” Union cut into the lead in the third inning when Ellie Clark smashed a two-run home run into the wind blowing in from dead center, and then tied the score in the fifth inning when Monson hit a hard single to right field to score Ashten Wright. Pilot Rock looked like it had jumped back ahead in the sixth when Oates sent a full count pitch for a towering ride toward the fence in center, but Taylor Baremore the air. As the ball continued to carry towards center field, it was assisted by the 20-plus mile-per- hour winds that whipped through Stanfield Tuesday afternoon and traveled over the fence for a three-run home run and a 3-2 Crusader lead. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Jenson, who also threw five-plus innings and struck out six. “It was my fault, I left one over the middle plate and I shouldn’t have thrown that pitch, but that’s baseball I guess. I was hoping it would just be a pop fly but he (Johnson) got a really good swing and the wind carried it out.” “I thought Klay did a great job today,” Stanfield coach Brad Rogers said. “He had some control problems but overall he only gave up a couple of hits and if you were to tell me before the game that Klay pitched the way he did, I’d take it and bet on our offense.” Grogan came on in relief of Jenson in the sixth and kept the Tigers in it, throwing two no-hit innings with one strikeout and one walk. Stanfield had plenty of chances to add to its run total throughout but couldn’t string together the hits like it was used to, especially in the clutch situ- ations. Stanfield had runners in scoring position with one out or less five times and only scored on one of those chances, including leaving Brody Woods stranded at third base after a one-out triple in the sixth inning. The top of the Tigers batting order of Thyler Monkus, Tony Flores and Grogan had been a force to be reckoned with throughout 2017 but went out with a whimper. The trio combined to go 0 for 10 with four strikeouts and a walk. “We didn’t get our pitchers and swung at a lot of stuff we probably shouldn’t have,” Grogan said of the offense. Part of the reason for the lack of offense was due to St. Mary’s pitcher Joe Johnson, who pitched the final four innings of the game to get the win on top of his home run. He relieved starter Brandon Letendre after Letendre gave up a pair of runs in the third inning that came from a dropped fly ball in center field off the bat of Tony Flores that brought home Justin Keeney and Adrian Renner for a 2-0 Stanfield lead at the time. But where Letendre peppered Stanfield with off-speed and breaking pitches, Johnson came at the Tigers with much-higher velocity to keep them off-balance. The left-hander allowed three hits in his four innings, struck out six and walked two to earn the win. It’s the 17th straight game where the Crusaders have allowed three runs or less and coach Sean Gallagher was happy with how is pitching plan worked out. “My thought was to start (Letendre) and then bring in Joe with some heat,” Gallagher said. “Joe is fearless ... that kid is the most fierce competitor I’ve ever coached and for him it was a huge, huge day and he really wanted this.” Stanfield gave itself a chance in the final inning, as Justin Keeney led off with an infield single and then was bunted to second base with one out. But a strikeout by Thyler Monkus brought things down to Flores, who hit a chopper up the middle that was corralled by the second baseman and threw it to first to beat a sprinting Flores by a step to end it. The loss brings to an end the careers of Stanfield’s standout core of seniors, who came together to make Stanfield one of the top teams in the state at the 3A and 2A level over the past few seasons. The likes of Grogan, Flores, Jenson, Ryan Bailey, Hunter Barnes and depart the Stanfield/Echo baseball team with a combined record of 93-21 over their four-year careers and a lifetime of memories. “We’ve been together since kindergarten so doing this together at a big level is exciting and it was fun,” Grogan said. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to finish my senior season and play baseball with,” Jenson added. “I love these guys.” ——— 3A semis R H E STM 000 030 0 — 3 3 1 SHS 002 000 0 — 2 6 1 B. Letendre, J. Johnson (4) and J. Arevalos. K. Jenson, D. Grogan (6) and T. Monkus. W — John- son, L — Jenson. 2B — R. Bailey, T. Flores, B. Woods, A. Renner (SHS). 3B — B. Woods (SHS). HR — J. Johnson (STM). ——— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966- 0839. Follow him on Twitter @ ByEricSinger. reached over the short chain-link to keep the run off the board. The win gives the Rockets, already a two-time state champion, a chance to enter into an even more exclusive club when it travels to Corvallis to play North Douglas in the championship on Friday. Just four schools have won three straight OSAA softball titles, although Churchill has done it twice. “That’s a really big thing for our school, and it’s a huge thing for Pilot Rock,” Ostrom said. “Espe- cially because almost everybody here is softball lovers.” “It really hasn’t hit me that we’re going again, going for a three-peat,” Oates said. North Douglas beat the overall No. 1 seed Kennedy 3-2 in the semifinals to earn the right to face the Rockets at OSU Softball Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. ——— (10 innings) R H E UHS 002 010 000 0 — 3 9 5 PRHS 300 000 000 1 — 4 4 4 J. Monson and E. Clark. T. Ostrom and R. Oates. W — Ostrom. L — Oates. 2B — T. Baremore (UHS). HR — E. Clark (UHS). Staff photo by E.J. Harris Stanfield’s Justin Keeney rounds second base in the Tigers’ 3-2 loss to St. Mary’s on Tuesday in Stanfield.
