SPORTS
Saturday, May 12, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3B
HERMISTON
Hermiston’s Arnold signs to continue lacrosse career
Bulldogs standout
will play at Montana
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Tayler
Arnold never thought he’d
be going to a Division I
school for lacrosse. In fact,
he only picked up the sport
in fifth grade after getting
bored on the baseball field
and having some friends
already in the sport.
From there, he played
throughout middle school
and at Hermiston High with
his father, Jacob Arnold, as
his coach.
“It was just getting
started in Hermiston,” Tay-
ler Arnold said. “So, I fig-
ured what the heck, I’ll try
it. I was getting kind of
bored just standing around
in baseball and I was
hooked pretty much as soon
as I started playing it.”
His talent on the field
didn’t come naturally,
though.
Jacob Arnold
remembers the learning
curve his son had to go
through in the first couple
years in the sport.
“When he first started
playing, his first two years
were — it was funny,”
Jacob Arnold remembered.
“He was the big, tall kid out
Staff photo by Alexis Mansanarez
Hermiston’s Tayler Arnold (bottom right) signs his
Letter of Intent to play lacrosse at the University of
Montana alongside his coach, and father, Jacob Arnold
(bottom left) and the rest of the Arnold family.
there trying to make his way
around all these kids. His
third year is when he really
took off and that’s when I
think he really started to
know he could do very well
with this game.”
Now getting ready to
play at the collegiate level,
Tayler Arnold was first
introduced to Montana
because of its wildlife biol-
ogy program. After further
research and a visit in Feb-
ruary, the Arnold’s decided
UM was the right fit.
“We were looking at
the football team and the
lacrosse team and then
we were looking at all the
things the lacrosse team
has done and it seemed
pretty fun, so we put in to
them and they said, ‘Yeah,
we’d love to have you down
there,’” the two-sport ath-
lete said.
Montana is graduating
a couple of their defenders
and have liked what they’ve
seen in the Bulldog. Tayler
Arnold will be joining the
Grizzles, who compete in
the Pacific Northwest Col-
legiate Lacrosse League.
UM won the national cham-
pionship in 2007 and the
Copper Cup in 2015.
———
Contact Alexis at aman-
sanarez@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4542.
Follow her on Twitter @
almansanarez.
SOFTBALL: Loss
snaps 22-game win
streak for Pendleton
Continued from 1B
When Noland batted in
the seventh, though, she
was 0-for-3 on the day
— but head coach Kate
Greenough had no doubt
that Noland could come
through.
“She is so competi-
tive and she will do any-
thing; she can to give you
her best,” Greenough said.
“She’s had so many roles
to fill on this team, but she
just says ‘OK coach’ and
she will do whatever she
can. I think her teammates
love that. She’s awesome.”
Hermiston’s seventh-in-
ning rally got started with
Smith’s one-out single, fol-
lowed by Stefani reach-
ing on a Buckaroo (23-2,
11-1) error to put the win-
ning run on base. Sam Ati-
lano then followed up with
a perfect sacrifice bunt,
which brought Noland to
the plate.
“We just told them to
stick to our plan,” Gree-
nough said. “We talked all
week about making plans
in your at-bat, and those
last four kids completely
bought in to what they
needed to do.”
Pendleton’s offense was
rather lethargic for most of
the game, with five of the
seven innings seeing four
batters or less at the plate.
The Buckaroos did score
the first runs in the game in
the third inning on an RBI
single by Richards and a
two-run home run off the
bat of Kalan McGlothan
for a 3-0 lead.
Hermiston then got its
offense going and tied the
game in the fourth inning
on a two-run double by Jan-
nelle Almaguer and a RBI
single from Kylie Green.
The Buckaroos took the
lead right back in the fifth
when Kirah McGlothan
scored following a ground-
out to shortstop from Alexi
Brehaut for a 4-3 lead.
But for the most part,
the bats were stymied
by Hermiston pitching.
Noland picked up the win
in the circle as she threw
three innings of shutout
relief with only one hit
allowed. She gave up a
one-out double in the sev-
enth to Kirah McGlothan,
but stranded her with a
strikeout and a groundout
to end the inning.
Noland relieved senior
Julissa Almaguer, who
returned Friday after miss-
ing most of the season with
a knee injury and tossed
four innings with three
strikeouts and allowed
four runs. Greenough was
thrilled to see Almaguer
back in the circle, on senior
day no less.
“This team trusts her so
much and it’s nice to see
them relax when she can
play for them,” Greenough
said. “Just having her back
whether she’s full-go,
whether she’s a little here
and there, she’s just so
valuable to this program.”
The loss for Pendleton
also snaps its 22-game win
streak this season, though
coach Tim Cary did not
appear to be too upset with
the defeat.
“It might be the best
thing for us,” Cary said.
“I think that our focus in
practice has been kind of
ho-hum; I think things
have been relatively easy
for us for quite some time
and sometimes when you
win, win, win you forget
you have to work hard for
it.
“This might be good to
get us refocused, get back
to hard work and under-
stand that anybody can
beat any team on any given
day, and Hermiston proved
that today.”
It’s a momentous win
for the Bulldogs, who will
hit the road next week for
a road play-in game, the
kind of win that can lift a
team to do some special
things in the postseason.
But until then, the Bull-
dogs are going to enjoy the
long-awaited victory over
Pendleton.
“We beat the No. 1
team,” Noland said in dis-
belief. “We finally did it.”
————
R H E
PHS 003 010 0 — 4 6 2
HHS 000 300 2 — 5 7 1
(P) L. Richards and K. Solomon.
(H) Ju. Almaguer and B. Noland, B.
Noland (5) and H. Pennington. W —
Noland, L — Richards.
2B — Ki. McGlothan (PHS); S. Ati-
lano, Ja. Almaguer (HHS). HR — Ka.
McGlothan (PHS).
————
Contact
Eric
at
esinger@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0839.
Follow him on Twitter @
ByEricSinger.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s Sydney Stefani whips the ball to first
during Friday’s upset against Pendleton.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton’s Daniel Naughton slides into home plate under Hermiston pitcher Daniel Gossler in the Bucks’ 10-6
win against the Bulldogs in Hermiston.
BASEBALL: Bucks win season series
Continued from 1B
ing leg and was replaced in
favor of Daniel Gossler.
Right out of the gate, Dan-
iel Naughton brought in a run
to start the seven spot that
gave the Bucks (16-8 overall,
10-2 Columbia River Confer-
ence) the lead for good.
Nick Bower took a pitch
to the body and with the
bases loaded was awarded
the walk to tie the game at
six runs apiece, and then a
balk advanced all runners to
give Pendleton its first advan-
tage since the top of the first
inning.
“We kind of got fortunate
that he (Tolan) came out of
the game and capitalized on
it,” Jerome said.
Jerome was the last player
on either team to score, and
his three-RBI triple to right
field was what changed the
ball game. For Jerome, it was
just a matter of stepping back
and finding the sweet spot.
But for the Bulldogs (7-17,
3-9) it was a game ender.
It took Gossler out of the
game, and stained his record
with the loss after just 2/3
innings of work.
“Daniel has been splendid.
He hasn’t pitched very much
on the mound, but he came in
and he competed and that’s all
you can ask for,” Hermiston
head coach Kevin Moor said.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston pitcher Lukas Tolan throws from the mound
in the Bulldogs’ 10-6 loss to Pendleton on Friday.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t get
the calls and he didn’t get the
outs when we needed outs and
when that happened Pend-
leton — that’s why they are
the CRC champs, they took
advantage of our mistakes
and blew the game open and
we couldn’t get the momen-
tum back.”
Andrew James closed
out the game for Hermiston,
allowing only one hit while
striking out four and walking
three in 3 1/3 innings toeing
the rubber.
Pendleton’s Ryan Rus-
sell started the game for the
Bucks but after surrender-
ing six runs on five hits while
walking two and striking out
none, Ryan Stahl came in for
five innings of relief.
Hermiston answered Tyler
Chichester’s two-RBI single
in the top of the first inning
with effective base running
and smart at bats.
Jordan Ramirez got the
Bulldogs on the board by
scoring on a passed ball after
getting on base with a dou-
ble to left field. Landon Jones
followed that up with an RBI
single and Gossler hit a sacri-
fice fly to give Hermiston its
first lead over the Bucks since
that win back in April. A balk
called on Russell advanced
the lone base runner on third
and ended the scoring with
Hermiston taking a 4-2 lead.
Tucker Zander kept things
close with an RBI single in
the next inning, but again
the Bulldogs responded and
doubled their edge over the
Bucks.
Trevor Wagner and Caden
Schwirse each brought in runs
in the second to push the lead
to 6-3, but it would only last 1
1/2 more innings.
SENIOR GOODBYES
Before the start of the
game, Hermiston’s eight-man
senior class was honored. The
Bulldogs that suited up for
the last time include Brylee
Dufloth, Dustin Maddox, Joel
Mendez, Garron Anderson,
Joey Gutierrez, Schwirse,
Tolan and Gossler.
“Sometimes good things
have to come to an end, and
tonight it came to an end,”
Moore said. “So, I just hope
those seniors learned a little
bit more about baseball. I’m
happy that A) I got to know
them personally and B) I got
to coach them.
“Each one brought some-
thing special to the table and
that’s all you can ask for. All
of the seniors were special,
and to me that’s the most
important thing. ... For some,
it’s the end of their baseball
career and for others, a couple
of them might go on so I hope
the best adventures for them.”
———
R H E
PHS
210 700
0 — 10 9 0
HHS
420 000
0 — 6 8 1
(P) R. Russell, R. Stahl (3) — J. Duso. (H)
L. Tolan, D. Gossler (4), A. James (4) — W.
Noland. W — Stahl, L — Gossler.
3B: S. Jerome (P). 2B: Q. Doherty, D.
Naughton, S. Jerome (P); J. Ramirez 2 (H).