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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2018)
SPORTS FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2018 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS OSAA SOFTBALL/BASEBALL PLAYOFFS BULLDOGS FEELING CONFIDENT Hermiston one of six teams playing in OSAA quarterfinals today By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ and ERIC SINGER East Oregonian onfidence is key, especially for the No. 7 Hermiston Bulldogs, who are host- ing No. 15 Lebanon on Friday in the 5A quarterfinals. The young squad has hit a few bumps on the road to the quarterfinals, but has ended the reg- ular season strong. The Bulldogs (17-9) won four of their final six games and started out the postseason with a five-run victory in a play-in game and Wednesday’s narrow victory over Eagle Point in the 5A first round. C See PLAYOFFS/3B Staff photo by Kathy Aney Julissa Almaguer, of Hermiston, pitches during Wednesday’s state playoff game against Eagle Point at Rocky Heights Ele- mentary School. College Spotlight Logan qualifies for D-II nationals Fossil native overcomes injury By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez throws to the Oakland Athletics during the first in- ning of Thursday’s game in Oakland, Calif. A’s tag Hernandez early, beat Mariners By GIDEON RUBIN Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. — Another day, another rocky first inning for six-time All-Star Felix Hernandez. Stephen Piscotty and the Athletics tagged Her- nandez early, and Oakland ended the Seattle Mari- ners’ five-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory Thursday. The A’s scored four times in the first inning, two on Piscotty’s double More inside MLB panel says base- balls getting extra lift, cause unknown Page 2B off Hernandez (5-4). “Every five days I’m here talking with you guys and it’s the same story,” Hernandez said. “First inning three runs, then after that settle down.” See MARINERS/2B Just seven months ago, Northwest Nazarene Uni- versity athlete Ellie Logan underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL in her knee. It caused her to miss her senior basketball season and part of her senior track and field season with the Nighthawks, where Logan was a standout performer in both sports. But Logan, a Fossil native and former three- sport star for the Condon/ Wheeler Knights, rapidly worked her way back from the injury and got healthy enough to compete in the second half of the track sea- son. Logan then quickly got back into form and put on a show for the Nighthawks at the Greater Northwest Ath- letic Conference Champion- ships in Monmouth. In the women’s javelin, Logan unleashed a throw of 162 feet, 3 inches, which broke her previous school record and earned her a con- ference championship. It Ellie Logan also clinched a spot in the NCAA Division II national championships on May 24-26 in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to have a better throw than in the past com- ing off of my knee injury,” Logan told NNUSports. com. “Between (NNU train- ers) Ken (Becker) and Jamie (May) and the physical ther- apists, they have gotten my body healthier than it’s ever been. I just wanted to come back and throw (this sea- son), but to be successful is just extra stuff on top.” It’s the third trip to the nationals for Logan, follow- ing 2015 where she finished eighth and 2016 where she finished 15th. Her confer- ence championship-winning throw is also the second-best distance in Division II this season. “I never sat down and set goals like I have in the past,” Logan added. “I was just try- ing to stay on the day I’m on and just work on the things that I can and it has worked better than other years. Maybe it is the new strategy I have to use.” Her performance head- lines the latest college spot- light for the week of May 16-22. Here is a look at the rest of the top performances. ● Nolan Bylenga (Pend- leton), Lance CC track and field — Competing at the NWAC Championships at Mt. Hood Community Col- lege in Gresham this week, Bylenga ended his freshman season with Lane CC with two championship medals. Bylenga ran to an NWAC title in the men’s 800 meters with a time of 1:55:59, and also ran the first leg of Lane’s 4x400 relay team that won the NWAC title with a time of 3:19.96. ● Devin Hasher (Pilot Rock), Mt. Hood CC track and field — Hasher fin- ished his freshman season in Gresham with a sixth place finish in the men’s high jump with a height of 1.85 meters. ● Mikayla Kopacz (Hermiston), Columbia Basin softball — In the NWAC Championships on May 19, Kopacz went 3-for-6 in CBC’s two games, hitting a double and a home run with three RBI and two runs scored in a pair of losses to North Idaho and Wenatchee Valley. The losses ended Kopacz’s season and career with the Hawks, where she hit for a .460 average this season with 18 home runs, 53 RBI and 53 runs scored. She will continue her career at Central Washington Uni- versity next spring. ● Bekah Roe (Pilot Rock), Mt. Hood CC softball — Roe’s freshman season with Mt. Hood ended in the NWAC Championships over the weekend. Roe pitched in two hits with a double and three RBI in her team’s final three games. She finishes her season with a .351 average with one home run, 16 RBI, eight doubles and 18 runs in 29 games. Sports shorts Ex-Bulldog earns All- American status for EOU Makayla Akers, the Hermiston alumnae and current Eastern Oregon Uni- versity athlete, earned NAIA All-American status while competing at the NAIA National Akers Track and Field Cham- pionships on Thursday. Akers earned her All-American honor with a sixth place finish in women’s javelin throw with a dis- tance of 137 feet, 6 inches. Busch captures pole at Charlotte; Harvick starts last CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Busch will start at the front of the field Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600, and NASCAR Cup Series points leader Kevin Harvick will begin in the rear. Busch took the pole for NASCAR’s longest race by turning a lap of 191.836 mph Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Joey Logano will start alongside Busch on the front row. But the big story was Harvick, who never got on the track after failing pre-race inspection three times. Car chief Robert Smith was ejected, and Harvick will have to sit out the first 30 minutes of practice Saturday. Harvick has been dominant this season, winning AP Photo/Chuck Burton five Cup races — including the last two — and the Kyle Busch $1 million exhibition All-Star race Saturday. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1935 — Jesse Owens sets three world records and ties a fourth, in a span of about 45 minutes at the Big Ten track & field championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Owens ties the world record in the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.4 seconds. Ten minutes later, Owens leaps 26 feet, 8 1/4 inches in his only attempt at the broad jump, to break the world record by more than half a foot. Nine minutes after that, Owens finishes the 220-yard dash in 20.3 seconds, almost 15 yards ahead of the field, to shave three-tenths of a second from the world mark. Owens appears 16 minutes later in the 220-yard hurdles. His time of 22.6 seconds betters the world mark by four-tenths of a second. 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