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Wednesday, May 22, 2019
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MCC HONORS
Hermiston athletes earn accolades in three sports
Conference soccer,
baseball and tennis
teams released
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
Hermiston had four players
selected to the Mid-Columbia
Conference all-conference boys
soccer teams.
Midfielders Emilio Leal and
Coleman solano were named to
the first team, while goalie Juan
Carlos navarrete and defender
Navarrete
Ramirez
Matt Mendez were named to the
second team.
In eight MCC games, Navar-
rete’s goals against average was
.888. He had shutouts against
Southridge and Kennewick. In
three playoff games, he allowed
two goals.
Walla Walla forward Julio Tapia
was named the Player of the year.
Chiawana’s Riley dodson was
named Coach of the Year. The
Riverhawks finished the regular
season 8-0.
The Bulldogs finished 5-3 in
MCC play and earned the top 3A
seed to the district 8 playoffs.
Hermiston defeated Kennewick
1-0, then topped Kamiakin 3-1 in
the championship game.
The Bulldogs lost in the first
round of the 3A state playoffs,
dropping a 2-1 game to Mountain
View in a shootout.
Baseball
The Mid-Columbia Conference
baseball honors included just one
Hermiston player — senior out-
fielder Jordan Ramirez, who was
named to the first team. The Bull-
dogs struggled in their first season
in the MCC, finishing 1-15.
Chiawana junior Riley Cis-
sne was named Player of the year.
Kamiakin senior Trystan Vrieling
was named Pitcher of the year.
Kamiakin’s Steve Woods was
named Coach of the year after
leading the Braves to a 14-2 regu-
lar-season record.
Tennis
Hermiston senior Hayden Cis-
sna was named to the Mid-Colum-
bia Conference second team. Cis-
sna, who has signed to play for
Treasure Valley Community Col-
lege, made it to the semifinals of
the MCC tournament before losing.
The MCC boys Player of the
year is etienne Chaillot of Walla
Walla. The girls top player is
Quinci Fisher of Richland.
Bucks ready for playoffs
Staff photo by Kathy Aney, File
Irrigon pitcher Zack Henrichs
has a perfect game, a no-hitter
and a 0.90 ERA entering the 3A
state tournament.
Irrigon
opens state
playoffs
against Taft
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney, File
Pendleton’s Aspen Garton fields a ball during a game against La Grande on March 19, 2019, at Steve Cary Field.
Pendleton softball starts their first post-IMC playoff run this afternoon
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
Last year was Pendleton soft-
ball’s concluding chapter in the
Columbia River Conference,
and they shut that book with a
bang.
The Buckaroos dropped just
two games overall, and won 28.
They ended the season with a 7-0
shutout against Putnam to claim
the state championship.
This year, they said goodbye
to the CRC in favor of the Inter-
mountain Conference, a league
that head coach Tim Cary said
has some of the toughest teams
in the 5A division. Four of the
top 10 teams in the division,
Pendleton included, hail from
the IMC.
Ridgeview is ranked No. 1,
Hood River Valley is no. 2,
Pendleton is No. 5, and The
dalles sits at no. 9.
But that isn’t a bad thing.
“It’s an advantage,” Cary
said. “There are no days off.
There’s a lot of pressure and
stress, and no gimmies. That
challenge will help us going into
the postseason.”
This afternoon, the bat-
tle-hardened Bucks (16-9, 9-6
IMC) are embarking on their
first state playoff run coming out
IF YOU GO
Cheer on the Bucks softball team as they kick off their 5A state playoff
run.
WHEN: 4:30 p.m. Wednesday
WHERE: Sunridge Middle School, Steve Carey Field, 700 S.W. Runnion
Ave., Pendleton
of the new conference. They’ll
host the Midwestern League’s
third-ranked Thurston Colts for
the first round.
It’s an opportunity that Pend-
leton fought to secure. It all
came down to their home dou-
bleheader against The Dalles on
saturday, May 11.
Had the Bucks lost both
games, or even split, they would
have dropped to No. 4 in the
IMC standings and missed out
on their shot at the playoffs.
Instead, the Bucks won the
opener 8-3, and the closer in a
17-1 blowout.
“It was good for us as a team to
see that we could pull through in
those high pressure situations,”
Cary said. “I think that should
add to the girls’ confidence.”
The sweep earned Pendleton
the No. 3 spot in the IMC stand-
ings, and a trip to the state play-
offs. It wasn’t always smooth
sailing to get there, especially
considering that the Bucks rarely
met their match at all last season.
“We’ve traveled to the
Bend-Redmond area three times
this year,” said senior shortstop
aspen Garton, who has been on
the softball team all four years.
“Those rides are hard to recover
from. Bus legs against the No. 1
team in the state (Ridgeview) is
a tough situation.”
Cary said that the IMC was
a league where any team could
win at any given time, and that
little is known about Thurston,
who the Bucks haven’t faced
since the mid-2000s.
“We’re not very familiar with
them,” Cary said. “They’re obvi-
ously capable of winning games.
They’re a team we’re taking very
seriously.”
Cary said that his team has
spent recent practices polishing
up their regular game plan. The
team has found their footing on
both sides of the ball, whether
it’s at bat or in the circle. Fresh-
man right-hander Sauren Gar-
ton has tallied 57 strikeouts on
the season so far, and will open
today’s playoff game.
“In the last eight games or so,
we’ve done a much better job
of eliminating runs (allowed),”
Cary said. “That was a problem
for us earlier in the year.”
They also have two batters
hitting .500 for the overall sea-
son: sophomore natalie neveau
and senior Kila Solomon.
“early on in the year, we
didn’t know what we could do as
a team,” said Solomon, a catcher.
“We’ve always pushed each
other, and we never let the score
affect us. I’ve noticed through-
out the year that we’ve all con-
nected better.”
Should the Bucks win the
playoff’s first round, they’re in
for another road trip. A game
against the winner of today’s
Churchill-West Albany game
awaits them in Albany — 278
miles from their home steve
Cary Field.
“We’re a much better team
than we think we are,” Garton
said. “We have to come together
for a team win. As long as we
play together, we’ll be just fine.”
The Bucks will take on the
Colts at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
It’s game day for the Irri-
gon baseball team, and that
means “dinger French toast”
for breakfast at the Henrichs.
“I’m superstitious, and so is
half the team,” Irrigon coach
Randy Henrich said. “not
many ballplayers aren’t. every
morning the day of a game,
grandma (his wife Marie) has
to make French toast.”
They can always count on
their grandson Zack Henrichs
to make an appearance, and
assistant coach Fredy Vera.
Other times, half the team
shows up.
“She doesn’t mind,” Hen-
richs said of Marie. “There’s no
bigger fan than her.”
The Knights (20-4) will host
Taft (16-10) at 4 p.m. Wednes-
day in the first round of the 3A
state baseball tournament.
“It should be a good game,”
Henrichs said. “The boys are
focused and I see us playing
really good. But as a coach, you
are always nervous. I have to
try and not overthink things.”
The Tigers are the No. 3
team from special district 2,
behind Rainier and Warrenton.
The Knights, who won the
Special District 5 regular-sea-
son and district titles, know that
each game from here on out is
a loser-out game, so choosing a
starting pitcher is key.
“You don’t win the first
game, there are no second
chances,” Henrichs said. “I’m
not sure if we will go with
Zack (Henrichs) or Matthew
(Moreno). We know what Zack
can do, and Matthew has got-
ten his groove back.”
Zack Henrichs has a per-
fect game and a no-hitter to
his credit this season, and his
ERA is 0.90. The defense has
been stellar behind both pitch-
ers, allowing just 87 runs in 24
games (3.6 runs a game).
Offensively, the Knights
have scored 297 runs (12.3 per
game).
“We have worked hard on
everything,” coach Henrichs
said. “Defensively, they work
on the little things — bunt cov-
erage, hit-and-run coverage —
and it has paid off. We have
scored a lot of runs, but so have
they (249).”