E AST O REGONIAN
Tuesday, June 1, 2021
FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @EOSPORTS |
FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS
A11
Pitching sensations share IMC honor
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
PendLeTOn — In softball, if
you have a dominant pitcher, that
player can change the course of a
game. If you have two, good things
will come your way.
P e n d l e t o n ’s
Kylie Parsons and
Sau ren Gar ton
were
named
co-Pitchers of the
year in the Inter-
mountain Confer-
Cary
ence by a vote of
the coaches.
The Bucks’ Tim
Cary shared Coach
of the year honors
with Crook Coun-
ty’s Jeremy Puck-
ett. Ridgeview’s
Chrisman
Kiana nakamura
was named Player
of the Year.
“We were pretty
lucky this year,”
Cary said. “We
have two great
ones. It doesn’t
Tabor
matter who we put
out there, they both
have thrown well
all year, and they
both did very well
every time they
went out there.”
Parsons, a
Parsons
senior, threw 56
innings over 11
games and finished
with a 9-1 record.
She scattered 22
hits, gave up five
earned runs, struck
out 74, walked 24
Lillienthal
and had an ERA of
.625.
Garton, a junior, hurled 44
innings over 12 games and finished
with a 6-0 record. She gave up
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Pendleton pitcher Sauren Garton (1) throws out a pitch during the second
inning against the Panthers. The Pendleton Buckaroos defeated the Red-
mond Panthers 16-1 in four innings in Pendleton on April 20, 2021.
Pendleton’s Kylie Parsons (15) throws out a pitch against the Ravens. The
Ridgeview Ravens defeated the Pendleton Buckaroos 8-4 to win the Inter-
mountain Conference title on Saturday, May 22, 2021, in Pendleton.
20 hits and seven
earned runs, but
struck out 95 and
walked 18. She had
an ERA of 1.114.
Together they
had an ERA of .840
Garton
and struck out 169.
“ It ’s p r e t t y
a ma z i ng when
you look at the
numbers,” Cary
said. “We are fortu-
nate to have both
those girls throw-
Samford
ing for us.”
Joining Parsons
and Garton on the first team are first
baseman Ella Chrisman, infielder
Maria Lilienthal, outfield Chloe
Tabor and designated player Ellie
Samford. Garton also was a second-
team selection in the infield.
On the honorable mention team,
the Bucks had catcher Brie Youncs
and outfielders Daisy Jenness and
Jaden Samp.
The Bucks, who at one point had
Pendleton only loses three
seniors off the team to graduation
— Parsons, DeLaney Duchek and
Maria Lilienthal.
“For a short season, everything
INTERMOUNTAIN CONFERENCE SOFTBALL TEAM
Player of the Year — Kiana Nakamura, sr., Ridgeview. Co-Pitchers of the Year — Kylie Parsons, sr., Pendleton and
Sauren Garton, jr., Pendleton. Co-Coaches of the Year — Tim Cary, Pendleton and Jeremy Puckett, Crook County.
First team
C — Maddie Trout, sr., The Dalles. 1B — Ella Chrisman, jr., Pendleton. Infield — Kiana Nakamura, sr., Ridgeview;
Maria Lilienthal, sr., Pendleton; Teegan Reams, jr., Ridgeview; Sienna Davis, fr., Hood River Valley. Outfield — Lexi
Gates, jr., Ridgeview; Chloe Tabor, jr., Pendleton; Molly Routson, sr., Hood River Valley. Utility — Emma Lees, jr.,
Crook County. Designated player — Ellie Samford, jr., Pendleton. Pitchers — Kylie Parsons, sr., Pendleton and
Sauren Garton, jr., Pendleton.
Second team
C — Shelbie Stanley, jr., Redmond and Abby Kahler, so., Hood River Valley. 1B — Kennedy Abbas, so., The Dalles.
Infield — Danner Hemphill, fr., Crook County; Sauren Garton, jr., Pendleton; Tayha DeGrande, so., Ridgeview; Zoe
LeBreton, fr., The Dalles. Outfield — Ally Henry, sr., Ridgeview; Bella Moore, jr., Hood River Valley; Isis Solorzano, sr.,
Hood River Valley. Utility — Ani Crichton Tunai, fr., The Dalles. Pitchers — Kennedy Abbas, so., The Dalles and Kyra
Davis, jr., Hood River Valley.
Honorable mention
C — Brie Youncs, jr., Pendleton. 1B — Aspen Bradley, jr., Redmond. Infield — Jordyn Looney, jr., Ridgeview; Eliz-
abeth Barker, sr., Crook County; Marina Castaneda, fr., Hood River Valley. Outfield — Jaden Samp, jr., Pendleton;
Daisy Jenness, jr., Pendleton; Ella Smith, so., The Dalles. Pitcher — Maddie Wissell, so., Redmond.
an 11-game win streak, won the
IMC regular-season title with a 9-0
record, but dropped an 8-4 game to
Ridgeview in the district title game.
They finished the season 15-2.
went very, very well,” Cary said.
“All-in-all, we had a fantastic year.
We have a ton of juniors. It’s after
next year that we are worried about.
It’s good and bad at the same time.”
OSU FOOTBALL
Beason emerging as big-play
threat after sensational spring
By JARRID DENNEY
Corvallis Gazette-Times
CORVaLLIs — during a
spring football practice last month,
Oregon State offensive coordina-
tor Brian Lindgren spontaneously
gathered his first-string players
and set them up in a third-down
situation deep in their own terri-
tory.
On the first play of the
impromptu scrimmage scenario,
freshman receiver Zeriah Beason
caught a short pass on a slant route
near the right hash mark, made one
cut to evade a linebacker and broke
loose for a 70-yard touchdown.
Not five minutes later, in the
exact same scenario, Beason
lined up on the left side of the
field. When the ball was snapped,
he out-muscled a cornerback at
the line of scrimmage, shrugging
off the defender’s attempt to jam
him, and broke free down the
sideline.
Quarterback Chance nolan
dropped a perfect pass into his
hands and Beason walked into
the end zone for another 70-yard
touchdown. His teammates went
ballistic celebrating.
That five-minute sequence epit-
omizes Beason’s evolution as he
enters his second year with the
Beavers. He burst onto the scene
as a talented true freshman in 2020
and worked his way into the start-
ing lineup by season’s end, putting
up modest numbers.
Now, though, he is ready for
an encore. If this spring was any
indicator, Beason could be ready
to emerge as a consistent big-play
threat for Oregon State.
“I felt like last year I was just
sort of running around,” Beason
said. “The game was pretty fast for
me. Now I’m understanding cover-
ages and I feel like everything is
slowing down.”
Beason’s version of “just
running around” still resulted in
a major tangible impact for the
Beavers. As an 18-year-old fresh-
man, he started five of Oregon
Bikram Rai/Associated Press
Bikram Rai/Associated Press
Arthur Muir, 75, of Chicago, be-
came the oldest American to scale
Mount Everest, beating the record
by another American, Bill Burke, at
age 67.
Tsang Yin-hung, 45, of Hong Kong,
scaled Mount Everest from the
base camp in 25 hours and 50 min-
utes, becoming the fastest female
climber.
Oldest American, fastest woman
on Everest return safely
By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA
Associated Press
Amanda Loman/Associated Press, File
Arizona State’s DeAndre Pierce (2) brings down Oregon State’s Zeriah
Beason (18) during a game in Corvallis in December 2020.
State’s seven games and tied for
the team lead with three touch-
down receptions.
While mainly operating in the
slot, he served as a reliable target
for Nolan late in the year and
finished 2020 with 148 yards on
16 catches.
Even with a receiver room
that was stocked with seven or
eight starting-caliber pass catch-
ers, Lindgren and coach Jonathan
Smith still constantly kept the
youngest member of that group
on the field.
“I think his precision in his
route running has always been
really good,” Smith said. “But
now he understands the complete
package. We’re able to move him
around to multiple positions inside
and out. That’s been a nice step.”
On Oregon State’s last play
of the season, Beason caught an
18-yard pass from Ben Gulbran-
son on a 50-50 ball at the back
of the end zone. The play came
in a blowout loss, but served as
a glimpse at the future with two
talented freshmen combining for
a dazzling play.
However, Beason puts less
stock in that particular moment as
providing momentum for him to
succeed moving forward. Instead,
he believes that the work he puts
in on a day-to-day basis is a better
indicator that consistent in-game
success will come in 2021.
Those who are tasked with
trying to slow him down at prac-
tice tend to agree.
“I love that competition every-
day at practice,” cornerback Alex
Austin said. “Zeriah, he’s a guy
that’s gonna work. Every day,
every play. He’s not gonna take
a snap off. Being able to compete
with him everyday, I love it. He’s
a baller.”
A standout at Duncanville High
School in Texas, Beason and the
Panthers went to back-to-back 6A
state title games amidst the most
competitive high school football
landscape in the country.
“a lot of people compare high
school football there to junior
college,” Beason said. “I feel like
the competition level really trans-
lated and really helped me get to
the next level and understand the
basics.”
In that sense, Beason arrived in
Corvallis physically prepared for
the jump from high school to the
Pac-12 that so many players strug-
gle with. At 6-feet, 198 pounds,
he is one of Oregon State’s bigger
receivers and played like it.
KATHMANDU, Nepal— A
retired attorney from Chicago who
became the oldest American to
scale Mount Everest, and a Hong
Kong teacher who is now the fast-
est female climber of the world’s
highest peak, on Sunday, May 30,
returned safely from the mountain
where climbing teams have strug-
gled with bad weather and a coro-
navirus outbreak.
Arthur Muir, 75, scaled the
peak earlier this month, beating the
record set by another American,
Bill Burke, at age 67.
Tsang Yin-hung, 45, of Hong
Kong, scaled the summit from
the base camp in 25 hours and 50
minutes, and became the fastest
female climber. The record of 10
hours and 56 minutes is held by a
Sherpa guide, Lakpa Gelu.
A climbing accident on Everest
in 2019, when Muir hurt his ankle
falling off a ladder, did not deter
him from attempting to scale the
peak again. He began mountain-
eering late in life, and said he was
scared and anxious during his latest
adventure.
“You realize how big a mountain
it is, how dangerous it is, how many
things that could go wrong. Yeah,
it makes you nervous, it makes
you know some anxiety there and
maybe little bit of scared,” Muir
told reporters in Kathmandu. “I was
just surprised when I actually got
to there (the summit) but I was too
tired to stand up, and in my summit
pictures I am sitting down.”
Muir began mountaineering at
age 68 with trips to South Amer-
ica and Alaska before attempting
Everest in 2019, when he fell off the
ladder.
Climbing was closed last year
due to the pandemic.
Married and a father of three,
Muir has six grandchildren. The
last one — a boy — was born while
he was still in the mountains during
his current expedition.
Tsang made only two stops
between the base camp at 17,390
feet to the 29,032-foot summit to
change, and covered the near verti-
cal distance in 25 hours and 50
minutes.
She was lucky because there
were barely any climbers on the
way to the highest camp at South
Col. After that, on her way to the
summit, she met only climbers
making their descent, which did not
slow her speed climb.
There are only a few days of
good weather left on the mountain
this year, when hundreds of climb-
ers line up to the summit, many
having to wait for a long time in the
traffic jam on the highest trail.
“I just feel kind of relief and
happy because I am not looking for
breaking a record,” she said. “I feel
relieved because I can prove my
work to my friends, to my students.”
She made a previous attempt on
May 11, but bad weather forced her
to turn back from a point very close
to the summit. She then returned.
“For the summit, it is not just not
your ability, team work, I think luck
is very important,” she said.
An outbreak of the coronavirus
among climbers and their guides at
the Everest base camp has forced
at least three teams to cancel their
expeditions.