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Tuesday, February 8, 2022
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EOU softball team aiming
to build a winning culture
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
Samantha Flett/Eastern Oregon University Athletics, File
Samantha Buckley (5) of Eastern Oregon University maneu-
vers between a pair of Corban University players during a
lacrosse match March 20, 2021. The Mountaineers complet-
ed the program’s inaugural season with a 1-4 record. The
2022 season begins Saturday, Feb. 12, against Whitworth in
Spokane.
Women’s lacrosse
announces schedule
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
La GraNde — The
eastern Oregon university
women’s lacrosse team is
back in action for its second
season as a program.
The university announced
the team’s 2022 schedule
Feb. 1, a slate of 12 games.
The Mountaineers are set to
host five games at Commu-
nity stadium in La Grande
this year and travel for the
remainder of competitions.
Eastern is coming off its
inaugural season in 2021, one
year later than the program
was expected to hit the field.
The coronavirus pandemic
canceled the 2020 season,
setting the stage for 2021 as
Eastern’s first year of compe-
tition.
In a season still heavily
impacted by the pandemic,
the Mountaineers compiled
a 1-4 record and competed in
five seven-on-seven scrim-
mages. eastern picked up its
first win in program history
on March 5 against Whit-
worth.
This season, the Moun-
taineers open up competition
Saturday, Feb. 12, against
Whitworth in spokane. east-
ern will host two straight
home games on the week-
end of Feb. 19, welcoming in
Willamette and Linfield.
The Mountaineers travel
for a handful of mid-sea-
son tournament matchups,
facing Whitman and Whit-
worth on the weekend of Feb.
26 at the Whitman Classic in
Walla Walla. after a road tilt
against Corban, eastern is set
to travel to boise to compete
March 12 and 13 at the Boise
state Tournament.
eastern hosts Multnomah
on March 19 and Whitman on
March 20 on a back-to-back
homestand at Community
stadium. The Mountain-
eers head to Tacoma to face
Puget Sound on March 26
and conclude regular-season
road competition on april 2
at Corban.
T he Mou nt ai neers
conclude the regular season
at home against Multnomah
on April 16 at Community
stadium.
In Eastern’s first season
under head coach Monica
Plut, the Mountaineers faced
Corban three times and lost
each contest. eastern will
have two chances at revenge
against the Warriors this
year, as well as welcoming
first-year program Mult-
nomah to the lacrosse scene.
eastern has a young team,
with 11 underclassmen on
the roster. The Mountaineers
return numerous key players
from last year’s roster, includ-
ing junior Kiana Watchman
and senior Lauren Kombol.
eastern announced last
October the hiring of assis-
tant coach ryan McMillen,
another new addition looking
to build up the university’s
women’s lacrosse program.
eastern’s opening game at
Whitworth on Feb. 12 is set to
start at noon.
La GraNde — spring
is on the horizon, and the
eastern Oregon university
softball team is gearing up
for its 2022 season.
Third-year head coach
Nicole Christian leads the
way for the Mountaineers,
who are aiming to surprise
teams around the softball
landscape. Coming off a
trip to the conference tour-
nament as the No. 5 seed last
season, eastern is aiming to
establish itself near the top
of the Cascade Collegiate
Conference.
“We’re really excited,”
Christian said. “I think the
girls have been putting in
the work in the weight room
and we’ve been getting out
on the turf. I think if we
don’t place in that top five
or top six to make the CCC
tournament, it would be a
disappointment.”
T he Mou nt a i n e e r s
finished 16-32 overall last
season, compiling a 10-17
conference record. eastern
earned a trip to the confer-
ence championships, but
ultimately came up short
with back-to-back losses
against Corban and the
College of Idaho.
Building depth
eastern saw three play-
ers earn conference honors
at the end of the season, two
of which the team will be
looking to replace this year.
Catchers Jordan Henley and
See Softball, Page A12
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Eastern Oregon University pitcher Amanda Smith (14) delivers a pitch April 23, 2021,
against the University of Providence at Peggy Anderson Softball Field, La Grande. Smith is
set to lead Eastern’s pitching rotation in 2022 as the Mountaineers look to contend in the
Cascade Collegiate Conference.
Oregon baseball gets
new turf at PK Park
By JAMES CREPEA
The Oregonian
euGeNe — Oregon
baseball is going to look
different on the field in more
ways than one this season.
The ducks will have an
entirely new pitching rotation
and several new starters in
the field as well. They’ll also
be playing at a renovated PK
Park, which had its FieldTurf
replaced, the fences brought
in slightly in the power alleys,
a new videoboard installed in
left field and the fence height
made uniform throughout the
park this offseason.
“It’s coming along nicely,”
Oregon coach Mark Wasi-
kowski said. “There’s brand
new turf out there. There’s
graphics all over the place.
They just are beginning the
videoboard and scoreboard.
all of the changes and the
updates and all of that stuff
should be complete by the
beginning of the season, first
home game. everything is on
pace. It looks amazing.”
The walls in left- and
right-center have been moved
in between 10 and 15 feet and
the fence is now 6-1/2 feet
tall across the entire outfield,
compared to the previously
shorter wall in front of the
Oregon bullpen in right field.
The hope is those changes
will create more offense in
the pitcher-friendly ballpark,
specifically allowing more
opportunities for triples since
there will be fewer ground-
rule doubles.
“It’s going to allow
outfielders to make more
athletic plays, maybe rob
some home runs,” Wasikow-
ski said. “It’ll also allow for
the ball that goes over an
outfielder’s head, instead of
bouncing over the fence that
we saw a lot of times, espe-
cially in right field with our
short porch, I think what
we’re going to see now and
what we’ve seen so far in
the early going is that ball
bounces and hits the fence.
“More triples in the ball-
park or scoring a guy from
first base on a ball that goes
to the wall. That’s a pretty
exciting piece of the baseball
game, the three-base play is
the most exciting play in the
game. To limit that is some-
thing we tried to get rid of,
we tried to maximize that
and I think we’ll be able to
do that.”
Eastern Oregon,
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