B2
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Hermiston Little League/Contributed Photo
The Hermiston 10-12 Little League softball team presents
watermelons to the Idaho players before their fi rst game
July 23, 2022, at the Northwest Regional Tournament in San
Bernardino, California.
Softball:
Continued from Page B1
Lillian Rood struck out
all nine batters she faced in
the opener against Idaho —
a game that lasted just three
innings.
Kylie Virgil hit a triple
and drove in five runs,
while Lexi Sinor went
2-for-2 with four RBIs.
Lillia n Rood th rew a
no-hitter, striking out nine
and walking two.
Hermiston had seven
hits on the day, and took
advantage of 13 walks.
W hen Her miston
exchanged gifts with Idaho
before their game, it wasn’t
just the standard team pin.
The players also handed
their opponents watermel-
ons from Pollock Farms in
Hermiston
“We decided to do water-
melons,” Rood said. “It’s
the fi rst time any team has
Ruiz:
Continued from Page B1
A 2014 graduate of
McLoughlin High School,
Ruiz also played sports,
notably volleyball, and now
she will take the reins of the
program that had been in the
capable hands of Lucy Deal
for several years.
“I was super excited when
the opportunity came avail-
able,” Ruiz said. “I love the
sport and it would be nice to
give back to the program.”
Ruiz, 27, was a defensive
specialist during her playing
days with the Pioneers, and
also was a right-side hitter.
“I played back row because
I was on the shorter side,’
Ruiz said. “We never seem
to have much height. I don’t
know if it is something in the
area. I hope we get some tall
girls coming up.”
Ruiz has been hold-
ing open gym for the play-
ers during the summer, and
junior varsity coach Megann
Erni has been running a
weight lifting session in the
morning.
“We have had a fairly big
group of younger girls,” Ruiz
said. “There are about 15 girls
or more coming out. I think
we will have more later on
because some of them work.
We have maybe four seniors.
For open gyms, it’s more of a
young underclassman group.
We had camps for grade
school and middle school, and
then high school.”
brought watermelons to
regionals.”
Against Alaska, Lillian
Rood threw a no-hitter and
Virgil drove in three runs
as Hermiston invoked the
10-run rule in the fourth
inning.
“Us coaches, we give
them the tools to perform,
they have to do it,” Rood
said. “We are there to help
them succeed. They have to
take it upon themselves to
do the work. The girls have
been very humble and have
been hanging out with some
of the other girls.”
Her m iston won t he
Oregon state tournament
July 10 to advance to
regionals.
It’s the first time the
Her miston 10 -12 sof t-
ball team has advanced to
regionals since 1993, when
it placed third.
T he regional cham-
pion advances to the Little
League World Series in
Greenville, North Carolina.
“I WAS SUPER
EXCITED
WHEN THE
OPPORTUNITY
CAME
AVAILABLE.
I LOVE THE
SPORT AND
IT WOULD BE
NICE TO GIVE
BACK TO THE
PROGRAM.”
— Kassidy Ruiz, McLoughlin
High School volleyball coach
The Pioneers will compete
in the 3A Eastern Oregon
League this fall, dropping
down from the 4A Great
Oregon League.
Competition will be stiff
with Vale, Nyssa and Burns,
but their travel will ease up
with trips to Riverside and
Umatilla.
“We will see some new
schools, for sure,” Ruiz said.
“There will be some fun road
trips. We’ll see what we’ve
got.”
During the day, Ruiz works
for the City of Milton-Freewa-
ter as an assistant planner.
“I wear many hats,” she
said. “For the planning depart-
ment, we do land use zoning
and I also assist the fi re chief
for the internal portion — aka
paper work — and make sure
things run smoothly.”
C.B. Lovercheck/Contributed photo
Hermiston goalie Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky, left, and Pendleton’s Reilly and Kelsey Lovercheck helped the Three Rivers
Black girls soccer team to third place July 23, 2022, at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship in Orlando.
Soccer:
Continued from Page B1
The Tri-City based team
won the Washington state
and Far West Regional titles
to advance to nationals.
“The biggest thing we had
was heart and character,”
Quintero said. “A lot of these
wins, we willed ourselves to
get a result. Good teams fi nd
ways to win and heroes to get
it done.”
At nationals, Three
Rivers outscored their Pool
D opponents 10-2 in winning
all three games.
“To go 3-0 in group play
was surprising,” Quintero
said. “The fi rst game was
tough, but we found our
groove. It was great to see
the girls fl ip the switch in
the second half of the second
game and go from 0-1 to
winning 5-1.”
Allowing just two goals
was a combined effort of
the defense of Violet Duran,
Kaylie Pearson, Madi
Joyner, Meredith Winiarski,
Emma Haertling and Maya
Wunschel, and goalkeepers
Pasena-Littlesky and Danika
Galbraith.
“We had about six diff er-
ent gals who played in our
back four,” Quintero said.
“Violet Duran was the
only girl who played every
minute. She was a physical
presence. Our goalkeep-
ers were very good. In the
semifinals, two of those
goals, no one was going to
stop. They did really well.”
In its fi rst pool-play game
Tuesday, July 19, Three
Rivers beat South Missis-
sippi 2-1, getting goals from
Haertling and Kate Hollen-
berg. Pasena-Littlesky
played the second half of the
game in goal.
Three Rivers continued
its winning ways Wednesday
with a 5-1 win over Strikers
of Fox Valley, Illinois.
Three Rivers scored fi ve
consecutive goals after Illi-
nois got out to a 1-0 lead.
Cla i re Pot t e r a nd
Haertling scored two goals
each for Three Rivers, while
Ava Suarez scored the fi nal
goal off an assist by Reilly
Lovercheck.
www.umatillacountyfair.net
Pasena-Littlesky split
time in goal with Galbraith.
To reach the semifi nals,
Three Rivers beat Total
Futbol Academy of Ohio
3-0 on Thursday to win
Pool D.
Three Rivers got fi rst-
half goals from Hollenberg
and Kelsey Fulton. Kelsey
Lovercheck added a goal in
the second half.
Pasena-Littlesky and
Galbraith shared time in
goal, getting good help from
their defense.
“The girls really savored
it at the end,” Quintero said
of the tournament. “They
were hugging, cr ying
and taking photos. I think
that’s why they got there.
They enjoyed each other’s
company. I’ve never had a
team stay that long together
after a loss.”
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