Wednesday, March 30, 2022
A9
SPORTS
Small team takes to the golf course for Wallowa/Joseph
Cougars have
four golfers —
two returners,
two newcomers
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — The Wal-
lowa/Joseph golf team is a
small one this spring, with
just four players out for the
sport.
There is also a rarity
among the ranks for Marvin
Gibbs, who has been the head
coach for 25 years — no girls
on the team.
“It is kind of strange not
to have at least one girl,” he
said.
Gibbs noted that a year
ago there were no girls on the
team, but part of that could be
attributed to the odd COVID-
19 spring that it was. And, of
course, there were no spring
sports in 2020 at the start of
the pandemic. The team is
also just three years removed
from when Tori Suto tied
for fourth at the state golf
tournament.
“Last year was a weird
year, we didn’t have any
girls,” he said. “The year
before I was going to have
girls out” before COVID can-
celed the season.
Among the four on the
boys team for Gibbs are two
returners — his son, Wil-
lie Gibbs, a senior and the
lone golfer for Wallowa, and
Owen Gorham, a sophomore
from Joseph, who is back
after being on the course last
spring.
Willie Gibbs, who shot
112 in opening the season
at Echo on March 18, has
ample experience, albeit with
a chunk of time in the middle
impacted by the pandemic.
“The bad thing is Wil-
lie had those two years of
COVID in there (between his
freshman and senior years),”
Marvin Gibbs said. “The
good thing for Willie is he
knows the process.”
The coach noted Gorham,
meanwhile, has grown physi-
cally since last season.
“He’s quite a bit bigger
than he was last year. We’re
going to have to see how
things shake out with him,”
he said.
Among the two newcom-
ers are Joseph senior Chase
Homan, who Gibbs said has
a lot of experience but has
never played on the team, and
Jonas McKee, a Joseph soph-
omore out for the fi rst time.
“Chase has played a lot of
golf. His dad, Lance, plays
a lot,” Gibbs said. “He’s a
good athlete. He wants to go
through what’s called the pro-
fessional golf management
program at the University of
Idaho, so to do that (you’ve)
got to get a handicap estab-
lished and be playing golf,
not baseball.”
See Golf, Page A10
SOFTBALL
Outlaws sit at
2-3 entering fi rst
home games
Chieftain staff
The Wallowa Valley soft-
ball team fi nished with a
record of 1-2 at the Grant
Union Tournament, losing
to Scio and defeating Lost
River on Monday, March
21, and falling to host Grant
Union on Tuesday, March
22.
The Outlaws opened by
dropping a close 6-4 battle
to Scio on March 21, one
that saw the teams combine
for just 10 hits. Wallowa
Valley had four of the hits —
one each from four diff erent
players. Abby Straight pow-
ered the off ense with two
RBIs and Maci Marr also
drove in a run.
Liz Rowley worked six
innings, striking out eight,
and allowed six runs on six
hits while walking fi ve.
Later in the day, the Out-
laws collected 15 hits in a
9-5 victory over Lost River.
Twelve of the 15 hits in the
win were singles.
Rowley and Cooper Nave
both had three hits and drove
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer, File
Joseph’s Iona McDonald, center, placed seventh in both the girls 1,500 and girls 3,000 Saturday, May 22, 2021, at the
1A state track meet in La Grande.
Eagles pleased
with early returns
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
J
OSEPH — Joseph head
track coach John Roberts
already has seen his team
in a meet this season, and
was pleased with the eff ort
in the March 18 Mullen Leavitt
Invite at The Dalles.
“All I wanted was some marks
out of them so we can build off that,”
he said. “We have a lot of new kids.
(We) wanted them to get famil-
iar with track and fi eld and have an
easy time of it. Pretty low-key meet.
We did about what we expected we
would do.”
The Eagles have more than 25 ath-
letes on the team this spring, about
10 more than Roberts expected. That
count includes a tripling of the num-
ber of girls from a year ago, when he
had just three. He also has about 17
on the boys side.
Two of the boys who performed
well at The Dalles, and for whom
Roberts has high hopes, are Reece
Nelson and Kale Ferguson. Each
won two events — Nelson taking the
high jump and triple jump, and Fer-
guson the discus and javelin throws.
“Those two should easily go
to state, if not in fi rst place in their
events,” Roberts said. “Reece already
jumped higher (when he cleared 6
feet) than the qualifying mark for
state. It was a pretty easy jump. Kale,
we’re just working on mechanics. I
don’t want him throwing too hard.
Toward the week of predistrict we
might be hitting top marks.”
The Eagles also should be strong
in the distance races, with Bayden
Menton and Ian Goodrich — who
both ran at the state championship
cross-country meet for title-win-
ning Wallowa Valley — leading the
charge. Menton, in eighth, was the
second fi nisher for the team back in
November, and Goodrich, in 12th,
was third on the team.
BASEBALL
Wallowa Valley baseball
gets into the win column
Chieftain staff
JOHN DAY — The Wal-
lowa Valley baseball team
got into the win column last
week as it went 3-1 over
four days at the Les Schwab-
Grant Union Tournament.
The Eagles opened with
a dominant 16-4 win over
Nyssa on Wednesday, March
23. They followed by defeat-
ing Valley Catholic 14-5
on March 24, dropping an
11-10, eight-inning nailbiter
against Sisters and wrapping
play with a 13-0 win over
Ontario.
Wallowa Valley broke the
game against Nyssa open
early with four runs in the
fi rst and fi ve in the second for
a quick 9-0 lead, and never let
up in the fi ve-inning victory,
the team’s fi rst of the season.
Jaxon Grover went 4-for-4
with a leadoff home run, two
runs scored, three RBIs and
fi nished a double shy of the
cycle. Jackson Decker had
three hits and scored three
times. Lane Rouse, Cody
Fent and Trace Collier each
scored twice, and Spencer
See Track, Page A10
Kirkland, Gray named honorable mention all-state
Chieftain staff
ENTERPRISE — The
season may have ended a
month ago for the Enter-
prise girls basketball team,
but the accolades are still
fl owing in.
Seniors Rilyn Kirkland
and Jada Gray were tabbed
as all-state honorable men-
tion after helping the Out-
laws to a runner-up fi nish in
the Blue Mountain Confer-
ence district tournament and
a state playoff berth. Enter-
prise went 15-11 on the sea-
son, with those wins includ-
ing a victory over eventual
state champion Union and
one over sixth-place fi n-
isher Stanfi eld. It concluded
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Enterprise’s Rilyn Kirkland attempts a layup during the
Outlaws’ game against Weston-McEwen Saturday, Feb. 12,
2022. Enterprise won the game, 50-30.
with a close 65-58 loss to
Gervais in the fi rst round of
the state playoff s.
“Both of them, well
deserved,” head coach Mike
Crawford said. “Jada really
in two runs, and Aimee Mey-
ers also had two RBIs in the
victory. Karly Baremore and
Alex Rowley also had two
hits apiece.
In the circle, Meyers
pitched all seven innings for
the win, allowing fi ve runs
on 10 hits and striking out
eight.
On March 22, The Out-
laws managed just six hits,
through one was a solo
home run from Liz Rowley.
Nave had two hits and drove
in the other run for Wallowa
Valley.
Rowley also pitched four
innings, allowing six runs on
fi ve hits, though four runs
were unearned. She walked
fi ve and struck out one.
Meyers added two innings,
allowing six runs on six hits,
though none were earned.
Wallowa Valley was hurt by
four errors.
The Outlaws (2-3 overall)
play their fi rst home games
Friday, April 1, when they
host Pilot Rock/Nixyaawii
in a doubleheader beginning
at 1 p.m.
fi nished strong in the sea-
son and Rilyn became more
of a distributor of the ball
and a handler of the ball.
Scoring’s alway one of the
things (looked at). They did
a great job. I’m really happy
they both got selected.
That required at least two
coaches (in the state) to vote
for them.”
On the season, Gray was
the team’s leading scorer
with 10.2 points per game,
and also recorded a team-
best 3.7 steals per con-
test. She also averaged 2.8
rebounds and 1.6 assists.
The senior shot 41% from
the fl oor, 35% from 3-point
See All-state, Page A10
Decker added two hits.
Against the Valiants, Wal-
lowa Valley overcame an
early 3-0 defi cit and rolled
after that.
Maclane Melville scored
three times in the victory,
and Grover, Ty Prince, Caden
Fent and Jackson Decker
scored twice. Decker also
had three hits, and both
Prince and Melville had a
pair of hits.
Sisters got the winning
hit in the eighth inning of the
March 25 showdown, and
that coming after the Out-
laws scored the tying run in
the seventh.
Sisters seemed in com-
mand, up 9-2 through fi ve
innings, before Wallowa Val-
ley batted around and posted
eight runs in the sixth to take
the lead. The fi rst eight bat-
ters in the frame, in fact,
all reached base on a com-
bined fi ve hits (all singles)
two walks and a hit batter,
and scored. The key hit was
a two-run single by Melville.
Wallowa Valley led at the end
See Baseball, Page A10
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