NED HICKSON , SPORTS EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3523 ❘
SPORTS @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ MARCH 11, 2017 ❘
SECTION B
Siuslaw News
Sports & Recreation
On the
Bite
A
WEEKLY
FISHING REPORT FOR
THE LOCAL REGION
www.dfw.state.or.us/RR
NORTH COAST
LAKES:
Nehalem Hatchery
released 200 surplus winter
steelhead into Vernonia
pond, 57 into Lost Lake
and 60 into Lake Lytle.
These fish get fairly active
FISHING 3B
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
See
S PORTS
Calendar
Spring openers
• MARCH 13
SHS SOFTBALL
AT N EWPORT
4 P . M .
• MARCH 17
MHS TRACK
AT W ALDPORT
4 P . M .
• MARCH 23
SHS TRACK &
FIELD
S IUSLAW
PHOTOS BY NED HICKSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
I CEBREAKER
AT SHS
4 P . M .
Siuslaw senior pitchers Heidi Jones (left) and Michael Larson (top) will lead
Siuslaw’s defense from the mound. The season gets started for softball March
13, at Newport, and baseball, March 24, at home against Sweet Home.
Vikings
winding up
T IDE T ABLE
Entrance Siuslaw River
High Tide
Low Tide
March 11
11:03am / 7.7 5:09am / 1.6
11:54pm/ 7.3 5:37pm/ -0.3
March 12
12:48am / 7.6 6:52am / 1.2
7:14pm/ 0.0
March 13
1:28am / 7.4
1:31pm / 7.4
7:33am / 1.0
7:49pm / 0.4
March 14
2:00am / 7.4
2:12pm/ 7.1
8:12am / 0.8
8:23pm/ 0.8
March 15
2:31am / 7.4
2:53pm/ 6.7
8:51am / 0.8
8:57pm/ 1.3
March 16
3:03am / 7.2
3:35pm/ 6.2
9:31am / 0.9
9:30pm/ 1.9
March 17
3:35am / 7.0
4:22pm/ 5.9
10:13am / 1.0
10:06pm/ 2.4
S IUSLAW
N EWS
148 Maple St.
Florence
541-997-3441
B Y N ED H ICKSON
Siuslaw News
O
n Feb. 27, the leathery sound
of softballs and baseballs
landing in well-oiled mits
began at Siuslaw High School as play-
ers for both teams began winding up
for the upcoming spring season
around the diamonds.
The baseball team is returning a
strong group lead by the pitching com-
bination of senior Michael Larson and
Mapleton
sophomore
Gabe
Simington. At first base, senior
Brogan Cornish will be returning to
the stretch, along with junior third-
baseman Jared Brandt at the opposite
corner and senior Even Teter behind
the plate.
The Vikings were originally sched-
uled to open the season on the road at
Taft High School, but that matchup
was canceled last week.
Instead, Siuslaw will open the sea-
son at home against Sweet Home on
Friday, March 24, beginning at 5 p.m.
Tony Castro returns to the helm,
along with assistant coaches Dave
Snow and Randy Paredes.
The Vikings had a solid season last
spring, going 8-15 overall and 5-10 in
the Far West. Siuslaw is hoping to
improve on that this season and finish
deeper into the post season.
Around the softball diamond, things
will be getting started a little earlier
than baseball, with the Lady Viks on
the road this Monday, March 13, at
Newport.
Senior returning starting pitcher
Heidi Jones will join fellow senior
Nikki Launius in the battery, with
Launius behind the plate for Jones for
the fifth-straight season since the duo
began playing together in the seventh
grade.
Other top returners for Siuslaw will
include infielders Jenicah Ecker,
Chehalis
Stinger
and
Claire
Waggoner.
In the outfield, Auriel Hager-Tolle
and Kathryn Dodson will return to
shore up the Lady Viks’ defense.
Monday’s game begins at 4 p.m.
Siuslaw will play two more games
on the road, March 21 at Sutherlin (4
p.m.) and March 24 at Sweet Home
(4:30 p.m.), before returning for their
first home game Saturday, March 25,
in a doubleheader against Bandon.
First game is at 1 p.m., followed by
game two at 3 p.m.
Sean O’Mara returns as head coach,
along with assistant coaches Jamie
Hunt, Jodi O’Mara and Kim Gibson.
The Lady Viks were 4-11 in the
FWL last season.
Aquarium help raise awareness for endangered porpoise
NEWPORT — The Oregon
Coast Aquarium, in cooperation
with WhaleTimes Inc., is using
2017 to raise awareness about the
vaquita, the world’s most endan-
gered porpoise.
First discovered in the 1950s, the
vaquita has become an internation-
al symbol for species impacted by
“accidental bycatch.” The impact
on the vaquita has been devastat-
ing.
In mid-2016, it was estimated
that less than 60 individual animals
remained in the wild. By January
2017, that number had been revised
downward to 30. Vaquita research is
led by Mexico with collaborators from
the United States and United
Kingdom.
seafood in order to reduce the
global by-catch problem which is
estimated to kill tens of millions
of non-targeted species every
year.
“More and more fisheries in the
United States are turning toward
sustainable practices which great-
ly reduce accidental bycatch,”
said Marsh Myers, the aquarium’s
manager of education innovation.
“But so much of the seafood we
eat here still comes from other
places where safer, more environmen-
tally conscience methods are not prac-
ticed.
“The vaquita is just one species
impacted by accidental bycatch, but
there are hundreds more out there.”
Over the course of 2017, Team
“The vaquita is just
one species impacted
by accidental bycatch,
but there are hundreds
more out there.”
— Marsh Myers, OCA
Although the vaquita is not a
species found in the waters of the
Pacific Northwest, the member organ-
izations of “Team Vaquita” hope to use
its story to encourage teachers, stu-
dents and the public to think more
carefully about how we acquire our
Vaquita will be distributing free K-12
curriculum, classroom activities,
videos and other resources to help
young people learn about the issue of
sustainable fishing and enable them to
become more conscientious con-
sumers.
The team is also cooperating with
the Association of Zoos and
Aquariums’ (AZA) Saving Animals
from Extinction (SAFE) program
which has its own vaquita initiative.
“There are so few vaquita left, we
really don’t know what this species’
fate will be at this point,” said Ruth
Musgrave, Director of WhaleTimes
Inc. and the creator of Team Vaquita.
“However, the porpoise is a powerful
See
PORPOISE 3B