Polk County
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Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 18, 2015 10A
2014-15 ITEMIZER-OBSERVER ALL-REGION GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18
Baseball: Cascade at
Central, 3:30 p.m.
Softball: McKay at Cen-
tral, 4:30 p.m.
Always Driven
THURSDAY, MARCH 19
Baseball: Central at
Philomath, 4:30 p.m. Crow
at Perrydale, 4:30 p.m.
Softball: Philomath at
Central, 4:30 p.m. Crow at
Perrydale, 4:30 p.m.
Boys Tennis: Dallas at
North Marion, 4 p.m. Cen-
tral at Philomath, 4 p.m.
Girls Tennis: North Mar-
ion at Dallas, 4 p.m. Philo-
math at Central, 4 p.m.
Track and Field: Perry-
dale at McMinnville, 2 p.m.
Lebanon, West Salem,
Willamette at Dallas Ice
Breaker, 3:30 p.m.
Nash takes game to new heights
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Central junior Kylie Nash is
always up for a challenge.
During the 2014-15 campaign, Nash helped the
Panthers succeed in a new
league and showed just
how valuable she is.
• See the 2014-15 Item-
Nash led Central, aver-
izer-Observer
All-Region
aging 16 points per
team on page 11A. Look for
game, a team high, and
the All-Region boys basket-
shoting 52 percent from
ball team in the March 25
the field.
issue.
Nash’s impact, both in
her scoring, and beyond, is what made her the Item-
izer-Observer’s 2014-15 Player of the Year for high
school girls basketball.
Nash’s love of basketball began early. For nearly as
long as she can recall, the basketball court has been
her proving ground, a place where age and gender
didn’t matter.
Inside
FRIDAY, MARCH 20
Softball: Central at
Madison, 4 p.m.
SATURDAY, MARCH 21
Baseball: Dallas vs. Rex
Putnam at Tigard Tourna-
ment, 12:15 p.m.
Track and Field: West-
ern Oregon at Portland
State Invitational, Mt.
Hood Community College,
Gresham, 10 a.m.
SUNDAY, MARCH 22
Baseball: Dallas vs.
Hillsboro at Tigard Tourna-
ment, 1:15 p.m.
Softball: Western Ore-
gon at Central Washington
(DH), noon.
See DRIVEN, Page 11A
By The Numbers
MONDAY, MARCH 23
B a s e b a l l : Po r t l a n d
Lutheran at Perrydale (DH),
noon. Dallas at Tigard, 4:45
p.m.
Softball: Medford
Spring Break Classic: Dallas
vs. Marist, noon. Dallas vs.
Hood River Valley, 4 p.m.
TUESDAY, MARCH 24
Softball: Medford
Spring Break Classic: Dallas
vs. La Salle, 11 a.m. Dallas
vs. Liberty, 3 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25
Softball: Western Ore-
gon at San Francisco State
(DH), 1 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
CHS Hall of Fame
tickets available
INDEPENDENCE — Tick-
ets are on sale for Central
High’s Hall of Fame Dessert
on April 25.
Cost is $5 per person. A
walk through of the school
will take place at 5 p.m.
with the dessert evening
beginning at 6 p.m. in the
CHS Auditorium.
The 2015 Hall of Fame
class includes the 1967
state champion football
team, 1968 state champion
track and field team and
1975 state champion boys
basketball team.
Individuals being in-
ducted include boys bas-
ketball coach Glen Clark
(1974-87), football, basket-
ball and baseball player
Dick Wiese (Class of 1961),
football, basketball and
track athlete Steve
McArthur (1969) and vol-
leyball, basketball and ten-
nis athlete Lea Allan
(1979).
STAT SHEET
The number of
NCAA Division II In-
door Track and
Field All-Americans
earned by Western Ore-
gon. Junior Badane
Sultessa became the third
when he placed fourth in
the 800-meter run final.
3
16
52
48
The number of
points per game
Nash averaged
during the 2014-
15 season, a team
high.
Nash’s field goal
percentage last
season, including
shooting 38 per-
cent from the 3-
point line.
The number of
total points per
game Central
scored. Nash was
responsible for a
third of the total.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Pratt’s patience paying off big
Senior sees expanding role in starting rotation for Wolves
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
Up Next
MONMOUTH — From
the moment he transferred
to Western Oregon, senior
pitcher Jesse Pratt has had
one thing in mind.
“I just wanted to be out
there playing baseball and
giving it the best that I got,”
Pratt said. “Hopefully, it’s
good enough to help us win.”
After earning a complete
game victory against Mon-
tana State Billings on Fri-
day, it’s clear that now
more than ever, Pratt’s abil-
ity to help the Wolves’
baseball team is greater
than it’s ever been.
Pratt’s collegiate athletic
career appeared headed in a
different direction in 2010.
Pratt, a 2010 Central High
graduate, played basketball
and baseball at Chemeketa
Community College. After
tearing his left ACL during
the 2011-12 basketball sea-
son, Pratt’s athletic future
was put on hold.
“I was definitely a little
fearful when I first got back
into things,” Pratt said. “It
felt a little weaker than it
used to be, but I just kept
working on it.”
Pratt recovered from the
injury, and earned a spot on
WOU’s roster after calling
Western Oregon for a chance
to throw in front of them.
• Western Oregon hits
the road to face Northwest
Nazarene for a pair of dou-
bleheaders on Friday and
Saturday.
• The Wolves are 9-2 in
Great Northwest Athletic
Conference play and 13-14
overall.
• The Crusaders are in
second place in the confer-
ence at 4-4 in GNAC play.
www.polkio.com/ns/sports
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
WOU senior Jesse Pratt delivers a pitch Friday against
Montana State Billings. Pratt threw a complete game,
giving up two hits and no earned runs.
Pratt made a combined 34
appearances during his
sophomore and junior sea-
sons with the Wolves with
one start.
His role is far different
during his senior campaign.
After two seasons of being a
relief pitcher, Pratt is be-
coming the team’s ace.
Pratt, who was named the
conference’s Pitcher of the
Week on Monday, has seven
appearances with six starts
entering the week. He leads
the Wolves’ starters with a
2.61 ERA. He also has a
team-high 38 strikeouts and
has given up the fewest hits,
31, among WOU’s starting
rotation, despite pitching
the most innings.
“He’s always had good
stuff,” Wolves coach Kellen
Walker said. “He’s always
been a competitive kid. I
think he’s matured this year.
He stops himself when things
aren’t going perfectly and he’s
now able to reset and not let
it snowball on him.”
Pratt has also worked on
making more of his pitches
harder to hit.
“I’ve been working on my
changeup and keeping my
slider in the strike zone more
consistently,” Pratt said.
Pratt’s emergence this
season has helped WOU to a
9-2 start in Great Northwest
Athletic Conference play, in-
cluding winning three of
four against preseason fa-
vorite Central Washington.
Western Oregon swept
Montana State Billings on
Friday and Saturday. WOU
won a doubleheader 7-6 (11
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innings), 8-1 on Friday and
14-5 on Saturday.
Junior
outfielder
Cody Sulli-
van hit a
walk-off
double in
the first
game of
the series,
while Pratt
Harpole
threw the
second game on Friday, giv-
ing up two hits and no
earned runs. Garrett Har-
pole finished the series with
five hits and three RBIs.
The final game of the se-
ries was postponed until
April 17, when WOU visits
the Yellowjackets.
“This has been a huge
confidence booster,” Pratt
said. “We had a little rough
patch during nonconfer-
ence, but we’ve definitely
started off strongly in
GNAC.”
After playing a difficult
nonconference schedule
that saw WOU go 4-12,
Walker said the important
thing was to not panic and
continue to improve.
“The key for us is concen-
trating on what we’re doing
on a daily basis,” Walker said.
“It’s not necessarily who
we’re playing that is making a
difference, it’s the commit-
ment we’ve had to our plan.
See PRATT, Page 12A
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