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12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 6, 2015 Polk County Sports COLLEGE BASEBALL Western Oregon preps for tournament Wolves to face Northwest Nazarene, Montana State Billings on Thursday LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer Western Oregon’s Adam Bloom dives back toward first during the Wolves’ final game against Northwest Nazarene on Saturday afternoon. WOU won 7-6. Itemizer-Observer staff report MONMOUTH — The time for talk is over. Western Ore- gon’s baseball team enters the Great Northwest Athletic Conference baseball cham- pionships as the second seed. But the Wolves know they can’t take anything for grant- ed. WOU opens play against Northwest Nazarene Thurs- day at noon — a team it de- feated in three of four games last weekend. Western Oregon defeated the Crusaders 11-3, 1-0 on Friday before splitting a doubleheader on Saturday, falling 8-7 in 12 innings and winning 7-6. With three of the four contests decided by a single run, players and coaches know Northwest Nazarene presents a tough challenge. “NNU has a quality lineup and very good starting pitching,” Wolves coach Kellen Walker said. “They have a couple of guys who are coming out of the (bull) pen that give your hitters a tough look. It’s a balanced team that we know we will have to play well against to GNAC • Western Oregon faces Northwest Nazarene and Montana State Billings on Thursday at the Great Northwest Athletic Confer- ence baseball champi- onship. • The number of games Friday depends on each team’s record on Thursday. come away with a win.” The Wolves enter the tour- nament winners of five of their last seven games. Along with top-seeded Montana State Billings will play each other on Thursday. The number of games on Friday depends on how each team fares on Thursday. At the plate, Matt Taylor has led the Wolves, record- ing a team-high 69 hits, while batting .377. Pitcher Jesse Pratt, who is 7-1 in 12 appearances with a 2.62 ERA, will likely see signifi- cant action on the pitcher’s mound for Western Oregon. “(The tournament) needs to be important to us,” Walk- er said. “I think we are play- ing our best baseball right now and have been able to battle back from a tough start to our season. It’s im- portant that we play with the energy we did (against Northwest Nazarene).” In the end, the difference will be which team can keep its focus the best. “Your focus definitely has to be minimized to being locked in to every pitch,” Walker said. “If you look at a tournament situation from any other standpoint than the next pitch, you can get yourself in trouble. Teams that are able to play well for an entire nine innings will come away with wins.” Of note: On Monday, WOU had 10 players named to the all-GNAC team. Jesse Pratt received Pitcher of the Year honors, while Brady Miller was named Freshman of the Year. Along with Pratt, Garret Harpole, Matt Taylor, Shawn Domke and Nathan Etheridge were part of the first team. Miller, Garrett Alvarez, Darien Moran and Cody Sul- livan received second team honors, while Marcus Hinkle received honorable mention. PREP TENNIS ROUNDUP Dallas boys tennis drops a pair of league matches Itemizer-Observer staff report DALLAS — Dallas’ boys tennis squad dropped a pair of league matches, falling to Corvallis 7-1 on April 29 and Crescent Valley 6-2 on Fri- day. The doubles pair of Cole Oace and Caedmon Blair went 2-0 during the matches for the Dragons. Dallas plays at Silverton Wednesday (today) before hosting Central Thursday at 4 p.m. CENTR AL BOYS DROP THREE: Central’s boys tennis team lost a trio of league matches. The Panthers fell to Lebanon 4-4, dropping the tiebreaker 10 sets to 8 on April 29, Silverton 6-2 on Friday and Corvallis 8-0 on Monday. The doubles pair of Edoardo Sanna and Kevin Cable went 2-1 to help lead the Panthers. Central hosts Woodburn Wednesday (today) at 4 p.m. before play- ing at Dallas Thursday at 4 p.m. DALLAS GIRLS LOSE TWO: Dallas’ girls tennis team strug- gled against Crescent Valley and Corvallis, falling 8-0 to the Raiders on April 28 and 7-1 to the Spartans on April 29. The Dragons host Silverton Wednesday (today) at 4 p.m. in their final home match of the season before playing at Cen- tral Thursday at 4 p.m. CENTRAL GIRLS FALL: The Central girls team lost a pair of league matches, falling to Sil- verton 6-2 on Friday and Cor- vallis 8-0 on Monday. The Silver Foxes and Panthers also com- pleted an earlier match that was postponed due to weath- er. Central lost 7-1. The doubles pairs of Patience Teague and Karlee Hernandez, and Andrea Garibay and Lauran Martinez earned wins for the Panthers in the second match. Central plays at Woodburn Wednesday (today) before hosting Dallas Thursday at 4 p.m. Dragons: Dallas hopes WOU falls short in tourney to clinch second seed WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP Itemizer-Observer staff report YAKIMA, Wash. — West- ern Oregon’s bid for a repeat title fell short at the Great Northwest Athletic Confer- ence softball championships last week. The Wolves, who entered t h e f o u r- team tour- nament as the No. 4 seed, lost to top- ranked Saint Mar- tin’s 8-5 on Thursday Evola and to Western Washington 8-3 on Friday. Senior Amanda Evola had three hits against the Saints to lead WOU, which fell be- hind 3-0 in the first inning. Against the Vikings, the Wolves jumped out to a 3-0 lead headed into the bot- tom of the third inning, but We s t e r n Wa s h i n g t o n scored the final eight runs of the game to eliminate Western Oregon. The Wolves finished 21-28 overall. TRACK PREPS FOR GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: Western Oregon’s track and field team had several strong performanc- es in the team’s final meets be- fore the GNAC championships. Junior Sam Moore set a per- sonal record in the heptathlon, scoring 4,048 points, while fin- ishing eighth at the GNAC Itemizer-Observer Athlete of the Week Kyler Fleming Central High Fleming, a senior, played a major role in Central’s baseball team’s sweep of South Albany. Fleming hit a double in the series’ first game. But his greatest im- pact came in the series finale, when Fleming stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. Fleming’s grand slam helped propel the Panthers to the big victory, helping Central keep pace in the competitive Mid- Willamette Conference. Erin Taylor Dallas High Taylor, a senior, was part of a punish- ing one-two punch in the pitcher’s circle against Woodburn on Friday. Along with Keisha Sickles, Taylor helped the Dragons shut out the Bulldogs 17-0, throwing a combined perfect game along the way. The pair had a com- bined seven strikeouts in five innings of work. Taylor and Sickles were also effective at the plate. Each recorded a dou- ble during the big victory. To submit nominations for the Itemizer-Observer Athlete of the Week, contact Sports Editor Lukas Eggen at 503-623-2373 or leggen@polkio.com by 9 a.m. on Monday. multi-event championships at Saint Martin’s on April 27 and 28. Freshman Cody Warner fin- ished second in the men’s 100- meter run at the Oregon State University High Performance Meet on Friday. Warner crossed the finish line in a time of 10.68 seconds. Junior Justin Larson placed third in the javelin with a throw of 200 feet, 4¼ inches in Corvallis. In the team’s final meet of the week, WOU set 14 personal records at the Mount Hood Track and Field Festival on Saturday. Among them in- cluded senior Laura Knudson, who won the women’s 400 hur- dles in 1:05.16. Western Oregon will host the GNAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday and Saturday. Events begin at 2 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday. Continued from Page 10A “I anticipated parity to be better with Central coming in,” Dragons coach Al Perkins said. “West Albany had typically dominated, and everyone else was play- ing for second. This year, first place is up for grabs. I didn’t anticipate this many schools would be so close together.” Silverton (11-2 MWC), Central (11-3 MWC), Lebanon (11-4 MWC) and Dallas (10-5 MWC) entered the week with a chance at winning the regular season league title, or facing the possibility of finishing fourth or lower. El-Hato and Erin Taylor give the Dragons depth at pitcher, a key advantage, Perkins said. That depth showed up against Woodburn on Fri- day, where Taylor and pitch- er Keisha Sickles combined to throw a perfect game. Now, it’s a matter of put- ting all the pieces together. “We’ve had players take some time to settle in,” Perkins said. “At the start of the season, our power hit- ters were hitting well, but the end of our lineup was struggling a bit. Now, the end of the lineup is hitting well and our power hitters are going through a bit of a struggle. We haven’t played our best game yet.” The top two teams in the league gain an automatic berth into the OSAA’s 16- team bracket. The third through sixth seeds will compete in the play-in round. The third- and fourth-place teams will host, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams will play on the road against a Mid- western League opponent. But such a tight race doesn’t worry El-Hato. In fact, she’s excited to face the challenge. “I think the competition is best for us,” El-Hato said. “We do well under pressure. We just need to bring it all together, and we will suc- ceed in the playoffs.” Hedrick: Ready to prove himself Continued from Page 10A Hedrick, who led the Broncos to the Mountain West Conference title and a victory in the Fiesta Bowl during his senior season, hadn’t considered a career in the NFL until recently. “It’s always a dream for any kid to play in the NFL one day,” Hedrick said. “But then you see how dif- ficult it is to get there. I was glad to play college football at Boise and get that opportunity. Then, I had some success and I re- alized that I might be able to do this a little while longer. Halfway through my senior season, I real- ized I may have a shot.” Hedrick led the nation in completion percentage (71 percent) during his senior campaign, when he threw for 3,696 yards and aver- aged 306.3 total yards per game. If he passes his tryout, he could have the chance to learn from Peyton Manning. “It’s a good spot,” Hedrick said. “You could learn from one of the best to ever play the game in Peyton Man- BOISE STATE MEDIA RELATIONS/ for the Itemizer-Observer Grant Hedrick (right) helped lead Boise State to a Mountain West Conference title. ning. John Elway is the (general manager) there. It’s a great opportunity to com- pete. For me, that’s all I wanted was a shot to go compete somewhere.” Whether Hedrick’s tryout leads to a stint with the Broncos remains to be seen. But for Hedrick, just getting the chance to do what he loves makes the whole ex- perience worth it. “I’m glad to do this a lit- tle while longer,” Hedrick said. “Who knows, it might last a week or two years. I just want to do this as long as I can and then, eventu- ally I’ll grow up and get a real job.”