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.”