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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2016)
Polk County Sports 12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 13, 2016 PERRYDALE ROUNDUP DALLAS BASEBALL Shamblin, Clark lead track and field Weaver grows into expanded role on Dallas’ pitching staff Itemizer-Observer staff report ALOHA — Perrydale sen- ior Logan Shamblin won the boys 3,000-meter run in 10 minutes, 23.97 seconds at the Life Invitational on Thursday. Senior Kirk Fairchild won the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 6 inches and took sec- ond in the triple jump. Tiffany Clark won the girls triple jump with a leap of 24- 5 ¾. Perrydale also competed at the Banks Invitational. Jacob Pope took third in the boys javelin (133-9), while Sarah Clark took fourth in the shot put (29-2) and javelin (104-8). Perrydale will compete at Willamina on Thursday and the PacWest/Tri-River meet on Tuesday. BASEBALL FALLS TO 0-6: Perr ydale’s baseball team dropped a trio of league games. The Pirates fell to Regis 12-0 on April 5, St. Paul 14-3 on April 6 and Kennedy 9-3 on Monday. Perrydale (0-6 overall) plays at Western Mennonite Wednesday (today) before hosting Santiam Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Home, sweet home LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer Western Oregon junior Sammi Cadwallader throws a pitch against Western Washing- ton on Saturday afternoon. WOU split a doubleheader, falling 7-4 in the opener be- fore winning 5-4. The Wolves also split a doubleheader against Simon Fraser on Sunday, losing 5-4 before earning a 6-4 win in the second game. Western Oregon took two from Montana State Billings on Monday, winning 9-6 and 7-3. WOU played MSUB for a second doubleheader Tuesday after press time. Western Oregon plays at Northwest Nazarene on Friday and Saturday before hosting Northwest Christian on Tuesday. By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — For Dallas senior Tucker Weaver, there’s no time quite like the start of baseball season. “It’s what I wait for seven months out of the year,” Weaver said. “February comes and it’s time to get ready for tryouts. Then, we have a couple of weeks of practice and get to the sea- son, then league play. After that there’s summer ball and when that wraps up, you watch the end of the MLB season. It’s the most won- derful time of the year.” This year, Weaver has stepped into the Dragons’ No. 1 starter role on the team’s pitching staff. “I put it on myself to pick up the slack and take that role,” Weaver said. He has certainly picked up the mantle well. Despite falling to Wood- burn 1-0 on April 5, Weaver was impressive, throwing 12 strikeouts, while allowing only two hits and no earned runs. He threw 14 strikeouts during a 5-1 win over Lebanon on March 29. “I learned to keep my pitch count down and be as efficient as possible,” Weaver said. “... The big thing is lo- cation. When you hit your spots, even if they’re swing- ing, they’re going to hit at somebody if you’re doing it the right way.” Dallas, which beat Wood- burn 1-0 on April 6 and 5-2 LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Dallas senior pitcher Tucker Weaver has become the Dragons’ No. 1 starter in the team’s rotation. on Friday, entered the week with a 5-1 start in Mid- Willamette Conference play, tied for first place with Cres- cent Valley. The Dragons opened a three-game series with the Raiders Tuesday after press time — a critical test in league play. “We’re trying to stick with swinging the sticks and doing the little things right,” Weaver said. “We can com- pete with anybody and get a chance to beat anybody when we do that. It’s about getting those things down.” As Dallas looks to gain sole possession of first place in the MWC, Weaver said the Dragons have shown a lot of improve- ment since the start of the season but they’re not even close to reaching their potential. “We’ve come out with a bit more energy in the club- house,” Weaver said. “It’s good to have a devoted group like this. We have a lot of guys who aren’t afraid to get after it and pick each other up. We’re building and that’s what’s going to help us progress in the next few weeks.” DALLAS ROUNDUP Girls tennis falls to South Albany on tiebreaker Itemizer-Observer staff report DALLAS — Dallas’ girls tennis squad lost a pair of conference matchups last week. The Dragons opened the week losing to South Albany 4-4, falling on a tiebreaker (9-8 sets won) on April 5. The doubles pairs swept the Rebels as Addie Gillette and Lynn Gumpinger, Megan Ronco and Allison Hirshi, Makayli Laizure and Kloe Totten, and Amanda Shafer and Kinzi Boer all picked up wins. The Dragons lost to Corvallis 8-0 on Thursday. Dallas played Crescent Valley Tuesday after press time. The Dragons host Lebanon on Thursday and Silverton on Monday at 4 p.m. before playing at Woodburn on April 20. SOFTBALL’S WIN STREAK SNAPPED: Dallas’ softball team saw its nine-game win streak snapped after a 5-0 loss to Lebanon on Friday. The Dragons opened the week with a 4-1 win over Corvallis on April 5 and a 26-0 triumph over Crescent Valley on April 6. “The game against Corvallis was very intense,” coach Brandi Jackson said. “Our girls played awe- some defense to keep them off the scoreboard. There were a couple of calls that didn’t go our way, and it was nice to see our girls fight through that situation.” Kaelynn Simmons hit three doubles and two RBIs against the Spartans. Dallas played at Silverton Tuesday after press time. The Dragons travel to Central Friday at 4 p.m. and to South Albany on Tuesday before hosting Corvallis on April 20. BOYS TENNIS SPLITS MATCHES: Dallas’ boys tennis squad defeated South Albany 8-0 on April LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Addie Gillette and Megan Ronco await a serve against Corvallis on Thursday. 5 before falling to Corvallis 6-2 on Thursday. Thomas Gniadecki, Caedmon Blair, Cole Oace and Luis Zavala swept the singles points against South Albany,. The doubles pairs of Joe Gillette and Josh Dudley, Randy Mullins and Ryan Bibler, Honario Colipano and Evan Koons, and Travis Wilson and Michael Friesen also picked up wins. Gniadecki picked up the Dragons’ lone singles point against the Spartans. Wilson and Friesen earned Dallas’ lone doubles point. “We’re definitely maintaining consistent im- provement,” coach Caleb Gillette said. “The loss to Corvallis was disappointing because it’s a loss. Nevertheless, we competed very well with the best team in our district.” Dallas plays at Lebanon on Thursday and at Silverton on Monday before hosting Woodburn on April 20. TRACK AND FIELD FALLS TO CENTRAL: Dal- las’ boys and girls track and field teams fell to Cen- tral in a league dual meet on April 6. Cody Webb won the boys 110-meter hur- dles in 16.70 seconds, while Jacob Deming took first in the 300 hurdles (41.78 seconds). Harrison Broadus took first in the javelin with a throw of 157 feet, 4 ½ inches; Jacob Collins won the pole vault with a mark of 10-6; Tim Hensley took first in the long jump (16-8) and White Aaron White won the triple jump (41-7) to lead the boys. Sarah Connolly finished first in the girls 200 (32.77 seconds), Jennifer Webb won the 100 hur- dles in 17.23 seconds and Naomi Howe placed first in the 300 hurdles (50.06 seconds) to lead the girls on the track. Kyleen Benz won the shot put (33-7) and dis- cus (113-7), Isabell Topete took first in the javelin (105-0) and Courtney Heggstrom won the long jump (12-2) to lead the Dragons in the field events. Dallas will host Woodburn, Silverton and Crescent Valley Wednesday (today) at 3 p.m. BOYS GOLF TAKES FIFTH: Dallas’ boys golf team finished in a tie for fifth at the MWC tour- nament on Monday at Trysting Tree. Individual stats were not available. Dallas will compete at Mallard Creek in Lebanon on Monday. Miller: Sophomore building off strong freshman season LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Pitcher Brady Miller delivers a pitch against Concordia on Saturday afternoon. Continued from Page 10A As he bonded with team- mates, Miller learned to trust them to make plays ,leading to a more relaxed — and dangerous — pitcher. Aside from changing his mental approach, Miller mastered a pitch that wasn’t always a sure thing — the changeup. As a freshman, Miller could only go to the pitch when he was ahead in the count. Then came the ques- tion of whether it would drift away into the dirt. During the offseason, Miller worked with his coaches to make sure that the pitch became a weapon, not a liability. “I’ve been locating it bet- ter,” Miller said. “I’m a lot more confident with it and I can throw it in any count whether I’m up or behind.” In eight appearances, Miller is 7-0 with 52.2 in- nings of work. He leads the conference in wins, ERA (0.85), opposing batting av- erage (.148), hits allowed (27), and earned runs al- lowed (5). He also ranks sec- ond in the GNAC in strike- outs (57) and has yet to give up a home run. “I’m just pounding first pitch strikes, getting ahead of batters and forcing con- tact,” Miller said. “It helps keep my pitch count lower so I can go deeper into games.” WOU, which won the re- maining games in the series 5-4 on Saturday and 10-0 and 6-3 on Sunday, im- proved to 18-13 overall and 13-8 in GNAC play. The Wolves enter Wednesday’s (today’s) games against Saint Martin’s on an eight-game win streak. As a team, WOU has scored 150 runs – 62 of them have come in the last eight games. The team’s increase in run production has been a mix- ture of power and finding timely hits to drive in runs. Kyle Vanderkin and Jay Lev- erett hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the sixth in- ning against in the first game on Saturday. “We’re doing a good job swinging early in counts and it’s definitely been pay- ing off,” Miller said. The re- sult has been WOU shoot- ing up the conference standings. The Wolves entered the week in second place behind Northwest Nazarene. Miller’s evolution from fabulous freshman to super sophomore has gone smoothly so far. Now, Miller is no longer afraid of carrying too much of a burden. He just wants to help WOU find ways to win. “I like being the guy on the mound,” Miller said. “Not necessarily to get us the victory, but (I want to be the guy) to put us in a spot to continue to win games.”
