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.”