Polk County Sports
14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 27, 2016
PERRYDALE ROUNDUP
Pirates find silver lining during difficult season
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
PERRYDALE — For almost as
long as he’s been in school, Perry-
dale senior Keenan Bailey couldn’t
wait until high school to get his
shot to leave an athletic legacy for
the Pirates.
“A lot of us
have been here
since grade
school,” Bailey
said. “We want to
make a name for
Perr ydale. It
brings pride to
your community
and helps give
Bailey
back for what
they gave you.”
This baseball season, giving
back has meant enduring a season
unlike any other.
—
The Pirates have experienced
great athletic success. The football
team advanced to the 1A state
quarterfinals and the boys basket-
ball squad reached the first round
of the 1A state playoffs.
Baseball hasn’t gone so smooth-
ly. Perrydale entered the week 0-9
overall. The Pirates have lost all but
one game by 10 or more runs.
“Going from football and domi-
nating and basketball where we
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Perrydale senior Brant Barnes prepares to take a pitch during a prac-
tice on Thursday afternoon. Perrydale is 0-9 so far this season.
were also dominating to baseball
where we don’t dominate and
we’re just out here to play, that’s
huge,” Bailey said. “It takes a toll
on us mentally. You don’t want to
lose every game. That’s our mind-
set right now. It’s very different.
We’re not used to this at all.”
The Pirates have six seniors on
this year’s roster, but also four
sophomores and one freshman.
Six starters from a year ago had
to be replaced. Among those posi-
tions included catcher, shortstop,
third base, center field, second
base and pitcher.
“Everyone is doing what they
can,” senior Brant Barnes said.
PERRYDALE ROUNDUP
“We’re all trying hard. Everyone is
still kind of moving around and
finding our spots. We’re getting
there.”
Six starters have less than one
year of high school experience,
coach Steve Mabry said.
Players like Colten Moore (out-
field/first base), Mike McGill
(catcher), Dustin Silver (pitcher)
and others are showing steady im-
provement, Mabry said. But for
now, potential and on-field results
haven’t met yet.
“The biggest challenge we have
is trying to get young, inexperi-
enced players up to the speed of a
varsity game,” Mabry said. “They
are having to make decisions dur-
ing the game that they have only
seen in practice. You can’t simulate
the timing in practice. There are
aspects of the game that just have
to be learned while playing.”
In other sports, the Pirates had
league and state title aspirations.
During this baseball season,
those expectations are much more
modest – mainly to lay the ground-
work for future success.
The seniors have taken it upon
themselves to embrace that role
and, instead of getting down as
losses have piled on, they have
taken a renewed interest in helping
the future of Pirates’ baseball – giv-
ing tips and working with players
to help with technique and form
— giving the seniors something to
keep motivated at.
“We understood this was a
building year for us,” Bailey said.
“It’s going to make this program
grow a lot more. It gives you a good
feeling to help the younger guys
and help the next generation
grow.”
The seniors’ willingness to em-
brace this season — even when the
losses are mounting — has been
key to the team sticking together —
and finding the enjoyment in small
triumphs.
“It’s easy to be all smiles when
things are going your way,” Mabry
said. “The true challenge is not giv-
ing in to the negative aspects of
losing. The guys are having fun
learning as a team and taking each
day as a personal challenge to im-
prove.”
Despite still searching for its first
win, Bailey said the team’s made
significant progress since those
first practices. Slogging through a
winless spring has been a difficult
pill for players to swallow, but
players aren’t letting a lack of suc-
cess lead to a lack of desire.
“It’s baseball, you have to have
fun with it,” Barnes said. “Our
record is what it is. You can’t do
anything about it. We will just try
to do our best and try to win.”
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Clark takes second Ribich sets another school record
Itemizer-Observer staff report
PORTLAND — Perrydale’s
girls track and field squad
finished 17th at the Portland
Christian Invitational on Sat-
urday as the boys squad
placed 20th.
Senior Sarah Clark fin-
ished sec-
ond in the
girls javelin
(105-10).
Freshman
Alyssa Lux
placed sev-
enth in the
high jump
(4-2) and
Clark
sophomore
Vanessa Miller took eighth in
the 800-meter run in 2 min-
utes, 49.21 seconds.
Senior Kirk Fairchild took
fourth in the boys high jump
with a leap of 5 feet, 6 inches.
The Pirates will compete
at the Southwest Christian
Invitational at Sherwood
High School Wednesday
(today) at 4 p.m.
SOFTBALL FALLS TO CEN-
TRAL LINN: Perrydale’s softball
team fell to Central Linn 8-4 on
Friday. The Pirates (6-3 overall,
3-2 Special District 2) jumped
out to a 4-0
lead after
the first two
innings, but
Central Linn
scored eight
unanswered
runs to finish
the game.
Hannah Hal-
lock went
Hallock
two for three
with one RBI, while Haley Smith
had a hit and two RBIs. The Pi-
rates host Delphian Wednesday
(today) and Regis on Friday be-
fore playing at St. Paul on Mon-
day. All games are scheduled to
start at 4:30 p.m.
Itemizer-Observer staff report
AZUSA, Calif. — Compet-
ing in two states, Western
Oregon’s track and field
team saw strong perform-
ances from several athletes.
Sophomore David Ribich
set a new school record in
the men’s 1,500-meter run
at the Bryan Clay Invitation-
al in Azusa, Calif., on Satur-
day. Ribich finished with a
time of 3 minutes, 43.41
seconds, a personal best by
seven seconds and breaking
the old school mark of
3:44.27 set by West Tilgner
in 1987. The time is the sec-
ond fastest in the Division II
level so far this season.
Suzanne Van De Grift set
a personal record in the
women’s 800 at the Mt. Sac
Relays on Saturday. She
placed first in her heat at
2:11.76 — the fourth fastest
time in school history and
the fastest mark since 2011.
At the same meet, Cody
Warner finished the men’s
200 in 21.15 seconds — the
second fastest mark in pro-
gram history. The Wolves
also competed at the Pacific
Open in Forest Grove,
where Devonte Woods took
third in the 200 (22.83).
WOU will compete at the
Titan Twilight meet in Eu-
gene all day Thursday be-
fore traveling to the Oregon
State High Performance
meet on Friday and Satur-
day.
BASEBALL DROPS THREE
OF FOUR: Western Oregon’s
baseball team saw its 14-game
winning streak snapped at
Nor thwest Nazarene last
weekend. The Wolves lost
three of four to the Crusaders.
WOU fell 5-4 and 14-10 on Fri-
day before splitting a double-
header on Saturday, losing 9-6
and winning 9-8. Western Ore-
gon jumped out to a big lead
in the series finale, scoring
seven runs in the first inning,
thanks in part to a two-run
home run by Cody Poznanski.
The Crusaders chipped away
at the lead, tying the game at
8 before Forrest Garcia’s RBI
double scored the winning
run. The Wolves (25-16 overall,
20-11 Great Northwest Athlet-
ic Conference) entered the
week in first place in the con-
ference standings.
WOU is just ahead of North-
west Nazarene (24-16 overall,
19-11 GNAC). Western Oregon
hosts Montana State, Billings
Wednesday (today) at 2 p.m.
The teams also play a pair of
doubleheaders on Friday and
Saturday.
Games begin at 1 p.m. on
both days.
Celebrate
FALLS CITY TRACK AND FIELD
Varney leads Falls City
Itemizer-Observer staff report
PORTLAND — Falls City’s
girls track and field squad
placed ninth at the Portland
Christian Invitational on Sat-
urday.
The boys finished 22nd.
Senior Brittany Varney
led the girls, taking fifth in
the discus (85 feet, 8 inch-
es) and sixth in the shot put
(30-9 ½). She also took 10th
in the javelin (79-5).
S o p h o m o re M a d e l y n
Hendrickson placed
eighth in the long jump
(14-6 ¼).
Senior Ryan Macnab fin-
ished seventh in the boys
shot put
(37-3) to
lead the
boys. Jere-
my Labra-
do placed
eighth in
the high
jump (5-4)
Varney
and ninth
in the long jump (18-3 ½).
The Mountaineers will
compete at the Southwest
Christian Invitational at
Sher wood High School
Wednesday (today) at 4
p.m. Falls City travels to the
Waldport Small School
meet Friday at 4 p.m.
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas’ Joe Gillette and Josh Dudley take a moment to celebrate after winning a point. Dallas’ boys tennis team
defeated Central 7-1. Thomas Gniadecki, Caedmon Blair, Cole Oace and Luis Zavala swept the singles points.
Randy Mullins and Ryan Bibler, Travis Wilson and Michael Friesen, and Evan Koons and Honario Colipano won in
doubles play. The Dragons also beat Woodburn 5-3 on April 20 and Lebanon 6-2 on Thursday. The Dragons de-
feated South Albany 7-1 on Monday.
Smith: Junior looks to stay positive during matches
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central junior Kylie Smith looks to return a shot against
South Albany’s Lacey McLellan on April 20.
Continued from Page 12A
“At the beginning of every
set, it refreshes you,” Smith
said. “You don’t feel down
anymore and you see that
you have another shot.”
But old habits die hard,
and Smith dropped six
straight games.
“I realize it now that if I
were to take my time and
think through all the points
as individual points and not
worry about the score, I
think I would have done a
lot better,” she said.
Overcoming the mental
hurdles may be Smith’s
biggest challenge going for-
ward, but there’s little ques-
tion she’s come a long ways
since the first day she played
— a moment she never ex-
pected to happen.
—
By all accounts, Smith ap-
peared headed to a volley-
ball career during high
school — a sport she had
played and enjoyed through
Girls tennis
• Central lost to South Albany 4-4 on a tie breaker (9-8 sets
won) on April 20. Tamoka Naru and Mattie Barry earned sin-
gles victories. The pairs of Renee Bruning and Patience
Teague and Olivia Teague and Diana Huerte won in doubles
play.
• The Panthers fell to Corvallis 7-1 on Friday. Naru earned the
team’s lone victory during the match.
Central lost to Crescent Valley 8-0 on Monday afternoon.
middle school.
When it came time think
of her high school athletic
ventures, she made a sur-
prising choice.
“My first year ever picking
up a racket was my freshman
year,” Smith said, smiling. “I
had been playing volleyball,
but decided not to do that. I
tried figuring out what else I
could do. I thought tennis
looked fun. I thought, ‘I’ll be
a tennis player. A future Sere-
na Williams.’”
Smith made varsity her
freshman year — a big thrill
for a new tennis player. It
gave her confidence early
on, even when it may not
have been fully warranted.
“I went, like, seven games
undefeated and thought,
‘yeah, I’m great,’” Smith
said. “I wasn’t even that
good. I used to win a lot of
my games, but it wasn’t be-
cause of skill. It was like soft-
ly hitting it back.”
Things are different now.
“It’s more about consis-
tency, having harder hits
and using trick shots,” Smith
said. “It’s fun to see how
much I’ve progressed. ... The
years before, it was more
having fun and hitting it back
and forth. It wasn’t like me
trying my best to work on my
skills. The coaches expect
more from me (this year). It
makes me want to give
more.”
As the Panthers make their
way toward the Mid-
Willamette Conference dis-
trict tennis tournament in
mid-May, players’ attentions
turn from physical condi-
tioning to fine tuning. That
means perfecting new shots,
including a drop shot.
But it’s the mental chal-
lenges that may prove most
difficult to overcome. If she
can do that, Smith may be
ready to take on the league’s
best.
“Say there’s a field of
green and there’s three or
four dandelions,” Smith
said. “We’re working on the
little dandelions. I have to fix
those little things, working
on specific shots so I can get
better.”