Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 1, 2016 10A
PREP SOFTBALL
QUICK HITS
BDST competes
in Corvallis meet
Dragons fall in state quarterfinals
CORVALLIS — The Blue
Dolphins Swim Team com-
peted in a trophy meet in
Corvallis on May 25.
Kaitlyn Landis won the
mixed 50-meter butterfly
(10 and younger) in 48.76
seconds. Gentry Hagedorn
won the 50 backstroke (10
and younger) in 48.28 sec-
onds, while Savannah King
won the 50 backstroke (11-
12) in 44.76.
King also won the 50
freestyle in 37.60.
Kadence King took sec-
ond in the 50 freestyle (10
and younger) with a time
of 42.41 and Taylor Hage-
dorn placed second in the
100 individual medley in
1:34.12.
The Blue Dolphins Swim
Team is a nonprofit, com-
petitive swim program
based in Dallas.
For more information:
Mark Maxwell, familymax-
ell4@yahoo.com.
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Podratz earns
recognition
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon baseball player
Trevor Podratz received an
All-America honorable
mention from the National
Collegiate Baseball Writers
Association on May 25.
P o -
dratz, a
s e n i o r,
trans-
ferred to
W O U
prior to
t h e
2 0 1 6
season.
Podratz
He led
the Wolves in batting aver-
age, .391, hits (70) and runs
batted in (44).
Podratz also had a 22-
game hit streak during the
season that saw the Wolves
advance to the Great
Northwest Athletic Confer-
ence tournament champi-
onship game before falling
to Northwest Nazarene.
Podratz is the third WOU
player to earn All-American
honorable mention, join-
ing Blake Miller in 2013
and Mike McRae in 2005.
WOU volleyball
adds four
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon’s volleyball team
announced the signing of
four student-athletes on
May 24.
WOU will add Makanna
Behrens (Kennewick,
Wash.), Jenna Compton
(Phelan, Calif.), Morgan
Haskett (Roseburg) and
Katherine Huntington (Su-
perior, Colo.).
All four are expected to
enroll in the fall and be eli-
gible for competition upon
arriving at campus.
Western Oregon fin-
ished 8-21 overall and 5-15
in conference play in 2015.
Tommy Gott was an-
nounced as new head
coach earlier this year.
STAT SHEET
70
The number of
hits Western
Oregon base-
ball player
Trevor Podratz recorded
during the 2016 season.
Podratz ranked first in the
Great Northwest Athletic
Conference in batting aver-
age (.391) and was second
in hits and RBIs.
www.polkio.com
Dallas freshman Kaelynn Simmons gets ready to throw a
runner out at first base against Sandy on May 25.
EUGENE — Dallas’ soft-
ball team’s run in the state
playoffs ended in the quar-
terfinals round on Friday.
The No. 6 Dragons fell to
third-seeded Churchill 6-0 in
Eugene, ending Dallas’ sea-
son.
“Friday’s game was a
tough loss,” senior Yasmine
El-Hato said. “We could
have won that game if we
had brought all our bats and
had minimized our errors. I
feel like if we had the chance
to play them again, we could
beat them, no question in
my mind. However, things
like that happen and we just
have to accept it and move
on.”
The Dragons opened the
playoffs with a 9-1 win over
Sandy on May 25 in the first
round.
Sandy scored the first run
of the game in the top of the
first, but
Dallas re-
sponded
with nine
u n a n -
swered.
“We had
an error in
the first,
Nelson
and I think
at the beginning of the sea-
son, we would have let that
get to us and not stop the
bleeding,” Dallas coach
Brandi Jackson said. “We got
in there and shut them
down and answered that
same inning.”
Olivia Nelson recorded a
triple in the first inning,
Emily May stole third before
scoring on an errant throw
in the fourth, and the Drag-
ons added five runs in the
bottom of the sixth to get
some more space.
“It was so much fun,” Ash-
lee Lichtenberger said.
“Everyone hit the crap out of
the ball.”
The fun
w o u l d n’t
last, though,
as Dallas
finished the
season 19-9
overall and
17-7 in Mid-
Willamette
El-Hato
Conference
play.
“Overall,
we had a
great sea-
s o n ,” E l -
Hato said.
“I would
not have
wanted to
end my
Linn
season with
any other team because they
made my senior season
memorable.”
Dallas will lose several key
seniors to graduation, in-
cluding El-Hato, outfielder
Makena Linn and catcher
Ciara Greisen.
See DRAGONS, Page 11A
Adult rec grows up
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — When the city
of Dallas brought adult
recreation programs back in
2013, the goal was simple —
give people a way to stay ac-
tive.
“The original goal was to
get adult recreation going,”
David Brautigam said. “We
wanted to establish it,
make sure it ran well and
was successful. The way to
do that was through main-
stream sports.”
Basketball, volleyball and
softball leagues soon
popped up and have grown
each year. The basketball
league has doubled in size
from eight teams to 16,
Brautigam said.
Now the goal is shifting
from establishing adult
re c re a t i o n t o o f f e r i n g
something for people of all
fitness levels.
Things like pickleball,
played during the summer,
gives older adults an option
for getting involved. Now,
the city is ready to cast a
wide net, Brautigam said.
The city started offering
pingpong, played every
Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday from 7 to 8 a.m. and
noon to 1 p.m. at the Civic
Center, and a walking club
that meets at Roger Jordan
Community Park (days
vary).
T h e Tr i a t h l o n F i e l d
Games, consisting of bocce
ball, corn hole and disc golf
will be held for the first time
Saturday at 11 a.m. (registra-
t i o n d u e We d n e s d a y
(today)).
“We’re really trying to get
people 25 to 70 years old in-
volved in a variety of sports,”
Brautigam said.
See REC, Page 11A
Upcoming sports
• Registration for coed softball (due June 17) and men’s soft-
ball (due July 1) is now open.
• Pingpong is offered every Monday, Thursday and Friday
from 7 to 8 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m. at the Civic Center.
• Signups for Mighty Mites is due Friday.
• For more information: www..ci.dallas.or.us/756/Adult-
Recreation or David Brautigam, david.brautigam@dallasor.gov.
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer file
Pickleball is one of the activities the city of Dallas helped start that is aimed at attract-
ing adults of all ages to get more active.
One down,
Western duo places at three to go ...
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD
national championships
Itemizer-Observer staff report
BRADENTON, Fla. —
Western Oregon sopho-
more David Ribich and sen-
ior Sam Naffziger earned
All-American honors Satur-
day at the NCAA Division II
Outdoor Track and Field
Championships.
Ribich finished fifth in
the men’s 1,500-meter run
with a time of 3 minutes,
50.76 seconds.
“I was trying to position
myself
close to
the front,
but same
as
in-
doors, all
those top
guys hit
an extra
Ribich
gear and
started to pull away early,”
Ribich said. “I’m looking for-
ward to the next two years to
try and chop it down to a
higher place finish.”
Naffziger finished eighth
in the same race in 3:52.37,
earning the race’s final All-
American spot.
“It was all just really sur-
real,” Naffziger said. “It kind
of hit me (on Saturday
morning) that I would be
done after today. The goal
was All-American and get-
ting eighth place is still All-
American.”
See WOU, Page 11A
L UKAS
E GGEN
Commentary
It was a moment 26 years
in the making. The crowd
could barely contain its an-
ticipation. A single putt
stood between me and
glory.
I took a deep breath,
channeled my inner Rory
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
McIlroy and unleashed a
putt that could change the
world. Between me and the
hole stood what seemed like
a canyon sized space. As the
ball made its way toward
the hole, time seemed to
slow.
Would this be the mo-
ment all my dreams came
true?
Then came the most
amazing sound for every
golfer — the ball rattling as
it settles on the bottom of
the cup.
See RESOLUTIONS, Page 11A
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