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Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 15, 2016 10A
2016 ITEMIZER-OBSERVER ALL-REGION SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Youth football
signups open
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral Youth Sports will hold
football registration ses-
sions Wednesday (today)
and Thursday from 6:30 to
8 p.m. at Panther Stadium
at Central High School.
Oak Knoll to
host golf tourney
INDEPENDENCE — Oak
Knoll Golf Course, 6335
Highway 22, Independ-
ence, will hold the Jim
Va n d e r fe e n M e m o r i a l
Tournament June 25 at 11
a.m.
Cost is $240 per team
for the four-man scramble.
A portion of the proceeds
will be donated to Shriner’s
Hospital.
For more information:
503-378-0344.
Signups open for
tennis tourney
MONMOUTH/INDEPEN-
DENCE — Registration is
open for the 43rd annual
Monmouth-Independence
Fourth of July Tennis Tour-
nament July 2 and 3 at
Central High School and
Western Oregon Universi-
ty.
Brackets for singles and
doubles of all skill levels
are available. There will
also be a father/son and
mother/daughter bracket.
Forms are available on-
line at www.oregonten-
nis.com.
Cost is $15 for singles
and $25 for doubles.
For more information:
503-623-2998.
Registration is due by
June 29.
Avgi named
GNAC Athlete of
the Year
Throwing heat
El-Hato a triple threat for Dallas
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — There was a time when Dal-
las High graduate Yasmine El-Hato wasn’t
sure if she’d ever be good at softball.
Luckily for her — and for the Dragons —
that time quickly passed.
As the Dallas’ top starting pitcher, El-
Hato had a 2.4 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 93
1/3 innings of work. She also had a perfect
fielding percentage while playing at first
base, and a team-high 47 hits, six home
runs and 50 RBIs at the plate.
Her ability to affect the game in all as-
pects makes her the Itemizer-Observer’s
Softball Player of the Year, though she
wasn’t always the game-changing player
she is today.
—
El-Hato had a familiar start to her soft-
ball career, taking up the sport for the first
time as a young child.
Any dreams of being naturally gifted,
however, were soon dashed.
“I was put in the outfield because that’s
where the girls who weren’t as good at soft-
ball were put when we were younger,” El-
Hato said. “Honestly, I wasn’t the best play-
er. I was never hitting. Pitching, I had no
idea what I was doing. My parents had no
idea because they had never played.”
Around the age of 10, El-Hato had
enough.
“I thought I need to get out (of the out-
field),” El-Hato said with a smile.
She began taking lessons and, although
it was a struggle at first, she was deter-
mined to make it work.
“Softball has always stuck with me,” El-
Hato said. “I wanted to be a leader. Being a
pitcher helped me have more control and
help other people out.”
See DALLAS, Page 11A
6
57
The number of home runs Yas-
mine El-Hato hit during the
2016 season.
The number of strikeouts El-
Hato threw during her senior
season.
BASKETBALL
Alexander chases pro basketball dream
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — West-
ern Oregon senior Andy
Avgi was named the 2015-
16 Great Northwest Ath-
letic Conference Male Ath-
lete of the Year on Friday.
Avgi, a 6-foot-6, 260-
pound forward on WOU’s
men’s basketball team,
was named a preseason
and postseason All-Ameri-
can.
Avgi led the Wolves in
scoring, helping the team
reach the its first trip to the
Division II Final Four. Avgi
was second in the GNAC in
scoring (19.4 points per
game).
He also competed for
the football team in the
fall, catching 12 passes for
192 yards and four touch-
downs.
Avgi is the third athlete
in WOU history to earn the
award. Grady Wood (2011-
12, baseball) and Mike Hin-
shaw (2001-2002, football
and track and field) were
the others.
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer file
Editor’s note: This is the
first in a series of stories fol-
lowing former WOU players
Devon Alexander’s attempt to
play professional basketball
overseas. Look for more sto-
ries about the challenges he
faces and whether he reaches
his ultimate goal. An audio
version of this story can be
heard at www.polkio.com.
MONMOUTH — For per-
haps the first time in his col-
l e g i a t e c a r e e r, D e v o n
Alexander took a deep
breath and smiled.
Western Oregon’s men’s
basketball team had just fin-
ished a historic season, cul-
minating with a trip to the
NCAA Division II Final Four
— a perfect cap to his senior
season. It also meant for the
first time, there were no
more games to prepare for,
no offseason programs to
adhere to.
“As soon as we played that
last game in the Final Four, I
sat back, took everything in
and just relaxed,” Alexander
said. “It’s been a grind like no
other in my life. We put
everything into this season.”
It was, at long last, the end
of an era.
But the closing of one
chapter signals the start of a
new one — the most chal-
lenging in his athletic life.
Alexander isn’t ready to walk
away from the basketball
court.
And he’s willing to go any-
where in the world to see
that happen.
Two weeks after the end of
the men’s basketball season,
Alexander was back in the
gym. This time, there were
no teammates or coaches
pushing him.
“Everyone has that dream
of playing in the NBA,” he
said. “Then there’s more re-
alistic, true-to-you goals and
realizing what’s more possi-
ble.”
For Alexander, that means
playing overseas.
See DREAM, Page 11A
Signups open for
co-ed softball
Devon Alexander hopes to play professional basketball overseas this year.
DALLAS — Registration
is open for Dallas’ co-ed
softball league. Deadline is
June 17 and cost is $200
per team.
Games will be held Tues-
days and/or Thursdays at 6
or 7:15 p.m. beginning
Tuesday.
Forms are available on-
line at www.ci.dallas.or.-
us/756/Adult-Recreation.
For more information:
David Brautigam, 503-831-
3559.
Applegate, Diaz thrive as part of Blue Dolphins
www.polkio.com
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Gabe Apple-
gate loved the water, though
the thought of racing never
crossed his mind.
“I loved diving and doing
the doggie paddle,” he said.
But something about the
challenge of competitive
swimming
proved ir-
resistible.
“It loo-
ked like the
hardest
sport,” he
said.
Isabel
Applegate
Diaz joined
the Blue Dolphins after
watching her siblings, in-
cluding 2016 Dallas High
graduate Lucas Diaz, join
the program.
“Before I joined, I used to
like just splashing around,”
Diaz said.
Both swimmers soon dis-
covered just what competi-
tive swimming would be
like.
“ It w a s
hard for me
because I
didn’t know
how a swim
team oper-
ated,” Diaz
said.
Ne i t h e r
Diaz
were quite
sure what competitive
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
swimming would hold for
them, but both have found
they feel right at home.
The pair has become two
of the Blue Dolphins most
promising swimmers.
Diaz placed second in the
girls 400-yard individual
medley (13-14) in Albany on
June 5.
See BLUE, Page 11A
www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports
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