Polk County
Sports
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12
Baseball: Dallas at Cen-
tral, 4 p.m. East Linn Chris-
tian at Perrydale, 4:30 p.m.
Softball: Silverton at
Central, 4:30 p.m. Lebanon
at Dallas (DH), 3 p.m.
Track and field: Western
Oregon at Mt. Sac Relays, all
day.
THURSDAY, APRIL 13
Baseball: Perrydale at St.
Paul, 4:30 p.m.
Boys tennis: Central at
Lebanon, 4 p.m. Woodburn
at Dallas, 4 p.m.
Girls tennis: Lebanon at
Central, 4 p.m. Dallas at
Woodburn, 4 p.m.
Softball: Perrydale at St.
Paul, 4:30 p.m.
Track and field: Falls
City at North Marion JV In-
vite, 4 p.m. Western Oregon
at Mt. Sac Relays, all day.
FRIDAY, APRIL 14
Baseball: Western Ore-
gon at Montana State
Billings (DH), 2 p.m.
Softball: Central at
South Albany, 4:30 p.m.
Crescent Valley at Dallas,
4:30 p.m. Western Oregon
at Concordia (DH), 2 p.m.
Track and field: Central,
Dallas at Viking Relays, 3
p.m. Western Oregon at
Beach Invitational, TBA.
Western Oregon at Bryan
Clay Invitational, TBA.
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 12, 2017 11A
Adult recreation makes comeback in Dallas
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — When the City
of Dallas decided not to re-
hire a youth/adult recreation
coordinator, it left the future
of the city’s adult recreation
program in doubt.
A group of adults who had
been involved in a number
of the Dallas leagues were
hanging out in early Febru-
ary when they discussed an
idea — although not seri-
ously, at first.
“We were joking around
about how we love playing
Adult rec
• Dallas, Oregon Recre-
ation Inc. aims to offer the
community a variety of
adult recreation leagues.
• Co-ed volleyball begins
Tuesday. Cost is $25 per
person or $200 per team.
• A co-ed softball league
will follow this summer.
• For more information or
to register: www.dallasor-
rec.com.
basketball or softball and
that we’d miss it,” Shaun
Bready said.
The more they talked, the
more they realized this was
no joking matter.
“People were telling us it’s
one of the things they
looked forward to doing
most,” Bready said. “It
brought people together,
promoted healthy living and
added to the small-town ca-
maraderie.”
A group, including Bready,
Jeff Hevener, Megan Beyer,
Jaime Hevener, Tyler Lalack,
and David Brautigam, decid-
ed to form Dallas, Oregon
Recreation Inc.
See REC, Page 12A
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer file
Dallas, Oregon Recreation Inc. plans to help put on an-
other Glow Run this fall.
GIRLS TENNIS
Springing into tennis
Peffley not letting lack of experience hold her back
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — When Dallas
girls tennis player Molly Pef-
fley decided to pick up a
racket her freshman year, she
didn’t have years of experi-
ence.
She wasn’t an avid fan of
the sport, hadn’t even played
casually.
“I didn’t know tennis was
even a thing until I got to
high school,” Peffley said.
That hasn’t stopped her,
now a senior, from establish-
ing herself as one of the
Dragons’ top players in a
spot to go out her way — by
having a blast.
“I would say to never be
afraid to try something new,”
she said. “And make sure you
work at it with everything
that you have.”
See PEFFLEY, Page 12A
SATURDAY, APRIL 15
Baseball: Western Ore-
gon at Montana State
Billings (DH), noon.
Softball: Concordia at
Western Oregon (DH),
noon.
Track and field: Perry-
dale at Rob Frank Invita-
tional, 10 a.m. Western Ore-
gon at Beach Invitational,
TBA.
MONDAY, APRIL 17
Baseball: Perrydale at
Western Mennonite, 4:30
p.m.
Boys golf: Central, Dallas
at Tukwilia (Woodburn), 10
a.m.
Girls golf: Central, Dallas
at Cross Creek, 11 a.m.
Softball: Simon Fraser at
Western Oregon (DH), 2
p.m.
TUESDAY, APRIL 18
Baseball: Crescent Valley
at Central, 4:30 p.m. Dallas
at South Albany, 4:30 p.m.
Western Oregon at Saint
Martin’s (DH), 1 p.m.
Boys tennis: Central at
Dallas, 4 p.m.
Girls tennis: Dallas at
Central, 4 p.m.
Softball: Central at Cres-
cent Valley, 4:30 p.m. Cor-
vallis at Dallas, 4:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19
Baseball: Crescent Valley
at Central, 4:30 p.m. Dallas
at South Albany, 4:30 p.m.
Softball: Lebanon at
Central, 4 p.m. Dallas at Sil-
verton, 4:30 p.m. Sheridan
at Perrydale, 4:30 p.m.
Track and field: Central
at Corvallis, 3:30 p.m. Dallas
at Lebanon, 3:45 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
Cross Creek
men’s club results
DALLAS — Cross
Creek’s men’s club results
for April 4:
Low gross/low net
Gross: 1, Rocky Kygar,
40; 2 (tie), Bill Karjala and
Ted Bennett, 41; 4, Greg
Fisher, 44.
Net: 1, Dave Day, 35; 2
(tie), Larry Hatcher and Ed
Johnson, 37; 4 (tie), Bob
Sprinkle, John Hopkins
and Ken Ross, 38; 7 (tie),
Bob Canning and Bob
Bennett, 39.
March 28
Low gross/low net
Gross: 1. Dave Day, 38; 2
(tie), Bob McCleery and
Larry Kuhns, 39.
Net: 1, Ray Stratton, 35;
2, Ed Johnson, 36; 3 (tie),
Rocky Kygar, Lee
Gamaney, Lee Taylor and
Jim Schroeder, 37.
STAT SHEET
29
The number of
strikeouts Dal-
las softball
pitcher Kae-
lynn Simmons threw dur-
ing three league games
last week.
www.polkio.com
Tennis results
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas senior Molly Peffley returns a hit against Crescent Valley on Monday afternoon.
• Dallas’ girls tennis team
defeated South Albany 7-1
on Thursday.
• Addie Gillette, Kinzi
Boer and Karlie Dalke
earned singles victories
against the Rebels.
• Lynn Gumpinger and
Julia Del Omo, Amanda
Schafer and Megan Ronco,
Kloe Totten and Makayli
Laizure, and Morgan Bate-
man and Payton Fast swept
the doubles.
• Dallas lost to Silverton
8-0 on April 4.
PREP BASEBALL
PREP SOFTBALL
Hard lessons start
to pay off for Pirates
Dallas makes
early statement
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
PERRYDALE — The 2016
season was a tough one for
Perrydale’s baseball team.
The Pirates went 2-17, but
coach Steve Mabry kept
preaching a simple message
— keep working and build-
ing for the future. That hard
work is beginning to pay off.
—
Senior Colton Moore has
seen all the ups and downs
of the baseball program. As a
four-year player, Moore has
seen how much fun — and
how frustrating — baseball
can be.
“Last year after a few
games, we didn’t think we
could win at all,” Moore said.
“This year, we believe in our-
selves a lot more. Seeing
how we do in practice and
that we can be proficient in
drills, we see that we can
have a pretty good year.”
The Pirates (1-2 overall)
rallied for a 5-4 win over
Country Christian on April 4
— the team’s first victory of
the season and a big mo-
ment, Mabry said.
Baseball
• Perrydale’s baseball
team went 2-17 in 2016.
The Pirates entered the
week 1-2 overall.
• The Pirates host East
Linn Christian Wednesday
(today) at 4:30 p.m. Perry-
dale plays at St. Paul on
Thursday and at Western
Mennonite on Monday.
• Perrydale entered the
week in a tie for fifth in the
Special District 2 stand-
ings.
• Three teams from the
league will advance to the
1A state playoffs later this
spring.
“It’s a win we needed for
those guys,” Mabry said.
“We’ve played in close
games, but haven’t been able
to finish. We finished that
game and it gives us a little
momentum because now,
we’re in league.”
Perrydale features a mix
of players like Moore, Daniel
Domes, Haylen Janesofsky
and Alex Hawes who bring a
wealth of experience. Mixed
in are less experienced play-
ers who are still finding their
way.
Instead of settling for an-
other season spent building
for future success, Moore
and the other upperclass-
men have taken it upon
themselves to speed up the
learning process.
“The older guys have
taken on the mantra that if
we’re going to win, we need
the younger guys,” Mabry
said. “They take a lot of own-
ership to correct even the lit-
tle things.”
That means pointing out
tips while playing catch
during warmups. The goal
is to engrain in every play-
er’s mind that baseball
might seem relaxing — but
every moment could be the
difference between a win or
a loss.
“You have to constantly
focus,” Moore said. “One lit-
tle break when the ball
bounces unexpectedly and
you’re not ready, that can be
the difference in the game.
You have to think about a lot
of different things at the
same time.”
See PIRATES, Page 12A
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Dal-
las softball coach Brandi
Jackson told her team be
ready to go to war.
“This is
a great
confer-
ence, and
on any
given day,
any one of
us could
beat each
other,”
Simmons
she said.
“It’s going to be a battle to
the top, honestly. Ultimate-
ly, who is going to come out
on top is who is going to be
the most consistent.”
The Dragons made an
early statement, defeating
Silverton 5-4 on April 4,
Central 2-1 on April 5 and
Corvallis 4-1 on Thursday.
Dallas (5-4 overall, 4-0
Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence) had to rally against
Silverton and Central, in-
cluding scoring two runs in
the top of the seventh to
defeat the Panthers.
“We wanted to stay ag-
gressive,” Kaelynn Sim-
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
mons said.
After Central took a 1-0
lead early, the Dragons shut
the Panthers down at the
plate.
“ The energy in the
dugout is important,” Jay-
den Wynia said. “We feed
off of that. That energy
was important that last in-
ning.”
The mental toughness to
rally is key, and on defense,
Dallas was able to keep op-
ponents off balance.
Simmons star ted at
pitcher all three games for
the Dragons. She threw 10
strikeouts against Central
and Corvallis and nine
against Silverton.
“That’s the one thing we
do very well,” Jackson said.
“We’re very consistent at it.
We take pride in our de-
fense.”
When opposing batters
did make contact, more
often than not, Dallas’ play-
ers were ready to make a
play.
“We have each other’s
backs,” Simmons said. “I
know my defense always
has my back. I have com-
plete trust in them.”
See DALLAS, Page 12A
www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports