Polk County Sports
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 3, 2017
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Softball headed to conference tournament
Itemizer-Observer staff report
CORVALLIS — Needing
two victories to clinch a spot
in the Great Northwest Ath-
letic Conference softball
championship, Western Ore-
gon won three of four games
last weekend.
The Wolves split with
Saint Martin’s, winning 9-5
before losing 5-4 on Satur-
day, and sweeping Central
Washington 5-1 and 4-0 on
Sunday.
In game one against SMU,
Mercedes Green hit a three-
run home run in the second
inning to give WOU the early
lead. Destiny Kuehl added a
solo home run in the third
inning, and Green added a
three RBI double in the fifth
inning.
Against Central Washing-
ton, the Wildcats loaded the
bases in the first and third
innings, but pitcher Chan-
dler Bishop held them to
one run.
Hailee Watilo hit a home
run in the second game.
WOU enters the GNAC
championship in Lacey,
Wash., in fourth place. WOU
plays top-seeded Central
Washington Thursday at
2:30 p.m. The winner plays
the winner of Saint Mar-
tin’s/Western Washington.
The loser plays the loser of
that matchup in an elimina-
tion game. The champi-
onship game will be held on
Saturday.
BASEBALL WINS FOUR OF
SIX: Western Oregon’s baseball
team won four of six GNAC
games last week. The Wolves
defeated Saint Martin’s 5-3 and
5-1 on April 26, and Central
Washington 6-4 and 11-7 on
Friday. WOU lost to Central
Washington 13-11 and 8-6 on
Saturday.
In game one against Saint
Martin’s, Joey Crunkilton hit a
triple in the bottom of the
eighth inning.
Nyles Nygaard followed with
an RBI double, and Justin
Wakem hit a sacrifice fly to
break a 3-3 tie.
Pitcher Brady Miller threw a
complete game in the second
contest, throwing eight strike-
outs over seven innings of
work.
Wakem went five for seven
against Central Washington, in-
cluding a two RBI single in the
ninth inning of the first game
of the series, helping the
Wolves break a 3-3 tie.
WOU found itself trailing 7-4
in the seventh inning in game
two before the Wolves reeled
off seven unanswered runs to
end the game.
Western Oregon played
Saint Martin’s Tuesday after
press time. The Wolves are
scheduled to host Northwest
Nazarene for a pair of double-
headers Thursday at 1 p.m. and
Friday at noon in the team’s
final regular season games.
WOU (25-13 overall, 24-10
GNAC) entered the week in first
place. The top four teams in
the conference advance to the
GNAC Championships May 10-
12 in Portland.
AVGI SIGNS WITH
RAIDERS: Former Western Ore-
gon tight end signed with the
Oakland Raiders on Sunday.
Avgi, an undrafted rookie,
will compete in a rookie mini-
camp later this spring.
Wolves: Softball last played at home April 20, 2016
Continued from Page 11A
“It affects time spent in
the classroom,” Sargent
said. “It affects relation-
ships with professors. It
affects their evenings be-
cause they have to spend
time trying to get back on
track with school. I think
it’s kind of taking a toll
this year on our relation-
ship with our faculty. Our
faculty have been, for the
most part, really wonder-
ful in handling this and
helping our student-ath-
letes handle this, but this
is a crazy way to go about
it.”
Student-athletes already
must deal with missed class-
es. Adding in unexpected
absences just makes balanc-
ing school work and prac-
tice/game schedules even
more difficult.
There is extra time mak-
ing up missed assignments
or tests and having to work
with professors so that
missed classes have the
least amount of impact
possible on student-ath-
letes.
Shuffling the schedule
around has also taken a toll
on the field of play.
“We’ve had six games dur-
ing a week sometimes,”
Walker said. “That put some
strain on us physically. It
puts extra stress on the
pitching staff. We have to
move guys around a little
bit, but we are doing every-
thing we can to be success-
ful.”
Extra travel, late nights
getting caught up on school
work, and injuries have
made an already grueling
schedule even more diffi-
cult.
“They’re tired,” Sargent
said. “They’re exhausted
from traveling and having to
makeup school work. It’s
draining on them. That’s
hard to watch as a coach be-
cause there’s nothing you
can do to help that. You’re
helpless in that situation.
They’re working so hard at
everything but they don’t get
that return on their work
with a chance to compete at
home.”
A SIMPLE SOLUTION?
Given current facility con-
ditions, the baseball and
softball teams are complete-
ly at the mercy of weather
conditions, a fact coaches
aren’t particularly pleased
with.
“I hope (the weather) isn’t
something we just have to
deal with because it’s not the
best student-athlete experi-
ence,” Sargent said.
There is a possible solu-
tion — one that coaches say
would rid the programs of
many of the issues its facing:
Turf.
“I think that’s the ultimate
answer,” Walker said. “Being
in the northwest, you get
tough weather. This allows
you to get games.”
Installing turf — and
lights — would allow West-
ern Oregon to handle Ore-
gon’s weather.
“I believe it’s almost in-
evitable that most of the
programs will go to turf or
partial turf to make sure
students aren’t missing
classes because they have
to, all of a sudden, resched-
ule a game,” Sargent said.
“If we have lights for our
fields, we could practice at
night so students wouldn’t
have to miss any classes
and our players could stay
for a whole practice. We
could play games later in
the day so they don’t have
to miss classes while we’re
at home.”
Walker also said drainage
issues would need to be ad-
dressed as well.
While coaches agree turf
seems to be the future, there
is one hurdle to clear:
Money.
Coaches said there have
been discussions in the
past about installing turf.
Whether those discussions
lead to action is up in the
air.
The baseball team has
one final chance to play at
home — with scheduled
games against Northwest
Nazarene on Thursday and
Friday.
If those games happen as
planned, at long last, it will
be home sweet home for the
Wolves.
“Our players have done a
great job sticking with it,
dealing with all the time on
the road,” Walker said. “They
deserve a chance to play in
front of people on campus,
whether that be friends or
family.”
FALLS CITY TRACK AND FIELD
CENTRAL ROUNDUP
Kempfer leads Falls
City track and field
Baseball sweeps Woodburn
Itemizer-Observer staff report
TAFT — Falls City senior
Nathan Kempfer finished
first in the boys 1,500-meter
run on April 25 at the Tiger
Invitational to lead the boys
track and field team.
Kempfer finished with a
time of 4 minutes, 49.36 sec-
onds.
Junior Madelyn Hendrick-
son won the girls long jump
with a leap of 13 feet, 10 1/4
inches.
Amara Houghtaling took
second in the 100 in 14.62.
The Mountaineers will
compete at Dayton High
S c h o o l We d n e s d a y
(today) at 3:30 p.m. and at
Sheridan Thursday at 3:45
p.m.
PERRYDALE ROUNDUP
Lux leads track team
Itemizer-Observer staff report
PORTLAND — Perrydale’s
track and field team com-
peted at the Portland Chris-
tian Invitational on Satur-
day. Alyssa Lux took fourth
in the girls long jump with
a leap of 14 feet, 11 inches.
Jacob Pope led the boys
with an eighth-place finish
in the javelin (139-1 1/2).
The Pirates will compete
at Sheridan Thursday at
3:45 p.m.
BASEBALL DROPS TWO: Per-
rydale’s baseball team lost to
Kennedy 13-3 on Friday and West-
ern Mennonite 12-6 on Saturday.
“You have to be consistent
and we have been trying to get
to that point,” coach Steve Mabry
said. “Dan and David Domes
have led the offensive attack. J.J.
Avila has been picking up his
production. Dustin Silver pitched
four strong innings.”
Perrydale hosts East Linn
Christian Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
and Western Mennonite Friday
at 4:30 p.m. before playing at
Santiam Monday and returning
home to host St. Paul Tuesday
at 4:30 p.m.
Itemizer-Observer staff report
INDEPENDENCE —
Central’s baseball team
swept Woodburn, winning
11-0 on April 25 and 9-0 and
10-4 on Friday.
“We (used) a lot of young
pitchers last week and I
thought overall they com-
peted very well,” coach
Reed Rainey said. “Brendan
Lesmeister and Ruben
Cedillo were good, and Josh
Rodriguez pitched a com-
plete game shutout on Fri-
day. We played good de-
fense the entire week. Peter
Mendazona was terrific at
shortstop.”
Central also found suc-
cess at the plate. Jackson
Holstad hit two home runs,
and Mendazona had five
hits during the series.
The Panthers (11-7 over-
all, 8-7 Mid-Willamette
Conference) entered the
week in a tie for fourth in
the MWC.
Central played South Al-
bany Tuesday after press
time.
The Panthers play at
South Albany Wednesday
(today) before hosting the
Rebels Friday at 4:30 p.m.
“This week will be a very
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central pitcher Erin Cole throws against Silverton on Friday afternoon.
important week for a lot of
teams,” Rainey said. “We
need to have a good week to
keep pace with everyone
else, but I like how our
pitching is lined up this
week and we are swinging
the bats much better now.”
SOFTBALL DEFEATS COR-
VALLIS: Central’s softball team
defeated Corvallis 12-6 on
Monday.
The Panthers lost to Silver-
ton 7-5 on Friday.
Central entered the week
with an 11-7 record overall
and 7-5 mark in MWC play,
good for third place.
The Panthers hosted South
Albany Tuesday after press
time. Central hosts Crescent
Valley Wednesday (today) at
4:30 p.m. before hosting
Lebanon Friday at 6:15 p.m.
and Dallas Tuesday at 4:30
p.m. in the team’s final home
game of the regular season.
GIRLS TENNIS FALLS TO
CRESCENT VALLEY: Central’s
girls tennis team lost to Cres-
cent Valley 5-0 on Thursday.
Three singles matches (Julia
Hamar, Kylie Smith and Ana
Martinez) were not finished
due to rain.
Central hosts Silverton
Thursday at 4 p.m. in the
team’s final match of the regu-
lar season.
The boys tennis team lost to
CV 8-0 on Thursday and fell to
South Albany 8-0 and 7-1 on
Monday. The two teams fin-
ished a match that was post-
poned on April 23 due to
weather.
Chris Polanco earned the
team’s lone victory.
The boys tennis team plays
at Silverton Thursday at 4 p.m.
The MWC district champi-
onships begins May 10 at Tim-
berhill Tennis Club in Corval-
lis.
Track: Burgett hopes to crack 50 seconds in the 400
Continued from Page 11A
He finished 10th and,
though he also placed fifth
as part of the 4 x 400 relay,
state left a sour taste.
“I’m a year smarter and
more experienced this year,”
he said.
Burgett has his sights set
on returning to state — and
wants to crack the 50 second
mark in the process.
“He’s a cerebral kid in
terms of the way he ap-
proaches things,” Cirino
said. “He likes to talk race
strategy and discuss the dif-
ferent possibilities that can
happen during a race. He’s
close to mastering the men-
tal part of race.”
That race strategy can be
seen right from the starting
gun.
“Last year, I was more
conservative with my starts,”
Burgett said. “This year, I’m
starting out faster and learn-
ing to control myself during
the race so I can have a
strong finish as well.”
Returning to state in the
400 will be difficult, but Ciri-
no knows that Burgett is ca-
pable of surprising.
“This league has some of
the fastest 400 runners in
the state,” Cirino said. “But if
we can see improvement
like we saw at the end of last
year, we could be in for
something special.”
DALLAS ROUNDUP
Baseball takes two of three from Silverton
Itemizer-Observer staff report
SILVERTON — Dallas’
baseball team took two of
three games from Silverton.
The Dragons lost 7-5 on
April 25 before winning 8-7
and 9-3 on Friday.
“Jaret Stewart, Clay Coxen
and Josh Sherman were
great on the mound,” coach
Scot McDonald said. “Tan-
ner and Treve Earhart and
Cody Kessler each had three
hits in the final game.”
Dallas entered the week
one game behind Crescent
Valley for first place in the
Mid-Willamette Conference.
The Dragons and Raiders
opened a three-game series
Coxen
Earhart
Tu e s d a y
after press
time. Dal-
las plays at
Crescent
V a l l e y
We d n e s -
day (today)
b e f o r e
hosting the
Raiders
Friday at
4:30 p.m.
T h e
Dragons
open a
t h r e e -
game se-
ries at Cor-
v a l l i s ,
which entered the week tied
with Dallas, Tuesday at 4:30
p.m.
“This is a big week for us,”
McDonald said.
SOFTBALL EXTENDS WIN
STREAK: Dallas’ softball team
remained unbeaten in league
play, defeating Lebanon 8-6 on
Friday, Corvallis 14-1 and
Woodburn 20-6 on Saturday
and South Albany 14-1 on
Monday. The Dragons entered
the week on a 11-game win
streak and have outscored op-
ponents 114-30 during that
stretch. Dallas (11-0 MWC)
played at Crescent Valley for a
doubleheader Tuesday after
press time. The Dragons play at
Corvallis Wednesday (today)
before hosting Silverton Friday
at 4:30 p.m. Dallas plays at Cen-
tral Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
GIRLS TENNIS FALLS TO
CORVALLIS: Dallas’ girls tennis
team lost to Corvallis 6-2 on
Monday. Karlie Dalke won in
singles play while the pair of
K loe Totten and Mak ayli
Laizure earned a doubles point
for the Dragons.
Dallas played South Albany
Tuesday after press time.
The Dragons host Lebanon
Thursday at 4 p.m. in the team’s
final match of the regular sea-
son.
Boys results were not report-
ed.
Dallas will compete at the
MWC District Tennis Champi-
onships at Timberhill Tennis
Club in Corvallis beginning on
May 10.
B OYS T R AC K W I N S RO B
ALLEN T WILIGHT INVITA-
TIONAL: Dallas’ boys track
team took first at the Rob Allen
Twilight Invi-
tational at
Lebanon
High School
on Friday.
The girls
placed third.
C o d y
Webb won
the boys
100-meter
Cross
run in 11.24
seconds and the 110 hurdles in
15.01.
Trevor Cross took first in the
1,500 (4:13.63) and Jacob Dem-
Webb
ing placed
first in the
300 hurdles
in 39.74.
Deming also
won the
pole vault
(14 feet, 6
inches) and
the long
jump (22-
4¾).
Jenifer Webb won the girls
100 hurdles in 16.23.
Hailey VanWell took second
in the high jump (4-8) and
triple jump (35-6½).
Dallas’ varsity athletes are off
until the MWC Championships
May 12-13 at Lebanon High
School. First event begins at 3
p.m.