The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current, March 05, 2021, Page 11, Image 11

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    FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
B3
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
PREP SPORTS
Summit volleyball
storms past MV
In the first match of the
season for both teams,
the more experienced
squad prevailed between
Summit and Mountain
View on Wednesday night
at Mountain View High
School.
The Storm won in
straight sets, holding the
Cougars to less than 12
points in two of the three
sets — 25-12, 25-21, 25-6.
“I thought we played
with good energy and
we were aggressive,” said
Summit coach Jill Was-
kom. “We were a solid
serving team. I was im-
pressed with ball control.
The kids are working hard
and grateful to be back
at it.”
Waskom pointed to
the strong play at the net
by senior Harper Justema,
who led the team in kills
and blocks, junior Kate
Doorn, who set the ball
well and ran a fast offense,
and Hannah Kendall for
her serving.
Wednesday’s match
was a learning experience
for the Cougars, who have
only four upperclassmen
and several freshmen on
their varsity roster.
Mountain View coach
Kate Hunter says that
there is “nowhere to go
but up.”
“They are going to
learn how to be leaders
really quick — they have
to,” Hunter said. “I’m ex-
cited to see where they
go, and where our youth
grows in such a short sea-
son. A lot can happen in
the next four weeks.”
Defending 5A state
champion Ridgeview
picked up where it left
off Wednesday with a re-
sounding sweep of The
Dalles to start the season
(25-12, 25-14, 25-8).
Also on Wednesday,
Central Christian split a
pair of matches in Klam-
ath Falls, sweeping Ho-
sanna-Triad (25-21, 25-18,
25-2) before falling to de-
fending Mountain Valley
League champion Rogue
Valley Adventist 3-1 (25-
21, 26-28, 25-16, 26-24).
On the soccer field, a
day after tying Molalla
2-2, the Madras girls
soccer team fell to the
Indians 5-0 Wednesday
evening. In its first match
of the season, the La Pine
boys fell at home to Cre-
swell, 2-1.
— Bulletin staff report
NBA
LeBron, KD draft
all-star teams
LeBron James has
faced Giannis Antetok-
ounmpo as an opponent
in the last three All-Star
Games.
The Los Angeles Lak-
ers’ star got him as a
teammate this year.
James used the No. 1
overall pick on Antetok-
ounmpo — the NBA’s
two-time reigning MVP
from Milwaukee — in the
draft for Sunday’s All-Star
Game in Atlanta. Kevin
Durant, who will not play
in the All-Star Game be-
cause of injury but still is
the captain for Team Du-
rant, took Brooklyn team-
mate Kyrie Irving with his
first pick.
The other starters for
Team LeBron will be Ste-
phen Curry of Golden
State, Luka Doncic of
Dallas and Nikola Jokic of
Denver. The other starters
for Team Durant will be
Joel Embiid of Philadel-
phia, Kawhi Leonard of
the Los Angeles Clippers,
Bradley Beal of Washing-
ton and Jayson Tatum of
Boston.
Portland’s Damian Lil-
lard was James’ first re-
serve selection.
— Associated Press
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL | PAC-12 TOURNAMENT
Ascending OSU has high tourney title hopes
Beavers upend Ducks 71-64 in quarterfinals, will face top-seeded Stanford Friday in semifinals
Next up
BY NICK DASCHEL
The Oregonian
If ever there was a game putting
Oregon State’s 2020-21 season into a
nutshell, it was Thursday’s 71-64 win
over Oregon in the Pac-12 tournament
quarterfinals in Las Vegas.
To quickly recap this season: bad
start, no hope, then a little life, mo-
mentum, catch fire and now one of the
country’s hottest teams.
To recap Thursday: bad start, lucky
to be in the game, a second-quarter
spark, catch fire in the third, second win
in five days over rival Oregon.
The numbers speak loudly. During
the course of Thursday’s game, Ore-
gon State had its worst scoring quarter
of the season, a five-point first quar-
ter. The Beavers had their best scoring
quarter of the season, a 31-point third.
Oregon St. vs. No. 4 Stanford
When: 5 p.m. Friday
TV: Pac-12
“It’s the season of ‘Twilight Zone,’”
OSU coach Scott Rueck said.
Descriptive phrases similar to that
have been assigned to Oregon State’s
pandemic-impacted season. Strange.
Weird.
And now … rewarding. How else
to describe a season that had a dozen
game cancellations, a four-week pause
due to a COVID-19 outbreak and a
five-game losing streak, only to find
Oregon State in the Pac-12 tournament
semifinals for the first time since 2017?
“Did we see ourselves in the Pac-12
semifinal a month ago? The obvious
answer would have been no,” Rueck
said. “It was hard to envision what the
potential of this team could be, because
we hadn’t had a chance to experience it.”
Oh, the Beavers dreamed. Dreamed
big, even after Oregon stomped the
Beavers 79-59 on Dec. 13 in Corval-
lis. Just like getting to the Pac-12 semi-
finals, who could have guessed OSU
beating Oregon twice within five days
later in the season?
“We just had to play some games, get
in a rhythm,” said senior guard Aleah
Goodman, who had 13 points, one of
four Beavers to score in double figures
against Oregon. “When that first game
happened, was I worried? Not really,
just because it was our third game of the
season in the Pac-12. I knew what this
team and this group was capable of.”
See OSU / B5
John Locher/AP
Oregon State’s Talia Von Oelhoffen (22)
shoots over Oregon’s Jaz Shelley (4) during
the second round of the Pac-12 tourna-
ment on Thursday in Las Vegas.
PREP SPORTS
Old foes
meet
again
The traditional Bend-Redmond rivalry
highlights the first week of football
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
M
att Craven knows when he
is speaking with Bend High
alumni from the 1960s or ’70s
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
because they care most about beating their rival.
And they are not talking about beating crosstown
rival Summit, or winning the Civil War against
Mountain View.
“For the old time Bendites, they always point to
Redmond,” said Craven, the Bend High coach who
has both played and coached in the football rivalry
game for the Lava Bears.
Saturday at 1 p.m. at Redmond High School will
mark the first time that the programs have met on
the gridiron since September 2017, a 33-0 win for
Bend when both teams were part of the Class 5A
Intermountain Conference.
After that season, along with Summit and
Mountain View, Bend High moved up to Class
6A.
Redmond football coach Seth Womack is no
stranger to playing in rivalry games. When he was
coaching at Eagle Point High School, Ashland and
Crater were two rivalry games he likened to the
Bend-Redmond rivalry.
The Redmond High School football team runs plays during practice Tuesday in Redmond.
This week in Central Oregon high school football
FRIDAY GAMES
Crook County starts its 2021 season on the road against North Marion, a Class 4A quarterfinal team a year ago. North
Marion eked out a win last season against the Cowboys, 17-14. (7 p.m.)
After a playoff appearance in 2019, Madras hosts a Molalla team that has not made the postseason since 2016. (7 p.m.)
La Pine welcomes Siuslaw, hoping to avenge last season’s 32-0 loss. (7 p.m.)
In its first season playing a 3A schedule, Sisters hosts Pleasant Hill. (7 p.m.)
In a matchup of 2019 playoff teams, Culver hosts league opponent Santiam, which beat the Bulldogs 23-14 a season
ago. (6 p.m.)
In six-man football, Gilchrist hosts Triangle Lake, a team the Grizzlies beat by 76 points in 2018 but lost to by 21 in 2019.
(7 p.m.)
SATURDAY GAMES
Ridgeview will host Putnam, with both teams looking to start the season on the right foot after each finished with two
wins in 2019. (3 p.m.)
Capping off the first week of football will be a Class 6A Special District 6 matchup between Summit and Mountain
View. Neither team made the playoffs in 2019, and Summit will try to beat Mountain View for the first time since 2016.
(7:15 p.m.)
See Prep sports / B4
MLB | SPRING TRAINING
Padres’ Tatis Jr. among early standouts
BY DAVID BRANDT
Associated Press
Charlie Riedel/AP
San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. during spring training practice on
Saturday in Peoria, Arizona.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Di-
amondbacks left-hander Caleb
Smith was reflecting on Tues-
day’s first spring training start
when he talked about a valu-
able lesson he learned when
facing the San Diego Padres.
“Don’t throw Tatis a fastball,”
he said with a chuckle.
After Smith grooved a fast-
ball, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit
a grand slam deep over the
left-center wall for his first ho-
mer of the spring. The 22-year-
old hit the ball so hard that
Arizona’s outfielders barely
moved and the ball landed
among the fans sitting on blan-
kets at Salt River Fields.
Tatis is among baseball’s best
young stars and he finished
fourth in the NL MVP voting
during the pandemic-short-
ened 2020 season, when he hit
.277 with 17 homers and 11
stolen bases.
The Padres beefed up their
roster in the offseason, add-
ing pitchers like Yu Darvish
and Blake Snell to try to snap
the Dodgers’ streak of eight
straight NL West titles. The
lineup is expected to revolve
around Tatis, who has a .301
average and 39 homers over his
first 143 big league games.
Here are a few other players
who were impressive during the
first week of exhibition action.
RHP Merrill Kelly, Diamond-
backs: Kelly gave up two runs
in two innings during his first
outing but his stuff looked
good, and five of the six outs
he recorded were strikeouts.
It was an encouraging sign for
the 32-year-old, who looked
like one of the better pitchers
in the National League early in
2020 before a blood clot was
found in his shoulder and his
season ended. Kelly had tho-
racic outlet surgery to dissolve
the clot.
See MLB / B4