FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • THUrsday, May 13, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
HIGH SCHOOL
BASKETBALL
PREP BASEBALL
Some Bend High
girls in quarantine
Eight days before
the Bend High girls bas-
ketball team was set to
tip-off its season against
Ridgeview, a positive
COVID-19 case within
the team sent more than
a dozen members of the
program into quarantine,
Bend High athletic di-
rector Lowell Norby said
Wednesday.
When the Lava Bears
practiced Wednesday
afternoon, they had less
than five players avail-
able out of the more
than 30 players in the
program. Several of the
players, however, are still
participating in spring
sports.
“It’s been a vicious
roller coaster that I can’t
seem to get off of,” said
Bend High girls basket-
ball coach Allison Gard-
ner. “But we are still try-
ing to stay positive.”
Gardner is expect-
ing her varsity players,
who have already been
in quarantine and un-
able to practice when it
opened this week, back
on Saturday.
The recent group to
go into quarantine is the
younger kids in the pro-
gram that need the most
development, said the
Lava Bear coach.
Since the pandemic
started, basketball has
been one of the sports
most affected by the
health restrictions. Until
guidelines changed and
the Oregon Health Au-
thority allowed basket-
ball to be played, teams
were only able to con-
dition and do individual
drills — scrimmaging
was not allowed during
that time.
Gardner said she is
disappointed that after
working through all the
guidelines the past year,
that many of the players
will have to sit out some
time while in quarantine.
“I have a pit in my
stomach,” said Gardner.
“It is literally one day at
a time.”
—Bulletin staff report
HIGH SCHOOL
SOFTBALL
Lava Bear pitchers
get fifth no-hitter
The Bend High
softball pitching staff
notched its fifth no-hitter
of the season in Tues-
day’s 14-2 win over Red-
mond.
Four pitchers — Ad-
disen Fisher, Raeann Nel-
son, Allison Parker and
Gracie Goewey — com-
bined for the no-hitter
against the Panthers.
Fisher, Parker and
Goewey each pitched a
no-hitter during a three
game stretch against
Mountain View, Summit
and The Dalles earlier this
month. Parker also re-
corded a perfect game in
the Lava Bears’ 11-0 win
over Hood River Valley
on April 30. Fisher was
perfect against Summit
on May 6, another 11-0
win for Bend.
It has no doubt been
a dominating season for
the Lava Bear pitching
staff. In its 12 games this
season, the staff has al-
lowed just 18 hits, and
only one of the eight
runs given up this season
was earned.
With less than two
weeks left in the season,
the 11-1 Lava Bears have
a pair of games against
Mountain View on Thurs-
day and Friday.
—Bulletin staff report
Panthers get signature win
Photos by Dean Guernsey/Bulletin
Redmond’s Colton Horner (8) attempts to tag Bend’s Cole Young during the Panthers’ 10-9 victory on Tuesday in Redmond.
Young Redmond team finds groove in upset of Bend High
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
R
EDMOND — With the spring
season winding down to its fi-
nal few days, Redmond baseball
had been looking for a win.
Not just any win, rather a win that
could vault the program forward,
according to Panthers coach Stan
Manley.
That signature victory came Tues-
day afternoon at Redmond High
School in a 10-9 triumph over Bend
High, a team that entered the game
as one of Central Oregon’s hottest
teams, having won its previous six
games.
“Bend is always one of those
teams that you need to beat to go
somewhere,” said senior Isaac Er-
hardt, who had three hits and three
RBIs in the win. “I think this win is
going to help the rest of the season.”
For a team entering the game with
only three victories in 10 games, the
Panthers (4-7 overall) were loose
— cracking jokes and enjoying the
sunny spring day.
“I felt like today we were having
fun,” said junior Brenden Eberle,
whose three-run home run punctu-
ated the five-run opening inning for
the Panthers.
“I was like, I hope that leaves be-
cause I don’t know if I can hit one
any farther,” Eberle said of his home
run. “My approach was to hit the
first pitch fastballs — I just took a
good hack at it.”
See Baseball / A6
Redmond’s Brenden Eberle celebrates with teammates during the Pan-
thers’ 10-9 win over Bend High on Tuesday in Redmond.
BASKETBALL
BASEBALL | COMMENTARY
WNBA tips off 25th season Friday
MLB to PDX
effort gets boost
with A’s news
BY DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK — The WNBA will
tip off its 25th season on Friday af-
ter an eventful offseason that was
full of player movement, including
Candace Parker returning home to
Chicago.
The former league MVP headed
home after playing her entire 13-
year career in Los Angeles since be-
ing drafted by the Sparks in 2008.
“I’m so excited to be home and
I say that from the bottom of my
heart,” Parker said. “I didn’t real-
ize how amazing the Chicagoland
area was with basketball in general
until I went out in the world and I
saw how truly special and how they
really embrace their homegrown
talent.”
The 12 teams were also heading
home this season after playing last
year in a bubble in Florida because
of the coronavirus pandemic. While
attendance will be limited, teams
will play in their home markets.
“We’re working with the play-
ers’ association and teams to create
a plan to safely conduct our sea-
son amid this pandemic,” WNBA
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert
said. “We’re excited about the abil-
ity to return to our home markets,
so we’ll be in our 12 arenas. But we
know we need to stay vigilant to
But now it needs a champion
BY JOHN CANZANO • The Oregonian
T
The Aces also made a huge move
in the offseason signing free agent
point guard Chelsea Gray. Reign-
ing league MVP A’ja Wilson will
be the only starter returning from
last season’s Finals run. Liz Cam-
bage is back after being medically
excused from last season because of
the COVID-19 pandemic. Kelsey
Plum is healthy after tearing her
Achilles tendon before the start of
last season.
he whale investors backing the Port-
land Diamond Project must have
been stoked with the big news on
Tuesday. The Oakland A’s have reportedly
received permission to explore relocation
options should the crumbling plans for their
latest ballpark continue to disintegrate.
Portland’s group is well organized, says
it’s well funded and very much thinks it’s
in play as an option. In fact, I asked Craig
Cheek, founder of the effort to bring Major
League Baseball to Oregon exactly that on
Tuesday night.
Is Portland in play for the A’s?
Really? Even with the city’s brand trading
at all-time lows?
“I won’t comment on another MLB team’s
plans for obvious reasons,” Cheek said, “but
this is what we’ve been planning for.”
As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,
“Nothing great was ever achieved without en-
thusiasm.” Or better yet, as legendary A’s phi-
losopher Rickey Henderson once said, “Noth-
ing’s impossible for Rickey. You don’t have
enough fingers and toes to count out Rickey.”
See WNBA / A6
See Canzano / A7
Chris O’Meara/AP file
Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart (30) gets between Las Vegas Aces center
A’ja Wilson (22) and forward Cierra Burdick (11) during Game 3 of the WNBA Finals
in Bradenton, Florida, in October. The WNBA will tip off its 25th season on Friday.
minimize risk as much as possible.”
The defending champion Seat-
tle Storm, led by Sue Bird and Bre-
anna Stewart, won’t be playing at
their home arena, which is under-
going renovations this summer, in-
stead competing at the Angel of the
Winds Arena in Everett, Washing-
ton. The Storm played seven games
there in 2019, going 6-1.
They’ll open their season on Sat-
urday in a Finals rematch against
the Las Vegas Aces.