A10
Sports
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Five junior high
Pros advance to state
wrestling tournament
BASEBALL
Continued from Page A9
Williams said the team’s
varsity and junior varsity
spots and positions will be
lined out this week.
As part of the 2A/1A Spe-
cial District 6, Grant Union
will face league opponents:
Culver, Dufur/South Was-
co County, Elgin, Heppner/
Ione, Pilot Rock/Nixyaawii,
Sherman/Arlington/Condon,
Union/Cove, Weston-McE-
wen and Wheeler.
Williams said they don’t
know a lot about the teams
they’ll face, but he antici-
pates Dufur, Pilot Rock and
Sherman will be tough.
There are 16 league
games scheduled with dou-
bleheaders on Tuesdays and
Saturdays.
A new OSAA rule this
year restricts pitchers to a
110 pitch count with four
days of rest.
“It should hopefully
protect the kids, but it’s
definitely going to be a chal-
lenge,” he said, adding, “We
have 14 kids working in the
bull pen, working on their
pitching skills on rotation
every other day.”
Zack Deiter and Wade
Reimers were among the
starting pitchers last year.
Reimers, who is recover-
ing from a shoulder injury,
said he’ll miss playing de-
fense.
He’s returning as a des-
ignated hitter, and can still
play middle infielder, taking
grounders.
“I’m looking forward to
the season,” he said, adding
the team is excited about the
coaching staff.
“They seem really good
in their knowledge of base-
ball,” he said. “I hope for a
great season.”
Williams said he’s look-
ing to his two seniors, Billy
Copenhaver and Brogan
McKrola, for leadership.
“I look for them to lead
by example and teach the
younger kids how to hustle
and how to act on the field
and in the classroom,” he
said.
“I’m excited to get back
into playing baseball with
these guys,” Copenhaver
said. “I missed most of last
season due to injury, and
I’m ready to go and super
excited.”
McKrola said he likes
the group they have out for
this year’s team.
“I’m really looking for-
ward to the season,” he said.
“With this new coaching
staff, it’s going really good.
I can’t wait to see what hap-
pens.”
Williams said the team
is young, but “everything is
going good so far.”
“We’re working on all
aspects of the game, includ-
ing fielding, hitting and ba-
sic knowledge of the game,”
he said.
“We’d like to win league
and go to district and win
state, but, one step at a
time,” he said. “You’ve got
to win the first game and get
better every game.”
Justin Hodge
is a champion,
wrestling at 125
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed photo
The Prairie City Junior High Lady Panthers basketball team placed second at the
Huntington tournament Feb. 24-25. The boys team also placed second.
Grant Union sent 17 wres-
tlers to the middle school
district tournament March
4 at Boardman’s Riverside
High School, where five of
the grapplers placed in the top
three in their weight class.
These qualifiers advance
to the Saturday, March 11,
Oregon Middle School
Wrestling Championships in
Woodburn with action start-
ing at 9 a.m.
The team is coached by
Jake Batease and assistant
Kyle Erickson.
The advancing five in-
clude:
Justin Hodge (125), grade
7, champion
Tanner Way (195), grade
8, second place
Kevin Duvall (275), grade
8, second place
Bladen Burril (275), grade
8, third place
Ethan Moore (85), grade
8, third place
Prairie City junior high
hoops teams place second
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Prairie City Junior High boys and girls
basketball teams each placed second at the
Huntington tournament Feb. 24-25.
Eight teams competed, and the North Pow-
der boys and girls both placed first.
Prairie City girls Katie Hire and Abby
Pfefferkorn and boys Jojari Field and Declan
Zweygardt were named all stars.
END
Contributed photo/Cindy Dougharity-Spencer
Led by coach Jake Batease, back, five Grant Union
junior high wrestlers are advancing to the Saturday,
March 11, state championships, including, from left,
Tanner Way, Bladen Burril, Justin Hodge, Kevin Duvall
and Ethan Moore. There were 17 Prospector wrestlers
competing at the March 4 event.
Continued from Page A9
was “another game where we
could just not get going offen-
sively. We were able to make
a small run in the third quarter
but not enough to sustain the
comeback.”
Grant Union finished the
regular season ranked 10th
with a 15-8 season record.
East Linn was ranked seventh
with a 17-11 record.
In the game, Grant Union’s
Mariah Moulton led the Pros-
pectors in points, gaining five
in the first half and nine in the
second. Madi McKrola scored
four in the first half and four
in the second.
McKrola grabbed six of-
fensive rebounds and four de-
fensive rebounds in the game,
and Prospector Kaylee Wright
had two offensive rebounds
and five defensive rebounds.
Hailie Wright and McKro-
la each had two steals in the
match.
Moda Health Players of
the Game were Grant Union’s
Mariah Moulton and East
Linn’s Sydney Nicol.
Moulton said, win or lose,
competing at state was a great
experience.
“Having the same team
come back next year is a
plus,” she said. “We’re ready
to win it next year. We’re hun-
gry for a win.”
McKrola said she’s proud
of their team.
“We had a really young
team and stepped into some
big roles,” she said. “We got a
lot farther than people expect-
ed and that was fun.”
Coach Mosley said the
team’s goal from the begin-
ning of the season was to be
league champions, district
Lady Prospector receives
All-State Tournament honor
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union Lady
Prospector Mariah Moul-
ton, a junior, was selected
for the 2A All-Tournament
Second Team at the March
2-4 OSAA Basketball
State Championships in
Pendleton.
LADY PROS
Continued from Page A9
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
Grant Union’s Madi McKrola concentrates as she
prepares to make a free throw attempt Thursday night
during a OSAA 2A state basketball championship
quarterfinal game against Kennedy at the Pendleton
Convention Center.
champions and to return to
Pendleton to the Final 8.
“All these goals were
reached, except the district ti-
tle,” he said. “Losing our only
senior to a season-ending injury
caused our younger girls to step
up and fill some big roles The
girls did an amazing job. They
stayed focused, and we were
able to reach our end goal.”
Highlights include win-
ning the preseason Umatilla
Tournament and the win on
the road in the first round of
state at Pilot Rock.
“This is a tremendous
group of kids, and the amaz-
ing thing is, they all return
next year,” he said. “They
need to be proud of their ac-
complishments.
“I would like to thank the
community for their support
and my coaching staff for
hours of hard work.”
March 8 - The Face of Peace
March 15 - The Face of Gratitude
March 22 - The Face of Provision
April 5 - The Face of Obedience
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corner’s
SH T
EEK
OF THE W
SARAH ENNIS
The overall theme this year for Lent and Easter is
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School: Prairie City
Grade: 12
Parents: Glenn & Andrea Ennis
Sport: Basketball
Position: Point guard
What I like best about my sport: “It’s a team
sport, and you get closer to your teammates and
become like family. I also like being able to help
the younger kids and watch them grow in their
talents.”
• The Face of Peace: Three ways to bring the power
of peace in your life.
• The Face of Gratitude: How to flood your life
with joy and happiness with one habit.
• The Face of Provision: Learn how to be an anxiety
annihilator.
• The Face of Obedience: Learn why obedience is
not a dirty word or a destroyer of personal
freedom.
Coach’s Comment: “She’s been
a good leader and team captain.
She has a good on and off the
court presence and has had a good
attitude all season and is fun to be
around.”
-Coach Bo Workman
05327
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some better looks at the rim.”
The Prospectors outshot
Kennedy 13-12 in the quar-
ter, and Kennedy led 32-23
going into the fourth.
With 1:37 left in the
game, McKrola was fouled
and sank 2-2 at the free-
throw line.
When Kennedy turned
over the ball, McKrola scored
off an inbound pass from
Moulton, bringing Grant
Union within six points of
their opponents, 39-33, with
1:30 to go.
As the clock wound
down, the Trojans hit 5-7 at
the free-throw line to hold on
for the win.
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Wednesday 6:30 PM
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541-575-5840
Mariah Moulton
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Kennedy had a 12-8 lead
going into the second and
held Grant Union to two
points at the half, the Trojans
leading 20-10.
Kennedy out-rebounded
Grant Union by 10 in the first
half.
At the break, Grant Union
head coach Mark Mosley en-
couraged his team.
“I challenged them to start
being more aggressive,” he
said after the game. “In the
third quarter, we came out
and made a little run and got
Contributed photo/
Tanni Wenger Photography Studio
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