A10
SPORTS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle, File
Prairie City junior Betty
Ann Wilson celebrates af-
ter the Panthers beat Adri-
an to clinch a state playoﬀ
berth on Saturday, Feb. 19,
2022. Wilson scored 28 and
was named Player of the
Game.
Wilson
earns
all-state
honors
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
PRAIRIE CITY —
Prairie City High junior
Betty Ann Wilson has been
selected to the all-state bas-
ketball team at the 1A level.
Wilson led the Lady
Panthers to a third-place
ﬁ nish in the High Des-
ert League tournament
and subsequently led the
team to a road victory in
the opening round of the
state basketball tourna-
ment. The Lady Panthers
were bounced out of the
state playoﬀ s after a loss to
Damascus Christian in the
second round.
Wilson said she found
out about her selection to
the all-state team after her
mom saw a post on Face-
book. It’s pretty cool,” Wil-
son said. “We ended to sea-
son on a good note and I’m
glad that I was recognized
this year. It’s my ﬁ rst year
getting recognition. It kind
of puts us on the map. It’s
always an honor to be rec-
ognized as one of the best
in the state. Even if it is
kind of a biased opinion,
it’s still cool to see your
name up there.”
The goal this year for
Wilson was to be recog-
nized as one of the best
players in the state. “Com-
ing in I knew what to
expect because we have
almost all the same girls
from last year so I just
kind of worked to get that
spot,” she said. “My goal
was to get Player of the
Year but shout out to Kort-
ney Doman, she deserved
it. But that was my ultimate
goal, to get the recognition
that I felt like I deserved.”
Wilson said she hopes
the state selects co-players
of the year next season and
that she’s standing along-
side Doman. “I expect her
to bring out her best game,”
Wilson said. “It’s always
been a bit of a rivalry. I
have all love for Kortney.
I’ve played against her and
played with her, and I see
what her teammates see in
her.”
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union/Prairie City softball team congratulates pitcher Drew Williams at the plate following her home run against Toledo on Friday, May 27, 2022. The Lady
Pros had four home runs in the 15-0 quarterﬁ nal victory.
Lady Pros still alive
Grant Union/Prairie City
softball team playing for
state championship berth
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
T
he Grant Union/Prairie
City softball team cruised
through the second round
and quarterﬁ nals of the
state tournament at home
this past week.
An 8-0 win over the Bandon Tigers
and a 15-0 win over the Toledo Boom-
ers have the Lady Pros in the state
semiﬁ nals and hosting one more state
tournament game.
The ﬁ rst-round matchup with Ban-
don took place on Wednesday, May
25, at the Seventh Street Sports Com-
plex. The game was scoreless for
one and a half innings until Sivanna
Hodge hit a towering two-run home
run in the bottom of the second to
give the Lady Pros a 2-0 lead. The
Lady Pros would add another run in
the fourth inning before Hodge’s bat
again showed itself via a two run dou-
ble to give the Lady Pros a 5-0 lead
headed into the ﬁ fth.
Adding another run in the ﬁ fth and
a pair of runs in the sixth grew the
Lady Pro lead to 8-0 with one more
chance for the Lady Tigers to make a
run headed into the seventh inning. A
comeback was not in the cards, how-
ever. The Lady Pros blanked the Lady
Tigers in the top of the seventh frame
to leave the game with an 8-0 win and
advance to the state quarterﬁ nals.
The quarterﬁ nal matchup with Spe-
cial District 4 champions the Toledo
Boomers two days later was even more
dominant than the second-round win.
The Lady Pros tacked one run onto
the scoreboard in the ﬁ rst inning but
were still having a tough time ﬁ gur-
ing out Toledo pitcher Mariah Frederic
through two frames. The ﬂ oodgates
opened in the third inning. Led by
homers from Drew Williams, Savan-
nah Watterson, Riley Robertson and
Sivanna Hodge, the Lady Pros turned
in a 12-run third to take a command-
ing 14-0 lead into the fourth. Another
pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth
inning for the Lady Pros triggered the
mercy rule and ended the game at 15-0
after four innings.
Sivanna Hodge’s bat loomed large
over the two games. Hodge had a
home run in both contests and ﬁ nished
the two-game stretch a combined 4-5
at the plate with ﬁ ve RBIs. Drew Wil-
liams pitched both games for the Lady
Pros and struck out a combined 20 bat-
ters while giving up three hits and not
surrendering a single run.
Grant Union/Prairie City head
coach Zach Williams said a big part of
what makes the Lady Pros so danger-
ous is their pitching, backed by a solid
defense.
“Having an above-average pitcher
like Drew is deﬁ nitely a big part of
what has made our team successful this
year,” he said. “She also knows she has
an above-average defense behind her
and doesn’t have to strike everybody
out. She can pitch contact and get hit-
ters to make bad contact and get outs
as well.”
Williams also cited the strength
of his batting lineup and pointed to
Hodge’s big game against Bandon as
conﬁ rmation. “Hodge was huge,” he
said. “Three for four with four RBIs out
of the eight spot is pretty unheard-of.
Our lineup being great 1-9 deﬁ nitely
gives us an advantage. There is no safe
spot in our lineup for a pitcher to let
up.”
Williams said the key to continued
success is for his team to keep doing
the things that have gotten them this far
into the state tournament.
“Our gameplay doesn’t change
much from game to game,” he said.
“Pitch well and do the little things on
defense and make routine plays be rou-
tine plays. Finally, put the ball in play
hard by being patient and swinging at
pitches we can drive.”
The Lady Pros played ﬁ fth-seeded
Nestucca on Tuesday, May 31, at the
Seventh Street Sports Complex in John
Day. Results were not available for that
contest before press time.
A victory by the Lady Pros in the
semiﬁ nal matchup would have the
team traveling to Jane Saunders Sta-
dium in Eugene to take on the win-
ner of Lakeview and Kennedy for the
2A softball state championship. The
championship game will be played on
Friday, June 3, with a time still to be
determined.
Nine-run hole too deep for Pros
Postseason run comes to an
end for Grant Union/Prairie
City baseball team
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
MOUNT ANGEL — The Grant
Union/Prairie City baseball season is
over.
The Pros lost to a tough Kennedy
team on the road Wednesday, May 25,
after falling into a nine-run hole in the
ﬁ rst inning they just couldn’t claw their
way out of. The Pros fell in the second
round state playoﬀ game 13-0 to ﬁ nish
the season with a record of 16-11.
Grant Union/Prairie City head
coach RC Huerta was disappointed
with the loss but added that you can’t
fall behind early to a team like Ken-
nedy and expect to climb back into the
game.
“This is what I’ve been talking
about all season: You can’t have that
bad inning,” he said. “Kennedy was
tough, but when you shoot yourself in
the foot. ... You know, we just weren’t
on that day, and that makes it tough.
Not to make excuses, but about half of
the team came down with sickness. It
was a hot day and they weren’t feel-
ing good. I felt like they were ready to
play, though, but that ﬁ rst inning just
made it tough.”
Huerta said his team battled all sea-
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle, File
Grant Union senior Parker Neault (5) scores a run on April 23, 2022, against Dufur.
Neault and the Prospectors ﬁ nished their season with a 13-0 loss to Kennedy in
Mount Angel on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
son after starting slow and being out of
the playoﬀ picture for much of the sea-
son. “Having 11 players all year and
starting three freshmen, three soph-
omores, a junior and three seniors —
what we did was quite a feat, I feel. I’m
pretty honored to be the coach of that
program, and they really worked hard
and did a good job.”
Despite the disappointing loss, the
cupboards aren’t bare and the Pros
have a great amount of talent coming
back to the squad next season.
“This is an excellent thing to learn
from,” Huerta said. “Just because you
go play a good game in the ﬁ rst round,
you still have more games to go. For
them to have a taste of that at such a
young age, I think the young guys are
going to learn from that. They aren’t
going to want to have that again.
They’re going to come out next year
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foaming at the mouth. I’m excited
about the future.”
Huerta also took time to praise the
leadership of the team’s three seniors
for setting the foundation the team
built upon this season.
“Those three seniors, nobody
thought they would become the lead-
ers that they were back when I ﬁ rst
got here,” he said. “Parker (Neualt)
and Mason (Morris) were on my team
when I ﬁ rst got here, and Kobe (Fell)
came on as a sophomore. They’re quiet
and unassuming and just go about their
business, but the leadership skills they
developed and setting the foundation
for the young guys to look up to them,
it was huge. The young guys are really
going to beneﬁ t from that. They had a
tough loss, and they’ll learn from that.”
The support from the community is
something Huerta also acknowledged.
“I’m grateful to be alive and I’m
grateful to be in this community,” he
said. “It’s a tremendous feeling when
they are there to support you, and
the kids feel the same. You drive by
Chester’s and they bring out dough-
nuts. The coaching staﬀ remembers
that and the kids remember that and
we want to work hard for them. We
want to get bigger and bigger crowds
at the games. If we can continue to
get that all-encompassing support —
and I think we will — things will just
continue to grow and get better and
better.”
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