A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2015
SPORTS
Hoopsters bring home
COUGARS:
medals from Special
Olympics regional tourney
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
The
Hermiston/Pendle-
ton Special Olympics team
sent 27 athletes to Hillsboro
Sunday for the regional bas-
ketball tournament, and all 27
returned with medals.
Of the 27, four were mem-
bers of an individual skills
team, called the Live Wires,
nine were members of three
different 3-on-3 teams called
the Thunder, Lightning and
Currents, and the rest were
members of the 5-on-5 Shock-
ers.
The Thunder took home the
gold medal after four games
and earned a small slice of re-
venge after beating a team to
which it had previously lost.
The Currents took silver, and
RUNNERS:
continued from page A9
have people that you know
as your teammates there,
it’s not gonna feel like that
much of a difference.”
It was important to Le-
mus-Cisneros,
Zitterkob
and Chavez that they run
together. They have been
teammates for as long as
they can remember, and
they said it would be spe-
cial if they could remain so
at the next level.
Eastern Oregon boasts a
successful NAIA program
that features a national
champion and a number
RESILIENCE:
continued from page A9
a fantastic coaching job to
keep the girls positive and
excited.
the Lightning and Thunder
each earned bronze medals.
The Thunder were given the
sportsmanship award.
Juan Peterson and Vivian
McEachran each won gold
medals in the individual skills
competition, Lyall Arey won
silver and Misty Larsen took
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competition.
A major challenge for the
27 athletes was getting enough
gym time before the competi-
tion. They only practice once
a week at Sandstone Middle
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athletes into one gym for an
hour can be a struggle, coach
Kristi Smalley said Friday.
“It was really like a three-
ring circus in the gym to try
and get the athletes good prac-
tice and ready for the compe-
tition,” she said.
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on the Thunder made at least
two baskets, and, Smalley
said, one player was “mak-
ing a conscious effort” to
feed teammates the ball who
hadn’t yet scored.
“He wanted to give them
a chance to shine,” Smalley
said. “Our athletes, they want
to support each other.”
The players weren’t just
focused on their own team,
however. When opponents
scored, they clapped and
cheered like they were team-
mates.
“The one thing that always
shines through with our ath-
letes that they demonstrate
over and over again is their
sportsmanship,”
Smalley
said.
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the schools often com-
continued from page A9 pete against each in other
Bailey said he needs sports. Echo and Stan-
those four girls to con- ¿HOG SOD\HG WZLFH WKLV
tribute and, more impor- winter in girls basketball
tantly, lead.
games. Bailey acknowl-
Bailey called Parks, a HGJHGLWKDVEHHQGLI¿FXOW
junior, “the glue” of last in past years to bring two
year’s team, and her role separate groups of girls
behind the plate could together for a common
make or break Echo’s cause.
season.
“We break that wall
“She is going to be a down immediately,” Bai-
huge part of this team,” ley said. “We’re now one
Bailey said. “She knows team. We’re called Cou-
what it takes to be a lead- gar softball. We’re Echo
er.”
Cougar softball. We break
Last season was a dis- WKDW ZDOO GRZQ ¿UVW DQG
appointing year for Echo. they seem to understand
Now, Bailey said, with it and work through it.”
the majority of the roster
But there’s another as-
returning, the Cougars are pect of the winter sports
primed to have a breakout season also directly im-
year in the EOL.
pacts Echo softball: suc-
Echo softball, like its cess.
baseball team counter-
Both the Echo and
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unusual situation; girls teams were successful by
from two schools come their own standards. Echo
together to play on the split the league champi-
same team.
onship, won the district
While Echo and Stan- tournament and hosted a
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increased its win total 10
fold this season and got
a taste of playoff basket-
ball.
To Bailey, that suc-
cess is just as important
as good softball skills.
The girls are starting the
season with positive at-
titudes and are ready to
compete.
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Bailey said. “The one I
really see it in is Bailey
Strofe. Last year, she took
on the role of being our
shortstop, and she strug-
gled at it. She just didn’t
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this year, with the success
of basketball, she rolled
right into softball practice
and you could just see
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softball for years was a
laughingstock, but a little
success here and there,
and it starts clicking.”
The Cougars will
play their season open-
er at 4 p.m. Monday at
Heppner.
of top performers. Umatil-
la cross country coach and
assistant track coach Josh
Ego also ran at EOU, and
he gave the three sprinters
insight into the program.
“He really enjoyed it,
how close the team was,
and it was something I
wanted to be a part of,”
Chavez said.
Eastern wasn’t alone in
its pursuit of the three Vi-
kings. Southern Oregon
came calling, as well as
Western Oregon and some
colleges in Washington.
Lemus-Cisneros said she
knew all along she wanted
to stay in the area and go to
Eastern.
“I think we kind of all
convinced each other to go
together,” Chavez said. “I
would see them going to
look at other colleges, and
I would say, ‘Are you sure
you don’t want to go to
Eastern?’ And they would
just slowly start convincing
each other they wanted to
go to Eastern. I think we all
wanted to go there because
it offered (the) academics
we wanted and for sports
and everything.”
Zitterkob
said
she
wants to study nursing.
Lemus-Cisneros plans on
studying heath, and Chavez
wants to pursue photo jour-
nalism.
Amie Zitterkob (left), Andrea Lemus-Cisneros (center) and Berenice Chavez sign their National
Letters of Intent to run track at Eastern Oregon University Thursday.
It’s really not a
surprise they played in
the state championship
game, and that never
seemed out of the realm
of possibility. But it was
close.
After the play-in
round win over Crescent
Valley, Hoffert said then
that the season was a
success, that they already
achieved great things.
They came out of the
insanely strong field
in Lake Oswego with a
good showing, and they
beat the No.1-ranked
team on its home floor
and then continued its
dominance over the CRC.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
So, in his mind, Friday’s
result wasn’t make or
break for him.
The Bulldogs already
proved their mettle
as a team. And for a
coach, that’s a team of
champions.
—Sam Barbee is the
sports reporter for the
Hermiston Herald and
can be reached at (541)
564-4542 or sbarbee@
hermistonherald.com
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