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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2015)
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 SPORTS Ridgeview defeats Hermiston, Echo pounds Heppner SOFTBALL “She held her composure.” At the plate, Hermiston was led by Ashley Moser, who went RIDGEVIEW 12, 2-for-3, an RBI and two runs scored, and Mikayla Kopacz, HERMISTON 7 who went 1-for-3, with an RBI With a freshman making her and two runs scored. The two se- ¿UVW YDUVLW\ VWDUW WKH +HUPLVWRQ niors were involved in both the Bulldogs couldn’t rally past the second-inning rally that plated Ridgeview Ravens, dropping the three and the sixth-inning rally season opener 12-7 Tuesday. that scored three, in part, helped A big sixth inning propelled by Moser and Kopacz. the Ravens past the Bulldogs, Hermiston’s next time out is a who led 4-3 at the time. In that double header against Post Falls LQQLQJWKH¿UVWWZR5DYHQVIRXQG (ID) at 3 p.m. Friday at Rocky their way aboard and around the Heights Elementary school. bases to take a 5-4 lead, and then a parade of Ravens followed. ECHO 15, HEPPNER 4 (7) Hermiston freshman pitcher Ju- Tied at three with one out and lissa Almaguer went a little more the bases loaded, Echo junior WKDQ¿YHLQQLQJV “She threw well,” Hermiston Kenzie Blankenship lined a 2-1 head coach Kylee Nichols said. SLWFK LQWR OHIW ¿HOG SODWLQJ WKUHH and breaking open the Echo soft- ball team’s debut this season at Heppner Monday. The Cougars would score sev- en runs that inning on the way to a 15-4 drubbing of Heppner. Echo racked up 11 hits in the win, and sophomore Mackenzie *RQ]DOHV PDNLQJ KHU ¿UVW VWDUW this season, was dealing. She threw all seven innings, walking seven, but she allowed just six hits and struck out 11. Blankenship, who went 1-for-3 at bat with three RBIs, and soph- omore Samantha McQuown, who was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, led the way at the plate. “Mentally it helps them,” third-year head coach Bryan Bai- OH\VDLGRIZLQQLQJELJLQWKH¿UVW RXWLQJDGGLQJLWDOVRKHOSVFRQ¿- dence. “Heppner doesn’t have the pitching they’ve had in the past and they were kind of hampered by 13 walks. But more so on our side, we were hitting with runners RQ :H RQO\ VWUDQGHG ¿YH EDVH runners. We were hitting the ball when we needed to and scoring runs.” Echo’s next ballgame is against Union/Cove in Echo today. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. TENNIS The Umatilla tennis season got off to a good start after it split its boys and girls matches with Pendleton on Monday. Led by Ramiro Rubio and Alejandro Madrigal, the boys beat Pendleton despite splitting the three matches, while the girls dropped a tough one 8-2. First-year head coach Cal- vin Meade said the best match of the day, though, came from junior and No. 1 Umatilla sin- gles player Sidney Webb. Play- ing against Mattie Cittedini, a club-tennis-playing foreign exchange student from Italy, Webb was up after a set but broke her strings and had to use a teammate’s racket. Cit- tedini would rally, winning the next two sets and taking the match. ,W ZDV DQ HQFRXUDJLQJ ¿UVW match for the Vikings, who have a number of both returning tennis SOD\HUVDQG¿UVW\HDUSDUWLFLSDQWV Meade said there is excitement surrounding the program, which LV D JRRG ¿UVW VWHS WR EXLOGLQJ D winning season. RECREATION REPORTS Reports from the Or- egon Department of Fish and Wildlife: FISHING :HHNHQG¿VKLQJRSSRU- tunities: • Steelhead continue to enter the Umatilla River in record numbers, and an- JOHUVVKRXOGEHDEOHWR¿QG ¿VK VFDWWHUHG WKURXJKRXW the river. Last week an- glers averaged 3.6 hours per steelhead caught. * Water conditions in the John Day are in great shape, and steelhead are being caught between Ser- vice Creek and the town of John Day and in the North Fork up to Monument. * The Imnaha, Grande Ronde and Wallowa rivers are all producing steelhead at catch rates better than KRXUVD¿VK BULL PRAIRIE RESERVOIR: rainbow and brook trout 5HPDLQV RSHQ WR ¿VK- ing all year. The reservoir is frozen but proceed with caution as the ice may be too thin to support anglers. Approximately 200 tro- phy rainbow trout were stocked last fall and should SURYLGH ¿VKLQJ DOO ZLQWHU Brook trout are also avail- able. GRANDE RONDE RIVER: steelhead Steelhead anglers on the Grande Ronde contin- ue to be successful with a variety of gear types. A healthy proportion of two VDOW ¿VK KDV UHVXOWHG LQ a large average size this year. So, expect a few larg- HU¿VKDQGVRPHVFUHDPLQJ drags! Remember, only DGLSRVH¿Q FOLSSHG UDLQ- bow trout may be retained and all bull trout must be released unharmed. HOLLIDAY PARK POND: rainbow trout Remains open all year. The pond is now free of ice. Carryover trout are being caught and should provide fair angling until stocking occurs in April. IMNAHA RIVER: steelhead The Imnaha is in great VKDSH WR FDWFK ¿VK :LWK the current weather it’s a great time to catch a steelhead while getting sunburned. Fishing will continue to produce into the season-ender on April 15. Don’t forget to try Big 6KHHS&UHHNWRRZKLOH¿VK move toward the hatchery facility. Flow data for the Imnaha can be found on the Idaho Power website. NORTHEAST ZONE HUNTING OPEN: COUGAR Wolves are protected by state law and it is unlaw- ful to shoot them. Coyote hunters in northeastern Oregon need to take extra care to identify their target as wolves can look like coyotes, especially wolf pups in the mid-summer and fall. Please report any wolf sightings or wolf sign WR /D *UDQGH RI¿FH 963-2138 or online with the Wolf Reporting Form. Use the Oregon Hunt- ing Map to see where to hunt. UMATILLA COUNTY Bears will be distribut- ed in forested stringer areas throughout the mid eleva- tions. Low to mid elevation forest roads are accessi- ble from numerous access points throughout the coun- ty, thus providing an earlier opportunity for scouting those mid elevations for up- coming spring bear season. Foraging bears can be ob- served by glassing open hill slopes with a south/south- western aspect. Earlier in the season bears can be observed throughout the day. Bear numbers will begin to in- crease towards last half of April and should persist until the end of the sea- son. Hunters are reminded all bears are required to be checked in within ten days of harvest. Turkeys are scattered throughout the forested areas of Umatilla Coun- ty, look for turkeys along ridge tops crossing between drainages. Listen for gob- bling turkeys within early hours of daylight from atop high elevation spots above those drainages. Less than average snow levels may provide earlier access to mid and upper elevations. Cougar are well distrib- uted in forested areas of the Walla Walla, Mt. Emily and Ukiah units. Hunters will KDYH EHVW VXFFHVV E\ ¿QG- ing a fresh naturally made kill and sitting on it, or by using predator calls. Some success has come from fol- lowing tracks until the cou- gar is located. Coyote are numerous throughout the county, and hunters should have good success calling. Remember to ask permission before hunting on private lands. NORTHEAST ZONE WILDLIFE VIEWING UMATILLA COUNTY Spring like conditions through January and Feb- ruary have provided early green up in mid elevations along the Blue Mountains. Deer and elk are distribut- ed throughout the mid and upper elevations foraging on early green-up of annual grasses. Large groups of elk can be viewed for the next few weeks during early and late hours of daylight. These groups will be on or near the boundary of the Forest Service intermin- gled between open grass slopes and timbered drain- ages. Deer will be more widespread and dispersed in smaller groups amongst the low to mid elevations. Bears will be distributed in similar areas of the Blue Mountains and are many different colors other than black and provide a unique viewing opportunity. Migratory birds are mi- grating north and have been observed in the low to mid elevations habitat of the County. Federal, State and Tribal wildlife areas and refuges and public road ac- cess throughout the county provide good viewing op- portunities for Ferruginous, Rough-legged, Red tailed, Coopers and Swainsonís hawks, along with both Bald and Golden eagles. Riparian and wooded cor- ridors and large grassland areas can also provide good viewing opportunity for Warblers, Robins and Spar- rows. SAM BARBEE PHOTO Hermiston senior Jay Lindeman is tagged with a pitch from Ridgeview’s JT Edmonson during the second inning of the Ravens’ 9-4 win Tuesday at Armand Larive Middle School. Lindeman went 3-3 and reached base all four plate appearances. BULLDOGS: continued from page A7 Bulldogs pay. Shade Gritz relieved Robles and al- lowed consecutive singles to Bryce Barker and Even Remick. Then the wheels came off. Second baseman Mi- kami committed consec- utive errors that allowed both Barker and Remick to score, and then Garret Dewolf and Collin Run- ge reached on errors and scored on wild pitches. BASKETBALL: continued from page A7 Those three losses turned into fuel for the Bulldogs, which they capitalized on. “What crossed my mind was: We just lost to the top-ranked team in 6A, and lost to Kami- akin, who should be one of the top teams in Wash- ington, and we should’ve won both games,” Hoffert said. “Being here and be- ing with this team as long TIGERS: base plus slugging of 1.140. His on-base percentage was .569. He led the team in runs scored with 41 and was third in hit by pitches with 12. In 62 chances in WKH¿HOGKHPDGHMXVWWKUHH errors. ³+H¶V D ¿YHWRRO JX\´ Johnson said. Johnson also pointed out Grogan, who was the ev- eryday third baseman last year. The lanky sophomore ¿JXUHVLQDWWKLUGDJDLQWKLV year, when he isn’t pitch- ing, but will again man WKHKRWFRUQHUDQG¿OOLQDW shortstop when Flores is on the bump. Grogan was named a second-team all league performer last sea- VRQ DIWHU OHDGLQJ 6WDQ¿HOG in batting average (.419), RBIs (34) and hits (36). Johnson said Allen, who was largely a junior varsity players for three years, has continued to develop and has the inside track to the catcher spot this year. The biggest thing for 6WDQ¿HOG WKLV \HDU LV EDO- SPORTS balance throughout the order and on the pitching staff. Echo is full of leadership and grit, and the Cougars showed it off in a 15-4 drubbing of Heppner Monday. I like that Cougars WHDP7KH\¶UHÀ\LQJXQGHU the radar in 3A, and I think they’re gonna jump up and nip some people. There will be much more to come about track, golf, tennis and lacrosse in the near future. I’m just pumped to be thinking about baseball again. Here’s to a great spring. —Sam Barbee is the sports reporter for the Hermiston Herald and can be reached at (541) 564-4542 or sbarbee@ hermistonherald.com continued from page A7 week, as a player to watch. The sophomore speed- ster will do just about ev- erything on the diamond. Johnson said he’ll play cen- WHU ¿HOG ZKHUH KH FDQ UXQ down almost everything in 6WDQ¿HOG¶V VSDFLRXV RXW- ¿HOG +H¶OO SOD\ VRPH VHF- ond base, and he’ll catch and pitch. He’s a classic utility player, who can hit for power and average at the leadoff spot, Johnson said. As a freshman, Monkus KLWRQKLVZD\WRD¿UVW team all-league selection and had an impressive on- continued from page A7 players are sophomores — Dylan Grogan, Thyler Monkus and Tony Flores, and the Tigers have good Before they knew it, the Bulldogs were down 4-3. Hermiston tied it up in the fifth after Gossler doubled down the right field line, Gritz sacri- ficed him to second and Lucas Tolan singled him home. Tolan, though, was thrown out at second try- ing to stretch his bloop single into a double, kill- ing Hermiston’s rally and swinging the momentum back to Ridgeview. Ridgeview’s four runs in the sixth came on six hits — all singles — with sent nine guys to the plate. The frame was ended when Runge was thrown out at the plate by Robles in left, but it was too little too late for Hermiston. The Bulldogs couldn’t get anything go- ing in the sixth or sev- enth, sending just seven hitters to the plate in the final two innings. Hermiston heads to Pasco for a 5 p.m. date today with the Bulldogs, and Hawkins said simply the focus is on mental preparedness. “We’ll be ready to play tomorrow,” he said. as I have, the panic button really never pushed more me. It was gonna be OK. I knew we were gonna be fine, but we still had to convince the girls of that.” The Hermiston girls were quickly con- vinced as they rattled off 11-straight wins before losing to Sunnyside and reeled off 13-straight be- fore the state title game. Hermiston now finds itself among a small, se- lect group of teams that compete each and every season for a state cham- pionship. Right now, the list is three: Hermiston, La Salle and Corvallis. Those are Hermiston’s ri- vals, Hoffert said. “Pendleton’s not a ri- val,” Hoffert said. “When you beat somebody that many times, it’s not a ri- valry anymore.” With its foundation and its core returning next year, Hoffert expects his girls will again play for a state title. Now, however, they have a hunger to re- turn. ance. There won’t be drop RIILQWKHRUGHUDIWHUWKH¿UVW IRXURU¿YHKLWWHUV-RKQVRQ said. He said Jason Fitzpat- rick could surprise people with the bat. Lefty Klay Jenson had a good summer, too, and has put himself LQ WKH FRQYHUVDWLRQ DW ¿UVW base. Sophomore Hunter Barnes earned himself at- bats with his summer, as well. “I think we’ll have some other guys kind of surprise us, as well, who had good summers,” Johnson said.