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
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“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
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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-
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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
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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.
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match for the Vikings, who have
a number of both returning tennis
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Meade said there is excitement
surrounding the program, which
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winning season.
RECREATION REPORTS
Reports from the Or-
egon Department of Fish
and Wildlife:
FISHING
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tunities:
• Steelhead continue to
enter the Umatilla River in
record numbers, and an-
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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
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BULL
PRAIRIE
RESERVOIR: rainbow
and brook trout
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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
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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
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a large average size this
year. So, expect a few larg-
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drags! Remember, only
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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
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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
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errors.
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Johnson said.
Johnson also pointed out
Grogan, who was the ev-
eryday third baseman last
year. The lanky sophomore
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year, when he isn’t pitch-
ing, but will again man
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shortstop when Flores is
on the bump. Grogan was
named a second-team all
league performer last sea-
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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
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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
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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-
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down almost everything in
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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
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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
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said. He said Jason Fitzpat-
rick could surprise people
with the bat. Lefty Klay
Jenson had a good summer,
too, and has put himself
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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.