APRIL 29, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
A6 WEDNESDAY,
SPORTS
PREP SOFTBALL • PREP BASEBALL• SCHEDULE
Rising
Bulldogs pluck Eagles
Betz leads
expectations Taylor
Hermiston to first
CRC win since 2013
P
rogress.
It’s a tough
thing to quantify.
Win-loss records can
show improvement.
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statistics can point to
improvements, or we
can simply use the eye
test: “Does this team
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year?”
There’s another way
to identify progress
that is a little tougher
to see from the
outside, however. It’s
expectations. Internal
expectations, that is.
Hermiston lacrosse
team head coach Scott
Hammond keeps talking
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playing up to their
potential, playing as
well as they can. He
said after Friday’s 10-1
win that if they play the
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a team like Summit, a
team that’s rolling to the
High Desert Division
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If they win and play
poorly, however, he’ll
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not looking for wins,
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expectations.
The Bulldogs
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every aspect of the game
Friday, from offense
to defense to scooping
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face.
Senior attackman
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after the win. After all,
his team has more wins
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a Bulldog. His team
is in the thick of the
playoff hunt, a concept
foreign to him and his
teammates.
But Davis was also
looking at what the
Bulldogs could have
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if it’s a little ironic that
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still focused on what
they can improve at,
where they can shave
some mistakes off and
leave a lean, aggressive
team and style.
“Hammond knows we
weren’t playing at our
level,” Davis responded.
“We played La Salle Prep
(last) Tuesday, and that
was a way more intense
game. It was down to the
wire, goal for goal in that
fourth quarter, and we
came out on top. So he
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this team.”
The internal
expectations have risen.
The players have shown
the coaching staff what
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to that standard. It’s
a sign the program is
moving from the depths.
Four years ago, Davis’
freshman year, the
Bulldogs didn’t win a
game. Four years later,
they’re in the playoff
hunt and shrugging off
SAM BARBEE
FROM THE SIDELINES
Sports reporter
BY SAM BARBEE
10-1 wins like they’re
nothing.
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a program that doesn’t
have much history
surrounding it. That’s a
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important it was to
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they’re looking at their
performances critically
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winning, scoring or
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The internal
expectations have risen.
But it’s not all
harping on perfection.
Hammond conceded
that sometimes athletes
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days. I’m sure Jesse
Owens had days where
he wasn’t the fastest
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that didn’t stop him from
dominating his events
at the 1936 Olympics
in Berlin. High school
athletes also have down
days. Perhaps Hermiston
had a down day Friday.
Hammond suggested it
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created.
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have our energy (Friday
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fought through that
adversity and still got it
done,” he said. “There’s
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It shows a lot of growth
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A lot of teams, when
they don’t have their
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give away a game like
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through that. I’m proud
of that, for sure.”
So two kinds of
progress are on display
here. First, the progress
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happy that “we” scored
more goals than “them.”
The Bulldogs are now
more focused on how
they’re playing during
wins than on merely
winning. It’s a culture-
changing mentality.
One more sign of
progress is just simply
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and more people are
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chairs to sit on the grass
at Sunset Elementary
and watch the Bulldogs.
“The program’s
moving in the right
direction,” Hammond
said. “We’re excited.
The kids are excited.
How many people (did)
we have out here? A
hundred? I mean, there
are a lot of people out
here. It says we’re
doing something right
and moving in the right
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what we’re doing here,
that we’re doing the
right things.”
Too right, coach. Too
right.
— Sam Barbee is
the Hermiston Herald
sports reporter. He can
be reached at sbarbee@
hermistonherald.com
HERMISTON HERALD
Hood River Valley’s
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the chest, an overt reference
to the school’s nickname —
the Eagles.
The Eagles’ wings were
clipped Tuesday, however,
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outing from Taylor Betz
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duction.
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nings, allowing just two
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Mikayla Kopacz went
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Hermiston all the runs it
would need. Ellery Jones
also chipped in with a two-
RBI single, and Ashley
Moser scored the 10th run
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Hermiston head coach
Kylee Lete was proud of
the offensive and defensive
effort in Hermiston’s (7-12,
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season and a half.
“The girls came out with
energy,” she said. “That’s
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day). We tell them all the
time, ‘We got the talent,’
and they just had it today.
They had the look in their
eye they weren’t going to
let anything go.”
“I think it was very im-
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was way overdue,” Betz
said of the win. “We knew
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team, and we knew what
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saying what we need to do,
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on it. (Tuesday), we just
said, ‘We need to get it
done,’ and we did.”
The win ends a frustrat-
ing stretch for Hermiston,
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portunities missed. Tues-
day, neither happened, and
most of it started with Betz
in the circle.
It was actually Hood
River who missed a major
opportunity. In the top of
the second, Betz plunked
Jenni Packer to open the
inning, and then Makena
Zeller reached when the
third strike found its way
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Packer time to take third.
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston’s Jaime Hinkley pulls the bat back on a bunt attempt during the Bulldogs’ 10-0 mer-
cy-rule win Tuesday over Hood River Valley at Rocky Heights Elementary.
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lin Winans, Zeller swiped
second, giving Hood River
runners at second and third
with no outs and no hits.
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She struck out Winans
swinging, coaxed an easy
foul-territory pop-out to
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kley, and then fanned Jessi-
ca DeHart to end the threat.
DeHart lined a hanging
change-up down the left
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chance to sneak another
change-up past the nine hit-
ter.
“It made me really dig
deep and know that I’m in
this position for a reason
and that my team has con-
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Betz said of that second in-
ning. “After that, I knew
myself and my team could
get out of any situation we
needed to.”
Hermiston had already
led at that point 2-0 thanks
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the second, however, with
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help from two Hood River
errors.
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singled with one out, and
then Hinkley struck out
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cruise across for a 3-0 lead.
An out later, Alex Bar-
ron walked, and two runs
scored when Hood Riv-
er shortstop Kelsey Wells
misplayed a sharp grounder
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er, Jones stung one into left
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Kopacz and putting Herm-
iston up 7-0.
The Bulldogs have had
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They carried a four-run lead
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enth at The Dalles and gave
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left-center fence with
two outs in the fourth for
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out. The Eagles had a
chance to extend the game
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the inning singled. Wells
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perfectly for the second
out. Betz tagged Breanna
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center, where the speedy
Moser coasted under it
and retired the side.
In the home half of the
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er scored an out later on a
wild pitch to send Hermis-
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston’s Taylor Betz
comes home with a delivery
during the Bulldogs’ 10-0
mercy-rule win over Hood
River Valley Tuesday at
Rocky Heights Elementary.
ton home happy.
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just got us riled up,” Kopacz
said. “From going what,
0-4, 0-5, to just 10-running
(Hood River), it just got
us so ready and pumped
for Friday ... I just think
it’s really starting us off.”
Hermiston hosts the Pend-
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header Friday at Rocky
Heights Elementary. First
pitch is set for 3 p.m.
———
HERMISTON 10,
HOOD RIVER
VALLEY 0 (5)
HRV
000
00 — 0 2 4
HHS
252
01 — 10 7 2
K. Winans, M. Zeller and Z. Munn; T. Betz and
J. Hinkley.
2B: K. Wells (HRV), M. Kopacz (HHS).
HRV soars past Hermiston
Larive Middle School.
Hermiston (8-9, 1-5 CRC)
has now lost four straight
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six overall.
The Bulldogs jumped on
BY SAM BARBEE
the
Eagles early, plating six
HERMISTON HERALD
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The Hermiston Bulldogs ¿UVW EXW WKH OHDG ZRXOGQ¶W
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then tied, then very far WKLUGDQG¿IWKLQQLQJVWRWLH
EHKLQG 7XHVGD\ LQ D ZLOG things at six and took the
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Hood River Valley.
ler Hunter.
The Eagles topped the
Hermiston responded
Bulldogs 18-9 at Armand with a two-out RBI sin-
Eagles plate 11 in
10th inning
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to plate Landon Gam-
mell and send the game
to extras, where the score
remained knotted at 7
until the top of the 10th
inning.
Then Hood River com-
pletely exploded. After Ea-
gles clean-up hitter Kellen
Duffy was ejected in the
ninth for saying something
to the umpire, his replace-
ment Riley Wilson tripled
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score three runs and open
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11 runs on 11 hits that in-
ning with 17 Eagles taking
turns at the plate.
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in the home half of the
tenth, closing the scoring at
18-9.
Hermiston visits De-
Sales (Washington) at 4:30
p.m. Thursday for a non-
league matchup and hosts
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the season. First pitch for
the War on 84 is set for 4
p.m.
GO SEE IT
Wednesday, April 29
Friday, May 1
Girls Golf
Hermiston @ Corvallis, 8 a.m.
Boys Golf
Hermiston @ Hood River, 10 a.m.
Track and Field
Hermiston @ Viking-Grizzly-Knight-Bulldog Invita-
tional @ Kennison Stadium, 4 p.m.
Umatilla @ Viking-Grizzly-Knight-Bulldog Invitation-
al @ Kennison Stadium, 4 p.m.
Tennis
Hermiston girls @ Bend Tournament, 1:30 p.m.
Umatilla @ Ione, 12 p.m.
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Softball
Hermiston vs. Pendleton (DH), 3 p.m.
Umatilla vs. Riverside (DH), 1 p.m.
Baseball
Hermiston vs. Pendleton (DH), 4 p.m.
Umatilla vs. Riverside (DH), 1 p.m.
6WDQ¿HOGYV1\VVD'+SP
Thursday, April 30
Tennis
Umatilla @ Helix, 4 p.m.
Softball
Echo vs. Weston-McEwen, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 2
Girls Tennis
Hermiston @ Bend Tournament, TBD
Umatilla @ Helix Tournament @ Hermiston, 10 a.m.
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Boys Tennis
Hermiston @ Madras Tournament, 9 a.m.
Umatilla @ Helix Tournament @ Hermiston, 10 a.m.
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Track and Field
Hermiston @ Central Valley (Spokane, Wash.), 9 a.m.
Echo @ Portland Christian @ 1A Track Classic (quali-
¿HUDP
Echo @ Joseph, 1 p.m.
Lacrosse
Hermiston vs. Mountain View, 3 p.m.
Softball
(FKRYV1\VVD#(FKR7RXUQDPHQWSP
Golf
Echo @ Union @ Buffalo Peaks, 10 a.m.