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WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2016 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9 Herald Sports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Carter makes Bulldogs falter late against Bears history with BMCC By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer Hermiston High School senior Tyra Car- ter has dreamt of playing soccer at the collegiate level ever since she was 7 years old. On April 29, Carter’s dream came true — and she also made history in doing so. Carter signed her Na- tional Letter of Intent to play soccer for Blue Mountain Community College, becoming the irst-ever recruit to sign with the brand-new pro- gram as it prepares to kick off its inaugural season in the fall of 2016. Carter said she is very excited for the opportunity. “It feels pretty good and it’s deinitely a big oppor- tunity,” Carter said. “This whole team will be a part of history no matter what, and it’s cool to be a part of it.” Aside from Blue Moun- tain, Carter was actively recruited by numerous schools from the Paciic Northwest including Co- lumbia Basin, Linield College, and Walla Wal- la Community College. Carter said that she irst developed interest in Blue Mountain when she found out the school was starting a women’s soccer team, and then she became set- tled on the school once she took her visit. “I always knew I want- ed to be close to home,” she said. “(Blue Mountain) was so welcoming, the campus was nice, and it just felt like a family.” Carter says she will enroll in Business Man- agement courses at Blue CONTRIBUTED PHOTO COURTE- SY OF BLAINE GANVOA Hermiston senior Tyra Carter, right, poses along with Blue Mountain soccer coach Art Mota, left, after Carter became the irst recruit in Blue Mountain history to sign with the women’s soccer program on Friday in Hermiston. Mountain as she aims to complete a business de- gree. Hermiston’s varsi- ty soccer coach Danielle Turner said she was happy to see Carter continuing on with the sport. “It’s always nice to see as a coach, because a lot of kids don’t get that oppor- tunity,” Turner said. “But (Tyra) was always a hard worker and she was will- ing to do whatever it took for the team.” The Timberwolves pro- gram oficially kicks off the season on Aug. 1 with the teams’ irst practice un- der head coach Art Mota. Carter — who will slot in as a forward on the Tim- berwolves roster — said Mota is the type of coach she thinks she can excel under. “He just seems like a really nice coach, but also determined to make us better,” she said. “He lets us know that he wouldn’t give up on us or the team. I was really sold after meet- ing with him.” Consistency has plagued the Hermiston Bulldogs lacrosse team all season long. The Bulldogs have had tremendous performanc- es in singular quarters or halves of games, and they have pieced together a few good wins here and there, but they have rarely been able to put together complete performances for a significant period of time. It was the same story for the team on Saturday afternoon, as the Bulldogs consistency fell apart late to lead to a 20-9 defeat at the hands of the Central Valley Bears at Kennison Field. It was the second loss of the season to the Bears, as the Bulldogs fell 10-6 on Mar. 22 in Spokane. Hermiston coach Jacob Arnold said it was the de- tails of the team’s game that led to their downfall on Saturday. “We need to clean up the little things like penalties,” he said. “We played a lot of the game a man down today and if we can clean up that area then we’re just as good as anybody else.” Hermiston finished the game with 16 penalties — nine of which came in the second and fourth quar- ters when the Bulldogs struggled most. “We just weren’t play- ing together like we need- ed to,” said Hermiston junior Tucker Salinas. “We need to keep up our consistency and be able to play all four quarters.” The Bulldogs had some extra adrenaline running through them to start the game, as the team was ex- STAFF PHOTO BY ERIC SINGER Hermiston’s Mark Mejia (2) sprints past the Central Valley defense during Hermiston’s 20-9 loss on Saturday at Kennison Field in Hermiston. cited to be playing on the artificial turf playing sur- face at Kennison Field. “It was awesome,” said Salinas. “The footing is better and you don’t have to worry so much about twisted ankles.” The turf surface also changed the pace-of-play on Saturday, which the Bulldogs felt played into their strength of speed. “It makes the game so much faster because no grass it’s harder to scoop,” said Hermiston sophomore Jake Palmer. “And also the ball rolls a lot more so you have to run more.” That adrenaline turned into an instant reward when the game started for the Bulldogs, as they scored the first goal of the game on a close shot from sophomore Luke Walchi just over two minutes in for the early 1-0 lead. Hermiston scored once more in the quarter, when Brady Christiansen scooped up the ball off a missed Central Valley shot and sprinted down the field, diced through the Bears defense and beat the goalie to tie the game at 2-2 with just 37 seconds left in the quar- ter. But in the second quar- ter the Bulldogs hit a bit of a lull, as the Bears swung the momentum in their favor and outscored Hermiston 7-2 in the quarter to jump out to a 9-4 lead by halftime. The halftime break proved to be effective for the Bulldogs, as they made some adjustments with their offensive and defensive as- signments and turned that into four goals scored with- in the irst six minutes of the third quarter. The first two goals came from the stick of Salinas, as he played to his strengths and ripped a pair of goals from 20 yards out past the Bears goalie at the 10:42 mark and 8:52 mark of the quarter. “I’m more of an up- top shooter, I like to wind up and just rip it,” Sali- nas said of his two third quarter goals. He finished with three goals on the day to lead the Bulldogs, as well as winning 14-27 (52 percent) of face-offs in the game. Later in the quarter Hermiston cut the deficit back to three on a close- range goal from Wal- chi with an assist from Bradlee Guisti that put the score at 11-8 and had the Bulldogs feeling the momentum. However, that was as close as Hermiston would get. Central Valley won the ensuing face-off and ran right down the field and put one past Hermis- ton goalie Beau Blake in just nine seconds for the 12-8 lead. From there, Central Valley scored four un- answered goals to bump their lead to 16-8 before Walchi found the net again for Hermiston — his third of the game — with 7:47 left to make it a 16-9 game. But the Bears did not let up, peppering the Bulldogs with four more goals over the final six-plus minutes to seal the victory. It was another frustrat- ing loss for the Bulldogs, marking the fifth time in their eight losses they have lost by double dig- its. “Our team after a few goals lets it get to our heads,” Palmer said, “And we never recover which is one thing we have to work on is recovering in our mental game.” Hermiston has just two games left on the season, and next up is the final home game on Wednes- day against Southridge (WA) at 5:30 p.m. at Sun- set Elementary. Runners participate in Butte Challenge to benefit cross country program More than 130 people participated in the 2016 Butte Challenge on Satur- day to raise money for the cross country program at Hermiston High School. According to event co- ordinator Jeanne Jewett, said the event raised about $3,100. The top runner on Sat- urday in the 10 kilometer race was Joe Hodge, 51, of Hermiston, who inished in a time off 44 minutes, 5 seconds. Angie Treadwell, 40, of Hermiston inished with the second fastest time in the 10K, which also made her the top female inisher at 45 minutes, 31 seconds. In the 5K run, Erik Ramirez, 21, of Othello, STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST Runners take off from the starting line for the 2016 Butte Challenge in Hermiston on Saturday, May 7. There were 138 entrants in the event on Saturday. Washington, inished irst with a time of 20 minutes, 38 seconds. The top female inisher in the 5K was Kelsey Trot- ter, 23, of Hermiston, with a time of 24 minutes, 54 seconds. In the 5K walk, Tamara Bock, 56, of Hermiston had the top time of 34 min- utes, 32 seconds. The top male walker was Matthew Lidrich, 48, of Hermiston who completed the course in 37 minutes and 55 sec- onds. According to event or- ganizers, there were a total of 138 entrants. For a list to complete, unoficial results, go to www.buttechallenge.com and click on the “Results” button. with a single up the middle and Kylie Hinkley brought both of them around to score on a line drive to center. Hinkley would later score on a two-out single by Rebecca Engelbrecht, who was then driven in on a single by Ellery Jones. Naylor, who came on to relieve Almaguer in the sixth, got two quick outs in the seventh before back-to- back errors put runners on second and third. Naylor ended the game with her second strikeout, though. Alamaguer, Barron and Hinkley all batted 2 for 3 to lead Hermiston, which inishes up the regular sea- son on Friday when it hosts Pendleton at 4:30 p.m. ——— Hermiston 5 — The Herm- iston Bulldogs fell one-run short of earning a second straight win over the de- fending Class 5A state champion Hood River Val- ley Eagles on Monday at Hood River. The Bulldogs were leading 5-2 in the seventh inning, but couldn’t quite hold off the Eagles, falling 6-5. Hermiston, which is locked into second place in the CRC, concludes the league schedule Friday at 4:30 p.m. against Pendleton at Armand Larive Middle School. The OSAA play-in round is scheduled for May 20. ——— slam, and drove in sev- en runs to lead the Dufur Rangers to a non-league win over Riverside on Monday. Wayne Killion hit a three-run home run that gave Riverside (3-19) a 5-3 lead in the second inning, but Dufur (9-13) began the bottom of the frame with a single, a walk and then loaded the bases on a Riv- erside error to set up Keev- er’s grand slam. Killion (2 for 3) inished with ive RBI and Andruw Sorensen went 2 for 3 with two runs and two RBI for the Pirates. Riverside ends its season Wednesday against Mac-Hi at 4:30 p.m. ——— Ione’s Kai Arbo- gast didn’t drop a set at the Special District 4 Sub-District tournament and won the boys’ singles title 6-0, 6-0 over Uma- tilla’s Gio Madrigal on Monday at Tri-City Court Club. Arbogast wasn’t the only Cardinal claiming a title though, and the dou- bles team of Bryan Fowl- er and Daichi Walters beat Weston-McEwen’s Caleb Olson and Ryan Schmidtgall 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 for the doubles champi- onship. That gave Ione the team title as well with 33 points. Mac-Hi was second with 17. The top four placers in singles and doubles advanced to the district tournament on Friday in Ontario. Sherman’s Meghan Belshe beat Umatilla’s Sidney Webb 6-3, 6-2 for the girls’ singles title, and Stanfield’s Yazzmin and Guitzell Chavez defeat- ed Mac-Hi’s Jacky Reyes and Maria Castillo 6-1, 6-2 for the doubles cham- pionship. ——— ROUNDUP Hermiston softball uses big seventh to beat Hood River The Hood River Eagles broke the seal on a score- less tie in the bottom of the sixth inning, only to see the Hermiston Bulldogs respond in a big way in the top of the seventh for a 6-2 win on Monday in Colum- bia River Conference play. The win snapped a four- game losing streak and clinched a state play-in game for the Bulldogs (14- 11, 5-6 CRC). M. Kopacz began Herm- iston’s at-bat in the seventh with a walk and was fol- lowed by S. Stefani with a single. Julissa Almaguer then attempted to bunt them both over, but Hood River (10-14, 3-8) took the out at third. That didn’t matter to Breanna Naylor, who then hit both runners in with a double to tie the score 2-2. Amanda Barron followed R H E HHS 000 000 6 — 6 12 2 HRV 000 002 0 — 2 4 0 J. Almaguer, B. Naylor (6) and J. Hinkley. H. McNerney, J. Castaneda (5) and Z. Munn. W — Naylor. L — McNerney. 2B — R. Engelbrecht, B. Naylor (HHS); M. Vallejo (HRV). BASEBALL Hood River Valley 6, R H E HHS 021 200 0 — 5 8 1 HRV 110 000 4 — 6 9 1 Tyler Sexton, Chase Root (7) and Slade Gritz. Patrick Harvey, Isaiah Enriquez (5) and Adam Cameron. W — Enriquez. L — Sexton. 2B — T. Sexton (HHS). DUFUR 21, RIVER- SIDE 9 (5 innings) — At Dufur, Bailey Keever hit two home runs, one a grand R H E RHS 051 12 — 9 7 6 DHS 381 54 — 21 15 4 D. Bingaman, A. Corpus (2), W. Killion (5) and S. Bither. T. McLaughlin, L. Red Cloud (2), H. Clapham (4) and H. Clapham. W — Red Cloud. L — Bingaman. 2B — C. Uhalde, K. Balos 2, C. Crawford, T. McLaughlin, T. Masterson (DHS). HR — W. Killion (RHS); B. Keever 2 (DHS). TENNIS SD4 Sub-District Results Boys Team Scores — Ione 33, Mac-Hi 17, Riverside 16, Weston-McEwen 15, Umatilla 14, Helix 7, Sherman 5, Stan- field 3, Condon/Wheeler 0. Girls Team Scores — Mac-Hi 29, Sherman 23, Stanfield 16, Umatilla 12, Condon/Wheeler 9, Riverside 6, Weston-McEwen 6, Ione 5, Helix 4. Boys Singles Semifinals: Kai Arbogast (Ione) def. Deazen Zerba (Mac-Hi) 6-1, 6-1 Semifinals: Gio Madrigal (Umatilla) def. Erik Jones (Helix) 6-1, 6-0 Third Place: Zerba (Mac-Hi) def. Jones (Helix) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 First Place: Arbogast (Ione) def. Madri- gal (Umatilla) 6-0, 6-0 Girls Singles Semifinals: Sidney Webb (Umatilla) def. Paige Ackerman (C/W) 6-4, 6-0 Semifinals: Meghan Belshe (Sherman) def. Elise Griffith (Mac-Hi) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 Third Place: Griffith (Mac-Hi) def. Acker- man (C/W) 6-3, 6-4 First Place: Belshe (Sherman) def. Webb (Umatilla) 6-3, 6-2 Boys Doubles Semifinals: Fowler/Walters (Ione) def. Bedolla/Gonzales (Riverside) 6-4, 6-2 Semifinals: Olson/Schmidtgall (W-M) def. Thompson/Altamarino (Riverside) 6-3, 6-3 Third Place: Bedolla/Gonzales (Riverside) def. Thompson/Altamarino (Riverside) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 First Place: Fowler/Walters (Ione) def. Olson/Schmidtgall (W-M) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 Girls Doubles Semifinals: Chavez/Chavez (Stanfield) def. Kaseberg/Rubio (Sherman) 6-0, 6-4 Semifinals: Reyes/Castillo (Mac-Hi) def. Rodriguez/Cuellar (Mac-Hi) 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 Third Place: Rodriguez/Cuellar (Mac-Hi) def. Kaseberg/Rubio (Sherman) First Place: Chavez/Chavez (Stanfield) def. Reyes/Castillo (Mac-Hi) 6-1, 6-2