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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2017)
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2017 Herald Sports Tigers perfect in Game 1, sweep Weston-McEwen STANFIELD — The Stanfield Tigers welcomed the Weston-McEwen Ti- gerScots to Madigan Field for a doubleheader on Sat- urday and sent the Tiger- Scots back to Athena with a pair of losses. In Game 1, Stan- field’s Dylan Grogan and Ryan Bailey combined to throw a five-inning, per- fect game on the mound and the Tiger (4-1) bats backed them up well for a 13-0 victory. Grogan start- ed the game and tossed 58 pitches in four complete innings, striking out 11 TigerScots while Bailey threw a perfect fifth in- ning with one strikeout. In Game 2, Weston-McEwen bat- tled throughout the early stages of the game, but the combination of Stan- field’s offense and own defensive miscues led to a 12-run fourth inning to lead Stanfield to an 18-4 victory. The Tigers offense belted 25 hits between the two games and seven of the starters had at least two hits. Tony Flores had perhaps the most pro- ductive day going 5 for 8 with three runs scored and seven RBI, while Brody Woods went 4 for 8 with three runs and four RBI. Thyler Monkus had a team-high six runs scored from his lead-off spot in the lineup. Woods started Game 2 on the mound for Stanfield and threw 65 pitches over three innings and allowed four hits, four runs (two earned) with six strike- outs. Klay Jenson pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts and just one walk allowed. Stanfield will travel to The Dalles on Thurs- day for a doubleheader with Jefferson starting at Noon. Hermiston wins big at Track Classic Hermiston boys, girls each earn team wins By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer PENDLETON — Twenty five high school track teams from across Eastern Oregon and south- east Washington descend- ed on Pendleton High School for the 26th annu- al Buck Track Classic on Thursday afternoon, most of which were competing for the first time in the 2017 season. It was the largest group of competitors in the event’s history, ac- cording to Pendleton assistant coach Nicole Stewart, which made for a great — and long — day of competition for the local athletes. The athletes were also lucky that Mother Nature de- cided to be kind to them, after rainy weather earli- er in the week gave way to clear skies and sunny weather for the meet. “I was a little scared earlier (in the week), but thankfully the sun opened up,” Hermiston’s Ty- ler Rohrman said of the weather. “I’m just glad we’re running in the sun.” Out of the 25 teams, the Hermiston Bulldogs walked away as team champions in both the girls and boys events with the help of a strong perfor- mance in the sprint events and in the field events on Thursday. On the girls side, Herm- iston earned a whopping 164.42 points which was way ahead of second place Nyssa (80.42) and third place Pendleton (54.84). And for the boys, Herm- iston won with 141 points while La Grande followed in second with 115 points, Weston-McEwen (59) fin- ished third and Pendleton (52.5) in fourth. Rohrman, who won the boys 100 meter hurdles by more than half a sec- ond with a time of 15.33, said that competing in a meet with 25 teams early in the season can pay big dividends for the athletes. “It helps you really get into track season,” he said. “You go to a dual meet and it’s just two teams, it goes by really fast, but here it teaches you to manage your body, your time and to know when to warm up. “And to deal with the atmosphere because this is totally different with a lot more people here watch- ing and it’s a lot of what we’ll deal with later in the season.” ———— Hermiston winners Boys 100 meters — Alexis Mercado (Herm- iston) — 11.55 1500 meters — Isaac Sanchez (Hermis- ton) — 4:17.50 110 meter hurdles — Tyler Rohrman (Hermiston) — 15.33 4x100 Relay — Hermiston (Garcia, Rohrman, Earl, Mercado) — 44.49 Shot put — Elias Arenas (Hermiston) — 47-11.00 Triple jump — Hiram Maciel (Hermis- ton) — 38-08.50 Girls 100 meters — Scout Reagan (Hermis- ton) — 12.90 200 meters — Audrey Lincoln (Hermis- ton) — 27.25 400 meters — Elsa Torres (Hermiston) — 1:03.62 100 meter hurdles — Madison Wilson (Hermiston) — 15.99 4x100 Relay — Hermiston (Wilson, Torres, Reagan, Lincoln) — 50.66 4x400 Relay — Hermiston (Fuentes, Ortiz, Reagan, Torres) — 4:20.99 Shot put — Maddy Juul (Hermiston) — 35-01.00 Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Bulldogs hold off Lava Bears HERMISTON — The Hermiston Bulldogs softball team is depending on several freshmen and sophomores to have big seasons in order to reach its goals in 2017. So for coach Kate Gree- nough, there was nothing better than seeing so many of her underclassmen come through big in support of junior Julissa Almaguer in a 4-1 win over Bend at Rocky Heights Elementary on March 29. Underclassmen account- ed for five of eight Herm- iston (2-2) hits, freshman Ashley Cameron was 2-for- 3 with two triples, and sev- eral players made key de- fensive plays to help hand the Lava Bears (4-1) their first loss of the season. Almaguer pitched a shutout through five in- nings and struck out four of the first six batters she faced, but found herself un- der pressure from the Lava Bears in the top of the sev- enth when an error on an in- field pop-up loaded the bas- es with one out and brought the batter representing the winning run to the plate. Despite the momentary lapse, though, Almaguer was able to rely on her de- fense to get out of the jam and freshman third base- man Sam Atilano caught a pop-up in foul territory, then corralled a hot ground- er in time to tag third for the force out to end the game. “We tried to make things exciting at the end there but they played defense and they kept pushing and they never gave up, and that’s what I like about this group,” Gree- nough said. “We’re young, but I have some really in- tense leadership. “Julissa just fights, she just keeps going and doesn’t give up. Pitching is hard, especially when you get into little pickles like that, or situations where the bases are loaded and you don’t know what happened. But she doesn’t give up, and it’s really settling I think to her infield, to her defense to know that they can trust her to keep fighting.” Gritty walk-off saves split Hermiston avoids doubleheader sweep against Mountain View By ERIC SINGER Staff writer HERMISTON — The Hermiston baseball team gathered at Armand Larive ball park on Monday, hop- ing to begin its spring break with a pair of wins as it hosted Mountain View for an afternoon doubleheader. However, the Bulldogs played sloppy in the first game, resulting in a 13-2 defeat and then stared at a 5-0 deficit after three com- plete innings of the second game, resulting in the pre- game hope shifting to un- easiness. And before Herm- iston came to bat in the fourth inning, senior Slade Gritz saw his teammates’ body language and realized he needed to step up and say something. “I called everyone to- gether in the dugout and said ‘We’re not going to lose two to this team,” Gritz recalled. “We have to figure it out and start putting the ball in play.” The meeting worked for the Bulldogs, as Hermiston began to chip away at the Mountain View lead and ended up winning the game 7-6 on a walk-off single by Gritz to split the double- header. Gritz came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out inning while tied at 6-6, and on the first STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Mountian View’s (4) dives back to first base as Hermiston’s Kody Moss attempts to make the tag in the Bulldogs’ 7-6 win against the Cougars on Monday in Hermiston. pitch he ripped a hit up into the wind that carried it over the Mountain View out- fielder’s head for the win. Mountain View (2-4) had intentionally walked Lukas Tolan to bring Gritz to the plate to make it a force out at home plate, which made Gritz deter- mined to end the game with a win for his team. “I remember as soon as they (Mountain View) said they’re going to put (Lu- kas) on I thought ‘Well, they messed up,” said Gritz, who finished 2 for 3 with three RBI in Game 2. “I just knew I needed to get my job done and he (the pitcher) threw a fast- ball right down the middle, made a mistake and I capi- talized on it.” Hermiston (2-2) was the ones making the mistakes in the first game, as the Bulldogs tallied six errors defensively while the pitch- ers put 12 Cougars on base via a walk and hit-by-pitch- es. And at the plate, Herm- iston managed just four hits, two of which came within the first two at-bats of the game. The Bulldogs were play- ing for the first time in 13 days, though Hermiston coach Lance Hawkins said that he hoped that hav- ing a break would allow the Bulldogs to be roaring and ready to go instead of showing rust. “We work really hard in practice and when I don’t see any of that hard work paying off, it’s a little dis- appointing,” Hawkins said. “We work on hitting the ball up the middle every day, and in the first game our first two guys did it and then we never did it again.” In Game 2, Hermiston got a much better effort from its pitchers as Brylee Dufloth started and Wyatt Noland finished it. Dufloth allowed four hits, five runs (four earned) and walked two in four innings, while Noland gave up one run and two hits in three innings to get the win. Hermiston heads to Keizer this weekend to take part in the Volcano Spring Break Tournament, and will play a doubleheader on Friday against Cleveland at 11:30 a.m. and then against Summit at 2 p.m. Bulldog Invitational proves to be mental game UMATILLA — With its straightforward layout and short fairways, Big River Golf Course proved decep- tively tough for participants at the Bulldog Invitational on a sunny Thursday by the banks of the Columbia. Without too many haz- ards, the players’ mental approach became amplified, and those that overlooked the par-70 course paid with high scores. No golfers broke par, and 75 was the lowest score to be turned in. Four golfers hit that mark as Pendleton’s Haley Greb won the girls’ title, and The Dalles’s Chase Snodgrass won a two-hole playoff against Hermiston’s Jared Thacker and Pendleton’s Na- than Som for the boys’ title. Snodgrass, a senior, hit par on both extra holes while Thacker and Som fell behind with bogeys as they replayed hole No. 1. “I felt like I did what I could with the game that I had today,” said Thacker, a senior. “I felt like I gave away some strokes, but that’s golf.” He said after the way his first tee shot went, he was pretty happy to shoot 75 on a day several players came into the clubhouse com- plaining about hard greens. “It could have been a bad day. I hit it out of bounds and I was like, ‘Aw shucks. Well, come turn it around.’ And that’s what I did,” he said. “We were prepared but my putting was a little off today, but I also made some pret- ty sweet ones. I was able to knock in (two) birdies which was pretty exciting for me.” Led by Snodgrass, Mark Felderman’s 77 and Tyler Vasser’s 79, The Dalles won the boys team title with a score of 314. Hermiston was second with 320, and Pend- leton was third with 325. Anders Lind shot 76 for the Bulldogs, and Hermis- ton coach Aaron Lind said it was a great way for his team to head into spring break. “We lost to The Dalles (Thursday) by six strokes, and we lost by 50 strokes a week ago to them at their place,” he said. “So it is a move in the right direction. … They’re motivated. I feel bad because I’ve got players that apologized, ‘I know I let you down.’ Hopefully we have a big spring break, we’re going to play some hard courses, and this is a positive that we can just run with.” Pendleton won the girls team title over Hermiston 377-400. Hermiston’s low score was a 93 by Grace Blackhurst. The next tournament on the schedule for the teams is at Wildhorse Golf Course on Monday, April 3. ——– Hermiston Scores BOYS — Jared Thacker 75, Anders Lind 76, Tyler Cameron 87, Augustus Blackhurst 87, Kayden Mecham 82. GIRLS — Sydney Adams 99, Lexie Lambert 114, Sonja Peterson 98, Grace Blackhurst 93, Makenzie Lind 110. Three goals in 29 seconds sink Bulldogs at home HERMISTON — The Hermiston lacrosse team stood just 50 seconds away from its first win of the sea- son, as it led the Hood River Eagles 6-5 until the Eagles began a furious final surge. The Eagles scored the ty- ing goal with 49.5 seconds left and then scored two more goals in a 28 second span to stun the Bulldogs with an 8-6 victory Friday night to spoil Hermiston’s home-opener at Kennison Field. “Fifty seconds,” Hermis- ton coach Jacob Arnold said after the game, shaking his head. “We played a solid four quarters and that was our battle last year to have a complete game, we just fell short tonight.” Hood River’s tying goal came with a man advan- tage as Hermiston (0-3) had a player in the penalty box, and Arnold said that a missed slide from one of the defenders is what opened up a lane for the Eagles’s Jack McCaffrey to slip towards the net and fire the ball into the net. Then Hood River (1-0) won the ensuing fa- ceoff and sped right down the field where Cale Brown zipped one into the net for the go-ahead goal with 32.5 seconds left. And the next faceoff went Hood River’s favor as well, just like last time, the Eagles went right down the field where Brown scored the final goal of the game with 21.6 seconds left to make it the final 8-6 score. “Winning the faceoffs gave them the man ad- vantage coming down the field,” Hermiston junior de- fender Jake Palmer said, “so when they have four guys against our three it’s kind of tricky for us to defend on the quick passes. And they had fast, crispy passes there and finished them pretty good.” While Hermiston did not get the result it wanted, they were more pleased with the overall effort put forth than in its two previous games against McNary and Rich- land (WA) where the Bull- dogs lost by a combined score of 27-12. “The first two games we weren’t completing basic passes,” Palmer said, “and I feel in this one we really came together and started to coordinate passes and coordinate the plays and it showed it’s starting to work.”
