A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017
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Rivalry split Gritz happy to stay home
Bucks, Dawgs
each win one
By ERIC SINGER
Staff writer
HERMISTON — Any
time Pendleton and Herm-
iston teams meet up for a
sporting event, it is sure to
be an action-packed clash
between the geographic
rivals.
Friday’s battle on the
baseball diamond be-
tween the Bulldogs and
Buckaroos was just that,
as the both teams came in
trying to climb the ladder
to the top of the Columbia
River Conference with the
season beginning to wind
down. Pendleton and
Hermiston battled back-
and-forth in a doublehead-
er at Armand Larive ball
park, and for the most part
neither team was able to
really have a comfortable
advantage.
At the end of the day,
each team walked away
with a victory as the Bull-
dogs defended their home
turf in Game 1 with a 10-5
victory and Pendleton ral-
lied time and time again in
Game 2 to cement a 10-8
victory. The split leaves
Hermiston (9-12, 3-5
CRC) and Pendleton (7-
14, 3-5) in a three-way tie
with The Dalles for sec-
ond place in the CRC.
Hermiston
certainly
had its chances in Game 2
to seal down a win for the
sweep, holding a three-run
lead early and a two-run
lead in the sixth inning,
however the Bulldogs
couldn’t keep the Bucks
down. Bulldogs coach
Lance Hawkins said that
while he would have
loved two victories, he
was pretty satisfied with
the way his team played.
“I told the guys before
that at the end of the day
if we can look at ourselves
and say we tried our best
and worked hard it doesn’t
matter what the outcome
is,” Hawkins said, “and
I really think we did that
today. That’s two teams
that are pretty compatible
squaring off and we just
fell a little short in the sec-
ond game.”
Pendleton coach T.J.
Haguewood was ecstatic
the Buckaroos were able
to find a way to win Game
2.
“We had our backs up
against the wall about
five times I think and we
battled back again and
again,” he said. “Credit to
Hermiston, though, they
pounded and pounded and
kept putting pressure on
us and it was a good see-
saw battle, what you’d ex-
pect from a rivalry game.”
The Buckaroos break-
through in Game 2 came
in the sixth inning which
started with back-to-back
walks by Chris Large and
Wyatt Morris. That set up
a bunt attempt by Shaw
Jerome, which was layed
down perfectly but an er-
rant throw to first from
Hermiston catcher Slade
Gritz allowed two runs
to score to tie the game at
8-8 and Jerome ended up
at second base.
Next batter up was
Nick Bower, who dropped
in a flare into shallow
right field for his third hit
of the game to bring in Je-
rome for a 9-8 lead.
Jerome gave the Buck-
aroos an insurance run in
the seventh inning, when
he ripped an RBI single
into right field to bring
home Parker Smith to
make it a 10-8 game. After
the game, Jerome said that
being able to get the win
really showed who they
are as a team.
“It was a big mental test
to see who we are and we
came out and sprayed the
ball around and it was a
good comeback,” Jerome
said. “We’ve been saying
we’re made of iron, so we
showed it and kept bat-
tling back.”
The junior outfielder
had an incredible day at
the plate for Pendleton,
going a combined 6 for 8
on the day with a triple, a
double, five RBI, two runs
scored and two stolen bas-
es from his No. 2 spot in
the lineup.
“I was seeing the ball
pretty well today,” Jerome
said wearing a big smile.
“I was getting some extra
hacks at practice with the
coaches and I think that
helped.”
“He’s a catalyst for us
for sure,” Haguewood
said of Jerome. “He’s al-
ways doing something
dynamic on the field and
today it was great to see
him break out and smack
some balls around, some
of them the hardest he’s
hit all year ... he found a
groove and capitalized on
it.”
Large pitched the last 2
2/3 innings of Game 2 for
Pendleton and slammed
the door shut on Hermis-
ton’s offense, as he gave
up just one hit and zero
runs in relief of starter
Ryan Russell. And on a
day where the pitchers
on both sides struggled to
get outs, Haguewood said
what Large was able to do
was crucial for the Bucks.
“We preach throwing
strikes and letting the de-
fense work behind you
and I thought Chris came
in and did a great job,”
Haguewood said. “He
threw strikes, kept the ball
down and beared down
when we need it.”
But Hermiston’s of-
fense feasted on Pendleton
pitching in Game 1, as the
Bulldogs smacked 10 hits
to get their 10 runs. The
Bulldogs wasted no time
getting the offense going,
as Joel Mendez started
the first inning with a
walk and two batters later
Wyatt Noland dropped a
single into center field to
score Mendez for a 1-0
lead. An RBI groundout
by Cole Campbell made
it a 2-0 lead after one in-
ning.
When Pendleton tied
the game at 2-2 in the sec-
ond with the help of two
Bulldog errors, Herm-
iston re-took the lead
in the third when Gritz
mashed a fastball deep to
left field for a solo home
run, his first of the season.
It added on in the fourth
on a Pendleton error and
an RBI single by Kaden
Caldwell and Hermiston
went to the sixth inning
with a 5-2 lead.
But once again Pend-
leton clawed its way back
with three runs in the sixth
with a two-RBI single by
Jerome and a wild pitch
to bring in Morris as the
Buckaroos tied the game
at 5-5.
But the tie was short-
lived. Hermiston de-
ployed some great plate
discipline against Pend-
leton pitcher Nick Lani,
working two walks in the
inning, tapping a pair of
infield singles and then
getting a timely two-RBI
single by Mendez to work
in five runs to boost up to
a 10-5 lead on the Buck-
aroos.
Offensive consistency
has hampered the Bull-
dogs at times this season,
and the Bulldogs were
able to string together a to-
tal of 21 hits with their 18
runs on the day which was
a pleasant sight for Haw-
kins but he knows there
is still work to be done.
“I’m very pleased,” he
said. “Of course, we had
a couple innings without
some competitive at-bats,
but we showed some
pretty good plate disci-
See SPLIT, A9
Hermiston catcher
signs with
BMCC baseball
By ERIC SINGER
Staff writer
Slade Gritz did not want
his baseball career to end in
high school.
But as the days of his se-
nior year of school began to
dwindle and his senior sea-
son churned away, Gritz was
left wondering if he would
get a chance to continue his
career in college. This sea-
son he not only improved
his hitting, but he further
entrenched himself as one of
the best defensive catchers in
the region.
Yet, the college offers
weren’t there. He had shared
some communication with
coaches and shown interest
in some programs, but that’s
as far as it had gotten.
Until one day, Blue
Mountain Community Col-
lege coach Brad Baker in-
vited Gritz out to a practice
See GRITZ, A9
PHOTO COURTESY OF HERMISTON ATHLETICS/LINDY THOMPSON
Hermiston senior Slade Gritz, second from right, receives
congratulations after signing a National Letter of Intent to play
baseball at Blue Mountain Community College next season
during a ceremony on Thursday at Hermiston High School.
T-WOLVES DOMINATE IN HERMISTON
BMCC extends
leads in
Northwest Region
Hermiston Herald
The Blue Mountain ro-
deo teams extended their
leads in the Northwest
Region with a dominant
three rounds in Hermiston
over the weekend.
The Timberwolves were
on top of their game on
Saturday to win the two-
round BMCC Rodeo at the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo are-
na at the former Umatilla
County Fairgrounds, and
the men’s team scored 695
points while the women
came in with 580.
Then in Sunday’s one-
round NW Region Rodeo
#6 the men pulled in a
whopping 1,109 points to
win again while the wom-
en were second with 460
to Treasure Valley.
After the weekend’s
action the Timberwolves
are ahead in the season
standings by more than
2,400 points on the wom-
en’s side and by more
than 1,600 on the men’s.
BMCC’s John Espe-
land leads the men’s all-
around standings, and he
was the all-around cow-
boy for Saturday’s action
with 300 points in saddle
bronc and bareback.
He won both events
with 78 points on one and
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Calvin Shaffer, of BMCC, scores 72 to win the saddle bronc
event Saturday at the Northwest Intercollegiate Rodeo Finals
in Hermiston.
123 on two, respectively.
The T-Wolves’ Quin-
cy Pendergrass won the
women’s all-around for
that rodeo with 345 points
in barrel racing and
breakaway roping. She
won the barrels in 35.12
seconds on two, and was
third in breakaway with
7.8 on two.
Also winning and
event Saturday was Pres-
ton Pederson in tie-down
roping with 19.5 on two
— he was third in steer
wrestling with 25.9 on
two.
Jessica Lewis was
third in barrel racing with
35.43 on two, and Candi-
da Eldridge was second in
goat tying (16.8 on two)
and team roping (30.6 on
two) as a header for Boise
State’s Wyatt Williams.
The BMCC men had
the top three all-around
placers on Sunday led
by Jared Parke with 359
in tie-down, team roping
and steer wrestling. Jor-
dan Tye was second with
252 and Chase Hansen
was third with 214.
Parke and Tye part-
nered up to win team rop-
ing in 5.9 seconds, and
Hansen was second with
Chaise Robbins in 6.9.
Parke also won tie-down
in 9.2 and was fifth in
steer wrestling.
Tyler Potter won bare-
back for the T-Wolves
with 73 points, and Ken-
neth Haworth was second
with 71.
BMCC’s Trey Tucker
was the goat tying winner
in 7 seconds flat, and she
was second in the wom-
en’s all-around behind re-
gion leader Dalli Bean of
Treasure Valley.
Bulldogs edge out the Eagles
Hermiston Herald
Steady
improvement
throughout the season led
to a bump in status for
Hermiston doubles team
Reed Middleton and Bre-
ena Wadekamper on Mon-
day, and the girls responded
with a big win at No. 1 dou-
bles to help the Bulldogs
earn a 4-4 (68-60) team vic-
tory over Hood River Val-
ley when their Columbia
River Conference match
went to games won to break
the tie.
It was their first match
at No. 1, and they won 6-3,
6-3 over the Flores/Flores
duo of the Eagles.
Hermiston coach Ja-
son Sivey said he was im-
pressed with the result, and
also was happy with the
play of his No. 1 singles
player as Mackenzie Hill
earned a 6-1, 6-1 win in her
match.
Hermiston also won in
straight sets at Nos. 2 and 3
doubles.
UP NEXT
Hermiston hosts Pendle-
ton on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
———
Singles
M. Hill (HM) def. M. Garrido 6-1, 6-1
H. Davies (HR) def. A. Stewart 6-1, 6-1
B. Badillo (HR) def. B. Meacham 7-6, 6-2
C. Oswald (HR) def. K. Bradshaw 6-1, 6-0
Doubles
R. Middleton/B. Wadekamper (HM) def.
Flores/Flores 6-3, 6-3
J. Ternes/K. Millard (HM) def. Doslen/
Zeigner 6-0, 6-0
P. Sanchez/K. Hamilton (HM) def. Green/
Hardnyi 6-0, 6-4
Ziadd/Evans (HR) def. A. Perkins/E.
Snyder 6-4, 7-5
Bulldogs drop two to Bucks
Pendleton keeps
pace in CRC title race
Hermiston Herald
The Pendleton softball
team kept pace in the Co-
lumbia River Conference
title hunt with a pair of wins
over Hermiston on Friday.
The Buckaroos, who are
tied with Hood River for
first with five games left in
the regular season, came out
hitting the ball consistently
for a 13-4 win in Friday’s
opener, then scored a pair
of runs in the first inning
and held on behind a strong
defensive performance to
win 3-0 in Game 2.
Lauren Richards earned
both wins in the circle, but
wasn’t her typical dominant
self as the Bulldogs’ smart
plate approaches forced
Pendleton’s defenders to
make plays in the field.
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Hermiston’s Sydney Stefani throws the ball to the pitcher
after putting out Payton Hergert, of Pendleton, at second
base during a Columbia River Conference game Friday at
Rocky Heights Elementary School.
They failed to do that in
the Bulldogs’ four-run third
inning in Game 1, but the
offense was clicking and
Pendleton still led 6-4 com-
ing into the dugout.
Eighteen of the Bucks’
19 hits in Game 1 were sin-
gles, and Pendleton coach
Tim Cary said it was their
ability to string those sin-
gles together that led to
such a lopsided win.
Richards was 4 for 5 at
the plate, and Alexi Brehaut
and Payton Hergert were
both 3 for 5.
Hermiston kept up the
pressure in Game 2, but
Pendleton’s defense didn’t
falter this time and the
Bucks won their ninth shut-
out of the season.
Kalan McGlothan went
5 for 8 on the day with two
doubles for Pendleton.
The Buckaroos may have
gotten out of Hermiston with
a sweep, but Cary came away
impressed with the Bulldogs.
“They’re a tough team,
even though their record
may not show that they’re
getting a lot of wins,” he
said. “They come out and
battle every inning and they
make you earn everything.
They’re a quality team.”
———
Game 1
R H E
PHS
231 303
1 — 13 19 4
HHS
004 000
0 — 4 2 2
L. Richards and K. Solomon. Ju. Almagu-
er, Ja. Almaguer (5) and B. Noland. W —
Richards. L — Ju. Almaguer.
2B — Ka. McGlothan (PHS).
Game 2
R H E
PHS
200 000
1 — 3 7 1
HHS
000 000
0 — 0 2 3
L. Richards and K. Solomon. Ju. Almaguer
and B. Noland. W — Richards. L — Alma-
guer.
2B — Ki. McGlothan, Ka. McGlothan
(PHS).