WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
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PREP ROUNDUP
Echo enforces the
10-run rule in
back-to-back wins
HERMISTON HERALD
STAFF PHOTOS BY KATHY ANEY
Hermiston first baseman Lukas Tolan attempts to tag Jeremiah Brittle, of Hood River Valley, who scrambles back to
base during Saturday’s league matchup.
After dropping the first
game to some miscues,
Hermiston rallied to
open CRC 1-1
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
HERMISTON — After the first
game of Hermiston’s Columbia
River Conference opener, defense
was something the Bulldogs needed
to clean up.
They dropped Game 1 5-2 to the
visiting Hood River Valley Eagles
by their own accord, and were look-
ing at a sweep after a late rally put
Hood River up again in Game 2.
After taking an early lead with
one run in the first, the Eagles
answered with five runs in the fourth
and fifth innings to go up 5-2. But
another four-run rally, this time by
the Bulldogs, put Hermiston up 6-5
to split the doubleheader.
In the bottom of the sixth, trailing
by three, Hermiston (5-9 overall, 1-1
CRC) needed to get its bats going.
The Bulldogs recorded only four
hits in the first game, and by the
fourth inning of the second outing,
had matched that output highlighted
by RBI singles from Wyatt Noland
in the first and Lukas Tolan in the
fourth.
Hermiston’s fire power came just
in time, as Jordan Ramirez took the
plate with two outs and the bases
loaded. Two previous walks with the
bases already loaded put the Bull-
dogs within one run of knotting the
score.
Up against Hood River’s (7-8,
1-1) ace, Connor Coeper, on a 2-2
count, Ramirez sent a ground ball to
short stop that scored both Tolan and
Andrew James to put the Bulldogs
up for good.
Ramirez then made an appear-
ance on the mound to close out the
game, allowing just one hit and
walking one.
Hermiston outfielder Joey Gutierrez fields a long fly ball Saturday against
Hood River Valley.
“Well shoot,” Ramirez began
after Game 2, “that (RBI) would
have never happened if Andrew
(James) wasn’t smart on the bases.”
And as far as toeing the rubber,
“I just came in and was like, ‘My
defense is good, just throw strikes
and they’ll get a play.’ Look what
happened: Garron (Anderson) dou-
ble play, game,” he added.
After the leadoff hitter singled
to left field and a walk was issued
to move runners to first and second
base, Ramirez needed something
to quickly get out of the inning. He
had already thrown three strikes, but
was going up against the middle of
Hood River’s lineup which had been
pretty successful at the plate.
But just as Ramirez said, a 5-3
double play to third base sealed
the deal and gives the Bulldogs the
momentum going into another dou-
bleheader against the Eagles on
Tuesday.
“I’m extremely proud of how
our kids came back in the second
game,” head coach Kevin Moore
said. “All of a sudden we came back
and fought back in the bottom of
the sixth and put up four ourselves
to come out on the top side of this
win.”
Offensively, Caden Schwirse had
the best day and went 2-for-2 while
scoring twice in Hermiston’s win.
Schwirse pitched five innings in the
first game, and was handed the loss
after giving up nine runs on four
hits, striking out three and walking
two.
James had one of the few high-
lights in Game 1, hitting a double
which put him in position to be the
first Bulldog to score. A grounder by
Joel Mendez allowed James to round
third and tag home, and one batter
later Mendez was brought in by an
RBI single off the bat of Ramirez.
———
Game 1
R H E
HRV
011 021
0 — 5 11 3
HHS
000 020
0 — 2 4 1
(HR) G. Losee. (H) C. Schwirse, G. Anderson (6). W
— Losee, L — Schwirse.
2B: R. Gram (HR); A. James (H).
Game 2
R H E
HRV
000 140
0 — 5 9 1
HHS
100 104 X — 6 6 1
(HR) C. Coeper. (H) L. Tolan, B. Dufloth (6), J. Ramirez
(7). W — Dufloth, L — Coeper.
HR: H. Howell (HR).
VALE — The Echo Cou-
gars took a brief break from
league play, sweeping Vale
on the road Saturday. Echo
held the host school to only
three runs in both games,
winning the first 16-3 and
the second, 17-3.
In Game 1, the Cougars
(8-2 overall) erupted in the
second to get out to a 9-1
lead. Michelle Weems hit a
grand slam over the left-field
fence to highlight the inning,
and Haili Spurlock added
to the total with a two-RBI
double.
Echo scored in each
of the five innings played
after their 10-plus run lead
brought the run rule into
effect. Four other Cou-
gars brought in runs to help
push Echo ahead of a strug-
gling Vale team, which only
recorded four hits in the
game.
Alyssa Ray earned the
win after five full innings of
work striking out seven bat-
ters and walking only one.
In Game 2, the Cougars
again got out to an early lead
and were up 11-3 over the
Vikings (4-6). The bats con-
tinued to fly as six batters
helped add runs to the board
and seven Cougars scored.
The top of the lineup was
the most successful as the
No. 2 and 3 hitters led the
way. Spurlock went 3-for-4
and Monique Montoya
2-for-3, both with a com-
bined three RBI and seven
runs scored. Kendra Hart
hit 2-for-4 with two-RBI tri-
pled. Hart was also given
the win in the circle after
allowing three runs of three
hits — including a home
run from Isabella Sigrah —
striking out five and walking
four in five innings.
Stanfield nears
30 runs in sweep
of Nyssa
ONTARIO — Stan-
field dominated in its sec-
ond league doubleheader
Saturday when the Tigers
took Game 1, 13-1, and then
Game 2, 22-10.
In the first outing, Stan-
field got out to a 6-0 lead
after the opening inning.
Nyssa was able to respond
with a lone run in the sec-
ond, but it was the Bulldogs
only run of the day.
The Tigers (11-4 overall,
5-0 Eastern Oregon League)
put up seven more runs, and
finished the game in the
sixth inning after four runs
enforced the 10-run rule.
The near shutout was
thanks to the efforts of
Brody Woods. While toe-
ing the rubber, he surren-
dered the one run but struck
out a whopping 17 bat-
ters. Woods’ efforts on the
mound turned into offensive
firepower in Game 2.
Woods had a four-hit out-
ing with a single, two home
runs and a triple highlighting
another 12-run victory.
The second time around,
the Bulldogs (1-14, 1-4) were
able to keep things close for
a while. They matched Stan-
field’s seven runs to knot the
score after two innings. But
then the Tigers broke out
in the third behind a two-
run homer from Woods and
commanded the lead.
Other notable at bats
included Justin Keeney,
who went 3-for-5 with three
RBI; Damien Curial, who
also recorded 3 RBI and
was 4-for-5 at the plate; and
Shayne Keltz, who brought
in two runs off three hits.
Hermiston track and
field ends weekend
at Hayward Field
EUGENE — In Day 2 of
the Oregon Relays, Herm-
iston was led by the girls
4x100-meter relay team
and senior hurdler Tyler
Rohrman.
The 4x100 team — made
up of Scout Reagan, Mad-
ison Wilson, MaKaylee
Young and Elsa Torres —
finished third in a field of
32. The Bulldogs clocked 50
seconds flat, and were just
0.37 seconds behind first-
place Mountain View (ID).
After finishing third
(14.98) in his heat in the
110-meter hurdles, Rohrman
improved on his time to fin-
ish fourth overall in 14.81.
The Bulldogs had two
top-15 finishers in the boys
and girls javelin throw. Eric
White claimed 15th place
after recording a throw of
45.61 meters and Jazlyn
Romero rounded out the top
10 with her best of 35.64
meters.
Bulldog tennis
comes away with big
wins to end week
HERMISTON — Herm-
iston wrapped up its busy
week of play by host-
ing Eisenhower (WA) on
Saturday.
The girls team won 6-2
behind big wins from both
the No. 1 singles player and
No. 1 doubles pair.
“(It was a) great match by
the girls today,” head coach
Jason Sivey said. “I’m very
proud of the improvements
we are showing and success
that is coming along with it.”
In singles, Mackenzie
Hill — the No. 1 Bulldog
— defeated Jayme Fisher,
6-1, 6-0, and Adriann Stew-
art and Olivia Thomas both
followed with wins against
their respective opponents.
Lindsay
McAllister
dropped her singles match to
Sara Gonzalas, 6-2, 7-5.
“The two losses were
also hard fought battles that
could have done either way,”
Sivey said. “The freshman
See PREPS, Page A10
SCHEDULE
Local slate
PREP BASEBALL
Friday
Vale at Umatilla (DH), 1 p.m.
Burns at Irrigon (DH), 2 p.m.
Stanfield/Echo at Riverside (DH), 12:45
p.m.
Saturday
The Dalles at Hermiston (DH), 12 p.m.
Above: Hermiston’s Andrew James slides into third
base as Isaac Beaman, of Hood River Valley, waits
for a throw during the first of two Saturday games.
Right: Hermiston’s Andrew James jumps for
the ball during Saturday’s league match-up.
Jordan Ramirez backs up James on the play.
PREP SOFTBALL
Friday
Weston-McEwen at Riverside (DH), 1
p.m.
Echo at Umatilla (DH), 1 p.m.
Saturday
The Dalles at Hermiston (DH), 12 p.m.
Burns at Echo (DH), 1 p.m.
PREP TRACK & FIELD
Tuesday
Heppner, Irrigon, Stanfield at the Mustang
Invitational (Heppner HS), 11 a.m.
Wednesday
Echo, Mac-Hi, Pendleton, Pilot Rock,
Umatilla, Weston-McEwen at the Pendleton
JV Invite No. 1 (Pendleton HS), 2 p.m.
Friday
Echo, Umatilla at the Condon/Wheeler
Invite (Condon HS), 11 a.m.
Hermiston, Mac-Hi, Pendleton at Kiwanis
Twilight Invitational (Hermiston HS), 2 p.m.
Saturday
Helix, Pilot Rock, Stanfield, Weston-McE-
wen at the 12th Annual Pepsi Invitational
(Union HS), 11 a.m.
Riverside at the 16th Annual Portland
Christian Invitational (Portland Christian
HS), 11 a.m.
PREP GOLF
Thursday
Hermiston, Mac-Hi, Pendleton at Pendle-
ton Country Club, 12 p.m.
Firday
Hermiston (girls) at Wandemere Golf
Course (WA), 9 a.m.
PREP TENNIS
Tuesday
Pendleton at Hermiston (girls), 4 p.m.
Hermiston at Pendleton (boys), 4 p.m.
Riverside at Stanfield, 4 p.m.
Thursday
Hermiston at The Dalles (boys), 4 p.m.
Saturday
Helix, Umatilla, Stanfield at Stanfield,
10 a.m.
PREP LACROSSE
Wednesday
Hermiston at Richland, 7 p.m.
Saturday
West Valley at Hermiston, 2 p.m.