SPORTS
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A11
Hermiston’s Stefani headed to ISU for softball
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Sydney Stefani began
her career on the diamond
with the boys, playing Little
League baseball in Ione.
She started playing soft-
ball in the sixth grade, and
her game has blossomed
from there.
The Hermiston senior
shortstop signed a letter of
intent Wednesday to play
Division I softball at Idaho
State University.
“College softball is
something I have wanted to
do,” Stefani said. “Where I
was originally going to go
(Montana) didn’t work out,
but coach (Kate) Greenough
has a lot of connections and
got me in with Idaho State.”
Greenough played at
Utah State for Cindi Letts,
who now is the coach at
staff photo by annie Fowler/east Oregonian
Hermiston’s Sydney Stefani signed a letter of intent
Wednesday to play softball at Idaho State University.
ISU.
“Sydney is a stud,” Gree-
nough said. “She works so
hard, and it’s nice to see that
hard work pay off.”
Stefani, who moved to
Hermiston in the eighth
grade, is coming off a spec-
tacular junior year, where
she was named co-MVP of
the Columbia River Confer-
ence with Hood River Val-
ley junior outfielder Haylee
Baker.
The Bulldogs finished
17-10 and reached the 5A
state quarterfinals, where
they lost 11-8 to Lebanon.
Stefani also was a Class
5A first-team all-state selec-
tion as an infielder.
“As the season pro-
gressed, it was within my
reach,” Stefani said of the
CRC honor. “I was shocked.
They couldn’t discredit one
over the other.”
Stefani hit .571 last sea-
son as the Bulldogs’ lead-
off hitter. She also had nine
RBIs, 13 runs scored, five
stolen bases, and let’s not
forget the six home runs.
“She’d run through a
wall for you,” Greenough
said. “Not only is she a good
athlete, but she’s a team
leader. She is a shining light,
always ready to do anything
for her teammates. She is
always up for a challenge.”
That will come this
spring when the Bulldogs
enter the Mid-Columbia
Conference, where the likes
of Kamiakin and Richland
have dominated the softball
scene for years.
“It will be great,” Gree-
nough said. “She will walk
into this conference and
be one of the best. But that
would be the same for any
conference.”
Stefani said she will miss
the CRC.
“The programs are so
tough,” she said. “Each
game we had to show up
and play our best game. The
bus rides were so much fun.
I’m going to miss going to
the The Dalles and Hood
River. This could have been
our year.”
Stefani will be famil-
iar with some of the play-
ers in the MCC after play-
ing with the Washington
Angels club team the past
eight years. She will finish
her last season with the team
this summer.
“I’m really privileged
to have awesome parents
(Dennis and Misti) who
made sure I had what I
needed for club, and they
got me to where I needed to
go,” she said.
Stefani
didn’t
start
playing softball until the
sixth grade, and still has
fond memories of playing
baseball.
“My last year, I played
on the John Day All-Stars,”
Stefani said. “My team
played Hermiston, which
had Andrew James, Jordan
Ramirez and Wyatt Noland.
I struck out Jordan in that
game. He still denies it.”
DAWGS TAKE
DOWN WA-HI
IN MCC DUAL
staff photo by Kathy aney
Hunter Dyer, of Hermiston, wrestles Walla Walla’s Tanner Bollinger in the 126-pound weight class on Thursday night at the Dawg House. Dyer pinned Bollinger.
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
n the final night of
Mid-Columbia Con-
ference wrestling,
the Hermiston Bull-
dogs put on a show for their
fans.
The Bulldogs (3-5 MCC)
won their first six matches, and
took advantage of four forfeits
in the upper weights to cruise to
a 61-18 victory Thursday night
over visiting Walla Walla (1-7).
“It’s fun to finish our league
duals with a win,” Hermiston
coach Kyle Larson said. “Not
only did we win, but in a lot
of those matches we got bonus
points. We like it when we push
the pace and try to pin a guy
when it is 14-0 instead of getting
a technical fall.”
Blue Devils coach Jacob
Butenhoff did not like giving
away four matches. He said he
simply does not have the men to
fill the weight classes.
“We are in that rebuilding
phase,” he said. “We are strug-
gling to fill the lineup. The guys
O
Boys
Continued from Page A10
Mayer said. “We really
wanted to defend No. 1
(Andreason), and Blake
VanderTop’s defense on him
was awesome.”
Hermiston at Richland
Hermiston coach Casey
Arstein didn’t mince words
Saturday night. His team did
not get the job done defen-
sively against Richland, and
it paid dearly.
Jordan Franklin, of Hermiston, wrestles Walla Walla’s Emilio Sardina
in the 145-pound weight class during Thursday’s match at the Dawg
House. Franklin won by decision.
we do have get out and scrap.
We are young and green, and
don’t realize we are in trouble
until it’s too late.”
It was senior night for the
Bulldogs, who got wins from
Gage Shipley at 132 and Isaac
Lambert at 120. Om Pakdee
was not as fortunate, but the
exchange student from Thailand
still had a smile on his face after
the match.
The Bombers had three
players score 20 or more
points, and they shot 80 per-
cent from the free-throw
line, to cruise to a 96-57
Mid-Columbia Conference
victory over the Bulldogs in
Richland.
“Defensively, that was
one of the worst games I
have had to watch,” Arstein
said. “I know Richland is
good offensively, but we
didn’t help ourselves out.
We let them get too many
transition baskets. We got
our butts kicked.”
“I’d rather him go out and
fight than forfeit a match,” Lar-
son said. “We have thrown him
to the wolves a few times. He’s a
great kid. He’s happy to be here.
I wish some of our others guys
had his attitude.”
Hermiston Zayne Helfer
started the match with a first-
round pin of John-Mark Whita-
ker at 106. Adrian Delgado
(113) followed with a 5-2 deci-
Richland (17-2 over-
all, 15-0 MCC) clinched its
seventh consecutive MCC
title, and have won 36 con-
secutive MCC games dat-
ing to a Jan. 14, 2017, loss to
Kamiakin.
“I thought we shared the
ball really well,” Richland
coach Earl Streufert said.
“We have been working
hard the last couple of weeks
making adjustments. We had
three with 20 or more and
the ball moved all night.”
Cole Northrop scored
nine of his 20 points in
sion over Ruben Lozano, and
Lambert pinned Bernardo Bau-
tista in 3:10 to give the Bulldogs
a 15-0 lead.
“He put up a good fight,”
Lambert said of his opponent.
“But I wanted it more. This was
our last night, and everybody
was excited. It’s fun to win your
last dual your senior year.”
Hunter Dyer (126) pinned
Tanner Bollinger in 57 seconds,
and Shipley needed 4:36 to pin
Camrin Henzel.
“It felt really good to come
out and win my last (dual)
match,” Shipley said. “I gave it
my all.”
Jordan Franklin picked up a
17-2 technical fall at 138 to give
the Bulldogs a 32-0 lead.
The Blue Devils recorded
their first win at 145 as Tanner
Siller pinned Brock Remmer in
2:46. Alejandro Mata followed
with a second-round pin of Pak-
dee at 152 before Trevor Wagner
earned a 16-0 technical fall over
Jesse Easley at 160.
Walls Walla forfeited at 170,
182, 195 and 220, giving Herm-
iston a 61-12 lead.
the first quarter, seven of
which were free throws, as
the Bombers raced out to a
27-14 lead.
Hermiston’s only lead
of the game was 2-1 with a
basket by Cesar Ortiz. From
there, the Bombers drained
three 3-pointers and made
12 of 14 free throws.
The Bulldogs (12-6, 8-6)
held their own in the second
quarter, with Cole Smith
coming off the bench to chip
in six points, but they could
not make a dent in the deficit
from the first quarter.
In the battle of the big men,
Wa-Hi’s Jerry Corona pinned
Dustyn Coughlin in the second
round.
Hermiston will host the Dis-
trict 8 championships Feb. 1-2.
The top four in each weight class
will advance to the Regional
Tournament Feb. 9 in Yelm.
Action will begin at 3:30 p.m.
Friday, and at 10 a.m. Saturday.
“It’s fun to have it at home,”
Larson said. “Hopefully we
come out and put on a show. We
have all the advantages of sleep-
ing in our own beds and such. It
should be real comfortable for
us.”
MATCH RESULTS
Team scores — Hermiston 61, Walla Walla 18.
106 — Zayne Helfer (H) p. John-Mark Whita-
ker, 1:30. 113 — adrian delgado (H) d. ruben
Lozano, 5-2. 120 — Isaac Lambert (H) p. Ber-
nardo Bautista, 3:10. 126 — Hunter dyer (H) p.
Tanner Bollinger, :57. 132 — Gage shipley (H)
p. Camrin Henzel, 4:36. 138 — Jordan Frank-
lin (H) tf. emilio sardina, 17-2. 145 — Tanner
siller (WW) p. Brock remmer, 2:46. 152 — ale-
jandro Mata (WW) p. Om Pakdee, 3:22. 160 —
Trevor Wagner (H) tf. Jesse easley, 16-0. 170
— Michael ramirez (H) won by forfeit. 182 —
Blake Betz (H) won by forfeit. 195 — stanley
scott (H) won by forfeit. 220 — Jon Lee (H)
won by forfeit. 285 — Jerry Corona (WW) p.
dustyn Coughlin, 3:58.
“I thought offensively,
our guys attacked the
rim,” Arstein said. “Ryne
(Andreason) went to the rim
hard. Offensively, we were
in attack mode, but you have
to defend and make them
earn every basket.”
The third quarter got out
of hand, and the Bombers
led by 30 at one point —
73-43. Andreason hit a pair
of free throws as the Bull-
dogs trailed 73-45 at the end
of the quarter.
In the fourth, Jacob
Kreutz hit a pair of bas-
kets to give the Bombers a
41-point lead with 3:52 to
play.
Hermiston went on a 5-0
run to make it 91-54, but the
Bombers just kept coming.
Kirby Robertson had the last
word with a basket with just
9 seconds remaining.
Hermiston got 15 points
from Andreason, 12 from
Jordan Ramirez and 11 from
Smith.
Dhaunye Guice led the
Bombers with 22 points,
while Cody Sanderson had
21.