A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, MAy 8, 2019
HeraldSports
Follow sports on Twitter
@HHeraldSports
Pederson wins all-round title
SOFTBALL
Hermiston
loses playoff
positioning
with losses to
Richland
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Photo courtesy of Robert McLean
Blue Mountain’s Preston Pederson leaps off his horse Ocho during the tie-down event at the Northwest Region Finals last weekend in Hermiston. Pederson
finished second. He will represent BMCC at the College National Finals Rodeo in June.
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
A basketball player, a Marine and an Aussie.
Put them in a rodeo arena and you have yourself
the makings of a championship team.
Blue Mountain Community College coach
Shawn Eng did just that, and it paid off with a
Northwest Region title, an all-around champion
and three event winners in Hermiston during
the last weekend in April.
“I went out and recruited Oregon, Wash-
ington, Nevada and Idaho high school finals,”
Eng said. “I reached out to see if they wanted to
come. I worked hard to get them guys.”
Hermiston native Preston Pederson roped
and wrestled his way to the all-round title, fin-
ishing second in tie-down roping and third in
the steer wrestling. He piled up 1,999 points to
take home the top prize. Teammate Bryce Har-
rison was second (1,531 points).
“We definitely pulled through at our home-
town rodeo in winning the team title,” said Ped-
erson, a 2016 Hermiston grad. “We have prac-
ticed hard all year and stayed focused.”
BMCC will take five to the College National
Finals Rodeo June 9-15 in Casper, Wyoming.
In addition to Pederson, Payton Wright of Stan-
field will compete in bareback riding, Harrison
(Condon) will compete in steer wrestling, Dun-
can Mackenzie (Baker City) is in the tie-down,
and Aussie Clay Hall will ride bulls.
everything falls into place. In the past 10 years,
we have not had a (men’s) national team title,
but we have had a lot of individual champions.”
“We definitely pulled through
at our hometown rodeo in
winning the team title. We have
practiced hard all year and
stayed focused.”
Head and shoulders above the rest
Preston Pederson, Roping, Wrestling
Wright, Harrison and Hall won regional
titles in their respective events.
“It was kind of a slow start to the season in
the fall,” Eng said. “Then with the winter we
had, we weren’t getting in the practices we
wanted. As it got closer to our rodeo, things
started to fall together. Of these five, three are
freshmen and two are returning students.”
With a strong group of five athletes to take
to the CNFR, Eng is looking for good things in
Casper.
“Going back with these five guys — two in
rough stock, one in multiple events and three
in roping — we are looking at a national title if
Pederson is not your typical rodeo athlete. At
6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, he was a natural on
the basketball court for the Bulldogs, and he has
learned to use his size to his advantage in the
rodeo arena.
He finished second in tie-down roping with
801 points, well back of Trey Recanzone of
Central Washington (1,181 points).
Pederson compiled 686 points in steer wres-
tling to finish third (top three each each event
advance to the CNFR). Harrison won the title
with 1,079 points.
He also will compete in team roping with
Rayna Longeway of University of Idaho.
“Since their women are going, they got to
add another person and it was Rayna, and she
chose team roping,” said Pederson, who is
the header of the team. “I roped with her all
year. She could have picked anyone, and she
picked me. I’m excited. We have a blast rop-
ing together.”
Pederson, who is making his third trip to the
CNFR, will have a busy week in Casper, but
See RODEO, Page A11
SOCCER
Cadenas clutch for Dawgs
By BRETT KANE
STAFF WRITER
The Mid-Columbia Confer-
ence’s latest addition is now on their
way to the district championships.
The Hermiston boys soccer
team took down the Kennewick
Lions 1-0 in a District 8 play-
off matchup Saturday at Kenni-
son Field, clinching a spot in the
upcoming championships.
But it wasn’t the easiest climb
to the top.
“Our first couple of games made
me question if we were even there,”
said coach Rich Harshberger. “We
knew we could be competitive in
the MCC, but that didn’t mate-
rialize right away. Some doubts
started creeping in. But all credit
to the boys. The results speak for
themselves.”
Saturday marked the third meet-
ing between the Bulldogs and the
Lions, and the Bulldogs had won
both times before. But with the
score even at 0-0 going into the
half, all bets were still off.
It wasn’t for a lack of trying —
Hermiston had seven shots on goal,
three of which came from Coleman
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s Moises Pablo attempts to dribble around Osbaldo Alcantara,
of Kennewick, during Saturday’s MCC soccer game.
Solano.
“We came out and stuck to the
game plan,” Harshberger said. “We
just had trouble putting the ball in
the net. Last time (a 5-0 victory
over the Lions), we scored a cou-
ple in pretty quick succession. We
weren’t able to do that today. That
got to their heads early on.”
With 22 minutes left in the sec-
ond half, Emilio Leal passed the
ball to midfielder Che Cadenas,
who found an opening and drove it
into the bottom left corner of Ken-
newick’s net.
“I wanted us to have at least
one goal in the first half,” Cade-
nas said. “But we didn’t have any-
thing. I started getting nervous. We
would’ve come out with more con-
fidence if we had scored in the first
half. We needed a goal. I saw the
left side open and I just kicked it
in.”
Cadenas tried his luck at another
goal a few minutes later, but sent
the ball too far left. No matter —
Kennewick never found the net,
sending Hermiston on in the dis-
trict playoff bracket.
“This feels really good,” Cade-
nas said. “It’s great to beat these
Washington teams as a team from
Oregon.”
Solano ended the day with five
shots on goal. Goalkeeper Juan
Navarrete posted four saves.
Hermiston (7-7) will hosted
Kamiakin in the district champion-
ship game Tuesday.
Hermiston has clashed with the
Braves twice this season so far,
winning the first and dropping the
next.
“We just need to work on finish-
ing the game,” Harshberger said.
“You can’t rely on a 1-0 lead.
But the boys never hung their heads
and they never gave up. That’s why
we’re in the championship game.”
The Hermiston Bulldogs lost
their position in the Mid-Co-
lumbia Conference’s seeding
for the 3A playoffs Tuesday
after dropping a pair of games
to league-leading Richland at
Columbia Playfield.
The Bombers rallied to win
the first game 15-5, then took
the nightcap 18-3 to remain
undefeated on the season at
14-0. The Bombers have won
28 consecutive MCC games
dating to last year.
“We needed both wins to get
the No. 2 spot, now we have to
wait and see what happens,”
Hermiston coach Kate Gree-
nough said.
The Bulldogs (10-6) are fin-
ished with conference play,
while Kennewick (9-5) hosts
Pasco on Friday. Southridge
swept Walla Walla on Tues-
day to improve to 10-4, and
will host Richland on Friday.
Kamiakin is out of the playoff
discussion.
Hermiston overcame a 3-0
deficit in the first game, taking
a 4-3 lead in the top of the third
inning.
Sydney Stefani led off with a
walk, and Sam Atilano reached
on an error. A single by Bailee
Noland sent Stefani across the
plate, while Halle Pennington
drew a bases-loaded walk to
pull the Bulldogs within 3-2.
Brecella Nash’s fielder’s
choice put another run on the
board, and Grace Studer’s RBI
single gave Hermiston a 4-3
lead.
The Bombers got the run
back in the bottom of the inning
for a 4-4 game.
Hermiston kept the bats
moving in the fourth inning
with consecutive singles by
Atilano, Ashley Cameron and
Noland to load the bases.
A sacrifice fly by Jamelle
Almaguer drove in Atilano for
a 5-4 lead, but a groundout by
Pennington left two runners
stranded.
The Bombers broke out the
bats in the bottom of the fourth,
scoring seven runs on eight hits
to take an 11-5 lead.
Richland invoked the 10-run
rule in the sixth with four more
runs, including a two-run
homer by Taylor Clark.
“We knew they were a good
team, and we knew they could
hit,” Richland coach Casey
Emery said.
“I thought they would scored
four, five or six runs — they
are that good of a team. They
forced us into some mistakes.”
Noland and Almaguer each
had two hits in the game, while
Stefani hit a double in the fifth
inning.
“I think we had four earned
runs, and took advantage of
walks and bunts and put them
on their heels,” Greenough
said. “I don’t know if they had
a lead change like that this
year.”
Emery said they had not.
“All year, we have only had
one close game until now,”
he said. “The score does not
reflect how competitive the
game was. Both pitchers had a
tough strike zone, but they bat-
tled through it.”
In the second game, the
Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0
lead but could not keep the
Bombers at bay.
Richland scored five runs in
the first, and five more in the
second to pull away for good.
Clark limited the Bulldogs
to four hits, two by Noland, and
a triple by Stefani.
Addison Pettit hit two dou-
bles and drove in six runs for
the Bombers, while McKenna
Ozuna and Rylee Gavaert each
drove in three runs.