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SPORTS Wednesday, november 6, 2019 HermIsTonHeraLd.Com • A9 WIAA CHAMPIONSHIPS | SLOW PITCH SOFTBALL SECOND AT STATE Photo courtesy of Kate Greenough The Hermiston Bulldogs came in second at the state tourney last weekend. They are pictured here after winning the 3A/2A MCC/GSL/GNL district tournament Oct. 26 in Spokane. mt. spokane beat Hermiston 6-4 in championship game By ANNIE FOWLER sTaFF WrITer ermiston cruised through the first two rounds at the 3A/2A state slow pitch softball tournament, but in Saturday’s championship game, the Bulldogs ran into a team bent on revenge. Mt. Spokane, which lost to Herm- iston in the MCC/GSL/GNL district title game the week before, handed the Bulldogs a 6-4 loss to claim the title at Gateway Sports Complex. “The girls, overall, had a great sea- son,” Hermiston coach Kate Gree- nough said. “I am so proud of who they worked, played and grew together as a team.” Andrea Scott, Katie McKinnis and Emma Jay had two hits and an RBI apiece as the Wildcats (21-2) ended the Bulldogs’ 18-game win streak. H The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, and the Bull- dogs got one run back in the top of the fourth. Mt. Spokane put three runs on the board in the fifth, and Hermiston matched it in the top of the sixth, but still trailed 5-4. Mt. Spokane scored an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, then held Hermiston scoreless in the seventh to escape with the win. “We had a few opportunities to score, but couldn’t,” Greenough said. “They were able to put up more at the end of the game than us. It’s bittersweet considering we beat them the weekend before, but that’s the great thing about softball. Everyone gets their outs, and whoever does more with them in seven innings wins. I am proud of what slow pitch did this year. The kids should be proud of their second-place finish.” SPORTS BRIEFS Hermiston drops close match to Kamiakin By ANNIE FOWLER sTaFF WrITer Hermiston finished the Mid-Columbia Conference regular season Thursday with a road loss to Kami- akin, but the Bulldogs did not make it easy on the Braves. Kendall Dowdy had 21 assists, 13 digs, six kills and three aces as the Bulldogs fought to the end in a 28-26, 25-19, 25-23 loss. “When you play a team on their Senior Night, they have a little more oomph,” Hermiston coach Amy Dyck said. “Kamiakin never gave in, even when we had the lead.” The Bulldogs (5-9 MCC) will play North Central (4-7) in a loser-out game in the first round of the MCC/ GSL District 8 Tournament at 5 p.m. Thursday at Kami- akin High School. The win- ner will face Kamiakin (8-6 MCC) at 7 p.m. Hermiston took an early 4-1 lead in the first set, and led until the Braves pulled even at 22-22. There would be four more ties before Maysen Chelin laid down a kill for Kamiakin for a 27-26 lead. A tip by the Braves would give them the win. “Hermiston is a tough team,”Kamiakin coach Morgan Schauble said. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy. They are a competi- tive team.” Kamiakin controlled the second set from start to fin- ish, leading 15-5 at one point. The Bulldogs rallied to pull within 21-17, but would get no closer. The Bulldogs took con- trol of the third set, and had leads of 8-3 and 15-12, but 15 unforced errors in the set were too much to overcome. The teams were tied at 19-19 before Kamiakin pulled away. “For us, it is very much a mental game,” Dyck said. “We played a lot of good volleyball tonight. Hope- fully, the next time we play we get a different result.” Grace Vertrees led the Bulldogs with 15 kills, while Halee Stubbs had 23 digs. Emma Combes added 18 digs, and Kambree Baker five blocks. Delaney Frame had 13 kills and 14 digs for the Braves. Graysen Banta added 14 digs, Makenna Morgan 11 digs, Yajaira Meraz 13 digs, eight assists and three aces, and Brook- lyn Ford 12 assists and three aces. Stanfield VERNONIA 3, STAN- FIELD 0 — Stanfield’s state run came to an early end as the Tigers fell to the Northwest League’s Ver- nonia Loggers (21-7) in the first round of the 2A state volleyball tournament Saturday. The Blue Mountain Conference’s No. 2 Tigers (19-9) hung close to open the match with a 25-20 first-set loss, but dropped the final two sets 25-10 and 25-16. “We actually started off pretty well and took the lead in the first set,” Stan- field coach Blaine Ganvoa said. “The turning points was midway though the set and we had a serve receive breakdown. There was no time to recover. Unfortu- nately, we carried that over to the second set.” Brooke Howland and Zuri Reeser each had eight kills for the Tigers, and combined for 27 digs. Savannah Sharp added 12 digs and 12 assists, while Brielle Howland had 10 assists, Alexis Shelby eight blocks and Kendra Hart three kills. “They were disap- pointed, but I think they realize a lot of good teams stayed home,” Ganvoa said. The Tigers lose just four seniors, and return a wealth of talent for next season. “That is what the girls see,” Ganvoa said. “We had some good senior lead- ership, but we have some younger players coming up in the system.” In four trips to state (including 1978, 1988, 1990), the Tigers have never won a match. Janelle Almaguer and Bailee Noland each had two hits for Herm- iston, while Grace Studer and Hailey South hit doubles and Eliza Rodriguez a triple. Noland also scored twice and drove in a run. The Bulldogs outhit the Wildcats 10-9, but also committed three errors. Abby Findley took the loss in the circle. Hermiston (18-3) started the 3A/2A state tournament Friday with a 26-2 victory over Prairie, then topped Wash- ougal 10-0 to reach the championship game. “We put the ball in play, and every- one contributed,” Greenough said of the first day. “It was pretty cool.” It was 23 degrees at the start of the first game against Prairie, but once the Bulldogs got warmed up, they took a 7-2 lead after two innings, and never let the Falcons cross home plate again. Noland hit a three-run homer in the second inning to give Hermiston a 10-2 lead. “The fences are 240 (feet) — it’s a very big field,” Greenough said. “She hit it into no man’s land in right field and had to run it out.” In the bottom of the third inning, the Bulldogs sent 18 batters to the plate, scored 16 runs and took a command- ing 26-2 lead. The game ended after 4½ innings. “All of the starters had a hit in that game,” Greenough said. Against Washougal, the game was scoreless until the fifth inning. Sam Atilano hit a solo home run in the fifth inning for the Bulldogs. “We hit the ball really well and played great defense,” Greenough said. Findley pitched both games and added a couple of doubles to help her cause. Two Hermiston runners headed to state cross country meet HermIsTon HeraLd The Hermiston Bulldogs advanced their top two run- ners to next weekend’s state cross-country meet after Saturday’s 3A District 8 Championships at Wander- mere Golf Course in Spo- kane, Washington. Sophomore Cydney San- chez set a personal record of 19:19 to place seventh, and junior Amanda Nygard placed 13th at 19:57 to move on to the state meet this Sat- urday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. The 3A girls races is scheduled for 1 p.m. It’s the first time a Herm- iston runner, boy or girl, has advanced to the Washington state meet. Nygard ran in the Oregon state meet two years ago as a freshman, placing 29th. The Hermiston girls placed fourth in the team race with 91 points, finish- ing behind Kamiakin (69), Kennewick (65), and North Central (17), which placed three of its runners in the top three spots. “Cydney ran phenome- nal,” Hermiston coach Troy Blackburn said. “We’re excited. Hopefully Amanda can bounce back and be up there with Cydney (at state). It wasn’t an easy course, but she went out there and competed.” The Hermiston boys got Photo courtesy of Troy Blackburn Hermiston runners Amanda Nygard (left) and Cydney Sanchez qualified to run at the 3A state cross-country championships Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. their fastest run from senior Greg Anderson, who crossed the finish line in 17:10 for 29th place. Sophomore Jack- son Shaver was 11 seconds behind him, placing 31st at 17:21. Sophomore Logan Springstead was 33rd at 17:39, and junior Adrian Del- gado placed 39th at 17:55. The boys placed fifth in the team standings with 175 points — two places higher than they finished last year. “The boys ran tough,” Blackburn said. “We improved on both the boys and girls side this year. It’ll be great to see how we’ll continue to improve and keep moving up.” The Kamiakin boys won the team title with 25 points, led by sophomore Isaac Tee- ples, who won the race in a time of 15:30. The Braves had three runners in the top four. North Central was sec- ond with 61 points, followed by Rogers (65) and Mt. Spo- kane (88).
