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).