Home run trots advance Timberwolves
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
First inning home runs by J.D. Moss and Crysta Counts helped send the Goldendale baseball and softball teams to the next round in SCAC playoffs. Both home runs came during huge first innings, but the games evolved very differently.
Baseball
Zillah and Goldendale worked their way into the semi-final game for the SCAC championship with a pair of 2-1 victories in pitching duels where hits were at a premium. It was clear that the Friday game in Goldendale was going to be very different when Cody Herin blasted a line-drive off the left-center field fence, the first of four first-inning doubles by the Timberwolves.
Goldendale went on to defeat Zillah 12-10 and advance to the championship game and a chance for redemption against the only team to mar their stellar season, Naches Valley.
The longed for rematch was another disappointment, as the Rangers strung a few hits together for a four-run fifth inning that gave Naches Valley a 5-1 win. Both teams now sport 20-3 records, the best in Goldendale coaches’ memories. And the chance for another go at the Rangers still looms as the Timberwolves need two wins in Wenatchee on May 22 to make the State semifinals where they could meet Naches Valley again on May 28.
The Timberwolves game with Zillah almost went south in the middle innings as the Leopards chipped away at the 6-0 first inning lead, and it took a couple of sharp fielding plays by reserve short stop, Devon Casey to seal the deal.
After Reed Lindhe retired the side in order in the first, he was greeted with a single and a huge blast by Trevor Fink in the second inning, well beyond the wall. The Leopards gained more courage with three more runs in the third inning as it was just a one-run game. But the momentum was killed by reliever J.D. Moss.He walked the first batter he faced, but ended the inning on a strike out.
Moss also sparked the Timberwolves at the plate. His third inning double drove in two more Goldendale runs and Blake Lesko drove in a third with a sacrifice fly. Moss shut Zillah down in the fourth with the help of a double play triggered by Herin, who would be involved in three double plays on the day. Three more runs in the bottom of the inning seemed like good insurance for a 12-5 lead.
Moss held the Leopards scoreless in the fifth inning and Seth Davis took over on the mound for the sixth facing the top of the Leopard order. A walk, a ground out and a single scored one run and Davis hit a batter to put two on base with Fink at the plate. The sophomore quickly cranked out another home run, his third hit and fifth, sixth and seventh RBI of the game. That brought Herin to the mound and Casey took over short stop.
With one out in the game, Herin loaded the bases with a single and a couple of walks. The next batter, Jared Ziegler grounded deep in the hole to Casey’s right. The sophomore covered the ground, made the scoop and a good throw to third baseman, Lindhe for the force out. Herin got the next batter to fly out to right field and the lead was preserved. Herin set the Leopards down in order in the seventh inning, thanks to a nice adjustment by Casey on a bad-hop ground ball for an easy out followed by two strike outs.
Game time for Goldendale at Wenatchee’s Recreation Park is 4 p.m. If they win, they will play again that day.
Softball
It hasn’t been the best of years for the Goldendale girls, but with the toughest part of their schedule behind them, making the playoffs was a real possibility. All they needed to do was sweep Granger and hope that Cle Elum would do the same to Mabton. Both teams came through with Goldendale winning 15-0 and 6-1 and Cle Elum winning 12-0 and 5-4.
There wasn’t much of an incentive for Cle Elum to go all-out to defeat Mabton. But, perhaps an undefeated record was motivation enough as the Warriors came from behind with a two-run seventh inning for the crucial win. It put Goldendale in the playoffs.
Things were looking fine for Granger after the first two batters were outs in the bottom of the first inning. The very next batter scored the winning run.
Crysta Counts laced a pitch down the left field line which eluded a diving fielder allowing the speedy Timberwolf to score an inside-the-park home run. It was all Goldendale needed with Taylor Gaston pitching a four-hit shut out in the five-inning game one 15-0 victory. The team hit for the cycle in the first inning as Alex Counts followed with a double, Johna Kartes tripled, Jessica Binns walked, Karissa Ihrig singled, Sonja Grant doubled, Sarah Henderson walked and Gaston singled. Granger’s manager finally had seen enough and pulled the starter with the score 7-0. Three batters more and one more run had scored and the rout was on. Five hits and three walks in the third gave Goldendale their final seven runs, while the Spartans never mounted a threat.
Things settled down in game two. Goldendale took an early 5-1 lead and Crysta Counts and Haley Hoffman combined for a two-hitter for the sweep. Crysta Counts and Taylor Swift each drove in two runs and Hoffman scored twice.
The district opener will be played at River View High School, in Finley on Thursday at 4 p.m. Haley Hess had plenty of hitting help to pitch a 10-6 win against Goldendale earlier in the year. All other playoff games are at TRAC in Tri-Cities on May 22. Game two will be against either Zillah or Connell.
The Timberwolves are 8-12 on the year with a .348 team batting average. Alex Counts leads the team with a .500 average. She also leads the team with 19 RBI, 28 runs scored, and 40 stolen bases. Henderson is hitting .429 in limited playing time. Four other girls have lofty averages with Ihrig batting .400, Gaston at .392, Hoffman hitting .357, and Binns hitting .333. For the most part, three girls have shared the pitching duties. Gaston is 4-5 with a 4.35 ERA. She leads the team with 28 strike outs. Crysta Counts is 2-4 with 4.83 ERA and 23 strike outs. Hoffman is 2-2 with a 5.25 ERA and 16 strike outs.
PRs fall as track and field athletes point to District
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Track and field league championships and District qualifying events were held across the area on Friday. A number of performances were notable, some resulting in wins, but not all. Some athletes reached new heights under the pressure of the qualifying meets and delivered their best when it counted the most.
The next step in their quest to qualify for State becomes quite restrictive with only the top three going from 1A District and just the top individuals from 1B and 2B Districts. The only other way to State is to exceed the often stingy State standards.
At Goldendale
Jose Casimiro rose to the occasion and threw the discus nearly six feet beyond his previous PR to qualify in the discus and Kyle Welsh and Patrick Golding were outstanding in the hurdle events, setting new PRs in both events.
Casimiro’s toss was crucial, as his previous PR of 99-1 would not get him into the top eight qualifying positions. His 105-6 toss was good enough for fifth place.
Welsh ran a 16.33 in the 110 hurdles to finish second with Golding in third place with a time of 18.01, both setting PRs. When it came to the 300 hurdles, the pair were much closer with Welsh taking the win in 43.15 and Golding happy with a second place PR of 43.76.
On the girls side of the meet, Kyla Crawford put together a great race in the 3200, only the second time she had competed at the distance, edging Zillah’s Alexa Torrez for the final District qualifying spot. Crawford’s 14:40.2 was almost a full minute better than her previous race in the event.
Other than Welsh, the only other winner from Goldendale was Logan Humphreys with first place finishes in the high jump at 5-6 and triple jump at 37-11.25.
At Kumler Field
Cody Carlsen was firing on all cylinders in Lyle-Wishram’s meet at Kumler Field, in Yakima. The Cougar senior broke a couple of sprint barriers on his way to wins in the 100 and 400 meter races. Carlsen was clocked at 10.98 in the 100, his first sub-eleven race and 49.86 in the 400, his first time under 50 seconds. Both times are best in the State for 2B.
The Cougars also got wins from Kyle Murphy and Henry Matai. Murphy, who might begin to like the 800 meters, has had good runs the only two times in the event this year. His winning time was 2:09.7, 10 seconds better than his previous best.
Matai won the 110 hurdles in 16.16, but a new PR came in the 300 hurdles and qualified him for district with a 42.45, good enough for second place and his first time under 44 seconds since last May.
Chantelle Hickman hadn’t come close to her PR of 97-8 in the javelin, set back in March, but on Friday she unleashed a toss of 106-7 to walk away with the event. Her 6:26.66, 1600 meters and 2:48.75, 800 meters were also PRs and good enough to got to District.
At Glenwood
Many of the top qualifiers from the Greater Columbia 1B meet in Glenwood will also be favorites at District. But there are some interesting battles ahead from schools up north. One of those District 6 runners who could challenge for first place is Jamie Bruno, of Pateros. The sophomore has a 27.29 in the 200 this year, making her a threat to Liz Vogt’s chances of returning to State in the event. Vogt, of TLG was third at State last year, and has a 27.72 for her best time this year. Bruno might also be the closest any runner will come to knocking Samantha Brewer out of the top spot in the 110 hurdles. Brewer, the defending State champion has been in the high 16 seconds and low 17 second marks in her latest races, which might not beat Bruno. However, it is an event where more than one runner might go to State, as both girls are under the state standard.
Bickleton’s Junior Hernandez faces a real threat in the 3200. Chase England, a freshman from TLG won the league meet in a time of 10:48.76 to the Bickleton senior’s 10:53.37. The State standard for the event is 10:43.46, a time Hernandez has never achieved.
TLG qualified the most boys and the most girls for District. Ten events were won by the TLG boys and 12 events were won by the girls, putting them in great shape to defend their State title. Leading the win parade was Lucas King in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 400 meters races. Vogt also picked up three wins in the 200 meters, 300 meter hurdles, and long jump. Freshman Valerie Vogt won the 800 meters, 1600 meters and 3200 meters events. Katie Yarnell has been a big asset to the team this year and picked up three wins with victories in the 100 meters, 400 meters and a tie with McKenzie Zoller at 8-7 in the pole vault.
Kaseberg ropes in third place medal at Wenatchee
Jessica Kaseberg followed up on her impressive district performance in break-away roping to take the bronze medal for third at State competition in Wenatchee. Kaseberg was one of eight girls who represented Goldendale in the Washington State High School Equestrian State meet.
Averie Morgan had a good ride in working rancher, finishing fourth. Morgan also was sixth in hunt seat, 11th in dressage and 17th in stock seat. Morgan teamed with Amber Mercer to finish fifth in sorting. The two girls were also part of the Goldendale drill team that placed fourth at the meet. Other drill team members were Holli Mansfield, and Lizzy Matula. In the other team speed competition, Canadian flags, the girls placed 12th. Members of the Canadian flags relay team are Lauren Hoodenpyl, Makiah Steen, Mercer and Kaseberg. Kaseberg also competed in figure eight with a 14th place finish. She teamed with Alyson Mello for 13th in sorting. Mello placed 14th in working rancher. |
