Mount Hood

Wolves on the cusp

By: Burke De Boer 
Sports Editor

Sophomore pitcher Haley Fabian led Wolves softball to three victories over the weekend. The Wolves traveled north for a long weekend, playing four games against Western Washington and two against Simon Fraser, beginning on April 21.

The Wolves experienced a stop-and-start weekend, going 3-3, with each of their wins coming from complete games pitched by Fabian.

“My catchers and I were able to find the batters’ strengths and weaknesses after their at bats and then adjust to it,” Fabian said.

In the first day of double headers, the Wolves fell to the Western Washington Vikings 1-13 then beat them 6-1.

Western Washington opened the game with immediate scoring. They would not relent, as they put up runs in every inning on first-year pitcher Chandler Bishop.

Game two was another story; Fabian locked the Vikings batters down, allowing only three hits and striking out six.

The Wolves offense scored all six of their runs in the second inning.

Seniors Kelsie Gardner and Hailee Watilo each picked up an RBI while they got on base, and were themselves batted in by a double from sophomore Cheyanne Rimer.

In their second day of battle with the Vikings, the Wolves lost by a narrow 5-6 and won by a narrow 1-0.

Western Oregon picked up the lead in the second inning of the first game, when senior Mercedes Green slugged a two-run home run. They held onto this lead until the bottom of the final inning.

Senior Sammi Cadwallader hit the Vikings batter with a pitch with bases loaded. The floodgates were then opened, and Western Washington put up enough runs to snag the victory.

Fabian pitched the second game for a shutout performance.

Senior Emma Alfonso scored the only run of the day to lead the Wolves to the win.

The Wolves went further north, to Burnaby, Canada, to face Simon Fraser.

An error in game one’s first inning allowed Simon Fraser to score their first two runs, and they would hold onto this lead as the Wolves took the 0-4 loss.

The Wolves regrouped for an 8-7 victory in the afternoon.

Fabian had five strikeouts over the first five innings, while Green, Rimer and sophomore Jenna Kelly all hit home runs. The Wolves took an 8-0 lead going into the sixth, when the Clan came back resurgent.

The Wolves defense was able to stop another comeback victory. With two outs, Simon Fraser hit a grand slam and followed it with a solo home run in the seventh to come within one.

Gardner, playing at shortstop, then snared a grounder to end the game.

“We need to come out and win every game we can,” Gardner said afterwards, looking ahead to this week’s fixtures.

With six games left, the Wolves remain on the cusp of qualifying for the GNAC tournament, two games behind the number four team. It will be a gauntlet just to qualify, as their final six games are against the top two teams in the conference.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Track and field competes in California

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Western Oregon track and field traveled to Southern California, where the team continued to find success in the face of Division I and II competition.

Most Wolves competed in the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, where junior David Ribich broke his own school record and senior Wesley Gray grabbed Western Oregon’s one event win. A smaller group of Wolves attended the Beach Invitational hosted by Long Beach State.

In Azusa on April 14, Ribich proved the fastest of all Division II competitors in the men’s 1,500-meter. His time of 3:42.21 set a new record for himself. His old time of 3:43.41 was the fastest in both Western Oregon and GNAC history.

The stacked race against Division I schools put Ribich in a 17th place finish, and automatically qualified him for the NCAA championship competition.

Wesley Gray won the men’s triple jump, going a distance of 14.85 meters. The distance was a Division II provisional qualifier, one of five from the meet.

The women’s 800-meter race had three Wolves post NCAA provisional marks, as sophomore Olivia Woods and juniors Suzanne Van De Grift and Megan Rose all finished in the top 10 of Division II runners.

Junior AJ Holmberg posted a provisional time in the men’s 800-meter, finishing in 18th place.

The following day, nearby in Long Beach, two more provisional marks were set.

Olivia Woods grabbed her second of the weekend, as she ran the 800-meter in 2:12.70.

First-year student Alani Troutman made the other provisional qualifier, with a long jump mark of 7.28 meters to a 15th place finish, the best of all Wolves in Long Beach.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Wolves go big on the road

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

The baseball team went 6-1 on the week, facing Saint Martin’s and then taking a long road trip to play Montana State Billings.

Western Oregon met the Saint Martin’s Saints on neutral ground in Newberg after the Monmouth home opener was once again postponed due to weather conditions.

The Wolves took both games, with scores of 4-3 and 3-2.

Junior Nyles Nygaard hit a homerun in the fourth inning to open Western scoring. Nygaard dinged five fouls in a row before sending the ball out of the park.

Later in the inning, junior Garrett Anderson hit a single that picked up two RBIs.

The Saints made a comeback in the seventh inning, but the Wolves were able to pull ahead and secure the victory in the bottom half of the inning. After he stole third base, senior Brock Pradere was batted in for the go ahead run by first-year student Connor McCord.

McCord then opened up the scoring in the second game, when he hit a two-RBI double in the third inning.

Saint Martin’s went on to tie the game with a home run, but Western took the lead and the win when junior Jacob Martinez scored on a throwing error in the eighth inning.

With the two wins early in the week, the Wolves traveled to Montana State Billings to face the Yellowjackets. The first order of business on April 14 was finishing the March 6 game that had been halted due to weather.

The Wolves held a 7-0 lead from March. First-year student Torreahno Sweet hit a two RBI double and then was batted in himself by senior Boog Leach to ensure the 10-0 win.

The games against Montana State Billings continued in a similarly high scoring fashion. The Wolves won both halves of the first day of play, with scores of 14-7 and 8-7.

Going into the eighth inning of the first game, the Wolves trailed 6-7. Sweet batted in McCord to tie the game up, and a three-RBI double from Nyles Nygaard took the commanding victory.

“They brought in a new pitcher and I was in the box just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” said Nygaard. “The pitcher threw two straight balls to me to bring the count to 2-0 so I knew he had to come after me. I was looking for a pitch over the plate and he gave it to me so I put my best swing on it.”

Nygaard picked up another RBI in the ninth, when he batted in senior Joey Crunkilton.

The second game didn’t start as planned. The Wolves went into the sixth inning trailing 2-6, but Nygaard and Crunkilton picked up two RBIs a piece in the inning, helping to jump-start the offense and ultimately win the game.

The first game of the second day belonged to the Yellowjackets, who destroyed the Wolves by a score of 2-18. But they seemed to get all their run scoring out of their system in one go and the Wolves were back to winning ways to finish the series.

The final game ended 8-3 in favor of the Wolves, who surged to the lead with two runs in the first inning.

Senior Trey Smith pitched a complete game, striking out four on the way to his third win of the season.

The Wolves advance to 19-9 on the season and 18-6 in conference, and currently sit on top of the GNAC standings.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

The next big step

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Mock drafts are often made into mockeries on draft day, which is now quickly approaching. The NFL draft begins on April 27, and college players from across the nation will look to make impacts on professional teams.

Since 2000, the only defensive players ever taken number one overall have been defensive ends. This year’s draft, according to scouts and projections across the sports media world, will continue this trend.

Conventional wisdom has Texas A&M phenom Myles Garrett being taken first overall. Which some consider a career death sentence, as the first overall pick belongs to the Cleveland Browns.

But Garrett’s not shying away from the challenge. He had an interview with “ESPN The Magazine” when his draft stock started blowing up where he issued a warning to the number one team in the draft.

“If you don’t draft me number one, I will punish your team for the next 10 or 12 years,” said Garrett.

It’s a threat that he can back up. Looking at the numbers, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.64 seconds at the NFL Combine and he leapt to a 41-inch vertical. All this while weighing 272 pounds and standing 6 feet 4 inches tall.

But some people do have Garrett being passed by on the first pick, in favor of North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Trubisky’s stock has skyrocketed, which is interesting considering he only started for one year at North Carolina. He had an explosive year, but played in a spread offense that will require him to adapt if he’s expected to play in Cleveland’s system.

Two running backs are in consideration to be selected highly in the draft, which is something of a rare occurrence in this modern football era. The top of the draft tends to be reserved for the passing game, either getting it going offensively or getting after it on defense.
But Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey are different beasts when it comes to rushers. Which is why some mock drafts have them going in the top 10. Both declared for the draft after only three years at their schools. Not only did they leave their old schools behind, they also left their teams hanging during bowl season and sat out their bowl games, as to not risk injury.

Fournette rushed for over 1000 yards as a first-year student at Louisiana State and turned in an even better sophomore performance. His junior year didn’t cross the thousand-yard threshold, but he’s still projected above McCaffery.

McCaffery led the nation in all-purpose yards in both of his last two years, notably breaking Barry Sanders’ record for most yards in a season. However, the Pac-12 athlete is evidently valued less than the SEC-raised Fournette, and McCaffery is projected lower all across the board.

Both players will prove assets to any team that takes them, but it’s unlikely that either would have breakout seasons like Ezekiel Elliott had with the Cowboys in 2016. The Cowboys had the best offensive lining in the country that they put Elliott behind.

Additionally, Dalvin Cook is being taken in the first round by many mock drafts. Unlike Fournette and McCaffery, Cook topped 1000 rushing yards in every season he played. His 145 rushing yards helped Florida State topple Michigan in last year’s Orange Bowl.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Softball sees success in Portland

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

A trip to Portland saw Wolves softball win three of four games against Concordia to continue their climb up the conference ladder.
After an additional double header in Hillsboro, Western Oregon extended their win streak to the current longest in the GNAC.

The pair of doubleheaders opened on April 13, with a slow start for the Wolves as they lost the first matchup, 1-3. The lowest scoring match of the entire series saw Western take the lead immediately but fail to close the game.

The first run came in the first inning, after sophomore Ryanne Huffman advanced to a scoring position by stealing second base.
First-year student Chandler Bishop batted Huffman in to take the lead.

The Wolves led for five innings. Sophomore pitcher Haley Fabian had four strikeouts over this span, giving up only one walk and one hit.

All three of Concordia’s runs came in the sixth inning, on a back-to-back RBI double and home run.

The Wolves’ offense had plenty of opportunity to open scoring themselves, as eight hits in the game and led to six runners left stranded.

The second of the two Thursday games was more explosive offensively as the Wolves powered their way to a 6-4 victory.

Senior Destiny Kuehl had two hits for four RBIs. Seniors Kelsie Gardner and Ashlee Lynch each had three hits. Gardner had three runs from her hits.

The game was tied 1-1 after the first, when Emma Alfonso hit a single in the second to bat in junior Zoe Clark. Kuehl singled later in the inning to bat in both Alfonso and Gardner.

The Wolves picked up a pair of wins on the second day of competition, where they won the first game 6-1 and the second 10-1.

Kuehl opened scoring in the first game with a three-run home run in the third inning and went on to bat in Gardner in the fifth.

Clark hit a home run of her own in the sixth, also scoring sophomore Courtney Lau Hee.

Bishop served as pitcher, throwing twelve groundouts allowing only one run off of six hits.

“It felt great to get the full seven innings and get the win,” said Bishop. “I am not a strikeout pitcher and rely on my defense greatly, so it’s such a great feeling when I know they have my back before I even pitch the ball. My catcher, Mercedes [Green] also called a great game and I trusted her completely. It also helps when our offense was putting up runs to take a little pressure off of me.”

Kuehl picked up two more home runs in the landslide second victory.

Fabian pitched her eighth complete game of the year, allowing only five hits to improve to an 8-7 record.

After the weekend, on April 17, softball won both sides of a double header against Simon Fraser on neutral ground in Hillsboro. The Wolves found themselves trailing 0-7 in the second game after four innings but had a monster rally over the last three frames to pull off a 9-8 win. Senior Hailee Watilo had two runs, while Zoe Clark, senior Ku’ulei Siolo and first-year student Ashley Doyle each had two RBIs.

With the wins, the Wolves advance to a 8-8 conference record. Since the start of April, softball has improved from the bottom of the conference to being ranked fifth.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Two school records broken

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Coming off an indoor season where the track team broke several indoor school records, Wolves runners have now set two new outdoor school records, and David Ribich also posted a national best time.

The women’s 4x400m relay team set a new record with a run of 3:49.01 at the Willamette Invitational in Salem. Then Olivia Woods came in second in the 800 meter race at San Francisco State with a time of 2:08.46.

The Willamette Invitational saw three Wolves win their events. The meet was held at Willamette University in Salem.

First-year student Grayson Burke, juniors Megan Rose and Suzanne Van De Grift and sophomore Olivia Woods made up the women’s relay team that broke the school record to win the women’s 4x400m relay.

Senior Nicole Maurmann, a Salem native, won the women’s 1500-meter race. Her time of 4:40.60 was a personal best. Western Oregon sophomore runner Grace Knapp finished shortly behind her with a time of 4:45.14 for a fifth place finish.

Junior AJ Holmberg brought the third win for the Wolves as he finished the 800-meter race in 1:53.02. Holmberg was also part of the men’s 4x400m relay team that came in second place, along with juniors Dustin Nading and David Ribich and senior Josh Dempsey. The team that won the national championship in the indoor relay started their outdoor season well, finishing in 3:23.23.

Western Oregon throwers also had a good day in Salem, with junior javelin thrower Amanda Short posting an NCAA provisional distance of 40.84 meters. Junior Keegan Allen also took second in the hammer throw with a distance of 48.27 meters.

The Wolves then traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area at the end of spring break for three days of contest, taking part in the Stanford Invitational and the San Francisco Distance Carnival.

Ribich and Nading competed in the Stanford Invitational, racing in the 1500-meter event. Ribich’s time of 3:43.77 was an automatic NCAA national qualifier, and currently stands as the top time in the nation. Nading’s time of 3:50.45 was also a national qualifier, and is a top 10 in the nation.

At the San Francisco Distance Carnival, first-year student Alani Troutman won the long jump with a distance of 7.26 meters.

Olivia Woods went on to set a school record in the Carnival’s second day of competition, running the women’s 800 meter in 2:08.46, finishing second in the race. Megan Rose finished behind her at 2:09.13 for a fourth place finish and the second place time in the Western Oregon school record books.

David Ribich then ran the 800-meter in 1:49.41 for a second place finish and another NCAA provisional time.

Another group of Western Oregon runners visited Linfield College on April 1 for the Jenn Bowman Memorial Invitational where junior Keegan Allen threw a hammer 49.61 meters and had a discus throw of 43.52 meters, both personal best distances.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Wolves play in Tournament of Champions

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

With only six conference games to account for, Wolves softball is at the bottom of the conference standings.

A trip to California for the Tournament of Champions saw them pick up four wins and suffer two losses in non-conference games.

The first day of competition on March 31 saw Western Oregon defeat both Holy Names and UC San Diego.

Holy Names took the lead first in the opening game of the tournament, before the Wolves rallied and put up runs in each of the final three innings on their way to a 7-2 victory. Sophomore pitcher Haley Fabian earned her fifth win of the season.

Sammi Cadwallader earned her own fifth win of the season in the nightcap game, where the Wolves took a 4-1 victory over UC San Diego. Senior third base Destiny Kuehl hit a home run in the sixth inning to take the lead.

The second day was another pair of wins for Western Oregon, defeating the Academy of Art, as well as California State Dominguez Hills.

In both of the matches, Western took the lead early and never gave it up, working towards a 7-3 win over the Academy of Art and a 9-4 victory over California State.

Junior pitcher Lizzet Dominguez won the first game of the day, her first starting win of the year. Fabian pitched again in the California State game, to advance to a 6-6 record as starter.

The third day of competition saw the tournament end on a sour note for the Wolves, as they dropped their games against San Francisco State and Sonoma State. With the losses, the Wolves slid to 14-13 overall on the season.

They remain only 1-6 in conference play, and now enter a month of conference play for their chance to climb the conference ladder.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Home weekend goes away

By: Burke De Boer 
Sports Editor

In what was slated to be the home opener, the weather chased Wolves softball away to Nampa for four games against Northwest Nazarene.

The Wolves and Crusaders split the series, with two wins apiece.

Sophomore Haley Fabian pitched the first game of the series, a 5-1 win for the Wolves.

Fabian pitched a complete game, striking out three and allowed just the one run off of eight Northwest Nazarene hits. Her effective pitching left a solitary runner stranded in five scoreless innings, as she gave up the one hit then shut down the rest of the side.

The win improved her record to 7-6, her first time having a winning record as a starting pitcher this season.

The game opened up with an explosive first inning. Northwest Nazarene, still playing as the away team despite relocating venues, batted first. The first at-bat of the day resulted in a double, which was soon batted in for the Crusaders’ only run of the game.

The Wolves responded in their half of the inning by putting up three hits and two runs. Senior Kelsie Gardner hit a double in the first at-bat, then advanced to third off a hit by sophomore Ryanne Huffman. Gardner stole home for Western’s first point. Huffman was later batted in by first year student Ashley Doyle.

The bottom of the fourth saw the Wolves batting come alive again, which opened with another hit for Doyle. First year student Gabriella Alonso came on to pinch run for her, and was later batted in by senior Mercedes Green.

Sophomore Chyanne Rimer later hit a double for two RBIs, as sophomore Courtney Lau Hee and junior Zoe Clark both scored runs.

The second game of the day went to eight innings before the Wolves won the decision, 2-1.

Junior Lizzet Dominguez was the starting pitcher, but the win went to Sammi Cadwallader’s closing performance. Cadwallader came onto the mound in the eighth inning with the score knotted up at 1-1 and two runners on base.

Senior Ashlee Lynch scored the first run of the game in the fifth inning, when she was batted in by a Huffman single.

A Crusaders run scored in the seventh inning tied the game but three pop flies by Western batters in the bottom of the inning sent the game into extra innings.

Cadwallader came on in the eighth inning with a runner on first and second. A strikeout and a double play kept the Crusaders scoreless. Alonso then scored the winning run in the Wolves’ half of the inning.

April 8 was the second day of action in the series and the Wolves dropped both games.

The first game saw Northwest Nazarene hit a grand slam in the third inning and never look back as the Wolves went on to a 4-6 loss. Gardner hit two solo home runs herself in the game, while Lynch also hit a homer with one runner on base.

The fourth and final game of the weekend saw the Wolves lose 3-6.

First year student Kaylee Harmon picked up her first two runs of the season in the second day’s games, her second coming in the second inning of the second game off a Gardner RBI.

Senior catcher Ku’ulei Siolo scored a run in the fourth inning, the batted in Ashlee Lynch in the fifth.

But it wasn’t enough for the Wolves to win. The 2-2 weekend saw Western Oregon progress to an overall record of 16-15, with a 3-7 conference record. The Wolves have moved up one spot in the GNAC standings, now ahead of Simon Fraser.

Their next chance at a home opener comes Saturday, April 15, in a double header against Concordia.

The Wolves remain the only team in the conference who have yet to play a home game this year.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Chasing the Stanley Cup

By: Michael Crowder
Freelancer

The 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs have finally arrived. The brackets for the first round of games are looking to be intense.

Notably, Canada has five qualifiers for the playoffs this year. After being completely shut down in 2016, Canada is looking to challenge American teams at every step of the Stanley Cup’s progression.

The playoffs kick off Wednesday, April 12, with the Boston Bruins vs. Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens games.

The Rangers and Canadiens find themselves locked to play off in the first round.

Both the Rangers and Canadiens are neck and neck with overall wins in the past season. Their injured players are all expected to be in sufficient condition to play in the first rounds of the playoffs.

The Canadiens won the Atlantic Division with their aggressive presence this season. The Rangers managed to be a 100-point team in the Metro Division. Expect to see good hockey as these two teams compete fiercely.

The Washington Capitals and the Toronto Maple Leafs are following up on April 13.

The Capitals have been a dominating monster of a team, taking the Metropolitan Division this past season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made it this far this season, but their cadre of rookie players is looking at an intimidating challenge. The first round will see if the Leafs have it in them to survive the Capitals and continue on into the playoffs.

Another first round of games to note has two long-term rivals butting heads; the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators will face off to eliminate one another right at the get-go.

Nashville was expected to have a breakthrough of a season after acquiring key players such as PK Subban to bolster their team.

Coming against the first-in-Central Division in the first round of the playoffs can spell only a hard time for the Predators. Especially given that the Blackhawks will surely not pull any punches to ensure their rival goes home without the Stanley Cup.

In another notable game, the Edmonton Oilers have ended what was the longest playoff drought in hockey, and will face the San Jose Sharks.

Contact the author at mcrowder12@wou.edu

Sergio Garcia wins The Masters

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose entered the back nine tied for the lead at eight under par on the last day of The Masters, April 9.

In his 18-year professional career, the Spaniard Garcia had finished top ten in The Masters three times. His appearances in the four major championships amounted to four second-place finishes in 22 top ten showings.

But never first place.

He had led to varying degrees throughout the four day contest, but Justin Rose was never far behind.

Rose, an English national, previously won the U.S. Open in 2013 and had finished in the top ten in both of the last two Masters.

The Sunday round saw South African golfer and 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel surge from eighth place at two under par to third place at six under par.

Rose took the lead in the final day, but Garcia fought back to tie things up again. The two leaders finished the round still tied, at nine under par, and entered into a sudden death playoff.

Garcia sunk a birdie putt from 10 feet to win the playoff and secure his first majors championship.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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