Playoff seedings become more clear

Due to inclement weather, the game was moved from Warrenton High School’s grass field to Astoria’s turf complex. With the double header starting at 3 p.m., fans in attendance got the whole coastal weather experience.

Game one, the conditions were almost perfect for a softball game. A mixture of an overcast sky and sun made the game pretty straightforward for both teams. This led to a 10-0 Warrenton win in five innings.

Pitcher Scarlet Anderson was one hit batter away from a perfect game. Though she hit a batter, the sophomore still ended up facing the minimum due to a double play later that inning. She had nine strikeouts in the outing.

Offensively, the Warriors took advantage of six Rainier errors en route to scoring 10 runs. Natalie Pike had a perfect day at the plate going for two with two walks and two RBIs. Hannah Leavitt and Kiki Olson also had two hits to lead the offensive effort.

Game two was a whole different ball game.

After playing sloppy in game one, the Columbians actually outplayed Warrenton in the field. Despite the weather conditions turning sour, Rainier didn’t make any errors, while Warrenton made two. The two errors allowed Rainer to score two unearned runs off of Anderson in the top of the fourth inning.

Warrenton would respond quickly with two in the bottom half. This was around the time CMH Field started to get dumped on by rain. Though the fans had the comfort of tarps, the pitchers did not. Over the course of an hour or so downpour, the Warriors took advantage of wild pitching from Rainier to get two more runs across to win 4-2.

The two wins moved Warrenton to 9-5 in league and 15-8 overall. Warrenton is ranked No. 8 in 3A and the team is set for a berth in the postseason. One more game against Corbett next week will wrap up the regular season.

Knappa girls win game one

The Knappa girls softball team took another step towards clinching a playoff spot with an 11-1 victory over Gaston.

After dropping a nonleague game to Country Christian/ North Clackamas Christian 15-5 on Monday, the Loggers took care of their league opponent. The 11-1 victory keeps them third in the Northwest League with a record of 6-4. Knappa is currently ranked No. 15 in 2A and is the second ranked third-place team, so they will be in the playoffs outright as of now. Two more games against Gaston will help determine their official placing.

Astoria boys baseball now in must win

After letting two games slip away, the Astoria boys are in a must-win situation.

Due to currently being ranked No. 16 in 4A and third in the Cowapa League, the Fishermen need to beat St. Helens twice to wrap up the regular season and hope that rival Seaside can help them out.

Despite beating Tillamook two out of three, the Cheesemakers upsetting Scappoose kept them in the league race. After Astoria fell to Scappoose twice this week by scores of 5-4 and 7-3, the team is 4-6, while the Cheesemakers are 4-5.

Friday at Tapiola Park and Monday at St. Helens are where Astoria’s season will be won or lost.

Seaside boys split with St. Helens

Seaside boys split their final two baseball games with St. Helens on Monday and Wednesday.

The Lions took Monday’s contest by a score of 5-4 and then Seaside battled back to win 4-2 on Wednesday.

This split has the two teams tied at 3-6 in league play.

Monday’s game was a tale of Seaside falling behind early and not being able to make up ground. The Seagulls gave up four runs in the first inning and were left playing catchup. Though they cut things to 5-4, Seaside was not able to come all the way back.

Game two, the Seagulls had a strong pitching performance from Hayden Halsen. After shutting down Astoria last Friday, the junior pitched a complete game allowing seven hits, two runs, striking out seven and throwing 105 pitches. Kane Israel had the big hit in the bottom of the first inning that scored Seaside’s first two runs.

Knappa falls to Gaston

The Knappa boys fell 20-10 to Gaston in the first baseball game of their three-game series.

The Loggers entered this week in fourth place and facing long odds to make the postseason. A loss to the Greyhounds doesn’t help their cause as the Greyhounds scored 20 runs for the third time this season during their victory.

The two teams finished up their series on Friday afternoon in Ridgefield, Washington. Knappa entered Friday with a 6-7 record in league and No. 22 in 2A.