Weekend pops up surprises on the diamond

Astoria’s softball team got some surprise results on the diamond, the Warrenton girls kept rolling in league, while Seaside and Knappa wrapped up non-league play. On the boys side, Warrenton’s baseball team took on a future Division 1 pitcher, the Knappa boys tried to end their losing streak and Clatsop rivals are still looking to jump start their season.

Astoria girls drop two

Astoria girls dropping two straight games to teams not named Scappoose or St. Helens has been extremely rare over the past couple of seasons. But this past week saw the Fishermen’s difficult non-league schedule finally catch up to them.

The Fishermen traveled to Banks for a rematch with the 3A, No. 7 ranked Braves. After defeating Banks 3-0 at CMH Field earlier this year, the Fishermen looked to be in control once again until a late rally by Banks upended them by a score of 7-6.

Thursday was a back-and-forth contest from the first pitch. Banks jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after scoring three runs in the first inning. Astoria would respond with four in the top of the fourth, only to see Banks put up two in the fifth. Astoria would then score two more in the top of the sixth to take a 6-5 lead.

But after loading the bases, Fishermen pitcher Taryen Wray got burned by Banks’ cleanup hitter Khloe Long. The powerful catcher/first baseman walked things off with a two-run double.

With Banks set to join the Cowapa League next season and replace St. Helens, this was just a preview of what fans will see in the future.

Though Thursday was a well played game by both sides, Friday was one of those games that every coach wants to get out of the way before league starts.

Astoria returned to CMH Field for a game against Stayton, and nothing really went right for the Fishermen in this one.

The team made three errors, they were only able to muster five hits against stingy Stayton pitching and they were doomed by a four-run fourth inning in their 8-1 loss.

It’s not surprising to see the Fishermen’s difficult non-league schedule catch up to them a bit. But the girls still ended up 8-3 in the non-league portion of their schedule. Astoria is set to take on Seaside Tuesday in the first Clatsop Clash of the softball season.

Corder’s gem leads Seaside softball

Seaside softball is set to enter league play with much more optimism than the last couple of seasons. The investment in their youth is starting to pay off as Seaside is 5-5 after 10 games and ranked No. 11 in 4.

Though the league is still tough with Astoria, St. Helens and Scappoose, the Seagulls are well positioned to be the spoiler as they’ve been playing really good softball in the month of April. A 2-1 victory Friday over North Marion moved Seaside’s record to 2-1 in April and kept them in a top 12 spot in 4A.

Carly Corder led the Seagulls to victory on Friday as she hit a home run and gave up just one run in five innings on the mound. Younger sister Ally got the final six outs to help Seaside win a tough low-scoring game.

Olyvia Morse led the Seagulls’ two hits on Friday. Seaside also had three stolen bases and played a cleaner game in the field than North Marion, making just two errors compared to six for their opponents.

Warrenton bats stay hot

Warrenton softball bats are scorching hot right now.

The Warriors are currently on a five-game winning streak and in four of those games have scored at least 14 runs. Warrenton continued their hot hitting on Friday against Corbett as they outscored them 37-9 in the double header.

Warrenton took game one, 20-9 and game two 17-0.

Game one saw the Warriors rack up 15 hits, with sophomore Natalie Davis having four of them and also knocking in six runs. Kiki Olson had three hits and two runs batted in, Hannah Leavitt and Brooklyn Nichols joined the party with two hits of their own. The only blemish for Warrenton in game one was an eight run fourth.

Scarlet Anderson was the standout pitcher as she pitched three shutout innings allowing just one run and striking out four.

Game two was over quickly for Warrenton.

A nine run first inning put the Warriors on a path towards an early victory as they won 17-0 after just three innings. Due to being up by 15 runs after three, the game was called per softball rules.

Natalie Pike, Lucy Smith and Olson were perfect at the plate in this game as they went a combined 7-7. Pike was 2-2 with two RBIs and two walks, Smith was 3-3 with five RBIs and Olson was 2-2 with two RBIs and a walk.

Warrenton is set for a Tuesday road game against Rainier, then will travel to Banks for a two game series on Thursday. The series against Banks will most likely determine the league winner as both teams are ranked inside the top ten in the 3A standings.

Knappa girls win big

Knappa softball girls had their biggest win of the season as they defeated Gervais 21-4 on Wednesday.

The win moved Knappa’s record to 3-5 and the Loggers are currently ranked No. 2 in the 2A rankings. Due to their ranking, the Loggers have some work to do in league play to book a return trip to the 2A state playoffs.

Knappa will start league play this Tuesday against Vernonia. The teams will play a three game series, with Tuesday being a home game for Knappa, then Vernonia will host the next two on Friday.

Warrenton boys hang tough in first 3A test

Going into Saturday the Warrenton boys had been undefeated against 3A competition.

That record was going to be put to the test by Taft and their ace Zack Hankins.

Hankins flashed next level stuff against the Warriors last year, using five pitches to blow away a very talented lineup. This year, the University of Oregon commit is even better. Last season he was a high 80s guy, now Hankins is touching 90 miles per hour as a left handed pitcher.

Despite the Warriors best efforts, they could only muster one hit off of Hankins and fell to Taft 4-2.

The Tigers came into Saturday with an 11-0 record and are the surefire favorites to hoist the 3A trophy this season. They looked the part, as they scored a pair of runs in the third and fourth to go up 4-0. Warrenton did battle back and took advantage of an error to get a couple runs across, but that was all they would score against Hankins.

Dylan Ballard had the only hit for Warrenton and Duke Wilson was the other baserunner as he forced a walk. Warrenton didn’t help themselves out in the field either as they had a couple errors that led to a couple unearned runs.

Though the Warriors came up short in this one, the boys showed they can hang with one of the best pitchers in the entire state of Oregon.

Astoria’s busy week

The Astoria boys finished this past week in baseball with a 1-2 record.

A 2-1 loss to Tillamook started league play for the Fishermen on Tuesday, then the Fishermen defeated a struggling Banks program 7-5, before losing to Stayton 9-4 to close out the week.

Archer Hawkins and Joey Gramlich were the hard luck losers on the mound for Astoria against the Cheesemakers. Hawkins went three innings and allowed one earned run, while Gramlich pitched three shutout innings. Unfortunately for the pitchers, the Fishermen were only able to muster three hits against the Cheesemakers duo of Jacoby Goss and Kevin Hurlimann.

A five run fourth inning was enough for Astoria against Banks on Wednesday.

The Fishermen went up by six runs, only to get sloppy in the field and almost help Banks back into the game. But the Fishermen were able to shut the door and get back in the win column.

The Fishermen fell to a very good Stayton team on Friday by a score of 9-4. Stayton entered Friday with an 8-1 record and left ranked No. 5 in the state.

Overall the Fishermen now sit at 2-8 and are set to continue league play with a game against Seaside at Tapiola Park on Tuesday. That game starts at 5 p.m.

Seaside boys sputtering

A good start seems like ages ago for the Seaside boys.

After starting off the season 3-2, the Seagulls have now lost six consecutive games to drop to 3-8.

Losses against Estacada and Evergreen (Wash.) this week continued the Seagulls slump.

The 3-2 Wednesday loss to Estacada was followed by two against Evergreen. A 3-2 loss in game one marked the third one run loss for Seaside during their losing streak. The Seaside boys were not able to break the streak in game two as they lost 7-1.

Much like their Clatsop rivals, they will be looking to jump start their season with a game against Astoria this Tuesday. For both of these teams a victory could serve them well the rest of the season.

Knappa boys looking for a win

The Knappa boys are still looking to jump start their season as they lost a double header to 4A The Dalles on Friday.

The 11-1 and 9-0 losses dropped Knappa to 2-6 on the year. Also, they are currently on a four-game losing streak after being swept by Country Christian during Easter weekend.

With the non-league portion of the season over, Knappa will look to get going during league play. A Tuesday home game against Vernonia might be what the doctor ordered for the Loggers. Strong play during league is all Knappa really needs to qualify for the playoffs and it’s hard to tell how the league will stack up this year as the highest ranked team from their league is so far only ranked No. 15.