Sports – Page 53 – The Western Howl

By: Burke De Boer
sports editor

After the first round of the NBA playoffs, Russell Westbrook is now home watching the remaining teams compete.

The frontrunner for the NBA Most Valuable Player award, Westbrook is reduced to a civilian. His only MVP competitor is James Harden.

Unlike Westbrook, Harden has advanced to the second round of the playoffs. His Houston Rockets team took down Westbrook’s Oklahoma City Thunder in four games.

The series put the two teams head-to-head, and was predicted to be the indicator for which player truly is the most valuable.

Harden edged Westbrook out of the playoffs. The question now is if he will take the award as well.

Cameras caught Houston fans taunting Westbrook in the Rockets-Thunder series, by holding a sign reading, “The real MVP is over there.” Westbrook is seen looking at the sign, which has an arrow pointing toward Harden.

It was good-natured, competitive ribbing that we can expect from organized sports and fan bases. It was funny because there was some truth to it. After all, wouldn’t the real MVP be able to get his team to advance in the playoffs?

Though he bowed out of the big dance early, Westbrook still leads the MVP voting by an ever-increasing margin, because the head-to-head matchup of the two teams seemed to have the opposite effect from their outcome.

Westbrook, in his first season without Kevin Durant, averaged a triple-double on the season. Only one other player had ever done that, and that was 55 years ago.

The Thunder finished sixth place this season, which is well below the finish of a typical MVP candidate. First round exits aren’t typical MVP fodder either, but these games against the Rockets served to show how much Westbrook is truly doing.

Harden had the most points and assists on his team in most of the games of the series. The fourth game was a poor showing from Harden, but he still led his team in assists.

Westbrook had the most points, assists and rebounds on the Thunder every game, and was often the overall leader of these numbers.

He outscored Harden in three out of five games, he out-assisted Harden in four out of five games and he outrebounded Harden in every single game.

Westbrook put the Thunder on his back and took them as far as he could. If this translates to an MVP award remains to be seen, but it would be a surprise to see him surpassed.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

The Western Howl

Home » Sports

Road wins take Wolves to the playoffs

By: Burke De Boer
sports editor

The 2017 Wolves softball team call themselves the Road Warriors.

After 49 regular games, with every home game being canceled and relocated due to weather and field conditions, they traveled 14,655 miles to play ball. The Road Warriors will travel again come May 4. This time to Lacey, Washington, to compete in the GNAC championships.

One month earlier, the Wolves were dead last in the conference.

“This whole season has been a string of bad luck, with injuries and ineligibilities,” said Ku’ulei Siolo, senior catcher. “But now that everyone is back together, I think we’re really finding our groove.”

Corvallis is as close as Western Oregon Softball would get to playing on the Western Oregon Softball Field in 2017. They “hosted” two double headers at Oregon State, facing St. Martin’s on April 29 and Central Washington on April 30.

The Wolves split their first day of competition, first beating the Saints 9-5 then losing 4-5.

After the split series, the Wolves needed to win only one game against Central Washington to secure a playoff spot. They came out and took both legs of the doubleheader, 5-1 and 4-0.
The game was tied 1-1 when sophomore pitcher Haley Fabian took the mound in the first game. She threw four shutout innings on the way to the playoff-clinching victory.

“We had nothing to lose,” Fabian said. “We needed to secure our spot in the GNAC. I just had to trust my stuff and my team.”

Even after clinching their playoff berth, the Wolves didn’t slow down.

“It was such a relief to get the first win and a huge confidence booster to win the second game,” Siolo said. “When we first p
layed Central, we played phenomenal and barely lost on a couple ill-timed errors. So being able to shut down Central and show them we won’t be rolling over any time soon was amazing.”

Central Washington are the top seed this year, so the Wolves meet them again in the first round. Last year the Wildcats defeated Western Oregon in the GNAC championship game. But the Road Warriors feel confident heading into the matchup.

“Coming off that sweep is huge for us and really fired us up,” said Hailee Watilo, senior right fielder, who hit a home run in the 4-0 win. “We know it’s going to be a battle and that’s what our team’s always looking for.”

“I think Central will need to rearrange their strategy a lot if they plan on winning on Thursday,” Siolo said. “We’re peaking at the perfect time right now.”

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

The Western Howl

Home » Sports

Track and field shines in Corvallis contest

By: Burke De Boer
sports editor

As they prepared for the GNAC championships, the Western Oregon track and field team traveled to Corvallis to compete in the Oregon State High Performance, a two-day meet on April 28 and 29.

Senior Aaron Whitaker set a new school record in the men’s 400-meter dash. His time of 47.96 was enough for a second place finish at the meet, and places him third in the GNAC this year. He was named the GNAC player of the week for his accomplishment.

Junior David Ribich took first place in the men’s 1500-meter. His time of 3:41.45 was the quickest in a field that featured runners from Division I schools, such as Colorado and Washington. It was also a new personal record for Ribich.

Sophomore Dustin Nading took the 11th spot in the race, with a time of 3:47.17, which was a lifetime personal best for him. Junior Thomas Normandeau took 30th place and first-year student Justin Crosswhite took 36th. Normandeau’s time of 3:56.15 was also a personal best.

Junior Alan Ekanger ran the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase for an 11th place finish. His time of 9:30.90 set his new personal record, improving by 20 seconds.

Another personal best was set by sophomore Tyler Jones in the men’s 5000-meter. His time of 14:54.95 took him to a 24th place finish.

In the women’s 800-meter, sophomore Olivia Woods became the first Division II runner across the finish line, for a 14th place finish overall. She finished the race in 2:08.65. Juniors Megan Rose and Suzanne Van De Grift were close behind, finishing in 2:09.05 for 16th place and 2:09.47 for 18th place, respectively.

The men’s 800-meter saw another Division II-leading finish, as senior Michael Chin came in 12th place with a time of 1:52.76. First-year student Curt Knott won his heat of the 800-meter. His time of 1:56.28 was a personal best, and earned him a 25th place finish overall.
Sara Madden set a lifetime best in the 400-meter hurdles, with an eighth-place time of 1:03.84.

Wolves continued to excel in throwing competitions. Junior Sheila Limas De La Cruz improved on her earlier NCAA provisional distance in the javelin contest. With her throw of 44.14 meters, De La Cruz is now ranked number 11 in the nation.

Junior Kegan Allen set a new personal record in the hammer throw, adding two meters to his previous distance with a throw of 51.30. The throw earned him a third place finish, and saw him finish top among Division II throwers.

Wolves also had strong finishes in jumps. Senior Wesley Gray took second in the men’s triple jump contest, with a distance of 14.69 meters. First-year student Alani Troutman came in fourth among the men’s long jump, with a distance of 7.03 meters.

The Wolves continue to prepare for the GNAC outdoor championships, which will be hosted in Monmouth on May 12 and 13.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

The Western Howl

Home » Sports

Baseball splits series with Concordia

By: Burke De Boer 
Sports Editor

The Wolves went 2-2 across a pair of doubleheaders over the weekend facing Concordia.

The matchup positioned the top of the GNAC Wolves against the conference’s bottom ranked team for a surprisingly even two days of competition. In the first day of games, Concordia cleaned house, as the Wolves lost 2-9 and 3-5 on April 21. They got back on track the second day, winning 5-1 and 6-0.

Concordia opened up scoring early in the first game, putting up two runs in the first inning on the starting pitcher, first-year student Connor McCord.

McCord would give up a total of five runs before being pulled. But even after pitching changed, Concordia runs kept coming in. Sophomore Jacob Fricke, first-year student Justin Dolezal and senior Alex Emerson would all serve time on the mound, giving up four more runs.

On offense, McCord was able to bat in the only two runs for the Wolves.

The second game of the day was much closer, and went into extra innings to reach a decision. Senior Justin Spinner and first-year student Hunter Johnson scored runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game. But two runs in the ninth secured the win for Concordia.

The Wolves regrouped and swept Concordia on April 22.

Junior Craig Grubbe pitched the first game, striking out seven on the way to the 5-1 victory.

“Two losses in a day is pretty strong fuel for a team,” said senior Joey Crunkilton. “We took those losses to heart and were able to use it to our advantage.”

Crunkilton had three runs over the two games. He also hit in two RBIs, batting in McCord and junior Jacob Martinez with a fourth inning double in the 6-0 second game victory.

Junior Nyles Nygaard helped lead the way in scoring, and batted in Crunkilton on a triple after Crunkilton’s fourth inning double. He also opened the scoring of the game with a solo home run.

With eight games left to play, the Wolves remain on the top of the GNAC standings. Their remaining games all come against second-place Central Washington and third-place Northwest Nazarene.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

The Western Howl

Home » Sports

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

The Western Howl

Home » Sports

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

The Western Howl

Home » Sports

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

Western Oregon University’s Land Acknowledgement
Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

Accessibility Public Records Privacy Student Consumer Information

WOU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all programs, activities and employment practices as required by Title IX, other applicable laws, and policies. Retaliation is prohibited by WOU.

Westbrook makes his closing argument

Road wins take Wolves to the playoffs

Track and field shines in Corvallis contest

Baseball splits series with Concordia

Wolves on the cusp

Track and field competes in California

Wolves go big on the road

Tools

Resources