Prep roundup: Softball team sweeps Vale in doubleheader

Published 6:51 pm Monday, April 17, 2023

ENTERPRISE — After dropping a doubleheader to defending 3A state champions Burns, the Wallowa Valley softball team bounced back a week later to claim their first victories in Special District 3 play.

The Outlaws earned a home sweep Friday, April 14, defeating Vale 12-2 and 12-9 behind two complete games from Aimee Meyers and a strong, balanced offensive performance.

Meyers pitched 12 combined innings in the two games, including a two-hit effort in the opener, a five-inning victory. She walked just one batter between the two games and stuck out nine. While Vale managed 11 runs in the two games, just three, in the nightcap, were earned, as the Outlaws overcame six errors in the second game.

Offensively, Meyers was a force, going 5-for-7 with five runs scored and four RBI. Sydney Hopkins was strong in the opener, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs. In the second game, Abby Straight went 3-for-4 with four RBI, which capped a four-hit, five-RBI day, and Tessa Duncan went 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI in the second game.

Meanwhile, at the baseball field, the Wallowa Valley baseball team also scored a Friday sweep over the Vikings, winning 12-1 and 14-7.

Drew Beachy twirled a gem in the opener, throwing a one-hitter, walking three and striking out nine in five innings of play. The offense put the game out of reach quickly with four runs in the first inning and eight in the second. Jaxon Grover and Gabe Nobles combined for five of the team’s nine hits, and Grover, Beachy and Ty Prince scored two runs each.

The nightcap was a neck-and-neck battle until the Outlaws broke a 6-6 tie with eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Vale came back with a run in the seventh but drew no closer.

The game was a wild contest that saw both teams build — and blow — a three-run lead. The teams combined for more runs (21) than hits (17), while the teams combined for 13 errors — seven by the Outlaws and six by the Vikings.

Maclane Melville pitched three innings of relief for the win. Grover had three hits, three runs scored and two RBI, and both Nobles and Lane Rouse drove in two runs.

Wallowa Valley followed with a pair of home losses Saturday to the Pendleton junior varsity.

TrackIn La Grande, Nevaeh James won three events — one as part of a relay team — and had a runner-up effort to help the Enterprise girls track team to a second-place finish at the La Grande Invitational Saturday, April 15.

James won the long jump and triple jump, and was second in the 300-meter hurdles, the event in which she is the defending 2A state champion. The sophomore was also part of the winning 4×400 relay team with Alisha Melville, Maddie Nordtvedt and Owyhee Harguess.

Harguess also had a pair of individual wins, placing second in both the 200 and the 400. Led by the duo, Enterprise scored 69 points, trailing only host La Grande, though the Outlaws had more event champions than the Tigers.

Nordtvedt also placed fifth in the 800, the only other Outlaw with a top-five finish.

The Enterprise boys had three second-place finishes — two by Weston Wolfe — as they scored 31 points to place 10th.

Wolfe was second in both the 300 hurdles and the triple jump, and Tanner Kesecker was second in the discus.

Joseph’s boys and girls both placed fifth at the meet, with Kale Ferguson and Jett Leavitt both posting two third-place finishes to lead the Eagle boys.

Ferguson won the javelin with a personal best of 157 feet, 8 inches, and was third in the discus. Leavitt was runner-up in the 1,500 and third in the 800.

For the Joseph girls, Annie Rose Miller came in second in the pole vault and was part of the third-place 4×400 relay team with Emmerson Hook, Molly Curry and Caleigh Johnson. Individually, Curry was third in the triple jump and Hook placed third in the javelin. Camdyn Weer, Curry, Miller and Johnson were fourth in the 4×100 relay, and Mary Hellinger placed fifth in the 1,500.