Baseball

The Dalles 10, Heritage 2:  The Riverhawks scored all of their runs in the first three innings to blow the game open early.

Hood River Valley 3, Heritage 0:  Grayson Losee pitched a three-hitter, striking out 11.

Grant Union sweeps Dufur 7-5 and 11-1

Irrigon 15, Sherman 5

Softball

The Dalles 15, Heritage 5:  Bailey LeBreton’s three-run homer capped off a ten-run first inning for the Riverhawks.

Hood River Valley 11, Heritage 1:  HRV scored nine runs in the fifth inning to secure the victory.

Track and Field

Hood River Valley girls were second and boys third, while The Dalles girls were third and the boys fourth at the Sandy Invitational.  Josephine Dickinson won the 1500 meters and Poppy Miller was first in the pole vault for the HRV girls.  In the boys’ competition HRV’s Henry Buckles won both the shot put and discus, the Eagles’ Robby Running won the 400 meters, Asa Farrell of Dufur won the 100 and anchored a winning 4 by 100 meter relay effort, and Reed Twidwell of The Dalles was first in the 200.

Sherman’s girls were second and boys third at the AMJ Invitational at Blue River.  Owen Christiansen won two events for the Huskies, while Luke Martin, Daisy Brown, Mercedez Cardona, and Desiree Winslow took first in one event apiece.

Oregon Senate Bill 290, introduced by 29th District Senator Bill Hansell to grant civil immunity to people fighting fires in good faith, is progressing.  Hansell says the bill was developed in the aftermath of the series of major fires in Wasco and Sherman counties last summer, when property owners were often the first line of defense against the blazes.  He says it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously.  Hansell believes the bill will keep farmers and ranchers in Eastern Oregon continuing to help each other protect their lands.

Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue responded to a house fire near East 8th and Harris Street just after noon Thursday.  MCFR officials indicated initial responders arrived to find fire at the back of the structure on 102 Harris Street was quickly spreading into the interior of the house and attic space.  No one was home when the fire broke out, and no firefighters were injured fighting the blaze.  A cat was rescued from the fire and was taken to a veterinarian for evaluation.   MCFR crews received assistance from their volunteers along with the Dallesport-Murdock Fire Department.

Softball

Hood River Valley 5, Dallas 2:  The sixth-ranked Eagles scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to get past the fourth-ranked Dragons.  Lizzie Weekly’s squeeze bunt scored Lauren Decker with the tiebreaking run, and the Aunika Yasui doubled in the insurance tally.  Makenzie Chambers continued her hot hitting, homering and driving in two runs.

The Dalles 6, Putnam 1:  The Riverhawks used a big second inning to knock off the eighth-ranked team in Oregon Class 5A.  The Dalles strung together five hits and were helped by an error to trigger the frame.

Baseball

Sherman 13, Stanfield 0

Boys Lacrosse

Hood River Valley 15, Newberg 3

Oregon 52nd District Representative Anna Williams is working on bills to direct funding to policies passed in earlier sessions.  The Hood River Democrat says one is to fund healthy relationship education in schools, health standards, and bully prevention through combining them with other ideas to get them to the Ways and Means Committee.  Another bill would increase the number of deputies in the long-term care ombudsmen program from seven to ten, which would create another 90 to 105 new volunteers to go out to long-term care facilities around the state and make sure the rights of the people who live in those facilities are met.  Williams says rural long-term care facilities struggle to get the volunteers they need.

Intermittent, single-lane closures of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge have been expanded to include this coming Friday and Monday.  The closures were originally planned for yesterday and today.  They will run between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. as crews complete preparation work required for the replacement of the lift span motors, and motorists should expect delays up to 20 minutes.  The actual replacement of the motors will close the bridge completely to all vehicle traffic for several nights in April.  This work requires a large crane lift of heavy equipment to the top of both lift span towers.  More information on the delays and closures are available at portofhoodriver.com.

Friends of the Columbia Gorge, the Mt. Hood and Columbia River Gorge Regional Tourism Alliance, the U.S. Forest Service, and Oregon State Parks are kicking off their second season of the Trailhead Ambassador Program to give Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and Mt. Hood visitors information they need for a safe, informed, and positive experience when hiking in the region.  The Trailhead Ambassador 2019 season will kick-off on April 20, and organizers are currently seeking volunteers.  Volunteer Trailhead Ambassadors will be placed at some of the busiest trailheads in the Mt. Hood National Forest and the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, including Multnomah Falls, Latourell Falls, Dog Mountain, Cape Horn, Timberline Lodge, and Mirror Lake, on weekends during peak season.  Volunteers will answer hiking and recreation related questions, promote responsible hiker ethics and steer people to useful resources.  To sign up volunteer go to gorgefriends.org.  A volunteer training session is scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Marine Park Pavilion in Cascade Locks.

Oregon State University Extension and the Hood River Library are partnering to provide loans of food preservation equipment.  Lauren Kraemer says they have about 15 to 20 pieces of equipment that will be available through the program.  Kraemer says the library will catalog the equipment, and there will be a display ready in about the next week, and people will be able to look from home on the library’s website to see what is available.  The equipment is available to residents throughout the region, but Kraemer says she would like to set up a similar program in Wasco County in the future.

The City of The Dalles is asking citizens to make a special effort to prevent unsightly damage to street trees that have low hanging branches.   The Dalles Municipal Code requires all trees growing near a sidewalk, street, or alley to be trimmed so the limbs and branches are not less than nine feet above the sidewalk and 14 feet above the street, allowing safe passage for pedestrians and large vehicles.  Trimming before a collision breaks branches is healthier for trees.  Tree trimming also prevents damage to tall vehicles like recreational vehicles, garbage trucks and school buses.

A Hood River County School District board member has resigned, citing his actions at a recent town hall conducted by Oregon Second District Congressman Greg Walden.  Benjamin Sheppard submitted his resignation from position 2 on the school district board on Tuesday.  In his resignation letter, Sheppard said his actions at the town hall were well-intentioned, but had “imperiled the integrity of the school board.”  In the letter he also said he extended a “sincere and heartfelt apology to the school board members, superintendent, employees, and students of the Hood River County School District.  District officials say they hope to fill the vacancy at their April 24 meeting.  Applications are available at the district’s website, with a deadline to file of April 17 at 4 p.m.  Position 2 represents much of the Westside area.