Oregon Class 5A Softball First Round Hood River Valley 3, LaSalle 2:  Lauren Decker’s single brought home the game winner in the bottom of the seventh inning to cap a comeback that sends HRV to the quarterfinals.  Hannah McNerney had tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run.  HRV moves on to play at Pendleton on Friday.  The Eagles and the Buckaroos have split four previous meetings this season.  Game time will be at 4:30.   Oregon Class 5A Baseball First Round Dallas 5, Hood River Valley 2:  The Dragons used a four-run third inning to end the Eagles’ string of state finals appearances at three.  Treve Earhart’s two-run double brought home the go-ahead runs, while Jaret Stewart retired 16 of the last 18 batters he faced to earn the win on the mound.  Jacob Smith drove in the HRV runs on a second inning single.   Oregon Class 2A/1A Baseball First Round Dufur 8, Bandon 5:  The Rangers move on to a quarterfinal game with Umpqua Valley Christian at 4:30 on Friday at Quinton Street Park in The Dalles. Sherman 11, Knappa 4:  The Huskies will visit Knappa for a quarterfinal game on Friday at 4:30 p.m.   Washington Class 1-A Golf Tournament at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco Goldendale’s Luke Gerchack finished in a tie for 26^th in the boys tournament and Emily Hurst tied for 32^nd in the girls’ tourney.  

Four contested White Salmon City Council seats will highlight this year’s election in Klickitat County.  Each race has two candidates.  Ashley Post and Ben Burger are seeking to fill the remaining two years of an unexpired term in position one, incumbent Jason Sabourin is challenged by Jason Hartmann for position three, Amy Martin and Dan Caldwell are running for position four, and Maurice Tunstall, Jr. and Marla Keethler are the candidates for position five.  There will be a contest for Mayor of Bingen, with incumbent Betty Barnes and Clinton Bryan filing for election.  One Goldendale City Council seat has multiple candidates, with Justin Leigh and Terry Luth seeking position seven.  In Skamania County, incumbent Amy Weissfeld looks to retain her seat on the Stevenson City Council, opposed by Bradlee Seehafer for position two.

White Salmon Mayor David Poucher has challenged his city’s pool committee to raise the remaining money needed to start construction on a new swimming pool this year.  The City has confirmed donations of $700,000, and another $300,000 is needed to break ground.  Poucher is hoping the additional money can be raised by July 4.  The pool being considered by White Salmon would be basic with no therapy or splash pool, and is estimated to cost about $1,500,000.  White Salmon has been using a pool constructed in Tonasket as an example.  Those wishing to donate can call White Salmon City Hall at 509-493-1133, extension 205.

The Dalles City Council has approved the municipal budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year.  Mayor Steve Lawrence says the budget was approved by the Council with minimal changes.  The main discussion point surrounded raises for a pair of administrative offices.  By consensus, the Council decided previously approved increases for the City Manager and City Attorney would become effective on July 1.  The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce accepted the City’s offer of $215,140 for the 2017-18 Community Marketing budget, which was about $20,000 less than what the Chamber had requested.  Lawrence made the counter offer at a City Council meeting earlier this month on the basis of the City moving cruise ship services to the Main Street program.  In their acceptance, the Chamber noted the dollar amount is less than the budget approved in 2013-14, which did not have any allocations related to the cruise ships.

By a five-to-two vote, Hood River City Councilors voted in favor of changing the zoning of Morrison Park from open space/public facilities to high density residential, opening up the possibility the land could be developed for housing.  Councilors made the decision after months of work at the planning commission level and receiving voluminous amounts of testimony both for and against the zone change for the five-and-a-third acre property on Wasco and 20th Streets.  In the end, the majority of Councilors felt the land’s potential for development of workforce housing, and the need for it in the City, trumped the desire to preserve the land as open space.  Councilors Susan Johnson and Peter Cornelison voted against the zone change.

The Dalles City Council decided not to approve a change in its marijuana business ordinance to allow for a reduction in the required minimum distance between such establishments from 1,000 feet to 500 feet with a conditional use permit, sending the issue back to the municipal planning staff to try to come up with another revised rule.  The issue came about when the City received two applications for marijuana-related businesses that were within 1,000 feet of each other, but separated by Interstate 84.  Mayor Steve Lawrence, who supported the proposed ordinance change, noted Councilors were given the opportunity to give Planning Director Steve Harris direction of how to address the topic, and particularly the two applications involved.  Most indicated they wanted to find a way to allow both applicants to operate.  Staff will be researching the options and will report back to Council.

The Hood River City Council and Planning Commission received an update from the consultants working on the Westside Area Concept Plan,as it nears reaching draft form and moving to public hearings this summer.  Councilors and planning commissioners were told by the consulting group that they are nearing a recommendation on the scope of housing that would be more than a standard buildout but not the maximum numbers that were under consideration.  In addition, they are leaning toward recommending a new north-south road connecting from Wine Country Way west of Mt. Adams Avenue to May Street.  City Manager Steve Wheeler says the consultants will now go back and finalize the draft report, and it should go to the Planning Commission in July or August.  City officials have been targeting getting the plan finished, expecting substantial growth in the Westside area in the coming years.

The Northern Wasco County Aquatic Center in The Dalles will open this weekend.  The pool will open on Saturday.  Weekend hours include a family play swim and lap swim from noon to 1 p.m., and open play swim from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.  Weekdays include the family play and lap swims from noon to 1 p.m., open play swims from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., plus a 50 meter lap swim from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and also swim lessons in the mornings and late afternoons.  Complete schedule and activity information is available at nwprd.org.

Hood River’s Children’s Park was expected to open sometime early this week.  City Manager Steve Wheeler says soft-fall surface was being installed last week, and about 75 percent of the aging facility will be open for the summer.  But Wheeler emphasizes this is a short-term solution, and full replacement is necessary.  Mayor Paul Blackburn says the effort to make that happen is moving forward, with a citizen engagement committee being formed with City and Parks and Recreation District representation, and the Hood River Rotary Club will coordinate collection of donations.  Children’s Park was shut down earlier in the spring due to safety concerns from deterioration of the wooden structure built in 1993 in a primarily volunteer effort.

Oregon Class 5A Baseball Play-In Putnam 3, The Dalles 2:  The Riverhawks received a strong pitching performance from Jordan Wetmore but could not get past the Kingsmen.   Hood River Valley learned its first round opponent in the state 5A playoffs will be Dallas on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at Traner Field.   Oregon Class 2A/1A Special District 6 Tournament in Pendleton Semi-Final:  Sherman 15, Pilot Rock 5 Final:  Dufur 5, Sherman 0:  The Rangers will host Bandon in the first round of the state playoffs on Wednesday, while Sherman hosts Kennedy.   Oregon Class 5A Softball Play-In Hood River Valley 1, Milwaukie 0:  Hannah McNerney pitched a one-hitter while striking out 13 to lead the Eagles to the state 5A playoffs.  Makena Zeller’s wind-blown double in the fourth inning brought home Lorena Johnson with the game’s only run.  HRV will host LaSalle in round one of the state playoffs on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.   Track and Field Two second place finishes highlighted Hood River Valley’s weekend at the Oregon Class 5A Track and Field Championships in Eugene.  Katie Kennedy was second in the girls’ high jump and fourth in the long jump, while Jesse Wiley was second in the boys’ 1500 meters.  Other HRV placers include Robby Running with a fifth in the boys’ 300 meter hurdles, sixth place finishes for the boys’ four by 100 and four by 400 meter relay teams, Chad Klaas in the boys’ pole vault, and Jonah Tactay in the boys’ long jump, a seventh for Lottie Bromham in the girls’ 3,000 meters, and an eighth for Reed Bauer in the girls’ 800 meters.  The Dalles received a seventh place from Cameron Perez in the boys’ javelin and an eighth from Tressa Wood in the girls’ 3,000 meters.   Second place finishes by Ana Popchock of South Wasco in the girls’ triple jump, Ezekiel Stelzer of Dufur in the boys’ 1500 meters, and the Sherman boys’ four by 100 meter relay team highlighted the regional effort in the final day of the Oregon Class 1A track and field championships.  Third place finishes were earned by Horizon Christian’s Paulina Finn in the girls’ triple jump, Dufur’s Asa Farrell in the boys’ 100 meters, and the South Wasco girls’ four by 100 meter relay squad.  Sherman’s Jacob Justesen was fifth in the boys’ 200 meters.   Goldendale’s boys finished fourth and the girls fifth at the SCAC District track and field meet in Naches Valley.  The Timberwolves had three individual champions:  Dillon Rising in the boys’ 3200 meters, Ellie Rising in the girls’ 1600 meters, and Ocean Bryan in the girls’ 300 meter hurdles.   Brandon Montoya won three events to lead Lyle-Wishram’s boys to a third place finish at the Washington Class 2B District 5/6 Championships in Quincy.  Montoya won the 100 and 200 meters and the long jump, while Julian Hernandez was second in the discus and third in the shot put.  The Lyle-Wishram girls were tenth, paced by second place finishes by Sydney Rains in the 100 meter hurdles and Alex Cloud in the javelin.   Tennis OSAA Class 5A Girls Tennis Championships in Portland Kiana Pielli of The Dalles won the consolation bracket title, defeating Tina Davis of Springfield 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the consolation final.  Pielli had earlier defeated Ashley Smith of LaSalle 8-6 and Rachel Primack of LaSalle by the same score to reach the match with Davis.   OSAA Class 5A Boys Tennis Championships in Portland Hood River Valley’s Sawyer Bogard lost his consolation round match to Benny Saito of Redmond 8-1.   OSAA Class 4A/3A/2A/1A Girls Tennis Championships at Oregon State University Meghan Belshe of Sherman lost to top-seed Racheal Hahn of Westside Christian 6-0, 6-0 in the first round and Alexis Schwartz of Ontario 8-4 in the consolation round.   Goldendale at SCAC Boys and Girls District Tournament in Connell The Goldendale team of Ignacio Cano and Edgard Vega have reached the Washington Class 1A tennis tournament in boys’ doubles by finishing second in the SCAC District tournament at Connell.   They lost the tourney final to Jake Slade and Trennend Slade of Gragner 6-4, 6-4.  Cano and Vega had defeated Ethan Morril and Mason Hoist of Connell in the quarter-final and the came back to top Beau Widner and Payton Whitaker of Zillah 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semis.  In girls’ doubles, Goldendale’s Talia Johnson and Kelli Bighorn advance to state with a fourth place finish, wnning their quarter-final match over Addie Bagwell and Audrey Bagwell of Connell, but lost in the semi to Hanah Singco and Isabella James of LaSalle, and Abbie Myers and Makilie Hernandez of Zillah in the third place match.  The state tourney is this coming weekend in Yakima.   Boys Lacrosse Hood River Valley 18, LaSalle 2