Baseball
MILTON-FREEWATER — Both teams got off to a hot start, but McLoughlin trailed most of the game before using an RBI groundout by Landon Gareis to eke out an Eastern Oregon League win Tuesday, April 22, to move to 3-0 in league play. “We had to dig deep today,” Mac- Hi coach Carlos Ruvalcaba said. “They (Umatilla) still have a pretty good record after today. I think they are quite a bit better than they were last year. It feels like a different program.”
The Pioneers (6-3 overall, 3-0 EOL), who tied the score at 7-7 in the bottom of the fourth, went to work in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Gareis hit into a ground out, but the play allowed Dallen Duncan to score what would be the winning run.
“He put the ball in play, and that’s all we needed at that point,” Ruvalcaba said. “It made it easy for us to score.”
Matthew Ruder, who came on in relief of Duncan in the third inning, struck out all three Umatilla batters in the top of the seventh to end the game.
“He came on in relief and shut them down,” Ruvalcaba said. “He came in and threw strikes. It was an off day for Dallen. He will be fine. He just struggled finding the plate today.”
The Vikings (8-3, 1-1) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, including a two-run single by Linkin Zamudio.
The Pioneers came back with five runs in the bottom of the first, getting RBI singles by Ruder and Adrian Camarena.
Umatilla put two runs on the board in the top of the second, and another in the third to take a 7-5 lead.
Mac-Hi scored one run in the third on a double by Camarena, and tied the score at 7-7 in the fourth on an RBI single by Randall Montgomery.
Ruder picked up the win, allowing one hit and no runs over 4 ⅔ innings. He struck out nine.
The Viking scored seven runs on just three hits, while taking advantage of 10 walks.
Photo by Kathy Aney. Umatilla's RJ Estrada slides home as Mac-Hi pitcher Dallen Duncan (9) leaps high to field a throw on April 22, 2025, in Milton-Freewater.
Softball
MCLOUGHLIN 18, UMATILLA 0 (3) — Addy Leonetti pitched a two- hit shutout with six strikeouts to help the Pioneers to an Eastern Oregon League home win over the Vikings.
Leonetti helped her cause at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a double, a triple and five RBIs.
Mac-Hi (6-2 overall, 3-0 EOL) scored 13 runs in the bottom of the first inning. Three runs came off base-loaded walks, three off errors, one on a passed ball, two off a double by Leonetti, and Aisling Giguiere and Ella Burwell hit RBI singles.
Umatilla (1-7, 0-2) got hits from Brooke Gerard and Jaily Rodriguez-Gonzalez.