Baker girls take first among GOL teams at Ontario meet

Bulldog boys finished second among league rivals

The Baker girls finished second and the boys third Thursday at the Glen Crosby Invitational cross country meet in Ontario.

Among the Greater Oregon League teams competing in the race, Baker’s girls were first and the boys second.

Times were fairly slow atop the rolling, soft, long grass, said Suzy Cole, cross country coach at Baker High School.

Trevor Freese was the first Baker boy across the finish line. His 18:04 time was good enough for third place.

Melissa Clarke of Baker placed fourth in the girls race. Her time was 23:03.

The Baker girls’ score of 34 was 9 points better than GOL rival Ontario and 18 points better than La Grande. All five of  Baker’s scoring runners placed in the top 10.

There’s now only one undefeated girls soccer team in the Special District 7, and it’s near and dear to the hearts of Baker sports fans.

Baker ran its record to 7-0-1 Thursday with a convincing 3-1 victory over host Ontario, which was previously undefeated.

Freshman Maggie Harlow continued her recent goal-scoring prowess with a pair of first-half goals. After Ontario closed the deficit to to 2-1 early in the second half, freshman Shasta Overton answered with the game’s final goal to give her team a little breathing room.

Later in the second half, Overton took the ball on a turnover, got around a defender, then “unfortunately shot the ball right into the goalie’s hands,” Baker coach DeeDee Clarke said. “It was one of those things, but I liked how she was attacking the goal.”

Baker’s frosh/soph volleyball team swept matches from Fruitland and Ontario this past week.

Baker defeated Fruitland 25-17, 25-9, and Ontario 25-11, 25-11.

Combined statistics for the two matches include Britni Bobo 5-of-6 digging, Alyssa Ward 4-of-6 attacks with two kills, Stacy Duman 19-of-21 attacks with six kills and 26-of-27 serving, Kathryn Daugherty 17-of-18 setting and 17-of-19 attacks with three kills, Jessica McKim 9-of-10 attacks with four kills, Ashley Trees 12-of-13 digging and 10-of-11 attacks with five kills, Kaycie Kitzmiller 10-of-11 digging and 16-of-18 setting, Emily Smith 34-of-34 setting and 10-of-11 serving.

Baker High School’s volleyball team had a quality showing at the La Grande volleyball tournament Saturday, winning seven of eight games in pool play and advancing to the championship game before losing to the host team.

In pool play, Baker topped Ontario, 25-9, Elgin, 25-18, Weston-McEwen, 25-16, Vale 23-21, Weiser 25-7, Columbia, 24-16 and Union, 25-21. The Bulldogs’ only loss during the preliminary round was to La Grande, 17-25.

Games were designed to be played to 25 points, but the teams were on a 20-minute time limit, Baker Coach Marcy Hayes said.

Walker Kaseberg, shown earlier in the season, scored one of Baker’s seven touchdowns against Burns Friday evening. (Baker City Herald/Kathy Orr)

Baker took the opening kickoff and drove 81 yards on eight plays for its first touchdown. Chad Adams did the honors on a 5-yard run. Jordan Harlow’s conversion kick gave Baker a 7-0 lead three minutes into the game.

The Bulldogs increased their lead to 14-0 with 1:31 left in the first quarter when Harlow connected on a 15-yard TD pass with Walker Kaseberg.

The quarter ended with Baker on top 14-0.

Bryce Banta intercepted a Burns pass on the Hilanders’ next series, setting Baker up with a first down on its own 26.

The Bulldogs needed just eight plays to find paydirt again. Steven Talbot scored the touchdown on a 10-yard counter behind the left side of the Baker line. Talbot accounted for 44 yards on the drive.

The Baker High School girls soccer team remained undefeated Thursday, turning back La Grande 2-1 at the Baker Sports Complex.

Freshman left forward Maggie Harlow scored both goals for the Bulldogs, who now sport a 6-0-1 record.

“She was right where she needed to be,” said her coach, DeeDee Clarke.

Dallas Defrees got the assist on the first goal, and Kallie Baxter “crossed one beautifully” to Harlow for the second goal, Clarke said.

The Tigers got a goal back on a free kick that bounced off the post and into the net. Baker goalkeeper Kristen Hoopes had no chance to make the stop, Clarke said.

Robbie Langrell scored an apparent third goal for the Bulldogs, but the host squad was called offside on the play, negating the score. Langrell later left the game with a bloody nose.

Baker’s volleyball team earned its first victory of the year Thursday in the Baker gym over Fruitland.

The scores were 25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 25-19.

“We have won some games in tournaments, but we haven’t won a whole match yet this year,” said coach Marcy Hayes. “The girls worked very hard and played well tonight.”

Individual statistical leaders included Tara Talbott, 17-of-18 serving with an ace. She was also 23-for-27 hitting with 11 kills.

Savannah Daly finished 38-for-43 setting and contributed 13 assists. Annie Martin was 6-for-7 hitting and notched 3 kills.

Baker seventh-graders win, Ambassadors to play at BHS

MILTON-FREEWATER —‑Dallas Defrees and Robbie Langrell combined for all of Baker’s goals Saturday in a 5-0 Special District 7 girls soccer win at Mac-Hi.

Defrees scored a three-goal “hat trick,” and Langrell added a pair of goals as Baker ran its season record to 5-0-1 and league mark to 2-0.

“The girls looked great,” said Baker coach DeeDee Clarke.

“We had to move some people around, but the girls came right out and completely controlled the game.”

HALFWAY —‑Pine-Eagle dropped a 60-20 non-league football game to a strong Garden Valley, Idaho, team Friday afternoon in Halfway.

“Garden Valley was a pretty good ballteam, but we knew that,” said Pine-Eagle coach Blake Dennis.

“They had one guy (J.D. Clark) who scores most of their touchdowns.”

Dennis said Pine-Eagle was without Trevor Durr, who is injured. The Spartans also lost starting running back Kyle Dennis in the second quarter with a shoulder injury.