It was a good week for the HRV softball team last week, with the team's first perfect game in over a decade.
It was also a good week for one of its alumni.
After three years split between two Oregon community colleges, Brianne Rowley is playing for William Penn University in Iowa and has been a revelation for the Statesmen this season.
Through last week Rowley was leading the Statesmen in practically every offensive category.
She was the only player to start all 24 games, had a .440 batting average, .478 on-base percentage, 10 doubles, eight home runs and 27 RBI.
She also has a .964 fielding position while playing the infield.
The Statesmen are currently 21-8 to start the season.
Another HRV diamond alum is Elliott Sherrell, who is playing baseball for Lane Community College. Through March 22 he had appeared in nine games and collected one hit.
In the professional ranks, Andrew Baldwin has taken his pitching arm back to his native state this spring. Baldwin, who was born in Duluth, Minn., signed a minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins this offseason after several years in the Seattle Mariners organization.
He has been assigned to the AAA Rochester (New York) Redwings of the International League to start the season.
We move from the diamond to the track oval. More specifically, the track oval at Eastern Oregon University.
Salome Castillo has gotten off to a good start in the spring running middle distance for the Mountaineers. He currently has the team's 10th-best time in the 200 meters at 28.17, its seventh-fastest in the 600 at 1:39.64 and its fifth-fastest in the 800 at 2:13.84.
Fellow HRV alum Carlos Quintana is also running well, with the team's seventh-fastest time in the 1500 meters at 4:25.26.
In the 10,000-meter race at the Charles Bowles Celebration of Distance Invitational in Salem April 1, Willamette's Leo Castillo put on quite a show, taking the lead in the final 200 meters and then holding on to win in three-tenths of a second in 30:38.34.
Finally, for your trivia: In what year was the women's College World Series first played?
A: 1982. And that is reason No. 208 to be glad I am your local sports reporter.
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