Grays Harbor College Athletic Director Will Rider responded to an inquiry regarding the recent cancellation of the remainder of the Chokers baseball season due to COVID concerns.

Rider provided a statement to The Daily World regarding the Chokers baseball team, which had its season cut short abruptly on Saturday in the midst of a four-game weekend series against Green River College.

“We were disappointed that we had to end our baseball season prematurely but we are confident that the exposure was limited to only members of our baseball team, who do work out daily together,” Rider said, addressing concerns that players that tested positively may have spread infection to others outside of the baseball program. “We are following protocols that have been established by the state,county, and Northwest Athletic Conference. We have worked closely with county health officials with contact tracing and determining the amount of exposure to others and, again, we are confident that exposure was limited to only members of our baseball team, who now remain in quarantine for the required 14 day period.”

The Chokers had just split a doubleheader with Green River at Olympic Stadium on Friday and were scheduled for a twin bill in Green River on Sunday when the cancellation announcement was made on the @GHC_Baseball Twitter account.

Due to COVID-19 safety protocols and precautions, the Choker Baseball games schedule for Sunday, May 16th, have been cancelled.

— GHC Chokers Baseball (@GHC_Baseball) May 16, 2021

The final six games of the Chokers’ season was cut short due to the cancellation with the Chokers finishing with a record of 7-15 overall and 6-14 in the NWAC West region.

BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Willapa Valley 63. Columbia Adventist 36

After another slow start the Willapa Valley Vikings found their game in the second half en route to a 63-36 victory on Thursday in Menlo.

The Vikings (6-2 overall, 5-1 1B Columbia Valley) started off sluggish again in what Willapa Valley head coach Jay Pearson dubbed “a bad funk” and held just a 9-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

After taking a 26-20 lead into the half, the Vikings were sparked by a couple of its bench players in the second half. Vikings sophomores Garrett Keeton and Derek Fluke came off the bench and provided the energy Pearson was looking for to lead a second-half charge.

“Their intensity and hustle set the tone for our team,” Pearson said.

Keeton provided nine points and four rebounds off the bench while Fluke added five points and two boards, but it was their contributions that don’t show up on the stat sheet that impressed Pearson the most.

“They wanted to play and set the tone for the rest of the team to step up in the second half,” he said after the Vikings outscored the Kodiaks 37-16 over the final 16 minutes of the game.

Landin Isaksen led the Vikings with 16 points with Tyler Adkins adding 10 points for Willapa Valley.

Senior center Beau Buchanan had himself a solid all-around game give blocks and four points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds.

Willapa Valley grabbed 41 rebounds — 10 on offense — in the victory.

The Vikings shot 36% from the field on 24-of-67 shooting, including 8-of-21 (38%) from 3-point range.

Columbia Adventist 7 13 8 8 — 36

Willapa Valley 9 17 22 15 — 63

North River 57, Lake Quinault 25

Three North River players scored in double digits as the Mustangs defeated the Lake Quinault Elks 57-25 on Thursday at Lake Quinault High School.

Adam Schreck (19 points, 5 3-pointers), Kainoa Kanahele (16 pts., 3 3-pointers) and Alex Delaney (11 pts., 3 3-pointers) led the Mustangs.

North River (5-2 overall, 1B Coastal) shot 22-of-69 (32%) from the field, including 12-for-28 (43%) from the 3-point line.

Jesus Mendoza led the Elks (0-6 overall, 0-5 1B Coastal) with 11 points for a Lake Quinault team that had just four players score in the contest and trailed 17-0 after the first quarter.

Lake Quinault shot 9-of-43 (21%) from the field.

Mendoza added six steals to his stat line, Jessy Ferry scored six points and Kekoa Shale led the Elks with 12 rebounds to go along with his four points on the evening.

North River 17 17 9 14 — 57

Lake Quinault 0 6 9 9 — 25

Taholah 79, Wishkah Valley 23

The Taholah Chitwhins dominated from start to finish in a 79-23 victory over Wishkah Valley on Thursday at Wishkah Valley High School.

Jon Brown (16 pts., 10 rebounds), Tommy Underwood (15 pts., 7 reb. 6 steals, 5 assists), Jayden Lewis (14 pts., 8 reb.) and Izaiah Mowitch (10 pts., 8 reb.) led a red-hot Chitwhins offense that shot 43% as a team from the field on 34-of-79 shooting.

The defending 1B District 4 champion Chitwhins pounded the boards on Thursday, collecting 57 rebounds led by senior JauVon James-Juneau, who led Taholah with 20 boards and seven assists to go along with his seven points on the night.

The Chitwhins led 23-6 after one period and 44-10 at halftime.

Taholah 23 21 27 8 — 79

Wishkah Valley 6 4 6 7 — 23

Other scores

Ilwaco 70, South Bend 34

Forks 72, North Beach 35

GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

Willapa Valley 25, Columbia Adventist 21

In a game where neither team found much offense, Willapa Valley defeated Columbia Adventist 25-21 on Thursday in Menlo.

Lanissa Amacher had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds for a Willapa Valley team shot 13% on 5-of-38 shooting in the game, one percent better than the Kodiaks.

“Thank God we played good defense,” Willapa Valley head coach John Peterson said. “We got good shots, we just couldn’t make ‘em.”

Hannah Hamilton scored seven points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Cami Swartz had four points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks for the Vikings (5-3 overall, 5-1 1B Columbia Valley).

“I’m really happy for the kids. They worked really hard,” Peterson said of the victory. “I told the kids, ‘I’ve had teams play really well and lost and play really ugly and won. Winning is better.’”

Columbia Adventist 7 2 6 6 — 21

Willapa Valley 4 7 7 7 — 25