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Washington State News

Rams agree to terms with 16 undrafted free agents

Stu Jackson

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Los Angeles Rams on Thursday agreed to terms with 16 undrafted free agents.

Those players are:

Ohio WR Sam Wiglusz Washington DL Tuli Letuligasenoa Central Missouri DL David Olajiga Tennessee DB Jaylen McCollough Cortland WR JJ Laap Washington State DB Cam Lampkin Louisiana TE Neal Johnson Augustana OL Blake Larson Oklahoma WR Drake Stoops Michigan DB Josh Wal

Bears announce new uniform numbers

Larry Mayer

The Bears have announced their new jersey numbers for the 2024 season:

Changes

33 to 1: Jaylon Johnson, cornerback

After wearing No. 33 in his first four NFL seasons, the Pro Bowl cornerback switches to No. 1, the number he wore at Utah.

13 to 10: Tyler Scott, receiver

After wearing No. 13 as a rookie, Scott surrenders t

Portland Business News

Table of Experts: Building a culture of wellbeing
Author: Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
Portland Business Journal Publisher and Market President Candace Beeke recently gleaned insights from a panel of company leaders about advancing workplace health and wellness and overcoming burnout. Read what Elizabeth Cole, SVP and chief human resources officer, Regence Health Plans; Patty Groman, SVP and chief people officer, OnPoint Community Credit Union; Haley Potoczek, Healthiest Employers program and campaigns coordinator, Springbuk; and Orlando Williams, founder and CEO, Motus Recruiting…

The Chronicle - Centralia

Onalaska gets back on track with win over Morton-White Pass

The Onalaska softball team scored quickly and with ease on Thursday, as the Loggers piled on quickly in a 15-0, four-inning win over Morton-White Pass.

The Loggers (11-7, 6-2 C2BL) took the lead with three in the first, and they never looked back. Twelve more runs across the next three innings were more than enough for the run-rule victory.

Lisa Liddell pitched four no-hit innings in the circle, striking out 10 while walking just three. She also went 2 for 3 at the plate with a double and drove in three runs, while Jaelynn Aumann went 1 for 1, walked twice, and scored twice.

Five other Loggers recorded a hit, and five more Loggers also drove in a run.

Keegan Ingalsbe was the only Morton-White Pass (2-14, 1-7 C2BL) baserunner, as she walked twice.

Both sides are back in action on Monday, as the Loggers head to Mossyrock and the Timberwolves return home for a season-ending doubleheader against Adna.

Rainier and Winlock fall to Kalama

The Rainier and Winlock golf teams took part in a three-team meet on Thursday at Newaukum.

As a team, Rainier logged a 188, finishing in second, and Winlock totalled 202 strokes to finish third. Kalama came away with the win by shooting a 181.

Josh Peralta led the Mountaineers by shooting a match-best 40, while Thomas Sprouffske shot a 45. Riley Lynch shot a 51, and Elliott Drake rounded out the Rainier scorers with a 52.

On the Winlock scorecard, Nicholas Ming and Trent Poirrier each shot a 46, while Julian Camps shot a 51 and Zach Anderson logged a 59.

Three Winlock girls were also in action, and Anna Sons shot a 64 and Eva Ming and Maycee Jacks shot 65 each.

Prep baseball: Bearcats take Swamp Cup over Tigers in dominating fashion

Maybe it was a good thing. Or maybe it was just the hand the W.F. West High School baseball team was dealt for what seems like the umpteenth time this spring.

With their field still under construction, the Bearcats have no set home schedule and don’t know if they’ll play at Centralia College or go be the home team on another school’s diamond.

“We’re at four different places every week,” pitcher Miles Martin said. “We’ve been having to handle adversity.”

So a couple days in trying to reschedule and finalize a date and diamond for the second Swamp Cup meeting against Centralia didn’t faze an experienced Bearcat bunch.

Twice on Thursday night W.F. West batted around its lineup and racked up double digit runs for the second time in four games, cruising by the Tigers 14-2 in five innings to conclude Evergreen Conference play.

The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday and rain pushed it to Wednesday. Then Bob Peters Field needed to be used on Wednesday and Wheeler Field was off limits due to a light installation project.

“No big deal,” Bearcats head coach Jessie Elam said. “We’ll show up and play when they give us a field and we did that today. Looks like we had a lot of fun.”

Quarterfinals of the Class 2A District 4 tournament kick off on Tuesday and W.F. West (16-5, 10-2 EvCo) will face either Mark Morris or R.A. Long in a location and time to be determined.

Of course, that’s just par for the course for W.F. West.

“It was honestly like the story of our season,” Martin said.

The top motto for the Bearcats has been “Win in May” as it is attempting to defend the district title. So far, they’re 1-0.

After going down in order in the top of the first, they erupted for an eight-run second by sending 13 hitters to the plate and finding gaps in the outfield seven times.

Six of the runs came with two outs, the big blow a two-run single by Ross Kelley. Connor Coleman roped an RBI triple, his third in two games against Centralia.

“Our mentality was to hunt fastballs,” Martin said. “We wanted to bring our energy back. We lost it in the middle of the season and just be excited. We locked in.”

Six more runs crossed home in the fifth to put W.F. West in firm control of the contest. Three runs scored on RBI singles, two on fielder’s choices and one on two errors. Eight batters in its lineup notched at least one RBI.

Martin notched a team-high three hits for the Bearcats and scored three times.

“They got every break, we got nothing, but you also got to make some breaks and we didn’t,” Centralia head coach Jake LeDuc said. “We respond with three (or) four (runs), it is a whole different ball game.”

Elam called Thursday a “bullpen” game by using four pitchers. Coleman, Grady Westlund, Braden Jones and Martin combined for seven strikeouts and just three hits allowed.

All of the pitchers for the Bearcats will be available for the opening game of districts.

“Guys are pounding the strike zone and we have confidence in six, seven guys,” Elam said. “Connor and Grady haven’t thrown in a while; (Braden) Jones needs to keep his arm fresh and keep Miles fresh.”

The Tigers (6-13, 3-9) avoided the shutout with a hit-and-run that turned into a Landen Jenkins RBI double in the fourth that scored Brady Sprague. Cohen Ballard recorded an RBI fielder’s choice in the fifth, but the hole was too big to dig out of.

“I had a feeling he was going within the first couple of pitches because that’s Brady,” LeDuc said. “Broke up the no-hitter, broke up the shutout. I’m not unhappy with it.”

Centralia will play its final game on Friday against Hoquaiam at Olympic Stadium. It will be the last game for 10 seniors that turned the program around from not sniffing the district tournament to being in the hunt until the very end.

“I really wish some of these seniors were around another year,” LeDuc said. “It is a tough group to lose. We need to put in the extra work and get ourselves where they’re at.”

Top three hitters spur Vikings to league title

Fueled by the pop and speed at the top of the Mossyrock softball team’s lineup, it pounced all over Naselle to claim the league title with a 14-1 triumph in five innings on Thursday afternoon in Naselle.

It also sets up the Vikings (8-5) to be the top seed in the Class 1B District 4 tournament and be two wins away from a return trip to Yakima. They blew the game up behind five runs in the top of the third and four runs apiece in the last two innings.

Hadleigh Gerard, Adyson Barrows and Chesney Schultz combined to go 6-for-9 at the plate with nine runs scored, two doubles, two stolen bases and eight RBIs. Delaney Marshall chipped in two hits and Erin Cournyer earned the win in the circle, striking out three in five innings of work.

Mossyrock will return to facing 2B teams when it hosts Winlock on Friday for a doubleheader.

Acorns drop penultimate regular season game

The Oakville baseball team dropped its second-to-last game of the regular season on Thursday, as the Acorns fell to Pope John Paul II 13-7.

The Acorns (7-7) trailed 5-0 after a half inning of play, but cut the lead to two with three in the bottom of the first.

After the Eagles added on in the fourth, Oakville again chipped away with three more to get within one, but a six run sixth from Pope John Paul II put the game out of reach.

Joseph Charles collected three hits at the plate, including a double, and drove in a run, while Isaiah Bird added a pair of hits and scored a run.

Koner Burnett and Andres Rhoades also drove in runs for Oakville.

The Acorns will finish their regular season at home against Wishkah Valley on Friday, and after that, they’ll head to Naselle on Monday for a District 4 semifinal.

Columbian Newspaper

Wildfire burns 77 acres south of Kennewick; gunshots investigated
Author: Cameron Probert, Tri-City Herald

KENNEWICK — A fire tore through about 77 acres of sagebrush and grass in rural Benton County south of Kennewick late, starting late Wednesday.

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Pierce County Sheriff’s Office: Woman killed boyfriend with a pellet rifle
Author: Puneet Bsanti, The News Tribune

TACOMA — A 51-year-old man was shot to death with a pellet rifle in Graham on Wednesday.

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