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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2016)
SPORTS TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Sports shorts NBA Finals Game 7 TV ratings best since 1998 Cleveland rocks as title drought ends NEW YORK (AP) — Game 7 between the Cavaliers and Warriors has drawn the highest television rating for the NBA Finals since Michael Jordan’s last championship. Cleveland’s tense 93-89 win Sunday night to capture the city’s fi rst title in more than a half-century averaged a 15.7 rating and nearly 30.8 million viewers on ABC. ESPN said Monday that both numbers are the best since Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, when Jordan’s Bulls clinched their sixth ring. An additional 598,000 viewers streamed the game on WatchESPN. Viewership peaked with more than 44.5 million viewers and a 22.5 rating as Cavs wrapped up the title. Ratings represent the percentage of U.S. homes with televisions tuned to a program. The game earned a 46.3 rating in the Cleveland area. Cavaliers capture city’s fi rst pro sports title since 1964 By TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer CLEVELAND (AP) — More tears. Only this time, tears of joy. Cleveland’s championship drought, crossing 52 years, genera- tions and noted by a long list of near misses, is over at last. On Father’s Day, LeBron James, the kid from nearby Akron raised by a single mother, brought the title home. As the fi nal seconds of Cleve- land’s 93-89 victory at Golden State in Game 7 ticked off on the giant scoreboard inside Quicken Loans Arena, 18,000 fans, some of them strangers when Sunday night began, cried, hugged, screamed and shared a moment many of them have spent a lifetime dreaming of. They then linked arms and shouted the words to Queen’s “We Are The Champions,” a song that seemed reserved only for others. For the fi rst time since 1964, when the Browns ruled the NFL, Cleveland is a title town again. With James leading the way and winning MVP honors, the Cavs became the fi rst team in NBA Finals history to overcome a 3-1 defi cit. Call it The Comeback. At 10:37 p.m., Cleveland fi nally exorcised decades of sports demons — the painful losses given nicknames like “The Drive” and “The Fumble” and “The Shot” See CLEVELAND/2B AP Photo/Eric Risberg Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, center, celebrates with teammates after Game 7 of basketball’s NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, June 19, 2016. MILTON-FREEWATER Triangle wins softball district title Triangle’s Jayden Sparks slides into home plate while Herm- iston’s Macey To- var goes for the tag on Monday in their 10/11 softball District 3 cham- pionship game at Cannery Field in Mil- ton-Free- water. Sparks was safe and Trian- gle won the game 21-19. Mariners make trade with Dodgers for P Zach Lee DETROIT (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired infi elder Chris Taylor from the Seattle Mariners on Sunday night for pitching prospect Zach Lee. FACES The 25-year-old Taylor has played in 86 major league games but has spent almost all of this season Lee with Triple-A Tacoma. He hit .312 with three homers and 12 stolen bases with the Rainiers, spending time at shortstop, second base and third base. Taylor has hit .240 in the majors. The right-handed Lee was pitching at Triple-A Oklahoma City and was 7-5 with a 4.89 ERA. The 24-year-old was a fi rst-round pick in 2010 and made his major league debut last year, allowing seven runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Mets on July 25. “If I had even imagined that it would be so diffi cult, I wouldn’t have announced anything. There are too many people I have to pay attention to, and on top of that I have to prepare for a game.“ — David Ortiz Boston Red Sox slugger said on Monday that he regrets announcing his retirement before the 2016 season began, mentioning that he feels overwhelmed with the extra attention received before every game this season. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1960 — Armin Hary of West Germany becomes the fi rst man to run 100 meters in 10.0 seconds, at a meet in Zurich, Switzerland. 1965 — Gary Player becomes the third man to win golf’s top four pro titles when he captures the U.S. Open. Player beats Kel Nagle in a playoff round. 1998 — Marion Jones becomes the fi rst athlete in 50 years to win the women’s 100 and 200 meters and long jump at the U.S. Track and Field Championships. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com Staff photo by Matt Entrup All-Star team defeats Hermiston for little league championship By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian Just three years ago, the Triangle softball program was a non-factor in the Little League all-star season. Down in numbers and on the verge of collapse, the program that serves the small towns between Pendleton and Milton-Freewater was just looking to stay viable. On Monday the 10/11 year-old Triangle all-stars continued their Cinderella season with a 21-19 win over Hermiston for the District 3 championship. “I think it surprises a lot of people. I don’t think some of our parents even thought we could do it,” said head coach Dylan Pettyjohn. “Our program was pretty much done for until three years ago, we started working back into it. Myself and my assistant coaches have basically had the same group of kids … for three years.” That group, which also includes two players from Pilot Rock this season, has only lost once this season going back to the start of See TRIANGLE/2B PENDLETON Youth Roundup Explosion win at Valley Invite Local softball team defeat Canadian team for tournament title East Oregonian CLACKAMAS — The USA Explosion Dave’s Food Mart/ Pratt 14U softball team went undefeated to win the Valley Invitational Tournament over the weekend. The Explosion outlasted Canadian national champions Surrey Storm 6-5 in nine innings to win claim the tournament title on Sunday. It was their fi fth win of the day, and they went 8-0 on the weekend. A two-RBI single by Allie Brock put the Explosion up 5-3 in the top of the ninth, and a sacrifi ce by Kara Gooderham made it 6-3. The Storm threatened to extend the game with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but with the tying run on fi rst, a grounder to second base ended the game. Brock pitched the fi nal six innings in relief for the win. She Little League. They’ll play in the state tournament starting on July 23 in Baker City. “They left their hearts out there on the fi eld, that’s what I’ve asked of them all year long,” Pettyjohn said. “They’re just hard workers and they love playing softball.” BMCC girls earn back-to- back titles Women’s rodeo team wins team title, Williams wins all-around championship East Oregonian Contributed photo courtesy of John Bradt The USA Explosion softball team poses after winning the championship at the Valley Invitational on Sunday in Clack- amas. struck out two and walked none. Aspen Garton was 3 for 4 with two doubles to lead all batters, and Katie Bradt and Brock each had two RBIs. Garton also was 2 for 3 with a home run in the Explosion’s 5-1 semifi nal win over the Fuzion. The Explosion’s other wins on Sunday were: 1-0 over AF Pros- pects, 10-9 over Idaho Sliders and 6-0 over Spokane Diamonds. ——— Game 8 R H USA 000 100 023 — 6 7 SUR 000 000 122 — 5 10 W — A. Brock. L — Unknown. 2B — C. Farrow, A. Garton 2 (USA). E 0 0 Game 7 R H E USA 100 121 0 — 5 9 2 FUZ 000 001 0 — 1 6 0 W — J. Hafer. L — Unknown. 2B — A. Garton, S. Spriet (USA). HR — A. Garton (USA). See ROUNDUP/2B CASPER, Wyo. — The Blue Moun- tain Community College women’s rodeo team repeated as national cham- pions on Saturday at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo. Sophomore Danyelle Williams won the fi nal round of barrel racing to cement her women’s Williams all-around title. Her 340 total points was nearly double that of second-place Taylor Engesser of See BMCC/2B