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Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian NFL Wednesday, March 15, 2017 NBA Seahawks to sign Pelicans breeze by Trail Blazers RB Eddie Lacy By LES EAST Associated Press By TIM BOOTH Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks Seahawks and free agent running back Eddie Lacy agreed to terms on a one-year deal Tuesday, providing Seattle a big body for a run game that was once the best in football but lagged last season following the retirement of Marshawn Lynch. “I like that we’re bringing Lacy in a big, tough guy that’s going to send a message the way he plays the game,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said in an interview with KIRO-AM, the Seahawks flagship station, on Tuesday. Lacy was the top offen- sive rookie in 2013 when he rushed for 1,178 yards and 11 touchdowns for Green Bay. He also ran for more than 1,100 yards in 2014, but has since been slowed by injuries and lost favor with Packers coach Mike McCarthy at times. Last season, Lacy played in only five games, sidelined by ankle prob- lems, and finished with only 360 yards rushing and no touchdowns. Weight has also been an issue for Lacy, but Carroll said he would expect the running back to play in the range of 240-250 pounds. Seattle’s running back situ- ation was filled with instability from the start of last season. Thomas Rawls and C.J. Prosise were both limited by injuries. Christine Michael was cut midseason due to ineffectiveness, yet still led the Seahawks in rushing during the regular season. Lacy is Seattle’s second signing in free agency after agreeing to a one-year deal with offensive lineman Luke Joeckel last week. NEW ORLEANS — DeMarcus Cousins scored 22 points, Anthony Davis had 15 points and 15 rebounds and the New Orleans Peli- cans beat the Portland Trail Blazers 100-77 on Tuesday. Cousins had nine rebounds and three assists. He made 9 of 17 2-point shots but missed all five of his 3-point attempts. Jordan Crawford had 13 points and scored in double figures for the fourth time in four games since being signed to a 10-day contract March 5. Solomon Hill scored 12 points, E’Twaun Moore had 11 and Jrue Holiday 10. The Pelicans took the lead for good in the first quarter and won their second straight. Damian Lillard scored 29 points to lead Portland, which lost for the second time in its last seven games. Shabazz Napier came off the bench to score 10 points. New Orleans set season lows in points allowed, field-goal percentage Portland New Orleans 77 100 allowed (30.3) and turnovers committed (five). Portland had its fewest points this season. The Pelicans’ lead grew to 50-36 at halftime and 77-54 after three quarters as Port- land failed to score more than 20 points in any of the first three quarters. New Orleans led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter. TIP-INS Blazers: Lillard provided the only consistent offense for Portland, scoring 26 of the team’s 54 points through three quarters. ... Staring C Jusuf Nurkic made just 1 of 8 shots and Allen Crabbe did the same off the bench. Pelicans: Davis missed nearly half of the second quarter after twisting his left ankle, but he returned to start the second half UP NEXT Blazers: Portland plays the middle game of a five- game road trip when it visits San Antonio on Wednesday. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert New Orleans Pelicans forward Solomon Hill (44) goes to the basket in front of Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Tuesday, March 14, 2017. BUCKS: Hanford error scores two in third inning BULLDOGS: Tolan, at second, but the Bucks now Moss combine to allow had a 4-0 lead. the first when senior Madison Sophomore third baseman Parker drew a walk off Aspen Garton got to make just six hits in game Hanford hurler Annie Polster. up for her first-inning gaff by Unlike the Falcons, the Bucks Continued from 1B were able to make something of the situation. Parker was erased when Richards hit into a fielder’s choice, but an error at first allowed her to take an extra base. A ground-out kept Richards at second, but then another error at first on junior Kalan McGlothan’s grounder gave Richards enough time to make it home for a 1-0 lead. “One of the true positives is I liked the way we ran the bases getting that runner from second base to home, and taking advantage of a mistake, twice, by Hanford,” Cary said. “And those extra runs add up. There’s a big difference between a 5-0 lead and 3-0 lead, especially late in the game. So I do like the way we were aggressive on the bases.” It was McGlothan’s first game back after getting her gall bladder removed, which forced her to miss Pendle- ton’s girls basketball playoff game on March 3. “I got back in school the day after, just trying to get back as fast as I can,” she said. “I hate being down. (At first) I couldn’t throw, no twisting, nothing over 20 pounds. It was pretty brutal.” McGlothan finished 0-for-2 in the clean-up spot, but did get to play in the Staff photo by Kathy Aney Ellie Nirschl, of Pendleton, rounds third base and heads for home at the direction of coach Tim Cary during Tuesday’s game against Hanford at Steve Cary Field. field as well when Cary made some mid-game lineup changes and said she felt great after the game. “My defense is so much better than my offense, I love it. But once the season gets going I’ll be better at the plate,” she said. “I’m normal, back to myself from the surgery and even better.” Richards got into her only jam in the second inning when Gabby Skurka singled and Malinda Ham drew a walk to give the Falcons two on with one out. This time the defense came through for Richards as senior shortstop Payton Hergert made a diving grab on a shallow line drive for the second out. Richards then struck out the next batter to send the Bucks into the dugout for what would be their most productive at-bat of the game. Kirah McGlothan and Parker had infield singles to put instant pressure on Polster, and Richards helped her own cause with a run-scoring ground-out to second when it was her turn that made it 2-0. Hergert came next with a walk, then Polster was able to get Kalan McGlothan on strikes to bring up junior Rylee Gentner, who was the last out of the first inning on a ball hit to the warning track. This time Gentner hit a hard grounder up the middle that was fielded cleanly but overthrown at first to allow Parker and Hergert to score. The play, and the inning, ended with Gentner caught fielding all three outs in the top of the fourth as Hanford went down in order. Pendleton picked up its final run in the bottom of the frame when sophomore courtesy runner Ellie Nirschl scored from first on Kirah McGlothan’s hit to the wall in left field. McGlothan dove into just ahead of the throw for a triple. “I was watching Coach (Cary), I knew I had to get down,” she said. “It feels good (to win the opener). It was really nerve-racking at first because first at-bat, first game of the season. But Coach just said, ‘Play hard, have fun and don’t stress it.’ “We haven’t really seen live pitching a lot, but (Polster) was definitely a good one to start the season off with. But after my first at-bat, nerves were kind of gone. It was a good first game.” Hanford was able to get runners on first in each of the next inning, but without any hits to move them around was unable to pose much of a threat as the clouds above began to empty at a soft drizzle. ——— R H E HHS 000 000 0 — 0 1 5 PHS 103 100 X — 5 4 1 A. Polster and L. Roe. L. Richards, A. Brehaut (7) and K. Soloman. W — Richards. L — Polster. 3B — Ki. McGlothan (PHS). PREPS: Greb earns top medalist at The Dalles CC Continued from 1B (IHS); L. Thieme, B. Postma, L. Weinke (PR). IRRIGON 9, PILOT ROCK 5 — At Pilot Rock, the Knights (1-0) scored six runs in the last two innings to jump back ahead for good in Tuesday’s season opener between former league foes. The Rockets (0-1) scored five runs in the fourth inning to go up 5-2, but Irrigon scored one in the fourth, and three in each of its next two at-bats to pull away. Nate Gumbert led charge batting 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Zack Henrichs and Hayden White also each scored twice. Levi Thieme was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Chris Weinke and Braydon Postma also went 2-for-4, but the Rockets left 11 runners stranded. Austin Rice started for Irrigon and gave up two hits, struck out eight and walked five in three complete innings. After the Rockets tagged reliever Johnny Phil- lips for five runs, Adrian Roa allowed one hit in the final two innings to earn the win. Thieme started for the Rockets and struck out seven, walked one and allowed one run on two hits in 3 2/3 innings. ——— UMATILLA 10, TOUCHET 10 (6 innings) — At Touchet, Wash., Vikings catcher Andrew Wilson stopped a late Touchet rally to preserve a tie on Tuesday as their season opener was called due to darkness with the score tied after six innings. With a runner on third and two outs, Wilson was unable to track the ball from the mound and let it get by him. That spurred the runner into action, but Wilson was able to pick the ball out of the dirt and beat the runner to the plate for the tag. Umatilla (0-0-1) scored all of its runs in a 10-run second, and was up 10-5 going into the sixth. By then, said Umatilla coach John Garrett, the fading light and muddy baseball were making it difficult on the players. A new stat keeper and a rain-soaked book meant Garrett had just the highlights to pass on. Justin Johanneroer led the Vikings going 3-for-3 and scoring two runs. Senior Diego Soto started on the mound and struck out three of the 10 batters he faced, and Garrett said sophomore Uriel Garcia gave about an inning and a half of relief work. GIRLS GOLF THE DALLES — Pend- leton senior Haley Greb battled through a soggy R H E IHS 010 113 3 — 9 8 2 PR 000 500 0 — 5 7 4 A. Rice, J. Phillips (4), A. Roa (7). L. Thieme, B. Postma (4), C. Weinke (6). W — Roa. L — Thieme. 2B — N. Gumbert, H. White, K. Fleming back nine to run away with top medalist at a meet at The Dalles Country Club on Tuesday. Greb shot a 74 in her season-opening round, a score she was happy with considering the conditions and course difficulty. “It was pretty nasty out, but we got out of it, barely,” she said. “They have a tough course down there and I don’t get to play it that often, but it was definitely a nice step in the right direction.” The next closest to Greb was Scappoose’s Morgan Hall with a 97. With Greb leading, the Bucks also ran away with the team title with a 411. Scap- poose was second with 469. Also medaling for Pend- leton were Rylee Harris in third with a 107 and Megan George in fourth with a 108. McKenzie McLeod scored 123 and Lauren Galloway had 122 to round out the Bucks’ scores. “I’m really proud of my teammates,” Greb said. “Rylee has improved a ton (over last year), she’s been working really hard in prac- tice. I think we’ll do all right this year. We’ll get better as the season goes along.” TENNIS HELIX 5, MAC-HI 0 — At Helix, the Grizzlies made a clean sweep of the Pioneers to open their season. The Helix boys won with a count of 3-0, and the girls beat Mac-Hi 2-0. All of the matches were singles, and Erik Jones took the No. 1 boys win 8-0 from Mac-Hi’s Jorge Alvarez. Cody Dunn beat Esgar Barra 6-2, and Allan Holden beat Bryan Abrego in the Nos. 2 and 3 matches, respectively. Lynne Roberts triumphed in the No. 1 girls singles match 8-4 over Emily Cuellar, and Kyla Roberts beat Janelle Martinez in a tiebreaker 6-6 (7-5) to complete the sweep. SOFTBALL TOUCHET 30, UMATILLA 4 (5 innings) — At Touchet, Wash., things started well for the Vikings with four runs in the top of the first inning, but quickly unraveled as Touchet smacked the ball around for 28 hits and didn’t need to come out for the bottom of the fifth. Umatilla (0-1) was able to get its first two batters on base with bunt singles, and then a couple of passed balls allowed their first two runs to score, said coach Kylee Lete. Alex Ford added an RBI single in the inning, but Touchet answered with 11 in the bottom of the first and kept pouring it on from there. ——— R H E UHS 400 00 — 4 4 9 THS (11)47 8X — 30 28 2 C. Alvarez P. Picker (1), L. Jurnot (3) and Y. Flores, S. Griggs (3). H. Kromm and M. Gallagher. W — Kromm. L — Alvarez. Continued from 1B up a lot of runs today so it was nice.” Hermiston (1-0) scored its seven runs on a total of seven hits and also with the help of four Ridgeview errors. Kody Moss and Wyatt Noland led Herm- iston’s offense with two hits apiece, while Moss added two runs scored and an RBI. Daniel Gossler also went 1-for-4 at the plate with an RBI, one run scored and a stolen base. “We’re 13 guys strong and that was a good team win,” Hermiston coach Lance Hawkins said. “We’re going to need all 13 guys throughout the year, and everybody played today, everybody got involved. We made our fair share of first-game mistakes, but I expect that and I’ll take a win any way we can get it.” Hermiston had a pair of solid performances on the pitching mound as well Tuesday as the duo of Lukas Tolan and Kody Moss got the call in Game No. 1. The junior right-hander Tolan started the game and finished with three hits and three runs allowed over four innings with three walks and three strikeouts. He showed some first-game jitters to start, allowing all three runs, two hits and two walks in the first two innings, but over his final two innings he allowed just one hit with two strikeouts. “I just tried to throw strikes and give our defense a chance to make some plays,” Tolan said of his performance. “It’s not good to walk anybody either so I tried to stay away from that.” Moss came on in relief in the fifth inning and had some immediate struggles, allowing four-straight batters to reach base safely and eventually allowed three runs to score in the inning. But like Tolan, Moss settled in after that and shut down the Ravens. Hawkins said he was very satisfied with what the pitchers showed. “I think with Lukas, his velocity’s up and he’ll battle a lot,” Hawkins said. “He only had like 7 innings last year, so he’s our most experience guy, but if he focuses he’ll throw well for us. And Kody coming in, his last inning was his best and that’s what you want to see.” Hermiston’s bats went quietly in the first inning, but got something going against Ridgeview pitcher Blaine Gibbs in the second. Tolan and Gossler led off with back-to-back walks, and then a dropped fly ball from Ridgeview’s left field allowed Tolan to score Hermiston’s first run and cut the deficit to 3-1. Then after another walk, this time to Brylee Dufloth to load the bases, Gossler’s heads-up base- running allowed him to sprint home and score on a overthrow back to the pitcher from Ridgeview’s catcher and make it 3-2. Then Kaden Caldwell followed with a flare into right field to score Gritz and tie the game at 3-3. Then in bottom of the fourth inning, Hermiston played add-on with an RBI double from Gossler to score Moss to give Hermiston its first lead at 4-3. The Bulldogs added two more runs in the fourth inning on an RBI single from Moss and then an RBI triple from Noland that rolled all the way to the right field fence. “First game I think everyone had a little nervousness built up,” Tolan said of the slow start,” but we kind of worked it out as the game went on and did what we’ve been doing for years now and just had fun and played baseball.” In the seventh inning, Hermiston got things going when Gritz reached on a error by the Ravens shortstop and then was moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Mitch Brown to put the winning run just 180 feet away. Junior Cole Campbell, who Hawkins said was playing in his first compet- itive baseball game in more than two years, came to the plate and nearly ended the game early. He smacked a 2-2 pitch up the middle, however the Ravens shortstop made a tremendous stop to keep Gritz from scoring from third base. “I thought that was a heckuva at-bat from Cole,” Hawkins said. While reflecting on the work that his team has put in over the past month- plus, he said he is pretty pleased with what the guys showed on the field Tuesday, though he knows there is still a long way to go. “It’s just one of 26 games,” he said, “but it’s a good start.” ———— R H E RHS 210 030 0 — 6 6 4 HHS 031 200 1 — 7 7 4 B. Gibbs, E. Hockett (3), E. Remick (7) and N. Mervitt (RHS). L. Tolan, K. Moss (5) and S. Gritz (HHS). W — K. Moss, L — N. Mervitt. 2B — E. Hockett, H. Pennholla, N. Restivo (RHS). D. Gossler (HHS). 3B — W. Noland (HHS). ———— Contact Eric at esinger@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ ByEricSinger.