Sports
6A
Saturday, August 1, 2020
The Observer
Legends 18U team tops Baker,
16U squad sweeps Pendleton
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
Observer file photo
Eastern Oregon University running back Victor Dias (44) carries the football in a Nov. 2,
2019 game against College of Idaho. The NAIA announced Friday, July 31, that it is mov-
ing its football championship to the spring of 2021.
NAIA moves football
championship to spring
Eastern Oregon
looks at playing
an independent
schedule for sport
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
National Association of
Intercollegiate Athletics
voted to move its football
championship to the spring
of 2021, just as it did with
the rest of its fall sports.
The vote from the
NAIA’s Council of Presi-
dents came down Friday,
July 31. Just three days ear-
lier, the council voted to
move the NAIA’s other fall
sports — women’s volley-
ball, men’s and women’s
cross-country, and men’s
and women’s soccer — to
the spring.
“The decision regarding
the football championship
required additional atten-
tion since the sport often
operates outside of the reg-
ular conference structure,”
said Dr. Arvid Johnson,
COP chair and University
of St. Francis president,
in a press release from the
NAIA. “The extra time
allotted was to ensure that
the COP representatives
had adequate opportunity
to gain feedback from their
conference colleagues.”
As it did with the ear-
lier ruling this week, the
NAIA left the door open
for schools or conferences
to still compete in the fall if
they elect to do so.
“It definitely is in line
and makes sense for health
and safety of all student
athletes to move our fall
sports to spring,” said Anji
Weissenfluh, EOU athletic
director.
The EOU football team
— along with College of
Idaho and Southern Oregon
University — already had
made a decision to move
their football schedules to
the spring, even though
the Frontier Conference —
which the schools play in
for football — was plan-
ning to play in the fall.
Previously, The Observer
reported the three schools
were still slated to play with
the other Montana-based
FC universities.
The Frontier in a press
release late Friday after-
noon stated it is still plan-
ning for an eight-game
schedule among the five
Montana schools.
That decision by the FC,
Weissenfluh said, means
Eastern, C of I and SOU all
will be looking at options
to play an independent
schedule.
“We will be reaching
out to the NAIA and seeing
what the avenues are to
declare as an independent,”
she said.
Weissenfluh added if
the FC does elect to move
its fall slate to the spring,
she hopes the other three
schools could be readded to
the schedule.
“If the Frontier Confer-
ence decides to delay their
regular season, hopefully
they will let us be a part of
Players describe abusive
environment on Oregon State team
the Frontier Conference,”
she said.
It would not be the first
time EOU has played an
independent schedule. The
school began the 21st cen-
tury playing independently,
and did so until it joined
the Frontier for the 2006
season.
Weissenfluh said as the
school presses forward
with a plan for an indepen-
dent slate, it will work with
SOU and C of I and look
for other NAIA schools that
have made a decision to go
independent, and from there
look at scheduling NCAA
Division II or III schools,
if needed, to fill a schedule
that could give it an option
to contend for a playoff
berth.
“We’ll move ahead with
that understanding and do
what’s best for the three
of us,” she said, referring
to EOU, SOU and C of I.
“We’re in this together.”
Weissenfluh antici-
pates that the NAIA will
announce what its cham-
pionship dates for the fall
will be in the next couple of
weeks.
coach Mark Barnard pits
players against each other
in team meetings, threatens
to revoke scholarships for
struggling players and
pushes team members past
health warnings in practice
as punishment.
They said they were per-
plexed by the administra-
tion not taking decisive
action against Barnard after
repeated complaints about
the program, some of which
triggered what university
officials called a “full and
impartial” investigation.
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times in the fourth on Cole
Shafer’s RBI single, a bas-
es-loaded hit batter and an
error, and added four more
runs in the fifth on Sam
Tsiatsos’ RBI single, a
passed ball, a sacrifice fly
by Sergio Staab and Owen
Rinker’s RBI single.
Pendleton scored four
runs in the sixth and
brought the tying run to
the plate in the seventh, but
fell short in its rally.
La Grande left no doubt
in the second game with a
seven-run first inning and
an eight-run fourth high-
lighting the easy win.
Jarett Armstrong’s
two-run triple put the Leg-
ends ahead for good early.
Ryan Jones later swiped
home, Staab and Eli Bise-
nius hit RBI singles, and
runs scored on a passed
ball and a wild pitch for a
7-0 margin.
Shafer’s RBI
groundout and another
passed ball led to two
more runs in the second.
In the fourth, Armstrong
capped a four-RBI game
with a two-run single
and Shafer drove in a run
with a groundout for a
12-1 lead. Rinker singled
home the 13th run of the
night, and a hit batter and
error led to two more runs
before Tsiatsos ended the
beatdown with a two-run
single.
Armstrong, in addi-
tion to driving in four
runs, tossed three scoreless
innings for the win.
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Contributed photo by Michelle Bell
La Grande’s Devin Bell dives into third base after hitting
a triple Monday, July 27. The La Grande Legacy Ford
Legends 18U squad took down Baker on Monday, 9-1.
'U7KRPDV'0LOOHU
Associated Press
CORVALLIS — Ath-
letes and others have
accused Oregon State Uni-
versity’s head volleyball
coach of running a program
so abusive 11 players quit or
transferred since 2016 and
two team members con-
templated suicide, with one
attempting an overdose.
The Associated Press
reported athletes and people
with ties to the program
in interviews with the AP
and complaints to the uni-
versity said fifth-year head
LA GRANDE — The
La Grande Legacy Ford
Legends 18U baseball
team used a six-run sixth
inning to pull away for a
9-1 victory Monday, July
27, over Baker, while the
16U squad swept Pend-
leton in a doubleheader
Tuesday, 7-5 and 17-1.
The 18U team already
led 3-1 entering the sixth
before quickly doubling
the lead to four runs on
back-to-back bases-loaded
walks. Cesar Rodriguez
made it 6-1 with an RBI
single, and Devin Bell
knocked in two with a
single for an 8-1 lead
before Riley Miller capped
the scoring with a sacri-
fice fly.
Nick Bornstedt’s RBI
groundout put La Grande
ahead 1-0 in the first and
Bell, who had four RBIs
and went 3 for 4, drove in
two runs with a triple in
the third for a 3-0 lead.
Wyatt Earp shut down
Baker on the mound,
allowing one unearned run
on two hits in six innings
and striking out seven.
Tuesday, the 16U team
nearly let a 7-0 lead slip
away before escaping with
the win in the opener, then
won the nightcap in a rout.
In the first game, the
Legends scored three
Brooke Davis, DO
506 4th Street, La Grande • 541.663.3138 • grh.org/RMC/
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