Sports
Eagle will
play in
Shrine
Game
7A
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Th e Observer
EASTERN OREGON LIVESTOCK SHOW
Joseph’s Jonah
Staigle to take part
in 69th annual all-
star football game
G.T. Blackman
shuts door on LSU
Shreveport in
second-round game
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Jonah
Staigle was excited when
he saw the email telling
him he had been selected
to take part in the Shriners
East-West All-Star Game,
which returns in August
after a year away due to
COVID-19.
“Oh, man, it’s an honor,”
the Joseph senior said.
“(Head coach) Duncan
(Christman) talked to
me, he put me and Juston
(Rogers) both in there.
“I got the email the other
day. That was crazy.”
Staigle and 43 others
received that email, telling
them they would be part
of the 69th Shriners game,
which is a major fundraiser
for Shriners Children’s Hos-
pital in Portland.
“It’s amazing to be able
to have the game back,”
said Zachary Steele, fi rst
vice chairman and player
personnel manager. “This
year would have been our
70th game.
“It’s the largest fund-
raiser in the Northwest for
Portland Shriners Hospital.
Being able to have a game
and get those dollars to help
kids walk is amazing.”
The pandemic canceled
last year’s game, but there
was hope the game would
be able to resume this
summer. Steele said the big
lift came when state sanc-
tions on full-contact foot-
ball in Oregon were lifted.
“It’s always been the
goal since we canceled the
game last year,” he said.
Steele said the players
that get selected among the
nominees are those who
coaches believe are not only
talented, but who are tops
in character. The players are
nominated and selected by
coaches.
“No. 1 we want
high-character kids, and
No. 2 we want your best
athletes,” Steele said, noting
the game is, after all, an all-
star game.
Staigle does know some
about the history of the
game and the impact it has.
“I’ve heard a little bit
about. I know it’s been
going on for quite a while.
I remember telling my
mom, and she freaked out
telling me how it was a big
deal when she was in high
school here,” he said. “It
defi nitely is an honor to get
picked for it.”
Past traditions have been
for players to tour the Shri-
ners campus in Wilsonville
to meet children who are in
the hospital.
That won’t be possible
See, Football/Page 8A
Tigers
alum
shines
at CWS
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Trainer Scott Stewart prepares his horses in the stalls prior to the races at the 2021 Eastern Oregon Livestock Show on Saturday, June
12, 2021.
Back in action
Horse racers
embrace the
return of EOLS
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
UNION — It’s a
long trip from Fruitland,
Idaho, but horse racing
trainer Scott Stewart has
been participating in the
Eastern Oregon Livestock
Show for nearly 30 years.
Following the post-
ponement of last year’s
EOLS, horse racers were
back in action for a full
slate of races at this year’s
livestock show in Union.
“We’re just glad to be
back and we really try to
support (EOLS) and win
races,” Stewart said.
The stakes were high,
with attendees at the live-
stock show lining up to
place their bets on the
horse races on Saturday,
June 12. Six races took
place with more than
$20,000 being awarded
across all the horse races.
One of Stewart’s big-
gest races of the day was
the second race, a thor-
oughbred allowance race
for 3-year-old or older
horses that have not won
in 2021. Cosmic Tripster,
a 6-year-old mare origi-
nally bred in Washington,
entered the race with high
hopes from Stewart and
the racing team.
The horse, whose
owner is Dustie Crystal,
earned more than $25,000
in winnings from 2018 to
2020. The second race of
the EOLS entailed a 5-1/2
furlong-contest between
three horses. The race
was originally set to have
four horses competing, but
6-year-old mare Blingin
was scratched.
Right out of the gate,
Cosmic Tripster and
jockey Jamie Lopez took
a sizable lead over the
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Jamie Lopez rides Cosmic Tripster through the fi nish line on the second race of the day on Saturday,
June 12, 2021, at the 2021 Eastern Oregon Livestock Show. Cosmic Tripster bolted out to a large lead
and never looked back as she won the race handily.
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Chad Ekins walks Cosmic Tripster through the paddock in the
buildup to the second race of the day on Saturday, June 12, 2021,
at the 2021 Eastern Oregon Livestock Show.
other two horses and led
by multiple horse-lengths
through the fi rst straight-
away. With a cushion
between fi rst and second
place, Cosmic Tripster
completed the fi nal lap
and galloped through the
fi nish line to take fi rst
place with a time of 1
minute, 3.40 seconds.
The purse was $3,100,
but the return of horse
racing at EOLS was a
prize within itself.
“It’s fun to be able to
have horses here,” Stewart
said. “Sometimes you get
some horses in the pad-
dock and they buck a
couple of bulls out there
and the horses get a little
under the weather.”
Stewart is referencing
the bull-riding and other
rodeo events taking place
in between the horse
races throughout the live-
stock show. Between the
races, rodeo contestants
took in steer wrestling,
team roping and tie-down
roping.
“We’re just glad to be
back racing in Union and
out here competing with
these horses again,” said
training assistant Chad
Ekins.
Ekins, a former jockey
in the 1990s, serves as
hotwalker and exercises
many of the team’s horses
during training sessions,
in addition to working on
many of the horses’ shoes.
The warm spring
weather presented fast
track conditions for the
horses, an element that has
been hard to predict over
the years at the EOLS.
“I’ve been here when
it’s raining quite a bit and
I’ve been here when it’s
snowed,” Stewart said. “It’s
tough to have races but
(EOLS) seems to always
come through with it.”
LEWISTON, Idaho
— With the season on
the line for Lewis-Clark
State College, La Grande
High School graduate G.T.
Blackman came up big.
Blackman entered an
elimination game Monday,
May 31, with the bases
loaded and no outs in the
bottom of the ninth inning
to close out a 9-6 ball game
against LSU Shreveport
in the second round of the
NAIA World Series conso-
lation bracket.
Facing the potential
game winning run at the
plate, Blackman struck
out the fi rst two batters to
bring the game to its fi nal
out. The La Grande native
forced a pop up on the last
play to secure the victory
for the Warriors and earn
the save.
“It was sort of a blackout
moment, where you just
kind of believe in yourself,
I’m in the zone and it’s time
to go to work,” Blackman
said. “It was a relatively big
moment for our team, we
kind of needed to get out of
that. I did my job to the best
of my ability and I got the
job done.”
Lewis-Clark State went
on to win its next game
against top-seeded South-
eastern in Round 3 before
losing to second-seeded
Central Methodist by a
score of 8-5 on June 2. The
Warriors were just one
game shy of facing Georgia
Gwinnett, the eventual
champions, in the NAIA
World Series fi nale.
“I thought our team was
amazing, I haven’t been
more proud of a team in a
while,” Blackman said. “We
just really fought our hearts
out.”
Blackman, a red-
shirt-sophomore, concluded
a 2021 season with a 5-0
record, a 2.86 ERA and 45
strikeouts, while holding
opposing batters to a .256
batting average out of the
bullpen. A former state
champion at La Grande
High School, he has an 8-0
record and 3.29 ERA in his
career at Lewis-Clark State.
Blackman was a contrib-
uting part of Lewis-Clark
State’s impressive 44-6
record in the 2021 season,
which included a 22-game
winning streak.
The Warriors won the
Cascade Collegiate Con-
ference title behind Black-
man’s performance in
Game 2 of a best-of-three
See, Baseball/Page 8A
SPORTS SHORT
Oregon State headed to Providence Park to play Montana State in 2022
By NICK DASCHEL
The Oregonian
CORVALLIS — Oregon
State plans to move its Sept. 17,
2022, home game against Mon-
tana State from Reser Stadium to
Portland’s Providence Park.
It is the fi rst time the Beavers
have played in Portland since
1986.
Oregon State athletic director
Scott Barnes said he saw an
opportunity to move a 2022
game because of Reser Stadium’s
west side construction project.
The Beavers play seven home
games in 2022.
Construction begins at the
conclusion of the 2021 football
season, with completion slated
for spring of 2023. Construction
will halt during the 2022 season,
but most of Reser’s west side
won’t be available to fans.
Without the west side, Reser
Stadium has a seating capacity
near 33,000. The 2022 season is
the only schedule year aff ected
by construction.
Providence Park is expected
to have seating capacity close to
its soccer limit of 25,218 seats.
“We have such a large alumni
base in Portland that we think
this is a wonderful opportunity
for our university to engage our
alumni,” Barnes said.
Details of the game and fes-
tivities are in the planning
stages. Game time for Montana
State-Oregon State will be deter-
mined early next summer when
the Pac-12 announces television
times.
Allied Works/Contributed Photo
Oregon State plans to move its Sept. 17, 2022, home game against Montana State
from Reser Stadium to Portland’s Providence Park.