Sports
Smith,
Davis earn
weekly
CCC
honors
A9
Thursday, April 7, 2022
ON THE GREEN
TJ Davis earns
track honor,
Amanda Smith
named softball
pitcher of the week
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — It was
a productive week of spring
sports for Eastern Oregon
University, capped off with
two athletes earning confer-
ence accolades.
Track and
field ath-
lete TJ Davis
and soft-
ball pitcher
Amanda
Smith took
Davis
home Cas-
cade Colle-
giate Confer-
ence player
of the week
honors in
their respec-
tive sports, as
announced by
Smith
the conference
on Monday, April 4.
Smith was named con-
ference pitcher of the week
after a strong showing over
three outings. Her highlight
of the week was throwing a
five-inning no-hitter against
Warner Pacific in an 11-0
victory on April 1, the first
no-hitter of her career.
The senior went 2-1 on
the week, throwing com-
plete games in each outing.
Throughout the three con-
tests, Smith tallied 19
strikeouts and allowed just
two runs over 20 innings.
Smith kept the Mountain-
eers close against No. 5
College of Idaho, but the
Mountaineers ultimately
fell 1-0. Eastern took two
wins over Warner Pacific
with Smith in the circle,
sweeping the Knights in a
four-game road series.
Smith is now 12-3 on the
year with a 1.75 ERA across
14 starts — she is second
in the conference in wins
and third with 85 strikeouts.
The Mountaineers are third
in the conference standings
at 14-4 in conference play
and 25-10 overall.
On the men’s track team,
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Julie Steinmetz, of Moses Lake, Washington, tees off on Thursday, March 31, 2022, at the Wildhorse Golf Course. Wildhorse hosts the Wildhorse Ladies Classic
on Sept. 2-4, which will be the 17th stop on the Epson Tour’s 2022 schedule, welcoming professional female golfers from all over the United States and more
than 30 countries.
Officials expect Wildhorse Ladies Classic to have impact on the region this summer
By ANNIE FOWLER • East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — Gary
George never played a
round of golf until he was
in his 30s. Now George, the CEO
at Wildhorse Resort & Casino and
a big golf fan, is bringing an LPGA
qualifying tournament to the
Pendleton area.
The Wildhorse Ladies Classic, which is
an Epson Tour event, will be Sept. 2-4 at
Wildhorse Golf Course.
“We have been following the Symetra
Tour (now the Epson Tour) for a while,”
George said. “Last year, the Circling Raven
Casino in Coeur d’Alene brought the event
to their place. We went up and checked
it out. The cost was something we could
afford to do as one of the annual events that
we do. I asked to meet with the tournament
director.”
Most of the Epson Tour events are east
of the Mississippi, but George pitched the
idea of a second Northwest event to the
Epson Tour directors.
“They thought it was a great idea,”
George said. “We will be after the Circling
Raven event this year. It’s a two-year (plan)
with an option for a third year. The players
will be able to go from one event to the
other without a lot of travel.”
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
The Wildhorse Resort & Casino, which has 300 hotel rooms and is near the Wildhorse Golf Course, will not
be able to accommodate all 2,000 professional golfers, volunteers and fans who come to town Sept. 2-4,
2022, for the Wildhorse Ladies Classic, an LPGA tournament.
The Wildhorse Ladies Classic is one
of three new events on the Epson Tour
schedule this season. The others are in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
“The Epson Tour has the core values we
want to promote,” George said. “We want
to promote the game of golf in our region,
with the focus on our youth, especially
girls golf. It’s a sport that really hasn’t
attracted a lot of support in our area. A
lot of high schools don’t even have a girls
The event will be the 17th stop on the
Epson Tour’s 2022 schedule, welcoming
professional female golfers from all over
the United States and more than 30 coun-
tries. The tournament will feature between
133 and 144 players, but the final roster
will be announced a couple of weeks
before the event.
Next year, the Wildhorse Ladies Classic
will be in August.
Wildhorse is the fifth tribal venue to
sponsor an Epson Tour event. Circling
Raven and Morongo Golf Club in Cali-
fornia are two others.
See, LPGA/Page A10
See, Honors/Page A9
SPORTS SHORT
La Grande track and field program to host annual invitational
Joseph and Enterprise will be
traveling down from Wallowa
County, while Baker will travel
north to compete as well. Pend-
leton, Stanfield/Echo, Griswold
and McLoughlin will be attending
the meet from Umatilla County.
The Powder Valley boys team
is coming off a first-place finish at
last weekend’s Carnival of Speed
at McLoughlin High School,
scoring 63.5 points. The Baker
girls team enters the La Grande
Invitational after placing first at
the meet with a team score of
90.43. La Grande placed third on
the girls side and fifth on the boys.
The Imbler girls team will
head into the meet looking to
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — La Grande’s
track and field program is gearing
up to host its annual home invita-
tional, with schools from around
the region traveling to compete.
Roughly 20 teams are set to
take the track in La Grande on
Friday, April 8, at the Tigers’
annual La Grande Invitational.
The event is hosted at the high
school track at the corner of H
Avenue and Sunset Drive.
La Grande will welcome in
Union County schools Cove,
Elgin, Powder Valley, Imbler and
Union to compete at the event.
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build off a seventh-place finish
out of 24 teams at the Carnival of
Speed, while the Union boys team
placed ninth out of 27 teams.
At last year’s La Grande Invi-
tational, the Tigers swept both
the boys and girls competitions.
The Tigers scored 209 points on
the boys side and 166.5 points in
the girls standings, with Baker
right on La Grande’s heels in both
groupings.
This year’s competition
includes a larger field of compet-
itors, compared to eight schools
competing at the 2021 rendition.
Field events begin at 10 a.m. on
April 8, while running events are
set to begin at noon.
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
The La Grande High School track is set to be the host site of the La Grande
Invitational on Friday, April 8, 2022. Roughly 20 schools from around the region
will travel to the area to compete in the annual competition.
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