SPORTS
FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015
Sports shorts
NFL commissioner
to hear Brady
suspension appeal
FOXBOROUGH, Mass.
(AP) — NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell said
Thursday night he will
personally hear the suspen-
sion appeal of Super Bowl
MVP Tom
Brady, who
challenged
the league’s
punishment
for his role in
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footballs during the AFC
championship game.
The NFL Players Asso-
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appeal about an hour
before a 5 p.m. deadline
on Thursday, asking for a
neutral arbitrator to hear
the case. NFL spokesman
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commissioner had rejected
the request.
“Commissioner Goodell
will hear the appeal of
Tom Brady’s suspension in
accordance with the process
agreed upon with the NFL
Players Association in the
2011 collective bargaining
agreement,” he said.
WAR ON 84
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Tweak makes big impact for defending champs
plishments are often overshadowed by an
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9.8 runs a game (12.5 in CRC play). But
PENDLETON — Just prior to the start 3HQGOHWRQ NQRZV IURP UHFHQW H[SHULHQFH
of league play, Pendleton pitching coach how quickly a seemingly never-ending
Rod Hillmick noticed something off about source of runs can dry up in the face of
postseason pitching.
pitcher Kiersten Murphy’s delivery.
The defending 5A state champions
The right-handed junior had a habit
of setting up on the edge of the pitching entered the 2014 postseason putting up
rubber, causing her to over-stride and 8.6 runs a game, but after brushing off
Corvallis 10-0 in the opening
disrupting her entire motion.
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“In pitching, everything goes
games by a combined score
off of power line and line of
of 9-4. Starting pitcher Hailey
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Hermiston
Kline, now a freshman at Blue
that all it took to get Murphy
Bulldogs
Mountain Community College,
back in line was centering her
(7-17, 1-10)
didn’t allow more than two runs
stance on the rubber. “Getting
in any game and out-dueled
your foot where it’s supposed
Putnam’s Sarah Abramson
to be on the rubber is huge for
Pendleton
2-1 for the Buckaroos’ second
mechanics and hitting spots.
Buckaroos
championship in three seasons.
“We’ve worked on all kinds
(17-7-11-0)
After emerging from an
of stuff, but that was the main
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thing.”
• Today, 4:30 p.m.
That one seemingly minor • at Steve Cary Field replace Kline in the circle,
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change has made all the differ-
nicely.
ence for Murphy, and just may
Entering today’s game at Steve Cary
be the key to another deep run for the
Field, Murphy is 8-0 in league play while
Buckaroos in the state playoffs.
Despite what has turned into a dominant posting a 1.54 earned run average and .197
Columbia River Conference campaign for opponent’s batting average. In 50 innings
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
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Pendleton pitcher Kiersten Murphy winds up for a
pitch last week at Steve Cary Field against Hermiston.
Bucks host rival Hermiston, her accom-
See MURPHY/2B
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Hall of Famer
Bobby Bell gets
degree at age of 74
MINNEAPOLIS
(AP) — Bobby Bell is a
member of the Pro Football
Hall of Fame. He played in
two Super Bowls and won a
national championship at the
University of
FACES Minnesota.
He says
none of
those accom-
plishments
compared to
Thursday. The
74-year-old
Bell
Bell
participated
in graduation
ceremonies at his alma mater
after getting his degree 56
years after he left the school.
Bell was a two-time
All-American as an offen-
sive lineman and defensive
end for the Golden Gophers.
But he left school before
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he was drafted by the Kansas
City Chiefs in 1963.
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last summer and picked
up the last 13 credits he
needed to get his degree in
recreation, park and leisure
studies through the College
of Education and Human
Development.
. “I get my
Vitamin D year
round, which is
nice. I get to be
tan all year, which
is also nice. But
I’m somebody
who loves
changes.”
— Michael Phelps
Olympic champion on
decision to move his
training from Baltimore
to Tempe, Arizona.
Phelps made the de-
cision in part because
his longtime coach Bob
Bowman was hired to
coach the Arizona State
men’s and women’s
swimming teams.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1993 — Prairie Bayou,
ridden by Mike Smith,
rebounds from a second-
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gelding to win the Preakness
in 79 years.
2004 — With one breath-
taking surge, Smarty Jones
posts a record 11½-length
victory in the Preakness.
Rock Hard Ten, in his fourth
VWDUW ¿QLVKHV VWURQJ IRU
second ahead of Eddington.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
1B
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS
WAR ON 84
STANFIELD
Masked man
leading Bucks
late charge
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from injury in time for
Pendleton postseason push
By ERIK SKOPIL
East Oregonian
Sam Barbee photo
Stanfi eld teammates greet Dylan Grogan (center) after the sophomore hit a walk-off
single to beat the McLoughlin Pioneers 6-5 Thursday in Stanfi eld.
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Tigers finish
regular season
unbeaten at home
By SAM BARBEE
EO Media Group
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Mac-Hi Thursday, a solitary
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Steven Allan, the lone senior
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team.
His last regular season
game sent him home smiling
when Dylan Grogan drove in
Tony Flores with one out in
the bottom of the seventh to
Stanfi eld
6
Mac-Hi
5
give the Tigers a 6-5 come-
from-behind, walk-off win.
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has already clinched the 3A
Eastern Oregon League title.
Mac-Hi (5-17, 0-10) has lost
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got the win on the hill, tossing
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earned on ten hits, walked
and struck out one. Mac-Hi
pounded out 12 hits, but
left ten men stranded. Klay
Jenson led the way offen-
sively, going 2-for-3 with a
triple, two runs scored and
two steals.
“It means a lot,” Allan said
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season home game, but he
was quick to look ahead.
“Hopefully we can get a state
playoff game at home.”
Allan was a celebrity
Thursday night. He played
seven positions — catcher,
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base, third base, left and
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he moved, the public address
announcer let the crowd
know.
See STANFIELD/2B
PENDLETON — When the incoming pitch
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trouble.
The head high fastball from Vallivue’s Tyler
Laird collided just there — with his head —
and with it dropped the Pendleton senior to the
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The subsequent moments are fuzzy. But,
once his hands came away from his face doused
in red, his mind raced.
“My teammates were crowding around
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my nose crooked’?” he remembered from the
incident at the Boise tournament on March 26.
It turned out it was. That wasn’t where the
damage ended, either. Along with the broken
nasal bridge and caved in left cavity, his left eye
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The recovery time was estimated at a
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season’s remainder.
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when the injury happened and with the prog-
See O’ROURKE/2B
Hermiston
Bulldogs
(11-11, 4-7)
Pendleton
Buckaroos
(10-14, 6-5)
• Friday, 4:30 p.m.
• at Bob White Field
MLB
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By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Brock Holt
doubled and scored the go ahead run
on Rickie Weeks’ error with one out
in the ninth inning, Shane Victorino
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run of the season
and the Boston
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Boston
Seattle Mariners
2-1 on Thursday
night for their
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games.
Holt
lined
Seattle
the second pitch
of the ninth
from
Seattle
closer Fernando Rodney (1-2) into
left-center and was easily safe at
second when Weeks’ throw sailed
2
1
for Holt to score anyway. But
Weeks closed his glove too soon
and everyone was safe on the error.
Matt Barnes (2-0) allowed
two hits in the eighth but escaped
without giving up the lead. Koji
Uehara pitched the ninth for his
eighth save.
While Holt got Boston’s
ninth-inning rally started, the Red
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homered in the fourth off Seattle
starter Roenis Elias and made a
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
tremendous running catch on the
Seattle Mariners’ Chris Taylor is out on a double play at fi rst base warning track in the seventh to start
after Boston Red Sox fi rst baseman Mike Napoli (12) made the
catch and Taylor couldn’t get back to the base in time after Justin a double play and likely save a run.
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Ruggiano fl ew out to right fi eld in the seventh inning of a baseball
and
running on the play, Justin
game, Thursday in Seattle.
Ruggiano hit a drive deep to right
over Robinson Cano’s head. Holt Sandoval was hit by a pitch.
that Victorino was able to reach
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Mookie Betts followed with a over his head and catch just before
Bogaerts and pinch-hitter Pablo À\EDOOWKDWZDVOLNHO\GHHSHQRXJK
See MARINERS/2B