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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 26, 2015)
TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015 Sports shorts 8CLA earns ¿ rst No. 1 baseball seed OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — UCLA’s dominance in the Pac-12 this spring impressed the Division I Baseball Committee so much that the Bruins on Monday were awarded their ¿UVW1RQDWLRQDOVHHGIRU the NCAA tournament. The Bruins (42-14) edged out Southeastern Conference regular-season champion LSU (48-10) even though they lost two of three at Oregon in their last series. “UCLA has been there for much of the season. LSU is an outstanding club DVZHOO7KHUH¶VVXFKD¿QH line between the two,” said committee chairman Dave Heeke, athletic director at Central Michigan. The other six national seeds, in order, are: Louisville, Florida, Miami, Illinois, TCU and Missouri State. The tournament opens Friday with 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals. Best-of-three super regionals are next week, with those winners moving to the College World Series in Omaha. LeBron, Cavs limp toward NBA Finals INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — LeBron James says he won’t allow his sore body to slow his drive toward another NBA Finals. Beaten down by injuries and another FACES grueling season, James has the Cavaliers one win from the Eastern Conference title. On James Monday, a day after his 37 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists lifted Cleveland to a Game 3 overtime victory against Atlanta, James was noticeably tired. He wore a wrap on his right calf and the four-time league MVP says he’s been undergoing “round-the- clock” treatment. James returned to Cleveland after four seasons with Miami and says leading the Cavs has been his biggest challenge. The Cavs are without Kevin Love for the playoffs and have played the past two games without All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. Coach David Blatt says Irving remains a game-time decision for Game 4. “I thought I’d retire about 35. That’s when people retire in Formula One.“ — Juan Pablo Montoya The 39-year-old on his second Indianapolis 500 win on Sunday, 15 years after his fi rst win and a stint in NASCAR THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1985 — Danny Sullivan misses almost certain disaster and holds off Mario Andretti and the rest of the IDVWHVW¿HOGLQDXWRUDFLQJWR win the Indianapolis 500. On the 119th lap, Sullivan’s car spins 360 degrees, narrowly avoiding both the wall and Andretti. 1987 — Boston’s Larry Bird steals an inbounds pass from Detroit’s Isiah Thomas and feeds over his shoulder to a cutting Dennis Johnson for the winning basket, sending the Celtics to a 108-107 victory in Game 5 of the (DVWHUQ&RQIHUHQFH¿QDOV Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com SPORTS 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS OSAA State Track Championships Hurdles can’t stop Childers Mac-Hi’s Kristi Childers comes back from tumble to win state gold By ERIK SKOPIL East Oregonian EUGENE — Kristi Childers swapped the taste of rubber track for sweet victory Saturday afternoon at Hayward Field. After clipping the seventh hurdle and face-planting in the Class 4A high hurdles, the Mac-Hi senior got redemption 90 minutes later in the intermediate hurdles, earning her ¿UVWVWDWHFKDPSLRQVKLSDWWKH&ODVV$$$7UDFNDQG Field Championships. “I couldn’t believe it,” said Childers, who won the event with a personal-best 45.70-second performance. “I was so shocked. I was just really surprised. After basically getting last in the 100s and coming back and winning (the 300 hurdles), it’s like the polar opposites of feelings.” Childers took the lead from the gun in the 300-meter hurdle event. She coasted around the turn with a decisive edge, but nearly ran out of gas coming off WKH¿QDOKXUGOHQXGJLQJFKDUJLQJ Kali AnDyke of Corbett with a ¿QDO OXQJH $Q'\NH FURVVHG seconds behind her. “I wasn’t sure if I got it when I crossed the line,” she said. “It always seems like there’s some- body faster and I guess today that — Kristi Childers, was me.” After winning A favorite in both hurdle 300-meter hurdles events, Childers appeared off to at OSAA meet in a swift start in the high hurdles Eugene earlier in the afternoon. She ran hip-to-hip with eventual winner 0LNDHOD 6LJHO RI 6LXVODZ IRU WKH ¿UVW VL[ KXUGOHV EHIRUH losing track of her steps in her approach to hurdle No. 7. “I was switching from three-stepping to four-stepping, I caught my toe on a hurdle and ate track,” she said. Childers collided with the track in a clump, eliciting a loud groan from the capacity crowd. After laying on her FKHVWIRUDVHFRQGVKHSLFNHGKHUVHOIWRZDONWRWKH¿QLVK OLQH6KHZDVGLVTXDOL¿HGIRUSXVKLQJRYHUDKXUGOH In the Class 5A boys competition, Pendleton’s Nolan Bylenga was the only runner in the 12-athlete 800 meter Staff photo by Kathy Aney Kristi Childers, of Mac-Hi, revels after winning the 4A 300-meter high hurdles Sat- ¿HOGZKRVRXJKWWRUXQZLWK%HQG¶V&DOHE+RIIPDQZKR urday at the state track and fi eld championships at Hayward Field in Eugene. The entered the meet with a two-second edge on any comer. The decision paid off. victory was redemption for a bad fall she took earlier in the 100-meter hurdles. See HURDLES/2B “It always seems like there’s somebody faster, and today I guess that was me.” Medal recap Gold •Kristi Childers, Mac-Hi, 300 meters hurdles, 45.70 Silver •Jonathan Stuvland, PHS, high jump, 6-02. •Nolan Bylenga, PHS 800 meters, 1:53.49 Bronze •Austin Cousineau, Mac-Hi, 800 meters, 2:01.87 Staff photo by Kathy Aney Jonathan Stuvland, of Pendleton, clears 6-feet-2 inches in the 5A boys high jump Saturday at the state track and fi eld championships at Hayward Field to take second. From the Class 4A/5A/6A State Track and Field Championships on Sat- urday at Hayward Field, Eugene. Special District 6 baseball Rockets win district title East Oregonian THE DALLES — The Pilot Rock baseball team scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning and Jacob Pierce shut Dufur down in the bottom of the frame as the Rockets won the Special District 6 championship 6-4 on Saturday. Pierce got the win in relief of starter Mike Hiatt, who went the ¿UVW ¿YH DQG OHIW ZLWK WKH JDPH tied at 4-4. Hiatt was actually out-dueling league Player of the Year Trever Tibbets to that point, giving up half as many hits with four. But the switch came at the right time as Pierce gave up just one hit the rest of the way while the Rockets hit Tibbets hard. After stranding runners on second and third in the sixth, Pierce singled to lead the Rockets off in the seventh. Braydon Postma then laid down a bunt that Tibbets threw RYHU ¿UVW EDVH DQG WKH 5RFNHWV were back with runners on second and third. Hiatt, who had remained in WKHJDPHLQOHIW¿HOGWKHQGURYH them both in on a hard-hit ground ball to left. Hiatt led the Rockets at the plate going 2 for 4 with three RBIs, also driving in Pierce after he reached on a double in the top RIWKH¿IWK Staff photo by Kathy Aney Kristi Childers, of Mac-Hi, goes down in the class 4A 100-meter hurdles Saturday at the state track and fi eld championships at Hayward Field in Eugene. She later came back and won the 300-meter high hurdles. Harden helps Houston stay in playoffs By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer IRRIGON 16, HEPPNER 6 (5 innings) — At The Dalles, things fell apart in the bottom of the fourth inning for the Heppner Mustangs in Saturday’s elimina- tion game. Through three innings the 0XVWDQJV GHIHQVH ZDV ÀDZOHVV even turning a 5-4-3 double play in the third to help preserve a 4-3 lead. The offense was equally LPSUHVVLYH DQG VFRUHG LWV ¿UVW two runs on home-plate steals LQ WKH ¿UVW WKHQ WRRN D OHDG when Pat Collins hit a two-RBI double with two outs in the top of the fourth. HOUSTON — James Harden scored a playoff career-high 45 points and the +RXVWRQ5RFNHWVOHGIURPVWDUWWR¿QLVK to avoid elimination in the Western &RQIHUHQFH¿QDOVZLWKD 128-115 victory over the NBA Golden State Warriors in Game 4 on Monday night. Rockets The Rockets used a playoff record-tying, SRLQW ¿UVW TXDUWHU WR build a big lead. They were up by 22 in the second quarter when Warriors Stephen Curry landed on his head in a nasty spill and missed about 12 minutes before returning. +LV ¿UVW ¿HOG JRDO DIWHU UHWXUQLQJ came on a 3-pointer that got Golden State ZLWKLQ VL[ SRLQWV ZLWK OHVV WKDQ minutes remaining. But Harden, who had 17 points in the fourth quarter, scored the next seven points as part of 10 straight by Houston to push the lead to 114-98. Klay Thompson had 24 points and Curry added 23 for Golden State, which PRYHG D ZLQ DZD\ IURP LWV ¿UVW WULS WR the NBA Finals since 1975 after routing Houston 115-80 on Saturday night to take a 3-0 lead in the series. See BASEBALL/2B See PLAYOFFS/2B Contributed photo courtesy of Lela Thieme The Pilot Rock baseball team poses with its championship tro- phy and banner after beating Dufur 6-4 for the Special District 6 championship on Saturday in The Dalles. Pierce allowed the tying run to reach base with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but a couple of ground outs to younger brother Bryson Pierce at shortstop ended the game. Jacob Pierce also had big game at the plate going 3 for 4 with one RBI and two runs. Levi Thieme (2 for 3) and Chris Weinke also drove in runs to give WKH5RFNHWVDOHDGLQWKH¿UVW inning. Pilot Rock never trailed, but Dufur tied the score twice. Connor Uhalde was 3 for 4 to lead the Rangers at the plate. Pilot Rock will host Kennedy LQ WKH ¿UVW URXQG RI WKH VWDWH playoffs on Wednesday at 1 p.m.. 128 115
