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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 3, 2015)
SPORTS FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015 Sports shorts &ardiQals ¿ re scouting director ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals said Thursday they have ¿ red scouting director Chris Correa, the ¿ rst known fallout from the hacking scandal that has resulted in a federal investigation into whether the team illegally got inside the player personnel database of the Houston Astros. The Cardinals declined to say why Correa was ¿ red but con¿ rmed he¶d been let go a day earlier after a team- imposed leave of absence. The team is investigating the alleged hacking, as is the FBI. ³At this time, it¶s still an ongoing investigation and there¶s really nothing more I can add at this point,” general manager John Mozeliak said before a game against San Diego. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS 1B NBA Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard (0) gestures during an NBA basket- ball game against the Dallas Mavericks Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015, in Dallas. Trail Blazers extend Lillard Guard gets maximum value By JON KRAWCZYNSKI Associated Press When Damian Lillard agreed to a new maximum contract extension with the Trail Blazers on Thursday, it may have been the beginning AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez of a changing of the guard in Portland. Lillard agreed to terms on a ¿ ve-year contract worth more than $120 million, a person with knowledge of the negotia- tions told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been announced. “Thank you so much to (at) PaulGAllen and the (at)trail- blazers organization,” Lillard tweeted after the news broke. “I¶ll be in (hashtag)RipCity 6 more years! Oakland to Ogden to Oregon..TO STAY.” The full value of the contract could wind up ranging between $125 million and $129 million and won¶t be determined until the salary cap is established. That makes it the richest contract in league history for a guard. See BLAZERS/2B IRRIGON Aldridge reportedly meets with Heat MIAMI (AP) — A person with knowledge of the negotiations says LaMarcus Aldridge and the Miami Heat have spoken about his future plans, and that a formal conversation was scheduled for FACES Thursday night. The person says Heat President Pat Riley is to meet with Aldridge in Los Angeles. The Aldridge person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither side have publicly announced the meeting. Riley traveled to Los Angeles on Thursday. The 6-foot-11 power forward has spent his ¿ rst nine NBA seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, and averaged a career-best 23.4 points per game this past season. The Heat also announced a $20 million, one-year deal with free agent guard Dwayne Wade. “I’ll be on the court next year.“ — Tim Duncan San Antonio Spurs for- ward to a San Antonio newspaper on Thurs- day. There was spec- ulation Duncan, 39, would retire after aver- aging 13.9 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 blocks a game last season. Dun- can accompanied team offi cials to Los Angeles on Wednesday to meet with free agent LaMar- cus Aldridge. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1905 — Marvin Hart wins the vacant world heavy- weight title with a 12th-round knockout of Jack Root in the ¿ nal bout of an elimination tournament in Reno, Nev. James Jeffries, who refereed the bout, had retired in March, leaving the title vacant. 1966 — Atlanta pitcher Tony Cloninger becomes the ¿ rst National League player to hit two grand slams in one game. He adds a single for nine RBIs in a 17-3 triumph over San Francisco. 2004 — Maria Shara- pova, 17, wins her ¿ rst Grand Slam title and instant celebrity by beating Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pendleton 11-12 All Stars celebrate after beating Hermiston for the District 3 championship on Thursday in Irrigon. The lead see-sawed back and forth until Pendleton fi nally won in extra innings. Pendleton keeps the faith Softball all stars turn belief into results, down Hermiston for District 3 title By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian (ven when things weren¶t going their way, the Pendleton all-stars never stopped believing in each other. That more than anything else, the team said, allowed them to pull out Thursday¶s 10-9 seven-inning win over Hermiston in the League District 3 softball tournament championship. It was the ¿ fth straight win for the 11-12-year-olds after losing their tournament opener on Saturday, and they trailed 7-5 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. “It¶s ¿ tting. Again, we had to battle and ¿ ght hard,” said manager Ron Murphy. “We just kept going and kept going, and it just kind of shows our whole attitude for every single girl. “From Day 1 we¶ve preached team, from the ¿ rst day we started practice. And that¶s been our calling card, we¶ve been a good team.” Pendleton pieced together its second four-run rally of the game in the sixth, and Jordan Jones started things with a hard line drive single before Hermiston pitcher Brecella Nash got a strikeout for the ¿ rst out of the inning. A passed ball allowed Jones to move to second, and a throwing error on Jordyn Murphy¶s grounder allowed Jones to score. Katie Kline then put down a See LITTLE LEAGUE/2B Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pendleton 11-12 Allstars catcher Natalie Neveau makes the tag against a Hermiston runner Thursday in Irrigon. MLB Kazmir helps Athletics shut out Mariners By MICHAEL WAGAMAN Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. — Scott Kazmir pitched eight sparkling innings, Marcus Semien homered for the ¿ rst time in nearly two months, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 on Thursday night. Josh Phegley had a two-run single and Mark Canha added an RBI triple for the A¶s, who ended a ¿ ve-game losing streak against the Mariners. Kazmir (5-5) retired 21 of his ¿ rst 22 batters, allowing only a one-out double to Franklin Guti- errez on a 1-2 pitch in the ¿ fth. Gutierrez also singled leading off the eighth but was erased on a double play. A possible trade deadline target this month, Kazmir struck out seven and hit a batter while improving to 5-0 in seven starts against the AL West this season. (dward Mujica ¿ nished the two-hitter. Seattle was coming off consecutive shutouts against San Diego and took an 18-inning score- less streak into the series opener against Oakland. The A¶s stopped that roll after Mariners starter Roenis (lias (4-6) retired the ¿ rst two batters. Ben Zobrist drew a two-out walk, and Billy Butler and Josh Phegley followed with back-to- back doubles to give Oakland an early lead. Seattle’s Kyle Sea- ger walks to the dugout after strik- ing out against Oakland pitcher Scott Kazmir Thurs- day in Oakland, Calif. AP Photo/ Jeff Chiu Semien¶s seventh homer, a two-out solo shot in the ¿ fth, made it 3-0. It ended a career-high 45-game homerless stretch for the shortstop. It was more than enough support for Kazmir, who turned in one of his most dominant perfor- mances this season. He needed only 31 pitches to record the ¿ rst nine outs, struck out each of Seattle¶s ¿ rst four hitters at least once and fanned slugger Nelson Cruz twice. Elias gave up three hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked one. TRAINER¶S ROOM Mariners: SS Chris Taylor was called up from Triple-A Tacoma and placed in the starting lineup. Taylor batted ninth and went 0 for 2. ... INF Willie Bloomquist was designated for assignment. Bloomquist played in 35 games and was hitting just .159 with four RBIs. Athletics: RHP Sonny Gray rejoined the ballclub after being hospitalized for two days while being treated for salmonella. The team has still not determined when Gray will make his next start. ... Oakland acquired reliever Cody Martin from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for international slot money. Martin was assigned to Triple-A Nashville. To make room on the 40-man roster, 1B Nate Freiman was designated for assignment. UP NEXT Mariners: LHP J.A. Happ (3-5) gets the ball on Friday night in the second game of the four- game series. He is winless in his previous four starts but hasn¶t gotten much run support. Athletics: RHP Jesse Chavez (4-7) gets the start for Oakland. He has a 1.98 ERA when pitching on four days¶ rest this season.
