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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 2015)
SPORTS TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2015 Sports shorts Blazers sign Domincan guard PORTLAND — The Portland Trail Blazers have signed guard Luis Montero, it was announced Monday by President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey. Montero, 22, worked out for the Trail Blazers prior to the NBA Draft and is on the team’s 2015 NBA Summer League roster. Playing for Westchester Community College in 2013-14, Montero averaged 15.6 points (52.9% FG, 43.7% 3-PT, 67.2% FT), 5.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists. A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Montero (6-7, 185) played high school basketball at Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Massachusetts. Djokovic, Williams bust a move LONDON (AP) — After winning titles again on Wimbledon’s grass, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams showed they can cut a rug, too. Reviving a bygone tradition, FACES Djokovic and Williams busted a move at the Grand Slam tourna- ment’s annual champions’ dinner, dancing Djokovic together to “Night Fever,” the Bee Gees’ disco hit from the 1977 movie “Saturday Night Fever” Williams that starred John Travolta. “I was very pleased,” Djokovic said at a news conference at the All England Club on Monday, a day after beating Roger )HGHUHULQWKH¿QDOWRFROOHFW his third Wimbledon title and ninth at a major. “Serena is a great dancer.” Williams, who won her sixth Wimbledon trophy and 21st at a major on Saturday, tweeted a link to a photo of her and Djokovic at the dinner, and wrote Monday: “congrats @DjokerNole we brought back the dance!” PILOT ROCK Pilot Rock retains softball crown Little League all-stars defend state title East Oregonian Pilot Rock is celebrating its second softball state title in less than two months after a pair of dominant wins over the weekend. Tournament host Pilot Rock defeated Mt. Hood on Saturday LQ ¿YH LQQLQJV WKHQ ZRQ WKH Little League senior softball state title 15-0 over OR/CAL (Bonanza) LQ¿YHLQQLQJVRQ6XQGD\ The team features many of the VDPHSOD\HUVWKDWWRRNWKH¿HOGIRU Pilot Rock’s OSAA 2A/1A state title back in June, and it’s the third year in a row Pilot Rock has won the Little League state title. Manager Butch Wilson said all but three players return from last VHDVRQ¶V WHDP WKDW ¿QLVKHG IRXUWK at the Western Regionals, which will be held in Missoula, Montana starting on July 24. While the competition will be much higher in Montana, Wilson said this past weekend’s perfor- mance should give the team plenty of positive vibes as they begin fund raising for the trip to regionals. Pilot Rock’s pitchers combined to throw two no-hitters. Tehya Ostrom contributed eight innings of perfec- tion with 14 strikeouts and no walks, DQG (OOLH /DQNIRUG ¿QLVKHG RII WKH championship with two strikeouts and no walks in two innings. Rachel Willingham led Pilot — Dawn Comstock Epidemiologist with the Colorado School of Public Health in re- sponse to the push to ban headers for soccer players 14 and younger to reduce the number of head injuries. Comstock was part of a team that studied a decade’s worth of data on what causes head injuries in soccer, and believes rough play is more at fault. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1968 — Hank Aaron hits his 500th home run off Mike McCormick, and the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2. 1985 — The Baltimore Stars defeat the Oakland Invaders 28-24 to win the United States Football League championship. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com Rock’s hitters, going 5 for 5 on the weekend. Kayla Deist (4 for 6) and Jacey Wilson (4 for 7) also batted for average, Rhyanne Oates (5 for 8) and Vicki Walker hit doubles, Ostrom (4 for 7) hit a triple, and Sarah Weinke (4 for 8) belted two doubles and one triple. The team will need help funding its trip to Montana, and will hold its ¿UVWIXQGUDLVHURQ)ULGD\ZLWKDFDU wash in Pilot Rock starting at noon. A spaghetti feed also is in the works IRU6XQGD\HYHQLQJEXW¿QDOGHWDLOV were not available at press time. PENDLETON Swimmers stretch for standards Pendleton wraps regular season with home meet By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian Pendleton Aquatic Center was even busier than usual over the weekend with the 49th annual Pendleton Open taking over the lanes in the big pool. The home meet for Pendleton Swim Association (PSA), the Open also serves as the last chance for swimmers to qualify for the Inland Empire Championships. First-year PSA head coach Tony Nelson said he could see the urgency LQWKHSRRODQG¿YHVZLPPHUVZHUH able to hit their qualifying times in Pendleton to bring the team’s qual- L¿HUWRWDOWR6L[WHHQKDGDOUHDG\ TXDOL¿HGDWHDUOLHUHYHQWV “The one thing about swimming, you get out of your meets what you put in in practice,” he said. “We practice two hours every morning and then a lot of them come back and swim with me at night, so we basically have two-a-days a lot. And as hard as they put in practice, they see it in meets.” Landry Huth, Bethany VanCleave and Kyndra Nelson were three to see their event list at champs grow over the weekend, and each girl has qualifed in 10 events. Matthew Larson and Isaac Urbina DOVRDGGHGFKDPSLRQVKLSTXDOL¿FD tions, but even those that swam in WKHLU¿QDOPHHWRIWKHVXPPHUZHUH showing improvement. “They’ve been doing really good. Almost all of them have dropped time and I haven’t seen that many Staff photo by Matt Entrup Swimmers leave the block at the start of the boys 15 and over 100-meter freestyle at the Pendleton Open swim meet on Saturday. gains,” said swimmer/coach Layton .LUVFKZKRTXDOL¿HGIRUFKDPSVLQ nine events in the 15 and over age group. While his teammates were looking to reach their regional championship in Spokane, Wash- ington, in two weeks, swimmer/ coach Jon Jennings had his sights set on another qualifying time for the Western Zone Senior Champi- onships in Clovis, California. He’d already hit his time stan- dards in 100-meter backstroke and 50 freestyle, and was looking to add the 100 freestyle. See SWIMMERS/2B Swimmers leave the blocks at the start of the boys 15 and over 100-meter backstroke at the Pendleton Open on Saturday in Pendleton. Staff photo by Matt Entrup MLB “It’s like me walking into a football rules meeting and saying, ‘I can make your game much, much safer. Just get rid of tackling.“ 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Reds’ Frazier wins home run derby Cincinnati slugger edges Dodgers’ Pederson Currin gets locals started East Oregonian By JOE KAY Associated Press CINCINNATI — “The Toddfather” has a new title. Todd Frazier — Little League World Series star, Frank Sinatra D¿FLRQDGR ² LV EDVHEDOO¶V QHZ King of Swing. The Jersey boy who never seems to get rattled waited until his very last swing — three times, no less — to win the All-Star Home Run Derby in his home ballpark on Monday night. Pressure? Sure didn’t show it. The Reds third baseman became only the second player to win the long-ball competition RQKLVKRPH¿HOG0RQGD\QLJKW topping Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson 15-14 with another late surge and one last perfectly timed swing. “No pressure here with these fans,” he said, after accepting the crossed-bats trophy to one more standing ovation at Great American Ball Park. Frazier joined the Cubs’ Ryne 6DQGEHUJ IRU KRPH¿HOG KRPHU titles — the Hall of Fame second baseman did it at Wrigley Field LQ $IWHU ¿QLVKLQJ VHFRQG last year in Minneapolis, this one was as sweet as that winning swing. “That pushed me a lot,” Rodeo AP Photo/John Minchillo National League’s Todd Frazier, of the Cincinnati Reds, hits in the fi nal round of the MLB All-Star baseball Home Run Der- by, Monday, July 13, 2015, in Cincinnati. Frazier said. “I wanted to get back here. I’d been working in the offseason a little bit. I’m just glad it was in Cincinnati and they could enjoy it with me.” Pederson was trying to EHFRPH WKH ¿UVW URRNLH VLQFH Wally Joyner in 1986 to win or share the title. He reached WKH¿QDOURXQGE\NQRFNLQJRII Albert Pujols, who provided a blast after making the All-Star WHDP IRU WKH ¿UVW WLPH LQ ¿YH years. “I’m happy for Todd, espe- cially being able to do it in front of his fans,” Pujols said. “It’s his night. He deserves it. I just hope the fans were pleased and happy with the performance every single guy did. The right guy won, too.” Frazier topped Prince Fielder and Josh Donaldson to reach the ¿QDOVZKHUHKHIDFHGKLVELJJHVW WHVW 3HGHUVRQ ZHQW ¿UVW DQG matched the highest total of the night with 14 homers. Frazier needed a late surge to pull even, tying him with 11 seconds left in his round. He’d hit enough long homers to earn an extra 30 seconds, giving him a chance to take a few deep breaths, regroup and refocus. 2QWKH¿UVWSLWFKIURPEURWKHU Charlie in extra time, Frazier puffed his cheeks and exhaled See DERBY/2B ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. — Only one local has come out of the gates at the 67th annual National High School Finals Rodeo through two perfor- mances. Heppner’s Kolby Currin competed in Sunday’s edition of steer wrestling and placed fourth in the performance with a time of 24.26 seconds. He’s 13th overall in Round 1, and California’s Jacob Bairos leads with a 6.12 that won Monday’s performance. Other event leaders are: bareback rider Wyatt Johnson of Utah, 77; breakaway roper Bailey Livengood of North Carolina, 2.45; goat tyer Morgan Williams of Missouri, 7.15; tie-down roper Nolan Richie of South Dakota, 8.44; saddle bronc rider Colin Dibbern of Nebraska, 71; pole bender Celie Salmond of Montana, 20.093; team ropers Cooper Martin and Bo Yaussi of Kansas, 6.9; barrel racer Ali Armstrong of Oklahoma, 17.243; bull rider Tristan Mize of Texas, 85; cow cutters J.D. Reed of Texas (146) and Morgan Matte of Louisiana (148); and Katie Duncan of Ellensburg, Wash- ington, in reined cow horse (297). California leads the boys team standings, but Utah is off to a fast start in the combined team scores and is in ¿UVWSODFHZLWKSRLQWV,GDKRLV second with 1,460. The rodeo will continue through Saturday, with the top 20 in each event through two rounds earning a spot in 6DWXUGD\HYHQLQJ¶V¿QDOURXQG
