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
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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
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Little League senior softball state
title 15-0 over OR/CAL (Bonanza)
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The team features many of the
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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
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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,
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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
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wash in Pilot Rock starting at noon.
A spaghetti feed also is in the works
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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
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able to hit their qualifying times in
Pendleton to bring the team’s qual-
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“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
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tions, but even those that swam in
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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
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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
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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
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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
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titles — the Hall of Fame second
baseman did it at Wrigley Field
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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
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Wally Joyner in 1986 to win
or share the title. He reached
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Albert Pujols, who provided a
blast after making the All-Star
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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
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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.
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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
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second with 1,460.
The rodeo will continue through
Saturday, with the top 20 in each event
through two rounds earning a spot in
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