SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015
Sports shorts
EOU ranked 13th
in preseason poll
KANSAS CITY,
Mo. — The Eastern Oregon
University football team
notched
its highest
preseason
ranking in
program
history,
as the Mountaineers were
selected as the No. 13 team
in the country in the 2015
NAIA Football Coaches’
Preseason Top 25 poll, the
national of¿ ce announced on
Monday afternoon.
A total of three
teams from the Frontier
Conference cracked the top
25, while Montana Western
managed to receive nine
votes in the poll. Southern
Oregon split the No. 1 slot
with Marian (Ind.), marking
the ¿ rst time since 1 that
two teams shared the top
spot in the poll. Meanwhile,
fourth-ranked Carroll
(Mont.) shared its ranking
with Saint Xavier (Ill.).
EOU’s last preseason top
25 recognition came in 2012
with a No. 16 ranking.
Sports community rallies
DURXQGZLOG¿UHYLFWLPV
Area coaches come “It sorta snowballed into what it is now. It’s just
together to help
one of those things, to do whatever we can to
one of their own
help out.”
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
The wild¿ res roaring across
Eastern Oregon have been well-doc-
umented.
The Canyon Creek Comple[ ¿ re,
near John Day, has engulfed more
than 0,000 acres and destroyed at
least 26 homes in just less than a
week. One of those homes belonged
to Steve and Shae Speth, whose
house and all belongings inside
were completely destroyed in the
— Brian Pickard,
Weston-McEwen High School boys basketball coach
¿ re a few days ago.
The Speths are both coaches at
Grant Union +igh School, with
Steve coaching boys basketball and
Shae coaching volleyball.
As coaches, it’s easy to make
enemies with other teams, coaches,
and players along the way. +owever,
in the light of the situation, other
area coaches are tossing aside their
rivalries to help out their fellow
coaches.
Basketball
coaches
Brian
Pickard (Weston-McEwen), Mitch
Thompson
(Irrigon),
Jeremy
Rosenbalm (+eppner) and Brennan
Whittaker (Culver) have teamed up
to put together a relief effort to help
the Speths get back on their feet.
It includes coordinating donation
See WILDFIRE/2B
MLB
Early offense boosts M’s
Vicky Duval gets
U.S. Open wildcard
after cancer battle
W+ITE PLAINS, N.Y.
(AP) — Vicky Duval
received a wild-card entry
for U.S. Open qualifying,
a week after she returned
to competition following
a yearlong
FACES recovery from
+odgkin
lymphoma.
The
1-year-old
based in
Bradenton,
Florida, won
Duval
two singles
matches at a $25,000
tournament in Landisville,
Pennsylvania, last week, her
¿ rst action since reaching the
second round of Wimbledon
as a quali¿ er in June 201.
Shortly after that, Duval
announced she had been
diagnosed with cancer.
Duval made a splash at
the 2013 U.S. Open, beating
2011 champion Sam Stosur
in the ¿ rst round.
“I’m glad it’s over,
so you guys will
quit talking about
it.“
AP Photo/LM Otero
Seattle Mariners’ Seth Smith hits a two-run homer during the fi rst inning of a baseball game against
the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. Nelson Cruz scored on the play.
Iwakuma delivers for Seattle after bumpy start
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Te[as — +isashi
Iwakuma followed his no-hitter
by limiting Te[as to two runs and
¿ ve hits over seven innings as the
Seattle Mariners beat the Rangers
3-2 on Tuesday night.
All of Seattle’s scoring came in
the ¿ rst inning on three e[tra-base
hits, including Seth Smith’s 10th
home run of the season.
Iwakuma (5-2) gave up a hit
to Te[as’ second batter, a single
by Shin-Soo Choo. +e retired 12
straight at one point and struck out
See MARINERS/2B
Softball
Local squad captures regional title
East Oregonian
— Ken Whisenhunt
Tennessee Titans head
coach answering a
reporter’s question about
the fi rst interception
thrown by rookie quar-
terback Marcus Mariota
in training camp. Mario-
ta had thrown 230 pass-
es without a turnover
until linebacker Zach
Brown got his hands on
a ball that was tipped
twice during a 7-on-7
drill on Tuesday.
The USA E[plosion DFM-Pratt softball
team ¿ nished its season as NW Region
champins with a 5-0 record at the NW
Regional 16A Tournament at Delta Park in
Portland earlier this month. The girls over-
came a10-5 de¿ cit in the semi¿ nals by scoring
si[ runs in the bottom of the last inning to
advance to the championship game. In the
championship USA E[plosion DFM-Pratt
defeated the Washington Acers 6-0.
———
Pictured left to right are: (BACK ROW)
Kalan McGlothan, Raylee Lehnert, Lau-
ren Roberts, Lauren Richards, Mallory
Copeland and Ashton Wright. (FRONT
ROW) Elli Nirschl, Madison Parker, Rylee
Gentner, Haley Bradley and Tatum Fell.
Not pictured are coaches Steve Rich-
ards, Steve Nirschl and Rob Parker.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1951 — Eddie Gaedel, a
65-pound, 3-foot- midget,
makes his ¿ rst and only plate
appearance as a pinch-hitter for
Frank Saucier of the St. Louis
Browns. Gaedel, wearing No.
1/8, walks on four pitches by
Detroit Tigers pitcher Bob
Cain and is taken out for
pinch-runner Jim Delsing. The
gimmick by Browns owner
Bill Veeck was within the rules
but later banned.
2014 — NBA referee
Dick Bavetta retires after
a 3-year career in which
he never missed an assign-
ment. Bavetta of¿ ciated a
record 2,635 consecutive
regular-season games after
starting his NBA career on
Dec. 2, 15. +e also worked
20 playoff games.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
1B
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS
Contributed photo by Robin Nirschl
Volleyball
EOU
looks to
earn top
rankings
Mountaineers
enter season with
big e[pectations
East Oregonian
The Eastern Oregon
University volleyball team
kicks off its season on Friday
in the Eastern Oregon Invi-
tational, and Cascade Colle-
giate Conference coaches are
e[pecting more big things
from the Mountaineers this
season.
Coming off a quarter¿ nals
appearance in the NAIA
National
Championships
in 201, the Mountaineers
were picked to repeat as
CCC champions in the poll
released last week and ranked
No. 6 in the NAIA preseason
poll released Tuesday.
Entering her ninth season,
EOU head coach Kaki
McLean Morehead said that
while she appreciates the
rankings, the Mountaineers
aren’t giving them much
weight.
“Obviously that’s based
off of a lot of last year and
how we performed,” she said
in a video posted on the EOU
Athletics web site. “Bottom
line in our conference is that
you have to show up to play
every single night. I think
that that is something that we
are de¿ nitely not taking for
granted. That’s something
that we’re focusing on early.”
The Mountaineers will
have to replace CCC Player
of the Year Casey Loper,
but bring back +onorable
Mention
All-American
setter Rachelle Chamberlain,
a “quiet leader” whose
consistency has Morehead
e[pecting another stellar
season from the junior from
Challis, Idaho.
Morehead pointed to an
“itchy” sophomore class
that all saw playing time in
the NAIA championships,
and a former Blue Moun-
tain Community College
standout as a few of her other
key returners.
Senior Piper Cantrell
(Ashland, Ore.) is the leading
candidate to wear the libero
jersey on the back line this
season, and is one of three
former Timberwolves suiting
up for EOU in 2015.
Senior Kendra De +oog
(Ephrata, Wash.) and junior
Sierra Linke (Pasco, Wash.)
will each be looking for
swings on the outside, and
See EOU/2B
CCC Preseason Poll
First place votes in parenthe-
ses, followed by total points.
1, Eastern Oregon (6)
T2, College of Idaho (3)
T2, Southern Oregon (2)
4, Northwest
5, Oregon Tech
6, Corban
7, :arner 3acLÀ c
8, Northwest Christian
9, Evergreen
10, Walla Walla
11, Multnomah
113
108
108
78
65
60
54
53
48
26
13
Little League Softball
Coach’s bad decision costs Washington players
Iowa team wins
LLSWS tiebreaker after
questioning no-hitter
Associated Press
PORTLAND — An Iowa team
advanced to the Little League
Softball World Series semi¿ nals
Tuesday by beating an opponent
forced to play a tiebreaker after it
was accused of deliberately losing
a game.
The Central Iowa team beat
“Our coach was faced with a decision that, in
the bubble of intense competition, appeared
to him to be in the best interest of our team. In
hindsight, it is very likely he would have made a
different choice.”
— Jeff Taylor,
Snohomish Little League president
South Snohomish Washington 3-2
in a rematch ordered by the tourna-
ment.
Of¿ cials demanded the e[tra
game after it received reports that
some teams “did not play with the
effort and spirit appropriate” for
Little League play.
The dispute arose after the
Washington team was shut out
Monday by a team from Salisbury,
North Carolina. The loss created
a three-way tie for the Pool B title,
meaning that Washington and North
Carolina would advance to the
semi¿ nals and the Polk City, Iowa,
team would not.
Central Iowa president Chris
Chadd, who was back in Iowa on
Monday, said he was hearing from
Iowa coach Charlie +usak that
some of Washington’s top hitters
See BAD DECISION/2B