SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015
1B
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PENDLETON
Maddon, Banister
named Manager
of the Year
Toughened T-Wolves head to NWACs
NEW YORK (AP) — Joe
Maddon and Jeff Banister
were a huge
hit in their
new jobs
this season.
Now, that
immediate
team success has reaped
individual rewards.
The Chicago Cubs’
Maddon won his third
Manager of the Year award
Tuesday and the Texas
Rangers’ Banister his ¿ rst
after each guided an unex-
pected run to the playoffs.
Maddon is the seventh
manager to win the award
at least three times and the
seventh to earn it in both
leagues. He also won in the
AL with Tampa Bay in 2008
and 2011.
Banister joined Houston’s
Hal Lanier (1986), San
Francisco’s Dusty Baker
(1993), Florida’s Joe Girardi
(2006) and Washington’s Matt
Williams (2014) as the only
men to win in their ¿ rst season
as a major league manager.
BMCC volleyball going
after fourth straight title
Manziel to stay at
starter for Browns
BEREA, Ohio (AP)
— There was no formal
presentation or fanfare. No
torch passing ceremony.
Browns coach Mike
Pettine simply pulled Johnny
Manziel aside
FACES and told him
he would be
Cleveland’s
starting
quarterback for
the remainder
of this season.
No
Manziel
longer just a
celebrated bad-boy backup,
Manziel joined an elite class.
The trick will be staying
there.
Manziel’s budding pro
career, dotted mostly by
missteps on and off the ¿ eld
to this point — the NFL
said Tuesday he will not be
disciplined for a domestic
case — seems to be ¿ nally
headed in the right direction
for him. Now, the Browns
will ¿ nd out if he can be
their franchise QB.
“We’re going to
be trouble in a
fast-paced game
like this. Whoever
gets the rebound
... they just get
out, push it on the
break and we’re
very unselfi sh with
the ball.“
— Tyler Ulis
Kentucky guard after
leading the No. 2
Wildcats past No. 5
Duke 74-63 on
Tuesday. Ulis had 18
points and six assists.
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
The Blue Mountain volleyball team started
its season trying to step out of a large shadow
cast by three consecutive NWAC champion-
ships.
“I think it de¿ nitely shook the nerves,” said
sophomore setter Maci Beierle. “Oh my gosh,
we have to live up this expectation, and last
year they were 50-4. And that’s all you could
think about whether the banners were there or
not.”
Looking to step out into their own, the
T-Wolves promptly did something none of
the previous championship teams had and lost
their ¿ rst three matches of the season.
They would go on to drop six more
matches, and head coach Dave Baty continued
In this
Sept. 10.
2015, fi le
photo
BMCC’s
Jordan Mix
tips the ball
over North
Idaho’s
Brooke Bell
in the Tim-
berwolves’
3-2 win
against the
Cardinals in
Pendleton.
to express skepticism over his young roster’s
grasp of his system even during their season-
long 21 match winning streak.
“We just needed to let it go,” Beierle said.
Going into Thursday’s NWAC Champi-
onships, the East Region champion T-Wolves
(37-9) seem to have done just that.
“I think our match-ups toward the end of
the season have been pretty diverse, so I think
going into NWACs they are well prepared,”
said coach Jessica Humphreys. “They’re
ready, they’re in a good place as a group
mentally and fundamentally to go up and do
what they set out to do. And I think they know
it’s in their hands. They’re excited, nervous,
and all the right normal emotions.”
The T-Wolves are going into the tourna-
ment off one of the most unique season ¿ nales
a team could experience.
Humphreys, who is eight and a half months
pregnant with her ¿ rst child, is not to travel by
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
See T-WOLVES/2B
PENDLETON
Pendleton pair goes Division I
Richards, Morrison
sign with NCAA
softball programs
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Two Pendleton seniors joined
the growing list of Buckaroo soft-
ball players to sign with college
programs when Ellie Richards and
Alexis Morrison gave their of¿ cial
commitments to Notre Dame and
Portland State, respectively, during
the NCAA early signing period.
Pendleton coach Tim Cary, who
has seen many of his players move
on to the collegiate game in recent
years, said both programs will be
getting well-rounded players and
individuals.
“They’re getting the full
package,” he said of both girls not
only about their playing ability but
their strong work ethic and high
marks in the classroom.
Richards, the Bucks’ shortstop
and a second-team all-state selec-
tion as a junior, will follow her older
brother to the Fighting Irish. Lane
Richards is a senior shortstop on the
baseball team.
“When he ¿ rst got recruited by
them, that’s what really interested
me in Notre Dame. I kind of wish
he would have been there another
year,” she said. “All I hear about is
great things about the school and so
I’m really excited.”
She said attending Notre Dame’s
softball camp after her freshman
year of high school is where she got
her foot in the door.
“That’s when they were ¿ rst
interested in me and then they
watched me play throughout the
fall of my sophomore year,” she
said. After missing her sophomore
season at Pendleton with a torn
ACL, Richards returned to the
Notre Dame camp that summer to
prove she was still the same player
and give her verbal commitment.
Richards batted .487 with 52 hits,
13 doubles, 35 RBI, 12 stolen bases
and 43 runs scored for Pendleton
last season.
“Ellie has unbelievable work
ethic,” Cary said. “She’s the type
of person that sticks around an hour
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
In this June 2, 2015, fi le photo Pendleton’s Alexis Morrison gets a fi st bump from coach Tim Cary while
running the bases after hitting a home run in the Bucks’ 10-0 win against Silverton in the 5A softball
playoffs in Pendleton.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
In this April 25, 2015 fi le photo Pendleton’s Ellie Richards eyes a
pitch in a game against The Dalles-Wahtonka at Steve Cary Field.
after practice to get the extra swing,
and she hits off the tee, more than
anybody probably, on her own.
“She just likes to work, work,
work, work. She does the same
thing with her ground balls. Ellie
and some of our other players are a
great testament to what hard work
can accomplish and where it can get
you.”
She’ll be the ¿ rst native Orego-
nian to suit up for Notre Dame
softball, which made its 17th
straight appearance in the NCAA
Championships and ¿ nished with a
42-15 record in 2015.
But Richards said the biggest
draw was the academic record of
the university.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to
study yet. I’m just open, but that’s
really what interested me, is the
academic part,” she said.
“It’s hard to get into a good
academic institution unless you
have a good school district with
very talented and capable teachers,”
said Ellie’s father Steve Richards.
“We’ve just been fortunate that our
kids have had several good teachers
and there are very good teachers in
the school district.”
Morrison also has the type of
academic record that could open
the doors to nearly any college of
her liking — she was considering
Harvard and Yale — but chose
to stay closer to home and follow
See D-I/2B
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1978 — Vanderbilt’s Frank
Mordica rushes for 321 yards
and ¿ ve touchdowns in a
41-27 victory over Air Force.
Mordica scores on runs of 48,
30, 6, 70 and 77 yards.
1995 — Alex Van Dyke
sets an NCAA record for
most receiving yards in a
season, catching 13 passes
for 314 yards as Nevada
beats San Jose State 45-28.
Van Dyke raises his total to
1,874 yards, surpassing the
record of 1,779 set in 1965
by Howard Twilley of Tulsa.
2012 — Brad Keselowski
gives Roger Penske his ¿ rst
Sprint Cup championship 40
years after the owner’s ¿ rst
stock car race. Keselowski
beats ¿ ve-time champion
Jimmie Johnson of mighty
Hendrick Motorsports to ¿ ll the
glaring hole on Penske’s other-
wise sterling racing resume.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
Prep Football
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SD4 releases football
all-league list
Culver sweeps top CBC
postseason honors
Columbia Basin Conference
names volleyball all-stars
East Oregonian
It didn’t take long for
Italian exchange Alessandro
Panozzo long to catch on to the
eight-man version of American
football.
Playing the game for the ¿ rst
time at Ione this season, the
senior was one of two ¿ rst-team
All-League selections for the
Cardinals the Special District 4
announced this week.
Panozzo was ¿ rst team
kicker/punter and also made
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
honorable mention as tight end
This Oct. 8, 2015, fi le photo shows Arlington’s Thomas
and defensive end.
See SD4/2B
Prep Volleyball
Evans stiff arms Dufur’s Travis Lucas during a run in the
Honker’s 14-6 loss to the Rangers in Arlington.
East Oregonian
Culver swept to a 10-0 record in Columbia
Basin Conference play this season, and also
swept the top spot on the end of year all-league
lists.
• Report all-league
Culver’s Lynze
teams to
Schonneker was sports@eastoregonian.com
voted Player of
the Year, Emma Hoke was Libero of the Year, and
Randi Viggiano was Coach of the Year.
The Bulldogs had three other ¿ rst-team selec-
tions, while a pair of Weston-McEwen TigerScots
and a Heppner Mustang rounded out the squad.
TigerScots Ali Schroeder and Sara von Borstel
See CBC/2B