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Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Wednesday, April 6, 2016 BULLDOGS: Team stranded seven baserunners in game Continued from 1B you don’t see them show up and compete every day.” “I just don’t think we prepared before the game well enough,” Tolan said. “We underestimated (La Grande) a little bit, but they came out and outworked us, but we shouldn’t let that happen.” La Grande (3-6) opened the scoring in the second inning when Isaac Chamberlain reached base on an in¿eld error, then moved to second on a passed ball and was driven home by an Aaron Goss single. But the Bulldogs tied in up in the bottom of the third when R.J. Robles drew a two-out walk, stole second and then scored on Hayden Edmiston’s single to make it 1-1. Tolan wouldn’t allow another run before leaving the game after four complete innings. He faced just 14 batters, gave up two hits, struck out three, walked none and hit one batter. “I felt like I hit my spots with my fastball pretty well but my secondary stuff was a little off today,” Tolan said. “He went out and competed a little bit on the bump,” Hawkins said. “He works hard and he’s a guy that we’d like to get some innings down the road.” Slade Gritz came on to relieve Tolan to start the ¿fth and walked La Grande’s Ross Duncan to lead off. Duncan moved to second on a sacri¿ce bunt by Goss, then scored when the Bulldogs tried to turn an unconventional double play and ¿rst baseman Tyler Se[ton over- threw third base on the back end. Herm- iston’s Chase Root puts the tag on La Grande’s Ray Jimenez in the Bulldogs’ 4-1 loss to La Grande on Tues- day in Hermis- ton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris The Bulldogs had a golden opportunity to get the run right back, but left runners on second and third in the bottom of the ¿fth, which ended up being the last time they had a runner past second in the game. Kaden Caldwell led off with a walk, then went to second on a sacri¿ce bunt by Kody 0oss. When Chase Root lifted a high Ày ball to left ¿eld on the ne[t at-bat, Caldwell was e[pecting it to be caught and prepared to tag up, but the ball cleared the outstretched glove of Ray Jimenez at the warning track. The ball bounced off the wall and directly back to Jimenez, who scooped it up and put it on a beeline back to the in¿eld to hold Caldwell at third. A strikeout and a pop-Ày to right ended the threat. The Tigers added two more runs in the top of the seventh and scored their ¿rst earned run of the game when Jon Gonzalez reached on a double, then came home two batters later on a Chance Frederick single. Ryan Adams, who got on with a two-out walk, capped the scoring when he scampered in from third on a passed ball. The Bulldogs got one runner on with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when Robles drew a walk, but a Ày to center on the ne[t at-bat ended it. Hermiston stranded seven runners total in the game. La Grande starter Brad Bell picked up the win throwing four complete with two strikeouts, one walk and one earned run on three hits. Trent Shafer tossed three scoreless innings of relief for the save and struck out two, walked two and hit one batter. With just a doubleheader left before the start of league play, Hawkins said the Bulldogs are in danger of squandering what he believes can still be a very successful season. He and his coaching staff drove their message home while players caught their breath after sprinting between the foul poles as punishment for their game performance. “A point has to be made, we’re better than this,” he said. “We’d better pick it up here. We’ve got two more games until league, and we’re very competitive in our league. And if we don’t play well, we won’t win a league game. We’d better ¿gure it out. “We have high standards for our boys, and that’s in the classroom and outside of the classroom, and I wouldn’t tell the kids that they’re pretty close to being pretty good if I didn’t believe it. Now they just have to believe it. Having a showing like tonight isn’t even close to what they can do.” The players seemed to be picking up what the coaches were laying down. “We need to step it up a little bit and I think that’s a wake-up call for us,” Tolan said. “We de¿nitely need that kind of pressure because we can’t keep playing the way we are and e[pect to be successful in league like that,” said Gritz, who ¿nished with three strikeouts, four walks and three runs (one earned) allowed on three hits. “We’re doing a lot of good things in practice, we’re just not always carrying it out to the game.” The Bulldogs get their ¿nal league tune-ups on Friday when they play a twin bill at Parkrose with ¿rst pitch at 3 p.m. ——— R H E LGHS 010 010 2 — 4 5 3 HHS 001 000 0 — 1 4 3 B. Bell, T. Shafer (5) and G. Vaughn, C. Frederick (5). L. Tolan, S. Gritz (5) and S. Gritz, K. Caldwell (5). W — Bell. L — Gritz. S — Shafer. 2B — J. Gonzalez (LGHS); C. Root (HHS). UCONN: Stewart earns 4th-straight most outstanding player award Continued from 1B men’s team had won four in a row in Division I, rolling to seven consecutive championships under John Wooden from 1967-73. With Tuesday’s victory, Auriemma passed the Wizard of Westwood with his 11th national title. “What those 11 championships mean to me is how many great players I’ve had the opportunity to coach,” Auriemma said. “How many great people have come through the program. It doesn’t matter whose name is above, or whose name I’m under. As long as I have those players in my memory, I’m good.” Stewart said when she came to campus four years ago that she wanted to win four titles. She deliv- ered on that promise by scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in her ¿nal college game. “It’s unbelievable,” Stewart said. “That was our goal coming in here once we were freshman and to carry it out and win like this as seniors is unbelievable.” The Huskies (38-0) have been nearly unbeatable since Stewart arrived. They lost four games her freshman year and only one since. The win over Syracuse was the 75th straight for UConn — all by double ¿gures. Stewart and her fellow seniors went 24-0 in NCAA tourney games, too. Stewart earned the most outstanding player of the Final Four all four years of her career. No other women’s player has won it more than twice and only Lew Alcindor did it three times on the men’s side. The three-time AP Player of the Year has said it is up to others to decide her place in women’s college basketball lore. There is no denying she is the most accom- plished player ever, winning more titles than fellow UConn greats Diana Taurasi and 0aya 0oore, who watched from the stands at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Like the other great UConn teams, this version had a killer instinct. The Huskies scored the ¿rst nine points of the game. Stewart had 10 points in the ¿rst 6 minutes as UConn built a 23-6 lead. When the Orange made a little run to cut its de¿cit to 25-13, 0oriah Jefferson hit a 3-pointer off a nifty play just before the ¿rst- quarter buzzer. UConn’s big three of Stewart, Jefferson and 0organ Tuck, who have helped the Huskies to an NCAA record 151 wins over their four years, combined for 26 of the 28 points in the period. They also handled the Orange’s press with precision passing that led to easy layups. The Huskies were up 50-23 at the half and e[tended the lead to 33 early in third quarter before Syracuse scored 16 straight points to get within 60-43 with 2:02 left in the period that brought the Orange fans to their feet. Consec- utive layups by Napheesa Collier restored the 20-plus point lead and UConn cruised from there. “Not shocked by how good they are, not shocked by the things they did in the game. We were de¿nitely prepared for it,” Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman said. “One of the things I told our kids is you have no reason to be scared when you’re prepared and we competed. We didn’t play scared.” Stewart, Tuck and Jefferson left the game for good with 1:46 left. They shared an embrace together before hugging Auriemma. The trio then went down the bench hugging every member of the team. “There’s three key ingredients that go into this kind of success, ‘One, two, three,”’ Auriemma said afterward, pointing to his three seniors. “We’re going out with a bang, we’re going out with a bang, that’s it, no more. We knew what we’re supposed to do,” Stewart said. Auriemma has never lost in 11 title appearances. While the names may change, the results are always the same: UConn is still there holding that trophy in the end. This one gave the Hall of Fame coach a si[th undefeated season. To win her fourth championship, Stewart had to beat her hometown team. Fourth-seeded Syracuse (30-8) had the best season in school history, advancing to its ¿rst NCAA championship game. They hadn’t made it out of the ¿rst weekend of the tournament until this year. “I’m really happy for Breanna Stewart, who came to one of my camps. She’s a great player,” Hillsman said. “When you have a player that great coming from Syracuse, that doesn’t happen that often.” These two teams hadn’t played since the Orange left the Big East for the ACC after the 2013 season. Syracuse has now lost 24 straight against UConn, a skid that dates to 1996. Cornelia Fondren scored 16 points to lead Syracuse. TIP-INS Syracuse: The Orange had been stellar in the tournament from behind the 3-point line. They came into the game after making 48 3-pointers, averaging nearly 10 a game, and were shooting 33.6 percent from behind the arc. In the title game, they were just 2 for 19. UConn: The Huskies were also undefeated in 1995, 2002, 2009, 2010 and 2014. ... Auriemma has 109 NCAA Tournament victories, only trailing Pat Summitt (112) for most in the history of the sport. ... The Huskies won three straight titles from 2002-04. ... Freshman Katie Lou Samuelson had a boot on her left foot after breaking the third metatarsal in the national semi¿nals. Gabby Williams started in her place. MARINERS: Iannetta’s hit-by-pitch starts benches-clearing skirmish Continued from 1B hit Iannetta on the left thigh. The Seattle catcher, who was with the Los Angeles Angels last season, yelled at the right- hander as he walked up the line. The managers emerged from the dugouts, eventually pointing at each other and shouting. The umpires cleared the ¿eld without any major trouble, and Luis Sardinas, another former Te[as player, hit his ¿rst major league homer to cap si[ straight Seattle batters reaching to start the inning. Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma couldn’t hold a 2-0 lead while going for his seventh consecutive win against Te[as. The Japanese right-hander allowed consecutive run-scoring singles to Elvis Andrus and Robinson Chirinos with two outs in the fourth. Te[as starter 0artin Perez gave up two runs and two hits in si[ innings, including a line-drive homer from Cruz in the fourth. Smith scored from ¿rst on 0artin’s decisive two-out hit in the seventh after greeting Barnette with a single. Nori Aoki followed with an RBI single for his ¿rst hit with Seattle. TRAINER’S ROOM Rangers: RHP Yu Darvish Eastern Oregon Seattle Mariners’ Robinson Cano (22) circles the bases on his home run as Tex- as Rang- ers third baseman Adrian Beltre watches during the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game in Arlington, (Tommy John surgery) threw a 50-pitch bullpen session. He is e[pected back in 0ay after missing all of last season. UP NEXT 0ariners: LHP Wade 0iley makes his Seattle debut after coming over in an offseason trade with Boston. He is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA in three career starts against Te[as. Rangers: RHP Colby Lewis opens his 11th big league season and ninth with Te[as coming off career bests of 17 wins and 204 2/3 innings. The 36-year-old Lewis lost an eight-inning complete game at Seattle, 4-2, last August. Forum “America and the World Post WWII” featuring: John Turner Eastern Oregon Forum “Daughters of Hanford” featuring: Anna King Tuesday, April 19 th , 2016 at 7:00 p.m. BMCC, Rm ST-200, 2411 NW Carden Ave., Pendleton Tuesday, April 12 th , 2016 at 7:00 p.m. BMCC, Rm ST-200, 2411 NW Carden Ave., Pendleton For more information please call Karen at 541-966-3177. Need not be member to attend. For more information please call Karen at 541-966-3177. Need not be member to attend. Please detach and send with payment Please detach and send with payment Name Phone # Address City E-mail address Please include a season fee of $20 per individual member. Please make checks payable to BMCC. Name Phone # Address City E-mail address Please include a season fee of $20 per individual member. Please make checks payable to BMCC. $6.00 at the door, students free Lecture reminders will be sent via E-mail, as will weather cancellation notices, if necessary . $6.00 at the door, students free Lecture reminders will be sent via E-mail, as will weather cancellation notices, if necessary . Thank you for mailing your membership forms to: Thank you for mailing your membership forms to: InterMountain ESD (IMESD) 2001 SW Nye Ave. Pendleton, OR • Attn: Karen Parker InterMountain ESD (IMESD) 2001 SW Nye Ave. Pendleton, OR • Attn: Karen Parker
