SPORTS
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016
Sports shorts
Dallas scores early,
beats Timbers
1B
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Blazers head into playoffs on win
Portland will face LA
&lippers in ¿ rst round
PORTLAND (AP) —
Michael Barrios, Fabian
&astillo
and Tesho
Akindele
all scored
in the ¿ rst
26 minutes
to Jive F&
Dallas a 3-1 victory over
the Portland Timbers on
Wednesday niJht.
In the 4th minute, Jack
Jewsbury’s turnover allowed
Akindele to charJe into the
Portland penalty area and
lay off a pass to Barrios,
who calmly slid a shot past
Portland Joalkeeper Adam
Kwarasey for his third Joal of
the season.
Another turnover by
Jewsbury in the 26th minute
allowed &astillo to race to
the top of the area, where
he chipped a shot over an
onrushinJ Kwarasey for his
second Joal.
Three minutes later,
a miscued shot attempt
by &astillo went riJht to Akin-
dele, whose shot deÀ ected off
defender Jermain Taylor and
between Kwarasey’s leJs for
his third Joal.
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
99
107
Backes scores OT
winner for Blues
ST. LOUIS (AP) —
David Backes scored at
9:04 of overtime on a shot
that deÀ ected off a &hicaJo
Blackhawks defenseman,
and the St. Louis Blues took
the series opener 1-0 over
the defendinJ
FACES Stanle\ &up
champions on
Wednesday
niJht.
Backes’ shot
Jot past &orey
&rawford
after EouncinJ
Backes
off Trevor
Van Riemsdyk’s skate.
Defensemen Jay
Bouwmeester and Alex
PietranJelo assisted on the
winner.
Brian Elliott earned his
¿ rst career playoff shutout.
Elliott, who led the NHL
with a .90 save percentaJe,
made 35 saves to thwart
a lineup led Ey scorinJ
champion Patrick Kane
and Jonathan Toews. He
made just his second playoff
start in three seasons off an
impressive ¿ nish, JoinJ 11-1
in his ¿ nal 14 starts.
“This is a life-or-
death situation.
I’m not talking
about football
anymore. I’m
talking about a
young man who
is in trouble.“
— Drew Rosenhaus
Professional sports
agent on his reason for
rescinding his contract
with troubled NFL quar-
terback Johnny Manziel.
Rosenhaus, who would
be the second agent
to drop Manziel since
February, said he’s given
Manziel a fi ve-day win-
dow to clean up his act
or the termination will
become permanent.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1994 — Seattle becomes
the ¿ rst team in NBA history
to have 10 double-¿ Jure
scorers in one Jame, as the
SuperSonics beat the Los
AnJeles &lippers 150-101.
All 12 Sonics score in the
Jame and Steve SchefÀ er’s
layup with 8.4 seconds left
makes him the 10th Sonic to
score in double ¿ Jures.
2002 — TiJer Woods
becomes the third player to
win back-to-back Masters
titles. He closes with a
1-under 71 to claim a three-
stroke victory over Retief
Goosen.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
PORTLAND — Damian Lillard
had 21 points before sittinJ in the ¿ nal
quarter and the Port-
land Trail Bla]ers, with
NBA
their playoff fate sealed
earlier
Wednesday
niJht, defeated the
Denver
Denver
NuJJets
107-99.
&J
Mc&ollum
added 17 points for the
Bla]ers, who led by as
many as 18 points in
Portland
the ¿ nal quarter despite
puttinJ all of their
starters on the bench.
The Trail Bla]ers
were assured of the ¿ fth seed in the
Western &onference by virtue of Dallas’
96-91 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The
Bla]ers will face the Los AnJeles &lip-
pers in the ¿ rst round of the playoffs.
The fans roared at the Moda &enter
when the result was announced. Guard
&.J. Mc&ollum addressed the crowd
before tipoff: “When they doubted us,
you didn’t. So thank you.”
He punctuated the sentiment: “Let’s
Jet ready for the playoffs”
Emmanuel Mudiay ¿ nished with 25
points to lead ¿ ve NuJJets in double
¿ Jures. Denver ¿ nished the season
33-49 and in 10th place in the West,
improvinJ by three James over last
year’s win total.
&oach Michael Malone, asked to
assess his feelinJ about the NuJJets’
¿ nish, said: “Not happy. Not satis¿ ed.
But encouraJed.”
AP Photo/Steve Dykes
Portland Trail Blazers forward Noah Vonleh (21) dunks in front of Denver Nuggets guard Gary
Harris (14) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, April
13, 2016. The Blazers won 107-99.
HELIX
PENDLETON
Parker steps aside after 15 years
Yakima
leaves
T-Wolves
stranded
“I always said I wanted to leave
the new coach with something
to build on. The team will still
be good next year and is set
up for some success so I just felt
the time was right.”
Gri]]lies earned
four state trophies
in her tenure
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
After 15 years at the helm of the
Helix Gri]]lies varsity volleyball
team, Tammie Parker has decided to
call it a career.
Parker made her decision shortly
after the conclusion of the Gri]]lies
season in November, a decision she
has pondered for a few years now.
³I’m a Jrandma, I have three
Jrandkids now and twin Jrandkids
on the way and I want to spend
more time with them all,” Parker
said on Wednesday. “I started to feel
I couldn’t Jive 110 percent to the
Jirls and to the sport and that’s not
fair to them.”
Parker leaves behind a tremendous
mark on the Griswold HiJh School
proJram, coachinJ the team to four
leaJue titles, a 15-8 postseason record
as well as earninJ four trophies at the
state tournament from 2006-2009.
DurinJ those years the Gri]]lies
Jrabbed runner-up honors in µ06, µ08
and µ09 and ¿ nished third in µ07.
Over the past 10 years, Parker’s
teams have compiled a 156-123-5
overall record, most recently put
toJether a 19-6 overall record and a
10-2 record and second-place ¿ nish in
the Old OreJon LeaJue in 2015. Helix
Jraduates several top players from last
Parker
year’s team, but returns enouJh expe-
rience that Parker felt comfortable
steppinJ aside for a new coach.
“I always said I wanted to leave
the new coach with somethinJ to
build on,” she said. “The team will
still be Jood next year and is set up
for some success so I just felt the
time was riJht.”
And when she looks back on her
career, she said she can only be proud
of what her teams had accomplished.
“I’m just very proud of the
commitments that all of my kids
made,” Parker said. “And add in
the belief in me from the kids and
their parents ... it’s rare to have such
cooperative parents and I was lucky
to have Jreat parents for 15 years.”
One of the thinJs that Parker
mentioned she will miss about
coachinJ is the personal relation-
ships with her players. When she
broke the news to the team followinJ
the season, the majority reaction
was one of surprise and shock, but
Parker said that just because she is
steppinJ away as the coach does not
mean she is steppinJ away from the
Gri]]lies as a friend.
“All of my players are like my
family. I’ll still be there for them
and they know they can contact me
about anythinJ,” she said. “I’m still
in contact with players from my ¿ rst
year in coachinJ, too.”
But with all of the moments and
memories that Parker has experienced
durinJ her career, the ones that will
stick with her the most are the experi-
ences and team bondinJ moments on
the many, many road trips.
“Sure JettinJ to the state tour-
nament is nice, and JettinJ past
districts is nice, but the wins and
losses take a back seat,” she said.
“I’ll remember all of the trips with
the kids like when we went to state
... all of the times just hanJinJ out in
the hallways of hotels and all of the
fun times at team dinners.
Those traditions are what made
us a family.”
———
Contact Eric Singer at esinger@
eastoregonian.com
or
(541)
966-0839. Follow him on Twitter
@ByEricSinger.
Blue Mountain bats
cold with runners
on, lose two to Yaks
East Oregonian
The Blue Mountain baseball
team struJJled at the plate
with runners
in
scorinJ
Baseball
position and
dropped
a
NWA& East
Yakima
doubleheader
aJainst Yakima
Valley
2-1
and 15-5 on
Wednesday.
T
h
e
Blue Mtn
Timberwolves
(9-15,
3-7
East)
batted
.066 (1 for 15)
with runners on second or third
base to fall seven James behind
the leaJue-leadinJ Yaks (20-8,
10-0).
2-15
1-5
See T-WOLVES/2B
Lee’s pinch-hit homer in 10th lifts Mariners
Home run clinches ¿ rst
home win of season
By JIM HOEHN
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Dae-Ho Lee hit a
two-run, pinch-homer with two outs
in the 10th inninJ on Wednesday,
liftinJ the Seattle Mariners over the
Texas RanJers 4-2 for their ¿ rst win
of the year at Safeco Field.
After startinJ out 0-5 at home,
the Mariners won on Lee’s second
home run of the season. Robinson
&ano hit his ¿ fth homer for Seattle.
The riJht-handed hittinJ Lee,
who spent the last four years in
Japan after 11 seasons in his native
South Korea, came on to bat for
Adam Lind aJainst left-hander Jake
Diekman (0-1). Lee launched an 0-2
MLB
Texas
Seattle
2
4
pitch deep over the left-¿ eld wall
for his second homer.
Nelson &ru] reached on a
one-out error by second baseman
RouJned Odor, but was forced out
by Kyle SeaJer, settinJ up Lee.
Steve &ishek (1-1) pitched two
inninJs.
Delino DeShields brouJht the
RanJers even at 2 in the eiJhth with
a solo homer, his ¿ rst.
&ano put Texas in front 2-1 in the
¿ fth with a solo shot, his ¿ rst home
run since April 5. He had been in a
2-for-21 slump before connectinJ.
See MARINERS/2B
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Seattle Mariners’ Dae-Ho Lee watches his walk-off two-run home
run in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s game against the Texas
Rangers in Seattle.