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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 2016)
SPORTS WEEKEND, APRIL 23-24, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Sports shorts Prep Roundup Harvick earns pole at Richmond Hilanders breeze by Rockets in sweep RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Rain washed out qualifying at Richmond International Raceway on Friday, giving Kevin Harvick the pole position Sunday for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race based on being the fastest in an abbreviated morning practice session. Harvick won the pole with a speed of 129.069 mph, edging Joey Logano for the top spot. Logano’s speed was 128.694. The top ¿ ve also includes Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and hometown favorite Denny Hamlin. The race, which traditionally has been run on Saturday night, was moved to Sunday afternoon this year and will be the second in a row in the spring at Richmond run on a Sunday. Baseball Thieme racks up a perfect day at the plate for Rockets Pilot Rock’s Levi Thieme waits for the ball as Burns’ Bryce Goss steals sec- ond base in the Rockets’ 12-2 loss Friday in Pilot Rock. Burns 12-16 2-4 East Oregonian PILOT ROCK — The Pilot Rock Rockets saw its losing streak expand to a season- worst ¿ ve games as the Burns Hilanders dominated a double- header on Friday winning 12-2 and 16-4. Pilot Rock (11-6, 1-5 SD6) had only given up more than 10 runs in a game once this Staff photo by E.J. Harris “I don’t really have fans in San Francisco; this is my family. This is where I was raised, this is where I grew up, people that stood behind me through thick and thin. And so I always will appreciate that and always have my love for San Francisco.” Strong start for rodeo locals Herm- iston’s Preston Pederson chase down his calf on his way to a 14.93-sec- ond time in tie down rop- ing Friday at the In- termoun- tain High School Rodeo in Hermis- ton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Adams roper Calgary Smith leads the pack in two events aft er one night By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian It may not have been their best foot, but it was a darn good one. Members of the Intermountain rodeo team set themselves up for a strong showing at their home rodeo with some quick times in the ¿ rst performance on Friday night at Hermiston’s Farm-City Arena. The evening was particularly rewarding for the boys, which have contestants leading three events. Calgary Smith of Adams was the ¿ rst to put his name atop a leader- board with a 12.71-second run in tie-down roping that he feels leaves plenty of room for improvement in the remaining rounds. “I kind of screwed up a couple things but it ended up all right, so we’ll see how the next one goes,” he said. “I kind of missed my À ank and I could have roped him a little faster.” Smith’s night followed an upward trajectory, though, and he teamed with Pendleton’s Trent Sorey to post the leading time in team roping four events later. Smith released a piercing whoop McCollum named NBA’s Most Improved — Barry Bonds Miami Marlins hitting coach speaking on his fi rst baseball trip back to San Francisco on Friday since retiring from the game in 2007. Bonds played 15 seasons with the Giants. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com into the brisk evening air as their steer sprung from the gate, and 5.56 seconds later he and Sorey had jumped into a commanding lead. “I did that just to kind of keep the steer going straight so he didn’t veer off to the right, just to kind of hold him over there and make it easier for my partner to catch him,” Smith said of battle cry. No other team was able to get its steer caught in less than 16 seconds, and Kimberly Williams of North Powder and Samantha Kerns of Haines are second in 16.08. Smith and Sorey are fourth in the state in their ¿ rst season as high school partners, although they did rope together in junior high with Smith as the header. “We switched him this year with him heading for me and it’s been going all right,” Smith said. “The ¿ rst couple rodeos didn’t go so well but these (recent) ones have went real well.” Between Smith’s events, another Intermountain cowboy showed up the ¿ eld as Heppner’s Kolby Currin took the steer wrestling lead in 11.45 seconds. See RODEO/2B PENDLETON Heugly signs to play at Western Oregon Sophomore forward named NWAC All-Star in 2015-2016 season East Oregonian THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1903 — The New York Highlanders, later renamed Yankees, win their ¿ rst game as a major league team, 7-2 over the Washington Sena- tors. 1954 — The NBA adopts the 24-second shot clock. 2008 — The Chicago Cubs win their 10,000th game, joining the Giants as the only franchise to reach that mark with a 7-6 victory in 10 innings at Colorado. season prior to Friday, when they allowed 14 to Heppner on April 4. But the Burns offense tore through Pilot Rock pitchers Bryson Pierce and Chris Weinke for 21 hits to push across the 28 runs on the day. Levi Thieme was Pilot Rock’s lone shining star for See PREPS/2B HERMISTON Washington agrees to terms with CB Josh Norman WASHINGTON (AP) The Washington Redskins signed cornerback Josh Norman on Friday, two days after the Carolina Panthers cut him loose. Agent Michael George con¿ rmed the deal in an to The FACES email Associated Press. Norman, one of the NFL’s top corners, became a Norman free agent Wednesday after the Panthers rescinded the franchise tag, which would have paid him $13.9 million next season. The 28-year-old was holding out for a long-term contract. Norman had a career-high four interceptions, 16 passes defensed and 56 tackles last season for the NFC champion Panthers. Norman visited the Redskins’ facility in Ashburn, Virginia, on Friday. Pilot Rock AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum, center, shoots during the fi rst half in Game 2 of a fi rst-round NBA playoff series on Wednesday in Los Angeles By ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer PORTLAND — Portland guard CJ McCollum won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in his ¿ rst season as a starter for the Trail Blazers, dramatically improving his scoring average by more than 14 points over last season. “In my mind I always felt like I was a good player, so when you hear ‘most improved’ you think, he was sorry, and he got better,”’ McCollum said Friday. “But now I understand that it comes from hard work. It’s based on perception, not having played, not having the body of work to show for it.” McCollum more than See MCCOLLUM/2B With her two years at Blue Moun- tain Community College complete, Savannah Heugly has found a new home. The Timberwolves women’s basketball standout signed a letter of intent to continue her basketball career at Western Oregon University in Monmouth starting this winter. Heugly, a sophomore forward from Tualatin, had a breakout season in 2015-2016 as she averaged 21.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game proving to be the go-to weapon for the Timberwolves. Her offensive produc- tion led her to ¿ nishing fourth in the NWAC season scoring totals with 596 points, seventh in rebounding with 317 and seventh in ¿ eld goals with 253. See HEUGLY/2B Staff photo by E.J. Harris In this Feb. 28, 2016 fi le photo, BMCC’s Savannah Heugly shoots the ball guarded by Walla Walla’s Tabitha Wellsand in the T-wolves’ 73-60 loss in Pendleton.
