East Oregonian : E.O., April 29, 2016, Page Page 2B, Image 12

Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Friday, April 29, 2016
NBA Playoffs
Blazers, Hornets can cap comebacks, Raptors also can advance
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless reacts
after being called for a foul during Game 5 of a irst-
round NBA playoff series against the Los Angeles Clip-
pers, Wednesday, April 27, 2016, in Los Angeles.
Last time they came
home, Portland and Char-
lotte were still just trying to
win a game.
This
time,
they’re
looking to win a series.
After engineering big
turnarounds with three
straight victories, the Trail
Blazers and Hornets will
be playing for spots in the
second round when they
host Game 6s on Friday
night.
The tough part for them,
as Clippers coach Doc
Rivers says, is not getting
too caught up thinking
ahead with the opportunity
they have.
“It’s hard to keep your
focus in closeouts,” Rivers
said. “That’s typically why
Game 7s are played so well,
because no one is thinking
about it anymore.”
Portland can knock out
Rivers’ Clippers, while
Charlotte tries to eliminate
Miami. The Clippers and
Heat quickly got halfway to
the conference semiinals,
and now they’re just hoping
to hold on.
The Toronto Raptors can
also wrap up their series
against the Pacers — and
win a seven-game series for
the irst time in franchise
history — but they’re on the
RAMIREZ: Will switch to point guard at CWU
Continued from 1B
she felt like there was inally
a it with the NCAA Division
II program.
“I wanted to stay a little
bit closer (to home),” she
said. “They get to play a lot
of good teams in the NCAA
and that’s a lot of peoples’
dream, and that was one of
mine and where I wanted to
be.”
Ramirez will make the
move from shooting guard
to point guard with the
Wildcats, a minor adjustment
she’s well equipped for. In
Ramirez the Wildcats are
getting a player that averaged
14.2 points, 6.3 rebounds,
3.1 assists and 2.8 steals
per game as a senior and
was named Columbia River
Conference Co-Player of the
Year as well as to the second
team All-State roster.
Steve Hoffert, her coach
at Hermiston all four years,
said Ramirez is deinitely a
unique talent whose dogged-
ness will serve her well at the
next level.
“Quite honestly I think
there’s very few athletes
that could have completed a
season and gone through that
pain and the things that she’s
gone through, and still be as
good as she is,” he said. “I’m
very fortunate as a coach to
have somebody with that
kind of dedication, mentality
and determination.”
Ramirez said her pain
isn’t the type that will leave
with rest, and she’ll likely
have to manage it the rest of
her career.
“I used to say I wanted to
go to the WNBA, but now
that I think about it I don’t
know if I could last that long
playing,” she said. “But I’m
going to try as hard as I can
these next four years.”
The Wildcats are entering
their third season under
coach Jeff Harada, and
posted their irst winning
season in the last decade in
2015-16 with a 17-12 record
that got them into the Great
Northwest Athletic Confer-
ence tournament.
In her four varsity seasons
at Hermiston Ramirez was
part of a record 90 wins in
the Purple and Gold, and
helped bring back four state
trophies. She said she’ll take
those same high expectations
with her to Ellensburg.
“Whenever I went to
practice I would always
try working hard. It’s just a
mindset. Every time I went
to practice, every time I
played a game, it’s always
100 percent in my head,” she
said. “When I go to college
I feel like everybody’s going
to have the same mindset.
They’re going to want to
win, they’re going to want
a championship, and going
in there with that mindset
will help me a lot with my
teammates. They know that I
want that same thing.”
“I told Coach Harada,
‘You’re getting a very good
guard, you’re getting a very
good shooter, but you’re
getting somebody who’s
going to compete for you
every night whether you’re
winning or losing, every
night whether she’s having
a good night or a bad night.
You’re not going to be able
to take that part away from
her, and you can’t coach that
and you can’t make your
players do what she does,’”
Hoffert said.
And as Ramirez searches
for better ways to deal with
her playing-related pain, she
plans to study a ield that
could help with pain of a
different sort.
She hopes to become a
counselor to those dealing
with drug and alcohol addic-
tions.
“I’ve had experiences
with having problems like
that in my life in my family
and I just want to reach out
to people who need help,”
she said.
———
Contact Matt Entrup at
mentrup@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0838.
Follow him on Twitter @
mattentrup.
BASEBALL: Robles, Cockburn slated for game one
Continued from 1B
swept their four meetings
in 2013 to make them 3-3
at Bob White Field the last
three seasons.
There are no secret
weapons
when
these
two teams meet, and the
players are familiar with the
strengths and weaknesses of
their opponent.
“We’ve played Hermiston
throughout the summer and
stuff, and these guys have
been playing together for a
while,” said Pendleton coach
T.J. Haguewood, who will
be coaching his irst War on
84 games today. “Regardless
of who’s out there we’ve got
to be able to see the ball and
hit the ball and execute our
game plan.
“I think our boys will be
ready to play. We’ve had a
good couple weeks of prac-
tice and we’ve got a great
group of kids. They go out
and play the game the right
way and get after it.”
Hermiston is scheduled
to start lefty R.J. Robles and
righty Tyler Sexton on the
mound, although Hawkins
wasn’t sure who would start
the irst game.
Robles was responsible
for Hermiston’s lone win
over the Bucks last season
with a 15-strikeout gem for
an 8-2 win in Hermiston.
He’s thrown a perfect game
already this season.
Pendleton has brought in
some left-handed pitchers
to throw batting practice
this week, but Haguewood
said
that’s
something
they’ve done several times
throughout the season just to
keep batters ready.
“I think our approaches
at the plate have been a lot
better, that last week or two
we’ve swung the bats really
good,” Haguewood said of
an offense that is averaging
ive runs a game in CRC
play.
The Bucks are scheduled
to throw righties Quinn
Cockburn and James Bradt,
who started their split at The
Dalles over the weekend,
but could go with Kai Quinn
who pitched two innings on
Tuesday or Nick Lani, who
started a game against Hood
River.
“Just when I think I’ve
igured something out about
Pendleton, I’m wrong,” said
Hawkins, whose Bulldogs
are averaging 4.3 runs a game
in the CRC. “So I know those
guys are going to prepare
their players like they do year
after year. We could try and
sit here and igure out things,
but we’re going to have to do
what we do well. We’re going
to pitch well, we’re going to
play great defense, and we’re
going to try to scratch some
runs out.
“They’re going to be
ready, and I know we’re
going to be ready, and I
expect two great baseball
games.”
First pitch is scheduled for
4 p.m., but there will be cere-
monial irst pitches tossed
out at 3:50 p.m. by residents
of McKay Creek Estates,
an assisted living facility in
Pendleton.
It’s part of the facility’s
baseball theme this month,
and residents will be honored
guests at the games.
“It’s exciting for our boys
to be able to see them there
and represent them,” Hague-
wood said.
———
Contact Matt Entrup at
mentrup@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0838.
Follow him on Twitter @
mattentrup.
SOFTBALL: Defense key for Buckaroos today
Continued from 1B
we’re going to have to play
our best to beat them.
“We knew coming in it’s
a very, very tough league and
we kind of igured everybody
is going to beat up on each
other, and that’s kind of
what’s happened.”
Both teams enter the
game with the kind of ire-
power at the plate that could
see the scoreboard light up
early and often. Pendleton is
averaging 6.3 runs a game in
league play and Hermiston
is averaging six even. Alexis
Morrison and Kalan McGlo-
than each hit home runs in
Pendleton’s 6-0 win over
The Dalles on Tuesday, and
Ellery Jones and Rebecca
Englebrecht each went yard
in Hermiston’s 9-4 win over
Hood River on Saturday.
“We’ve just been really
hitting the ball really well,
which is awesome,” Gree-
nough said. “You obviously
don’t win games if you don’t
score runs so it’s been great to
see that. They’ve been really
aggressive on the bases,
they’re having fun with each
Local Slate
Ione at Umatilla, 2 p.m.
Hermiston at Capital Invite (Boise, Idaho),
TBD
other, especially recently.
“However, Pendleton’s
very good. We know that
they can hit the ball very hard
so it’s going to be two good
games so I’m really looking
forward to it.”
Kiersten Murphy and
Lauren Richards will throw
for the Bucks while Julissa
Almaguer and Taylor Betz
have been Hermiston’s
hurlers in doubleheaders this
season, but Cary said the key
will be not who’s in the circle
but how well their defense
backs them up.
“I think the key for either
team is going to be to just
limit your mistakes,” he
said. “I think both teams will
be able to feed off the other
team making mistakes, and
that’s usually where those
extra runs come from.”
First pitch is scheduled for
3 p.m. at Pendleton’s Steve
Cary Field.
———
Contact Matt Entrup at
mentrup@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0838.
Follow him on Twitter @
mattentrup.
SCOREBOARD
PREP BASEBALL
Today
Vale at Stanield (DH), 1/3 p.m.
Riverside at Joseph (DH), 1/3 p.m.
Hermiston at Pendleton (DH), 4/6 p.m.
Saturday
Heppner at Irrigon (DH), 11 a.m./1 p.m.
Mac-Hi at Ontario (DH), Noon/2 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Union (DH), 1/3 p.m.
PREP SOFTBALL
Today
Grant Union at Umatilla (DH), 1/3 p.m.
Riverside at Enterprise (DH), 1/3 p.m.
Vale at Echo (DH), 1/3 p.m.
Hermiston at Pendleton (DH), 3/5 p.m.
Saturday
Heppner at Pilot Rock (DH), 11 a.m./1
p.m.
Burns at Irrigon (DH), 1/3 p.m.
Mac-Hi at Ontario (DH), 2/4 p.m.
PREP TRACK & FIELD
Today
Umatilla at Connell Invitational, 3:30 p.m.
Riverside at Kennedy, 4:30 p.m.
PREP GOLF
Today
Echo at Echo Hills GC, 10 a.m.
Heppner at Alpine Meadows GC (Enter-
prise), 11 a.m.
PREP TENNIS
Today
PREP LACROSSE
Saturday
Hermiston at Ridgeview, 2 p.m.
PREP RUGBY
Saturday
East Oregon (girls) at Cleveland, Noon
East Oregon (boys) at Oswego, 3 p.m.
COLLEGE RODEO
Today
Blue Mountain at NW Regional No. 6
(Hermiston), 10 a.m./6:30 p.m.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Saturday
Columbia Basin at Blue Mountain (DH),
1/4 p.m.
Baseball
MLB
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Thursday’s Games
Detroit 7, Oakland 3
Baltimore 10, Chicago White Sox 2
Atlanta 5, Boston 3
Today’s Games
Chicago White Sox (Rodon 1-2) at Balti-
more (Wright 1-2), 4:05 p.m.
Cleveland (Kluber 1-3) at Philadelphia
(Morgan 0-0), 4:05 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Tanaka 1-0) at Boston
(Owens 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Toronto (Sanchez 1-1) at Tampa Bay (Smy-
ly 1-2), 4:10 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Santiago 2-0) at Texas (Lewis
1-0), 5:05 p.m.
Detroit (Fulmer 0-0) at Minnesota
(Hughes 1-3), 5:10 p.m.
Houston (Fiers 2-1) at Oakland (Manaea
0-0), 7:05 p.m.
Kansas City (Medlen 1-1) at Seattle (Her-
nandez 1-2), 7:10 p.m.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Thursday’s Games
Chicago Cubs 7, Milwaukee 2
Pittsburgh at Colorado, 3:10 p.m.
Philadelphia 3, Washington 0
Atlanta 5, Boston 3
Arizona 3, St. Louis 0
Miami 5, L.A. Dodgers 3
Today’s Games
Atlanta (Blair 0-1) at Chicago Cubs (Lester
2-1), 11:20 a.m.
Cincinnati (Straily 0-0) at Pittsburgh (Nica-
sio 2-2), 4:05 p.m.
Cleveland (Kluber 1-3) at Philadelphia
(Morgan 0-0), 4:05 p.m.
San Francisco (Peavy 1-1) at N.Y. Mets
(Matz 2-1), 4:10 p.m.
Miami (Conley 0-1) at Milwaukee (Davies
0-2), 5:10 p.m.
Washington (Strasburg 3-0) at St. Louis
(Leake 0-2), 5:15 p.m.
Colorado (Chatwood 2-2) at Arizona (Ray
1-0), 6:40 p.m.
San Diego (Vargas 0-0) at L.A. Dodgers
(Wood 1-2), 7:10 p.m.
Basketball
NBA PLAYOFFS
FIRST ROUND
Thursday’s Game
Atlanta 104, Boston 92 (Atlanta wins
series 4-2)
Today’s Games
Toronto at Indiana, 4:30 p.m. (Toronto
leads 3-2)
Miami at Charlotte, 5 p.m. (Charlotte
leads 3-2)
L.A. Clippers at Portland, 7:30 p.m.
(Portland leads 3-2).
road.
The Blazers and Hornets
will be in their own build-
ings, trying to join the short
list of teams who have come
back from 2-0 deicits to
win a seven-game series.
Only 16 teams have done it,
none since Memphis against
the Clippers in 2013.
———
Clippers
at
Trail
Blazers, Portland leads
3-2. 10:30 p.m. EDT,
ESPN.
Playing without the
injured Chris Paul and Blake
Grifin, the Clippers seemed
to wear down in the fourth
quarter of Game 5 after it
was tied at 71 through three.
Damian Lillard scored 16
of his 22 points in the inal
period as the Blazers pulled
away for a 108-98 victory.
Rivers is reminding his
players to have great resolve
and embrace their dificult
challenge. They did it last
year in the same situation,
winning Game 6 in San
Antonio before taking Game
7 of a classic irst-round
series back home.
“Our guys have coni-
dence in knowing that
they’ve been in this situation
before,” Rivers said. “The
memory helps us know it
can be done, but other than
that we have to go play
better basketball.”
PREPS: Dawgs tennis
dominates at Baker City
Continued from 1B
Hermiston included Grace
Blackhurst with a 107, Lexi
Lambert with a 110, Sonja
Peterson with a 111, and
Sydney Adams with a 114.
Pendleton and Herm-
iston will now prepare for
the district tournament on
May 9-10 at Indian Creek
Hood River.
TENNIS
HERMISTON
6,
BAKER 3 — At Baker
City,
the
Hermiston
Bulldogs girls tennis team
dominated the Baker
Bulldogs in a match-up on
Thursday afternoon.
“All of the girls just
came out focused and ready
to play and that was the
big thing,” said Hermiston
coach Jason Sivey. “It was
a great competition and it
deinitely got us ready for
our big Invite at the Capital
Tournament (at Boise,
Idaho).”
“It was a great compe-
tition,” said Hermiston
coach Jason Sivey. “It
deinitely got us ready for
our big invitational at the
Capital tournament
Hermiston took three of
four singles matches and
swept the doubles matches
from Baker, before losing
both
mixed
doubles
matches to the Bulldogs.
Hermiston’s lone singles
loss was at the No. 1 slot
where Katelyn Millard
dropped a pro set 8-1 to
Baker’s Gracie Huggins.
———
Singles
Gracie Huggins (B) def. Katelynn
Millard 8-1
Jaycee Ternes (H) def. Stella Bowers
8-5
Lindsey McAllister (H) def. Hollis
Robb 8-3
Sydney Moore (H) def. Madi Turner 8-0
Doubles
Chy Peterson/McKenzie Hill (H) def.
Hannah Wilson/Lena Bowers 8-5
Kylie Markwick/Whitney McMahon (H)
def. Josie Bryant/Hannah Johnson 8-2
Adrian Stewart/Lindsey McAllister (H)
def. Tori Gentilly/Alex Wachtell 8-3
Mixed Doubles
Breena Wadekamper/Judah Jenson
(H) lost 9-4
Reed Middleton/Hayden Cisne (H)
lost 8-1
Athlete of the Week
Twenty questions
with Micha Fortune
East Oregonian
East Oregonian: Favorite
sports team?
Micha Fortune: Oregon
Ducks
Favorite athlete?
Marcus Mariota
Favorite sports memory?
Going to California for
Little League majors soft-
ball regionals
Favorite movie/book?
Where the Red Fern Grows
Favorite musical genre?
Country
Favorite
band/
performer?
Jason Aldean
Favorite restaurant?
Sub
Shop
No.
38
(Milton-Freewater)
Favorite snack food?
Flamin’ Hot Funyuns
Favorite game food?
Sunlower seeds (ranch or
dill)
Favorite beverage?
Water or Gatorade
Favorite
Gatorade
lavor?
Light blue
Favorite family recipe?
Mom’s macaroni salad
Dream job?
Veterinarian
Favorite color?
Green
What will you miss most
about Mac-Hi?
How small the school is.
You know mostly every-
body and everybody is
really nice.
If you could have an super
power, what would it be?
Teleportation
If you could be any
animal, what would it be?
Dog
Favorite game show?
Idiotest
Favorite board game?
Quelf
Favorite teacher?
Ms. Ashland (English)
ATHLETE
OF THE WEEK
MICHA FORTUNE
Mac-HI Softball Player
Junior -
Stanfield
Football
In Saturday’s
doubleheader
sweep of Banker,
Fortune went 6-9 at
the plate with two
doubles, two
triples, and a grand
slam home run,
leading to six runs
scored and nine
RBIs.
P ROUDLY S PONSORED B Y :
Hockey
NHL PLAYOFFS
SECOND ROUND
EASTERN CONFERENCE
N.Y. Islanders 1, Tampa Bay 0
Wednesday: N.Y. Islanders 5, Tampa Bay 3
Saturday: NY Islanders at Tampa Bay,
3 p.m.
Washington 1, Pittsburgh 0
Thursday: Washington 4, Pittsburgh 3, OT
Saturday: Pittsburgh at Washington, 8
p.m.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Dallas vs. St. Louis
Today: St. Louis at Dallas, 8 p.m.
San Jose vs. Nashville
Today: Nashville at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.
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