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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2016)
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Sports shorts Prep Baseball Atlanta, Miami, LA picked to host Super Bowls Knights ready for tourney debut CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The NFL awarded Super Bowls to Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles, cities that made signifi cant investments in new stadiums. Atlanta will host the game in 2019, followed by Miami (2020) and Los Angeles (2021), it was announced Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings. Atlanta will host its third Super Bowl, but the fi rst at its new $1.4 billion stadium which opens in 2017. Miami will have its record-setting 11th Super Bowl following a $450 million stadium renovation. Los Angeles has not hosted a Super Bowl in the area since 1993 in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The game will be played at the new $2.6 billion stadium in Inglewood, California, which opens in 2019. Irrigon, Stanfi eld, Weston-McEwen prepping for fi rst round match-ups Hermiston alum sets OSU record in javelin throw SEATTLE — Hermiston High School alumnae and current Oregon State sophomore McKenzie Byrd set a school record in the javelin throw at the Pac-12 track and fi eld FACES championships on May 14 in Seattle. Byrd recorded a throw of 144 feet and three inches to beat Byrd the school record of 144 feet and ¾ inches that she had set earlier this season. The record- breaking throw earned her a fi fth place fi nish in the conference, which was just short of a qualifying spot for the NCAA regionals. Byrd is a 2014 graduate of Hermiston High School, where she was a four-year letter winner as both a thrower and a jumper. She won the 5A state title in javelin in 2014 and was the 5A female track athlete of the year in 2013. “This is the game of football. Injuries are a part of it. It’s a violent game that I personally don’t think humans are supposed to play.“ — Doug Whaley Buffalo Bills GM in a radio interview with WGR 550 in Buffalo. The remarks came as a long response to a question if the team’s top wide receiver Sammy Watkins is injury-prone. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1975 — The Golden State Warriors become the third team to sweep the NBA fi nals, beating the Washington Bullets 96-95 on Butch Beard’s foul shot with 9 seconds remaining. 1987 — Herve Filion becomes the fi rst harness racing driver to win 10,000 races. Filion reaches the milestone driving Commander Bond to victory in the third race at Yonkers Raceway. 2014 — Landon Donovan breaks the Major League Soccer goal record, scoring his 135th and 136th regular-season goals in the Los Angeles Galaxy’s 4-1 victory over the Philadel- phia Union. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com In this May 19, 2015 fi le photo, Irrigon Knights pitcher Austin Rice delivers a pitch in a baseball game against the Heppner Mustangs in Irrigon. By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian Last season, the Irrigon Knights baseball team was on the doorstep of the state tournament before the Dufur Rangers took them down 9-8 in a district semifi nal game. This season, the Knights were deter- mined to change the script and they followed through as they won the Special District 6 regular season title comfortably and then blew out Dufur in the district title game to secure their coveted state championship berth — the fi rst one in school history. “Oh boy, they were really excited,” said Irrigon head coach Randy Henrichs. “They set their goals to win the league, win the districts and they did it, and I’m really proud of them.” The Knights fi nished off the 2016 schedule with a 16-5 overall record and a 10-2 fi nish in Special District 6, fi nishing four games better in the standings than second place Dufur. The fi nish was good enough for the No. 4 seed in the 2A/1A state tournament where they will take on the No. 13 seed Lost River Raiders today at 3:30 p.m. in their Round 1 match-up. Henrichs said that he’s been pleased with what the team has shown at prac- tice over the past few days. “It’s been pretty intense really, they’ve had a really good attitude and they’ve been upbeat,” he said. Staff photo by Kathy Aney See BASEBALL/2B PENDLETON Three T-Wolves moving up Hobart becomes fi rst Blue Mountain volleyball player to go Division 1 By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian EO fi le photo/E.J. Harris In this Sept. 23, 2015 fi le photo, BMCC’s Klaree Hobart goes down on a knee to dig out the ball in the Timberwolves’ 3-2 win against North Idaho College in Pendleton. Three integral pieces of the Blue Mountain Community College Timberwolves’ 2015 NWAC volleyball championship will be continuing their volleyball careers at four- year programs in the coming season. Maci Beierle and Keri Schwarz made commitments to Northwest Christian Univer- sity in recent weeks and Klaree Hobart has been on campus working with the University of Idaho Vandals since the start of the winter semester. Hobart is the fi rst BMCC volleyball player to sign with a NCAA Division I program. She is the second BMCC female athlete to play D-I, following Mar’Shay Moore who is a member of the University of Oregon women’s basketball team. Timberwolves coach Dave Baty said Hobart’s upbringing by her NCAA baseball umpire father Ken made her one of the PENDLETON Prep Softball Roe picked as district Player of Year Rockets, Bobcats headline SD6 all- league teams East Oregonian Coming off of a state championship last year, the Pilot Rock Rockets were able to breeze through their 2016 season on their way to a No. 1 overall seed in this year’s 2A/1A state tournament. On Saturday, following their 18-0 blowout of the No. 2 ranked Union Bobcats in the district title game, the Rockets showed why they were the best in the league as they placed seven players on the all-district fi rst teams and nine players recognized overall. Union had the second-most players recog- nized with seven. Pilot Rock’s representation was headlined by junior infi elder Bekah Roe, who was grittiest players he’s coached since taking the job at BMCC in 2009. “(Ken)’s just tough, and that’s how he raised (Klaree),” Baty said. “I’m not surprised at all that she’s taken her career to that level.” Hobart, who came Beierle to BMCC via Lewiston (Idaho) High School, also proved she is the consummate team player during her sophomore season when she helped lead the T-Wolves to their fourth-straight NWAC championship. Coming off an AVCA All-America First-Team selection at libero her Schwarz freshman season, Hobart willingly switched to outside hitter to fi ll a gaping hole in the starting lineup. Despite playing with an ankle injury for most of the season, she fi nished second on the team with 179 kills and 210 digs, and added See T-WOLVES/2B voted as the Special District 6 Player of the Year for her incredible season. Roe played in all 24 Roe g a m e s for the Rockets this season, and led the team with a .593 batting average and a .632 on-base percentage. From her spot atop the Rockets batting order, Roe also was the team-leader in home runs with seven, while also tallying 51 RBIs, seven doubles, seven triples, 43 runs scored and 24 stolen bases. Joining Roe in the fi rst team infi eld was fellow slugger Madison Dave, who blasted fi ve home runs, 49 RBIs, and 15 doubles this season. The senior was also second on the team with 36 runs scored, a .520 batting average, a .575 on-base percentage, and a.947 slugging percentage. Also on the fi rst team offense for Pilot Rock was sopho- more catcher Rhyanne Oates (.404 avg., 17 RBI, 32 runs), sophomore outfi elder Kayla Deist (.378 avg., 19 runs), and sophomore utility player Sara Weinke (.456 avg., 2 HR, 25 RBI). The Rockets claimed two of the three fi rst team pitcher spots with their lockdown duo of junior Tehya Ostrom (12-0, 1.01 ERA, 84 Ks) and senior Rebekka Holman (9-2, 1.65 ERA, 57 K, 7 BB). Junior infi elder Jacey Wilson (.349 avg., 23 RBI, 26 runs) and junior outfi elder Shayla Walker (.426 avg., 1 HR, 21 runs) were chosen as second team selec- tions for Pilot Rock. The Irrigon Knights had a surprising season in 2016, getting back to the state tourna- See SOFTBALL:/2B BMCC guard signs with Argos Schultz to join University of Great Falls men’s basketball East Oregonian Guard Jared Schultz started all but one game during his two years at Blue Mountain Community College, and on Tuesday the highly productive Montana native signed a letter of intent with University of Great Falls to continue his collegiate career in his home state. Schultz scored 771 career points in his Schultz Timberwolves career and will fi nish off his Associate of Arts degree in June after taking 21 credits during the winter term. He plans to study business at Great Falls. See SCHULTZ/2B