SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2016
1B
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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