SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2016
Sports shorts
AFL-CIO
joins Brady’s
‘Defl ategate’ appeal
FOXBOROUGH, Mass.
(AP) — Tom Brady has
added more high-profi le
legal power to fi ght his
“Defl ategate” suspension.
The
AFL-CIO fi led
a friend of the
court brief on
Monday asking
the 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court
of Appeals to reconsider a
decision handed down by a
three-judge panel in April.
Also weighing in: Kenneth
Feinberg, who helped divvy
up the funds for Sept. 11 and
Boston Marathon bombing
victims.
In its amicus brief,
the labor federation said
the three-judge panel
of the 2nd Circuit that
reinstated Brady’s four-
game suspension erred in
granting Commissioner
Roger Goodell the “highly
deferential” status afforded a
neutral arbitrator.
Ole Miss’ Freeze
‘owning mistakes’
DESTIN, Fla. (AP) —
Mississippi coach Hugh
Freeze is “owning the
mistakes” made during his
tenure, which now includes
NCAA violations, but said
neither he nor
FACES his assistants
knowingly
did anything
wrong.
Speaking
at the
Southeastern
Conference’s
Freeze
annual
meetings Tuesday, Freeze
delivered a lengthy,
prepared statement and
then took several questions
about violations involving
fi rst-round NFL draft pick
Laremy Tunsil.
“I stand here owning the
mistakes, but that is what
they are, not some staff
out trying to buy players,”
Freeze said. “There’s not a
single charge in our letter
that charges a coach with
(being) out buying players.
While I have struggles in
life that I don’t always get
right, breaking the rules in
recruiting is not one of them.
I won’t do it.”
“Amazing to
me — Alabama
broke NCAA
rules & now their
HC is lecturing us
on the possibility
of rules being
broke at camps.“
— Jim Harbaugh
Head coach at Mich-
igan, responding on
social media to critical
comments by Alabama
head coach Nick Saban
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1925 — Lou Gehrig bats
for Pee Wee Wanninger
in the eighth inning and
replaces Wally Pipp at fi rst
base to start his streak of
2,130 consecutive games.
1946 — Assault, ridden
by Warren Merhtens, wins
the Belmont Stakes to
become the seventh horse to
capture the Triple Crown..
1975 — Nolan Ryan of the
California Angels pitches his
fourth no-hitter to tie Sandy
Koufax’s record, beating the
Baltimore Orioles 1-0.
2004 — Detroit and
Indiana combine for just 60
fi rst-half points in the Pistons’
69-65 victory, breaking the
NBA playoff record of 62
set by the Pistons and Nets
during the second round.
2012 — Alex Miklos hits
a go-ahead RBI triple in the
21st inning as Kent State
outlasts Kentucky 7-6 in
the second-longest game in
NCAA tournament history.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
1B
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STANFIELD
PILOT ROCK
Grogan shot sets
tone for Tigers
Rockets
back in
fi nals
Stanfi eld baseball
routs Rainier in
state semfi nals
East Oregonian
By SAM BARBEE
For the East Oregonian
RAINIER — Brody Woods knew
it was gone from the instant it left the
bat.
Woods, the Stanfi eld sophomore
who pitched his way into the
starting rotation
alongside junior 3A Baseball
Dylan
Grogan,
celebrated in his
dugout as the large
Stanfi eld
Tigers contingent
went crazy after
Grogan took a 1-1
pitch over the left
fi eld fence in the
fi rst inning at Stan
Rainier
Peerboom Field in
Rainier during the
Tiger’s semifi nal
baseball
game,
setting the tone for a 10-1 drubbing
on Tuesday.
“I knew it was gone,” Woods
said. “I’d seen it happen before. I
knew that ball was gone. I just went
crazy. I started yelling. The whole
team started yelling.
“That broke ‘em.”
The win puts the Tigers in the
fi nal for the fi rst time since 2011,
when they took home the 2A/1A
state title under current head coach
Bryan Johnson.
Tuesday’s win was just a contin-
uation of the impressive baseball
played by Stanfi eld all year.
“This was a really good 3A
See TIGERS/2B
Pilot Rock beats
Kennedy in fi ve
innings
Pilot Rock softball coach
Darin Fitzpatrick gave his
team a challenge heading
into the bottom of the fi fth
inning of their 2A/1A state
semifinal
2A/1A Softball g a m e
against
Kennedy
on Tuesday,
Kennedy
and
the
Rockets
stepped up
to the plate
fi guratively
and liter-
Pilot Rock
ally.
T h e
Rockets
added fi ve
more runs to their total in the
frame, and Tahya Ostrom’s
double drove in the fi nal runs
to push the score past the
mercy-rule threshold for a
14-4 win in fi ve innings.
Ostrom pitched the entire
game and had seven strike-
outs and no walks. She didn’t
allow a run until the Rockets
led 7-0 in the fourth inning.
“Just kind of a gut
feeling,” Fitzpatrick said of
starting his junior righty. “It
seems like most of the year,
defensively we’ve played
better behind her. Even
though (senior Rebekka
Holman) has pitched real
well it seems like the girls
seem to be more ready when
See ROCKETS/2B
4
10
14
1
Photo by Sam Barbee for the East Oregonian
Stanfi eld juniors Thyler Monkus (9) and Dylan Grogan embrace after
beating the Rainier Columbians 10-1 on Tuesday in Rainier.
MILTON-FREEWATER
Pioneers return to championship round
Mac-Hi holds off
Gladstone 3-2
East Oregonian
with the tying run
on fi rst base to
lift the Pioneers
to their fourth
straight state fi nal.
Gladstone
The Pioneers
added two runs in
the fourth inning
when
Biggs
singled to drive in
Brooke Kralman,
Mac-Hi
then Slusarenko
singled to score
Sydney Richwine.
Copeland
fi nished with fi ve strikeouts and two
walks, and allowed two earned runs
on fi ve hits.
Gladstone took a 1-0 lead in the
third inning on a solo home run by
Kennedy Coy, who went 2 for 4 and
4A Softball
2
Faith Kelly scored in the
bottom of the sixth inning to give
the Mac-Hi Pioneers just enough
cushion to hold off the Gladstone
Gladiators 3-2 on Tuesday in the
semifi nals of the OSAA 4A state
softball tournament.
Kelly was pinch running for Abi
Biggs, who went 3 for 3, and scored
on a double by Kaitlyn Slusarenko,
who went 2 for 3 with two RBIs.
That made the score 3-1. Carli
Brown hit a solo home run to lead
off the seventh inning but Mallory
Copeland retired the Gladiators
3
See PIONEERS/2B
Photo by Joe Tierney for the East Oregonian
The Mac-Hi softball team celebrates beating Gladstone 3-2 in
the OSAA 4A state semifi nal softball game on Tuesday in Mil-
ton-Freewater.
PENDLETON
Jegtvig, Lancers stun Buckaroos in semifnials
Churchill holds
Pendleton offense to
season-low output
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Through two rounds of the 5A
softball postseason, Steve Cary
Field was an opposing pitcher’s
nightmare.
With
steady 5A Softball
winds blowing out
to center fi eld, the
Buckaroos put up
Churchill
a bracket-leading
28 runs while
launching
fi ve
home runs.
Churchill
senior
pitcher
Pendleton
Emma
Jegtvig
came into the
unwelcoming
c o n f i n e s
undaunted, and with the wind at
her back limited Pendleton’s high-
3
1
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Aspen Garton, of Pendleton, tags Abby Cole, of Churchill, Tuesday
during a state semifi nal game at Steve Cary Field. Cole was ruled out.
power offense to its lowest output
of the season for a 3-1 win in eight
innings.
Abby Cole scored the go-ahead
run in the top of the eighth inning
on a double by Sophia DeLap, then
Jegtvig went through the top of
Pendleton’s order to put the Lancers
in the state title game for the fi rst
time in 23 years.
“We knew she was going to be
good coming in, we knew she could
move it in and out,” said Pendleton
coach Tim Cary of Jegtvig. “She’s
just good. She’s a great competitor,
she’s tough. I think they’re a great
team and it’s unfortunate but they
played a little bit better than us and
deserved to win.”
A costly mistake in the fi rst
inning pushed Pendleton’s only run
across the plate, but Jegtvig came
through for her team the rest of the
way and pitched out of jams in the
third, fourth and seventh innings
as Pendleton stranded six base
runners. She gave up fi ve hits and
had nine strikeouts, two walks and
two hit batters.
“Very stressed,” she said of her
in-game state, “but I had confi dence
that we were going to put up some
See BUCKS/2B