SPORTS
TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016
1B
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NBA Finals
Game 7 TV ratings
best since 1998
Cleveland rocks as title drought ends
NEW YORK (AP)
— Game 7 between the
Cavaliers and Warriors has
drawn the
highest
television
rating for
the NBA
Finals since
Michael
Jordan’s last championship.
Cleveland’s tense 93-89
win Sunday night to capture
the city’s fi rst title in more
than a half-century averaged
a 15.7 rating and nearly 30.8
million viewers on ABC.
ESPN said Monday that both
numbers are the best since
Game 6 of the 1998 NBA
Finals, when Jordan’s Bulls
clinched their sixth ring.
An additional 598,000
viewers streamed the game
on WatchESPN.
Viewership peaked with
more than 44.5 million
viewers and a 22.5 rating as
Cavs wrapped up the title.
Ratings represent the
percentage of U.S. homes
with televisions tuned to a
program. The game earned a
46.3 rating in the Cleveland
area.
Cavaliers capture city’s
fi rst pro sports title
since 1964
By TOM WITHERS
AP Sports Writer
CLEVELAND (AP) — More
tears. Only this time, tears of joy.
Cleveland’s
championship
drought, crossing 52 years, genera-
tions and noted by a long list of near
misses, is over at last.
On Father’s Day, LeBron James,
the kid from nearby Akron raised
by a single mother, brought the title
home.
As the fi nal seconds of Cleve-
land’s 93-89 victory at Golden State
in Game 7 ticked off on the giant
scoreboard inside Quicken Loans
Arena, 18,000 fans, some of them
strangers when Sunday night began,
cried, hugged, screamed and shared
a moment many of them have spent
a lifetime dreaming of.
They then linked arms and
shouted the words to Queen’s “We
Are The Champions,” a song that
seemed reserved only for others.
For the fi rst time since 1964,
when the Browns ruled the NFL,
Cleveland is a title town again.
With James leading the way and
winning MVP honors, the Cavs
became the fi rst team in NBA Finals
history to overcome a 3-1 defi cit.
Call it The Comeback.
At 10:37 p.m., Cleveland
fi nally exorcised decades of sports
demons — the painful losses given
nicknames like “The Drive” and
“The Fumble” and “The Shot”
See CLEVELAND/2B
AP Photo/Eric Risberg
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, center, celebrates with
teammates after Game 7 of basketball’s NBA Finals against the
Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, June 19, 2016.
MILTON-FREEWATER
Triangle wins softball district title
Triangle’s
Jayden
Sparks
slides
into
home
plate
while
Herm-
iston’s
Macey To-
var goes
for the
tag on
Monday
in their
10/11
softball
District
3 cham-
pionship
game at
Cannery
Field in
Mil-
ton-Free-
water.
Sparks
was safe
and Trian-
gle won
the game
21-19.
Mariners make
trade with Dodgers
for P Zach Lee
DETROIT (AP) — The
Los Angeles Dodgers
acquired infi elder Chris
Taylor from the Seattle
Mariners on Sunday night
for pitching prospect Zach
Lee.
FACES The
25-year-old
Taylor has
played in 86
major league
games but has
spent almost all
of this season
Lee
with Triple-A
Tacoma. He
hit .312 with three homers
and 12 stolen bases with the
Rainiers, spending time at
shortstop, second base and
third base. Taylor has hit
.240 in the majors.
The right-handed Lee
was pitching at Triple-A
Oklahoma City and was
7-5 with a 4.89 ERA. The
24-year-old was a fi rst-round
pick in 2010 and made his
major league debut last year,
allowing seven runs in 4 2/3
innings against the Mets on
July 25.
“If I had even
imagined that
it would be so
diffi cult, I wouldn’t
have announced
anything. There
are too many
people I have to
pay attention to,
and on top of that
I have to prepare
for a game.“
— David Ortiz
Boston Red Sox slugger
said on Monday that he
regrets announcing his
retirement before the
2016 season began,
mentioning that he feels
overwhelmed with the
extra attention received
before every game this
season.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1960 — Armin Hary of
West Germany becomes the
fi rst man to run 100 meters
in 10.0 seconds, at a meet in
Zurich, Switzerland.
1965 — Gary Player
becomes the third man to
win golf’s top four pro titles
when he captures the U.S.
Open. Player beats Kel Nagle
in a playoff round.
1998 — Marion Jones
becomes the fi rst athlete in
50 years to win the women’s
100 and 200 meters and long
jump at the U.S. Track and
Field Championships.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
Staff photo by
Matt Entrup
All-Star team defeats Hermiston for little league championship
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Just three years ago, the Triangle
softball program was a non-factor in
the Little League all-star season.
Down in numbers and on the
verge of collapse, the program that
serves the small towns between
Pendleton and Milton-Freewater
was just looking to stay viable.
On Monday the 10/11 year-old
Triangle all-stars continued their
Cinderella season with a 21-19 win
over Hermiston for the District 3
championship.
“I think it surprises a lot of people.
I don’t think some of our parents
even thought we could do it,” said
head coach Dylan Pettyjohn. “Our
program was pretty much done for
until three years ago, we started
working back into it. Myself and
my assistant coaches have basically
had the same group of kids … for
three years.”
That group, which also includes
two players from Pilot Rock this
season, has only lost once this
season going back to the start of
See TRIANGLE/2B
PENDLETON
Youth Roundup
Explosion win at Valley Invite
Local softball team
defeat Canadian team
for tournament title
East Oregonian
CLACKAMAS — The USA
Explosion Dave’s Food Mart/
Pratt 14U softball team went
undefeated to win the Valley
Invitational Tournament over the
weekend.
The Explosion outlasted
Canadian national champions
Surrey Storm 6-5 in nine innings
to win claim the tournament title
on Sunday. It was their fi fth win
of the day, and they went 8-0 on
the weekend.
A two-RBI single by Allie
Brock put the Explosion up 5-3 in
the top of the ninth, and a sacrifi ce
by Kara Gooderham made it 6-3.
The Storm threatened to
extend the game with two runs in
the bottom of the inning, but with
the tying run on fi rst, a grounder
to second base ended the game.
Brock pitched the fi nal six
innings in relief for the win. She
Little League. They’ll play in the
state tournament starting on July 23
in Baker City.
“They left their hearts out there
on the fi eld, that’s what I’ve asked
of them all year long,” Pettyjohn
said. “They’re just hard workers and
they love playing softball.”
BMCC girls
earn back-to-
back titles
Women’s rodeo team wins
team title, Williams wins
all-around championship
East Oregonian
Contributed photo courtesy of John Bradt
The USA Explosion softball team poses after winning the
championship at the Valley Invitational on Sunday in Clack-
amas.
struck out two and walked none.
Aspen Garton was 3 for 4 with
two doubles to lead all batters,
and Katie Bradt and Brock each
had two RBIs.
Garton also was 2 for 3 with a
home run in the Explosion’s 5-1
semifi nal win over the Fuzion.
The Explosion’s other wins on
Sunday were: 1-0 over AF Pros-
pects, 10-9 over Idaho Sliders
and 6-0 over Spokane Diamonds.
———
Game 8
R H
USA
000 100 023 — 6 7
SUR
000 000 122 — 5 10
W — A. Brock. L — Unknown.
2B — C. Farrow, A. Garton 2 (USA).
E
0
0
Game 7
R H E
USA
100 121
0 — 5 9 2
FUZ
000 001
0 — 1 6 0
W — J. Hafer. L — Unknown.
2B — A. Garton, S. Spriet (USA). HR — A.
Garton (USA).
See ROUNDUP/2B
CASPER, Wyo. — The Blue Moun-
tain Community College women’s
rodeo team repeated as national cham-
pions on Saturday
at the College
National
Finals
Rodeo in Casper,
Wyo.
Sophomore
Danyelle Williams
won the fi nal
round of barrel
racing to cement
her
women’s
Williams
all-around
title.
Her 340 total points was nearly double
that of second-place Taylor Engesser of
See BMCC/2B