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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 2016)
SPORTS TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS HERMISTON Youth Sports Roundup Busses go wild in retirement Bucks win 13u state title Bucks survive late- inning comeback attempt to capture USSSA title East Oregonian Staff photo by Eric Singer School busses complete a lap during the trophy dash round at the Hermiston Super Oval on Saturday evening in Hermiston. Hermiston Super Oval fi nds a hit with school bus races By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian Brycen Tarr and Dan Nelson were at a bit of a crossroads. Tarr, the owner of the Herm- iston Super Oval since 2014, and Nelson, the Operations Manager at the track, were trying to think of ideas for different types of races and different types of entertainment that could help boost attendance as interest in small-town racing has been on the decline in the Pacifi c Northwest has been evident at the track. “It’s all about what can you do to set yourself apart,” Nelson said in an interview on Thursday. That’s what led to a conversa- tion early on a Saturday morning during the summer of 2015. The pair spent the several minute dialogue rattling off outside of the box ideas, beginning with Nelson fi ring off his thought about a minivan class. It was immediately vetoed by Tarr, who then voiced a thought about a motorhome race. After the pair each decided against it, the metaphorical light bulb went off for Tarr’s next thought: school bus races. Both men liked the idea and decided to move quickly on it, which they followed through with. “After that two minute conver- See BUS RACES/2B Staff photo by Eric Singer School busses complete a lap during one of two fi ve-lap trophy dash races at the Hermiston Super Oval on Saturday night in Hermiston. LACEY, Wash. — The Bucks 13u baseball team kicked off its journey in the USSSA state tourna- ment on Friday with a pair of big wins to advance in the bracket. The team then capped off the weekend in an even better way, capturing the AAA division championship on Sunday afternoon with a 7-5 win over Cascade Crush. Tucker Zander started the game on the mound for the Bucks and pitched six strong innings while allowing just three runs and eight hits to pick up the win. Colby Evens pitched the seventh inning relief and allowed three hits and two runs before slamming the door close to save the win. At the plate, Zander had a strong game as well going a perfect 3-3 with three runs. Jimmy Jones contributed two hits, two runs and an RBI while Jordan DeGeer had a two RBIs in the game. The only time the Bucks trailed in the game was when the Crush scored one run in the top of the fi rst inning before answering their total with two runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 2-1 lead. The Crush tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the second inning but then DeGeer ripped a two-RBI single to center See YOUTH ROUNDUP/2B Little League Outdoors Pendleton, Hermiston All- Stars stay alive on Monday Goats getting shut out of wilderness Blowout victories set up Pendleton-Hermiston match-up today in consolation bracket East Oregonian BURNS — The Pendleton 11/12-year-old little league baseball team advanced in the consolation bracket with relative ease on Monday evening, defeating Baker 10-0 at the District 3 tournament. They were knocked into the consolation bracket following a 13-0 loss to La Grande on Sunday. Pendleton allowed just three hits to Baker in the game, as the pitching team of Kyle Liscom, Aiden Gunter, Mason Morris, and Tucker Pace combined for the fi ve innings of shutout baseball, striking out 10 batters and walking just two. The fi rst two frames were a pitching duel as neither team could get much going offensively. Then in the third inning, Pendleton broke open the fl ood gates as they sent nine batters to the See LITTLE LEAGUE/2B Packers at odds with bighorn conservationists By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian PENDLETON — As far as locations for holding a national convention go, the tiny eastern Oregon town of Ukiah may seem like an odd choice. But to the 100 or so “heart- beats” gathered for the North American Pack Goat Associ- ation’s annual rendezvous at a campground on the fringe of the John Day Wilderness, the region lies at the heart of the largest issue facing them and their kind. A growing number of goat packing enthusiasts are coming into confl ict with public land managers over their rights to access and enjoy areas that are also home to bighorn sheep. In eastern Oregon’s Blue Mountains, a proposed buffer zone around bighorn sheep habitat would close the range to goat packers entirely. The reason, say those leading the bighorn sheep conservation Staff photo by Matt Entrup Charlotte and Clay Zimmerman pose with a goat named Mocha, which is owned by Curtis King, at the Noth Amer- ican Packgoat Association national conference at Twin Ponds south of Ukiah on Saturday. The Zimmermans own and operate High Uinta Pack Goats in Evanston, Wyo., which is the only goat rental service in the country. efforts, is pack goats could potentially spread the bacteria Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (sheep pneumonia). It’s the greatest threat to bighorn sheep populations, but NAPGA co-founder Carolyn Eddy of Eagle Creek said goat packers are being unfairly lumped in with domestic sheep and goat farmers. It’s an issue they say reaches beyond the classifi cation of pack goats and delves into the turbulent waters of civil liberties and public land usage. Eddy said it’s a tough situation “to have to fi ght an organization that everybody else loves.” It’s a fi ght NAPGA has been slowly losing ground in since its founding in 1999, and as bighorn sheep are rein- troduced to more areas the goat packers’ territory shrinks. “We’re not a danger to their sheep,” Eddy said. “And we’ve spent as much money and time trying to prove that as they have on the other side, and there just isn’t any research that backs (their claims) up.” Eddy doesn’t deny that domestic herds could easily transmit sheep pneumonia to native populations and should be kept far apart, it’s the idea that pack goats are nothing more than livestock that seems to be at the heart of confl ict. When it comes to the rela- tionship they have with their owners, Clay Zimmerman of Evanston, Wyoming, likens pack goats to the family pooch. “My goats are my family, they’re my pets, they’re my friends,” he said. Zimmerman and his wife Charlotte own and operate the only pack goat rental service in the country, High Uinta Pack Goats, which they founded in 1994 after purchasing their fi rst goats to make hiking easier on See GOATS/2B Sports shorts Mariners pitcher out for season SEATTLE (AP) — Mariners right-hander Adrian Sampson needs surgery on his injured right elbow and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Sampson was scratched from FACES his scheduled start in Detroit on Thursday while tossing his warmup pitches before the bottom of the fi rst inning. Sampson felt sudden discomfort in his elbow and had to be pulled from the game before throwing a single pitch. Sampson said he had felt Sampson good during his pregame bullpen session, but he tired late in the warmup and began to feel like he couldn’t fi nish his pitches. When he took the mound before the fi rst inning in Detroit, his arm was sore and aching. The injury requires surgery but it’s not a tear of his ulnar collateral ligament, which would have required Tommy John surgery. “The national team is over for me. It’s been four fi nals, it’s not meant for me. I tried. It was the thing I wanted the most, but I couldn’t get it, so I think it’s over.“ — Lionel Messi Argentinian soccer star telling Argentine network TyC Sports that he was done with interna- tional competition for his country following a disappointing show- ing in the Copa America Finals, a match they lost to Chile 4-2 on penalty kicks. Lindros headlines Hockey Hall of Fame’s 2016 class (AP) — Eric Lindros is fi nally a Hockey Hall of Famer. Lindros was elected Monday as part of the 2016 class that also features Soviet star Sergei Makarov, goaltender Rogie Vachon, and the late coach and executive Pat Quinn. Because concussions and other injuries cut his career short, Lindros was passed over for the Hall of Fame six previous times. But his Hart Trophy season as NHL MVP with the Flyers in 1995 and his 865 points in 760 games ended up being too much to keep him out. Quinn, who died in November 2014, led Lindros and Canada to the gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and coached the 1979-80 Flyers team that went a record 35 consecutive games without a loss. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1971 — Muhammad Ali wins a four-year legal battle to overturn his 1967 conviction for draft evasion in an 8-0 vote by the U.S. Supreme Court. 1997 — Evander Holyfi eld, bleeding badly from his right ear after being bitten by Mike Tyson, retains the WBA heavy- weight championship in Las Vegas when Tyson is disquali- fi ed after the third round. 2007 — The Portland Trail Blazers choose Greg Oden over Kevin Durant with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. 2007 — Frank Thomas hit his 500th home run to become the 21st major leaguer to reach the career mark. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
