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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 2016)
SPORTS TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS HERMISTON US Track & Field Trials Montano can’t catch break All-stars hold on for title Jordan Scott warms up for the men’s pole vault event at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, Monday, July 4, 2016, in Eugene Ore. Hermiston 9/10 baseball beats Baker to earn state berth East Oregonian AP Photo/ Matt Slocum Runner suffers a different kind of setback, falls in 800 By EDDIE PELLS Associated Press EUGENE — The fi rst thing Alysia Montano thought was, “Get up. Get up.” By the time she fi nally did, everyone else was gone. The 800-meter runner who has been victimized more than once by a cruel, unseemly side of her sport got the worst break of all at U.S. Track and Field Trials. Cheated out of medal after medal by Russians who were later found to have been doping — including at the London Olympics four years ago — Montano saw her chance at an Olympic victory come up pain- fully short when she tripped over a competitor’s feet while lining up her last charge in Monday See TRIALS/2B From Sunday No record, just another impressive win for Eaton Decathlete will defend title in Rio By PAT GRAHAM Associated Press AP Photo/Charlie Riedel Ashton Eaton celebrates during the decathlon pole vault event at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, Sunday, July 3, 2016, in Eugene Ore. EUGENE — This wasn’t a world record for Ashton Eaton. Just a runaway win and another trip to the Olym- pics. Not bad for a decathlete dealing with a slight injury. On a tender right hamstring, the defending Olympic champion scored 8,750 points to beat Jeremy Taiwo by 325 at the U.S. Track and Field Trials on Sunday night. That’s well off Eaton’s world record of 9,045, set at the world championships last summer in Beijing. But consider this: No one in the decathlete fi eld for the Rio Olympics has a person- al-best that matches Eaton’s mark from the trials. He’s simply in a different stratosphere these days. The only person who can compete against him is, well, a computerized model of himself. No, really. “It’s almost like I make a digital version of myself, try to compete against that,” said Eaton, who’s also been dealing with a left quadriceps that’s hampered him in recent weeks. “I had this little mini BURNS — The Hermiston all-stars bounced back from their fi rst defeat of the week and never trailed in the championship game of the 9/10-year-old Little League District 3 tournament on Friday in Burns. Hermiston was undefeated entering the double elimination championship round where it met Baker, which emerged from the consolation bracket after losing to Hermiston in the semifi nals. Baker scored twice in the seventh inning to beat Hermiston 8-7 and force a second game, but JR Starr’s sacrifi ce groundout in the fi rst inning of Game 2 gave Hermiston a 3-0 lead on its way to a 11-7 win. See LITTLE LEAGUE/2B PENDLETON Hodgen 3rd at Wood Bat Classic Helena beats Pendleton ballclub with walk-off single East Oregonian SPOKANE, Wash. — The Hodgen Distributing baseball team earned its highest-ever placing at the Spokane Wood Bat Classic by taking third on Monday. It was a bittersweet fi nish, however, coming after an 8-7 loss to the Helena Reps on a walk-off single. Helena scored fi ve runs in the last two innings as Hodgen’s bullpen was down running thin after six games in four days. After Helena took the lead 6-4 with See EATON/2B See HODGEN/2B MLB McCullers, Springer lead Astros over Mariners Seattle struggles with runners on third By KRISTIE RIEKEN Associated Press HOUSTON — Lance McCullers struck out 10 in seven strong innings and George Springer homered for the second straight day to give the Houston Astros a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday. McCullers (4-2), who missed his previous turn with a blister on his right index fi nger, allowed fi ve hits and one Seattle run while matching his season high for strikeouts. Luke Gregerson pitched a perfect eighth and Will Harris did the same in the ninth for his eighth save. Springer doubled and scored in the fi rst inning. There were two outs in the fi fth when he launched his 19th home run to left-center fi eld to make it 2-1. Seattle starter Wade Miley (6-5) yielded seven hits and two runs in 6 2/3 innings 1 for his third straight loss. Dae-Ho Houston Lee had an RBI single for the Mariners, whose four- game winning streak was snapped. The Mariners came up empty twice after having a runner on third with no outs. The fi rst time came when Leonys Martin hit a leadoff triple before Seth Smith struck out. McCullers then struck out Robinson Cano, but the ball got away from catcher Jason Castro and Martin broke for home. 2 McCullers covered and took the short toss from Castro to tag out Martin at the plate. Springer got things going for the Astros with a double in the fi rst before a single by Marwin Gonzalez. Carlos Correa drew a walk to load the bases with one out before the Astros took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifi ce fl y by Luis Valbuena. Kyle Seager hit a ground- rule double with one out in the second and the Mariners tied it on the single by Lee. McCullers settled in after that, retiring the next 14 in a row. He struck out eight in that span, including the side in the third. AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Wade Miley, right, looks away as Houston Astros’ George Springer, left, rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run solo in the fi fth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 4, 2016, in Houston. Sports shorts Venus back in Wimbledon quarters Tour de France leaders relax LONDON (AP) — Venus Williams has gotten this far before. Many times, in fact. It’s just been a while. The fi ve-time Wimbledon champion will be playing in the quarterfi nals at the All FACES England Club for the 12th time in her career, but the fi rst time since 2010. “Yeah, it’s been a few years. Missed a year or two,” said Williams, who has been slowed in recent years by Sjogren’s syndrome, a condition that can cause joint pain and saps energy. “But I’ve been here before. Williams I’m not, like, a deer in the headlights.” The eighth-seeded Williams will take on Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan on Tuesday, a player she has never faced. Williams reached the quarterfi nals by beating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 7-6 (3), 6-4, while Shvedova defeated 28th-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4. ANGERS, France (AP) — Wearing the yellow jersey, Peter Sagan considered stopping at a cafe. Hardly pedaling, the overall leaders in the Tour de France spent most of Monday’s third stage chatting to one another and riding at such a leisurely pace that they could have fi t right in on a town bike path. “It was a very relaxed day for us. We went slow. It was nice,” said Sagan, who playfully bumped shoulders with some of the other riders just to keep things interesting. “I was thinking one moment we were going to take the coffee like old time.” The morning caffeine didn’t kick in until the very end of the lengthy and mostly fl at 223.5-kilo- meter (139-mile) leg from Granville to Angers. That was when Mark Cavendish showed off his sprinting experience by edging German rival Andre Greipel in a photo fi nish. “You get mad because it shouldn’t be like this anywhere. It shouldn’t be this dirty. But there’s nothing we can do about it.“ — Camilla Cedercreutz Finnish sailor after a practice run in Guanabara Bay during which an oil slick turned white boats completely brown. It’s a new pollution problem for the sailing venue for the Rio de Janiero Olympics, which open Aug. 5. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1947 — Larry Doby becomes the fi rst black to play in the American League. He strikes out as a pinch-hitter for the Cleveland Indians in a 6-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox. 1968 — The Philadelphia 76ers trade Wilt Chamber- lain, basketball’s greatest offensive player, to the Los Angeles Lakers after they are unable to sign him. 2003 — Serena Williams beats sister Venus 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 for her second straight Wimbledon title. It’s her fi fth championship in the past six Grand Slams, each capped by a victory over Venus. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
