SPORTS
TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016
1B
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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.
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