SPORTS
THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2017
1B
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World Baseball Classic
US shuts out Puerto Rico for WBC championship
US pitchers allow just three hits
55-26. The U.S. territory
fi nished runner-up for the
second time, having lost to
the Dominican Republic in
the 2013 fi nal.
Stroman, who was named
the tournament’s MVP,
avenged his shakiness in
the Americans’ 6-5 loss to
Puerto Rico during pool play.
The right-hander from the
Toronto Blue Jays retired
the side on three grounders
to open the game. In all, he
gave up one hit, struck out
three and walked one on 73
pitches.
By BETH HARRIS
Associated Press
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
The U.S. team celebrate an 8-0 win over Puerto Rico in
the fi nal of the World Baseball Classic in Los Angeles,
Wednesday, March 22, 2017.
LOS ANGELES —
Marcus Stroman tossed six
hitless innings, Ian Kinsler
slugged a two-run homer
and the United States
routed Puerto Rico 8-0 on
Wednesday night to win its
fi rst World Baseball Classic
in four tries.
Stroman dominated the
tournament’s highest-scoring
team. Puerto Rico lost for the
fi rst time in eight games after
outscoring the opposition
Finals
United States Puerto Rico
8
0
He allowed just three
balls past the infi eld until
Angel Pagan’s double in the
left-fi eld corner leading off
the seventh, when Stroman
departed to a standing
ovation, having staked the
Americans to a 7-0 lead.
Stroman walked Carlos
Beltran leading off the
second, but the defense
helped him out. Yadier
NCAA Tournament
HERMISTON
Bulldogs hang on against Bend
Herm-
iston’s Ash-
ley Camer-
on swings
on a pitch
from Bend
pitcher
Allicitie
Frost for
a two-run
RBI triple
in the
Bulldogs’
4-1 win
against
the Lava
Bears on
Wednes-
day in
Hermiston.
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
Defense comes through to secure victory for Bulldogs
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
The Hermiston Bulldogs soft-
ball team is depending on several
freshmen and sophomores to have
big seasons in order to reach its
goals in 2017.
So for coach Kate Greenough,
there was nothing better than seeing
so many of her underclassmen come
through big in support of junior
Julissa Almaguer in a 4-1 win over
Bend at Rocky Heights Elementary.
Underclassmen accounted for
fi ve of eight Hermiston (2-2) hits,
freshman Ashley Cameron was
2-for-3 with two triples, and several
players made key defensive plays to
help hand the Lava Bears (4-1) their
fi rst loss of the season.
Almaguer pitched a shutout
through fi ve innings and struck out
four of the fi rst six batters she faced,
but found herself under pressure
from the Lava Bears in the top of
the seventh when an error on an
infi eld pop-up loaded the bases with
one out and brought the batter repre-
senting the winning run to the plate.
Despite the momentary lapse,
Softball
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Sydney Stefani puts the tag on Bend’s Ashleigh Park-
er in the Bulldogs’ 4-1 win against the Lava Bears on Wednesday
in Hermiston.
though, Almaguer was able to rely
on her defense to get out of the
jam and freshman third baseman
Sam Atilano caught a pop-up in
foul territory, then corralled a hot
grounder in time to tag third for the
force out to end the game.
Molina hit the ball to short-
stop Brandon Crawford, who
started a double play before
Stroman struck out Javier
Baez to end the inning.
The U.S. pounded out 13
hits and fi nished with a 6-2
record while making the fi nal
for the fi rst time in front of
51,565 at Dodger Stadium.
Kinsler homered off an
0-1 pitch from Seth Lugo into
left-center fi eld in the third,
scoring Jonathan Lucroy,
who singled leading off.
Lugo of the New York
Mets allowed four runs and
fi ve hits, struck out seven and
walked four in four innings.
See WBC/2B
“We tried to make things exciting
at the end there but they played
defense and they kept pushing and
they never gave up, and that’s what
I like about this group,” Greenough
said. “We’re young, but I have some
really intense leadership.
Bend
Hermiston
1
4
“Julissa just fi ghts, she just keeps
going and doesn’t give up. Pitching
is hard, especially when you get into
little pickles like that, or situations
where the bases are loaded and you
don’t know what happened. But
she doesn’t give up, and it’s really
settling I think to her infi eld, to her
defense to know that they can trust
her to keep fi ghting.”
Almaguer knew she could rely
on her defense to get out of the
inning, because it had already come
through several times in the game.
“I was feeling the pressure a little
bit … the defense helped a lot,” she
said.
“I felt like she was throwing
really great, she really hit her
spots,” said freshman catcher Bailee
Noland. “When I called them, she
hit them, and our defense was really
See BULLDOGS/2B
Oregon’s
Dorsey
living up
to hype
Ducks ‘X-factor’
coming up big in
NCAA tournament
Associated Press
Tyler Dorsey provided a
preview of his tournament
success in early February
when the Ducks hosted then-
No. 5 Arizona.
The sophomore scored
23 points, including six
3-pointers, and the Ducks
routed the Wildcats 85-58.
Oregon’s 16 total 3-pointers
in that game were its most
since opening Matthew
Knight Arena in 2011.
After the victory, Dillon
Brooks summed up his
teammate: “Tyler’s the
X-factor on our team.”
Dorsey is solidifying
his reputation in the NCAA
Tournament. On Sunday,
he had 27 points on 9-of-10
shooting as third-seeded
Oregon rallied to beat No.
11 Rhode Island 75-72 in
Sacramento, California.
Dorsey hit two clutch
See DORSEY/3B
AP Photo/Steve Yeater
Oregon guard Tyler Dors-
ey (5) hits a 3-point shot
in the fi nal minute of
Sunday’s an NCAA sec-
ond-round game in Sacra-
mento, Calif.
Sports shorts
Westbrook makes NBA history
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Add another
fi rst for Russell Westbrook — a triple-double
without missing a shot.
Westbrook recorded his 35th triple-double
of the season with 18 points, 11 rebounds and
14 assists and the Oklahoma City
Thunder cruised to a 122-97 win
over the Philadelphia 76ers on
Wednesday night.
He did so while making all six
of his fi eld-goal attempts and all six
of his free throws. According to the
Westbrook
Elias Sports Bureau, no NBA player
previously has had a triple-double
without missing a shot attempt or free throw.
Westbrook’s perfect shooting night could
partially be attributed to a conscious decision to
not shoot a 3-pointer in a game for the fi rst time
since March 14, 2016. He said he wasn’t aware
during the game that he hadn’t missed a shot.
“I basically wrote it
down, you write your
name the fi rst day of
class and the teacher
just thought I was
making up words ...
then she looked at the
roll sheet and saw I
was right and actually
apologized to my family
and I later that day.“
— Mark Rzepczynski
Seattle Mariners reliever told the
Mariners TV broadcast crew on
Wednesday that his kindergarten
teacher thought he made up his last
name on his fi rst day of school.
Seahawks sign pair of free agents
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — The Seattle
Seahawks have added depth in the secondary
by signing defensive back Bradley McDougald.
Seattle announced the signing of McDou-
gald and kicker John Lunsford on Wednesday.
McDougald spent the past
four seasons with Tampa
Bay. He started 31 of 32
games the past two seasons,
primarily at free safety.
Last season, McDougald started all 16
games, recording a career-high 91 tackles, 10
passes defensed and two interceptions. He’s
also shifted at times to cornerback and played
strong safety in the past, which made him an
attractive option for Seattle’s secondary that
was seeking versatile depth upgrades.
Lunsford was waived by Tampa Bay
earlier this week and joins Blair Walsh in the
competition to be Seattle’s kicker after Steven
Hauschka signed with Buffalo in free agency.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1974 — N.C. State ends
UCLA’s streak of seven
national championships with
an 80-77 victory in double
overtime of the NCAA
tournament
semifi nals.
David Thompson leads the
Wolfpack with 28 points and
10 rebounds, while teammate
Tom Burleson scores 20 and
pulls down 14 rebounds.
1994 — Wayne Gretzky
scores his 802nd goal,
passing Gordie Howe as the
greatest goal-scorer in NHL
history. The Los Angeles
Kings center scores in the
second period for his 62nd
NHL record.
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