Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Prep Roundup
Saturday, April 8, 2017
College Softball
Knights Ducks are nation’s last undefeated team
matches
stymie Oregon
record for best start
Vikings
In this March
11, 2017, pho-
to, Oregon’s
bench con-
gratulates the
Ducks’ Gwen
Svekis, right
foreground,
as she reach-
es home plate
on a two-run
home run
in the fifth
inning of an
NCAA col-
lege softball
game against
Idaho State,
in Eugene,
Ore. At 35-0,
the Ducks
have matched
the NCAA
record for the
best start to
a season and
are the last
undefeated
team left in
the country.
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Irrigon’s Rice,
Harrington combine
for no-hitter to win
EOL opener
East Oregonian
UMATILLA — Austin
Rice and Brady Harrington
combined for a no-hitter and
then Harrington came in to
pitch the final two innings
of a combined shutout with
Johnny Phillips in the night
cap to sweep Umatilla 13-0
in five innings in both games
on Friday.
It was the Eastern Oregon
League openers for both
teams.
Rice struck out 10 and
walked two while taking a
no-hitter through four before
Harrington finished out the
last frame in Game 1.
Tanner Mills went 3 for 3
at the plate with five RBIs,
and Rice scored four runs
while going 2 for 3 with one
RBI.
Phillips gave Irrigon (9-0,
2-0 EOL) another strong
start in Game 2 and allowed
just two hits over three full
innings while striking out six
and walking one. Harrington
allowed no hits and struck
out four in two innings of
relief.
Rice had another big game
at the plate going 2 for 3 with
three runs and one RBI.
UP NEXT
Irrigon plays at Stanfield
on Tuesday in a league game
at 4 p.m.
Umatilla (1-5-1, 0-2)
plays at Pilot Rock in a
non-league game Tuesday at
4 p.m.
———
Game 1 (5 innings)
R H E
IHS
243 40 — 13 8 2
UHS
000 00 —
0 0 6
A. Rice, B. Harrington (5). D. Soto, U.
Garcia (3). W — Rice. L — Soto.
Game 2 (5 innings)
R H E
IHS
461 11 — 13 6 0
UHS
000 00 —
0 2 6
J. Phillips, B. Harrington (4). C. Sampson,
S. Cranston (2). W — Phillips. L — Samp-
son.
2B — A. Rice. 3B — A. Rice.
NYSSA 17-2, RIVER-
SIDE 2-9 — At Boardman,
the Riverside Pirates split a
doubleheader with the Nyssa
Bulldogs to open up league
play on Friday, falling 17-2
in Game 1 before rebounding
9-2 in Game 2 for the Pirates’
first win of the season.
Riverside (1-8, 1-1 EOL)
was carried on offense by
Aramis Corpus on offense, as
he tallied four hits on the day
with a double and a pair of
RBIs. Along with Corpus in
Game 2, Riverside’s Andrew
Martinez
and
Andrew
Sorenson each had two hits
apiece.
“It was fun to win again,”
Riverside
coach
Clair
Costello said. “I think they
(Nyssa) took us for granted
and we got a couple runs
and kept the pedal down. It’s
a big win, and in league is a
big deal.”
UP NEXT
Riverside will host Vale
on Friday for a doubleheader
at 1 p.m.
———
Game 1 (5 innings)
R H E
NHS
153
80 — 17 8 2
RHS
000
11 —
2 5 13
(NHS) B. Thompson, E. Cleaver (5) and
B. Cleaver. (RHS) A. Corpus, Martinez (4),
Calvillo (4) and Bither.
Game 2 (5 innings)
R H E
NHS
000 200
0 — 2 4 5
RHS
013 005 X — 9 9 2
(NHS) Gonzalez, E. Cleaver (4) and B.
Cleaver. (RHS) Calvillo, Corpus (5) and
Bither.
2B — A. Corpus (RHS). HR — Gonzalez
(NHS).
GOLF
PENDLETON — High
winds canceled at least two
high school gold tournament
on Friday.
The Small School Invite
at Pendleton Country Club
made it just two holes into its
round before play was called
due to unsafe conditions.
The Pendleton and Herm-
iston girls made it further into
their round at Eagle Crest
Resort in Redmond, though.
That round was called after
14 holes when a large tree
was blown over holes No. 2
and 5.
UP NEXT
Pendleton’s boys will be
at a tournament on Monday,
and the girls will be at
Pendleton Country Club on
Thursday.
Oregon softball coach Mike
White laughs when asked about the
Ducks’ secret to success.
“That’s a good question. I wish I
knew what it was because then I’d
keep repeating it,” he said.
Or perhaps he’s just not telling.
At 35-0, the Ducks have matched
the NCAA record for the best start to
a season and are the last undefeated
team left in the country. They’ve
blasted well past last season’s school
record-setting streak of 18 wins.
White is as surprised as anyone.
“Pleasantly surprised,” he said.
“It’s something you always hope
that’s going to happen but you never
know for sure until you get out
there. We’ve been playing the game
one game at a time, and it’s kind of
evolved into a streak.”
Oregon’s .356 collective batting
average is ranked third among Divi-
sion I teams, while the team’s 1.4
ERA is ranked fourth nationally. The
team is anchored by a trio of young
pitchers, right-handed sophomore
Megan Kleist and right-handed
freshmen Miranda Elish and Maggie
Balint.
Oregon is coming off a sweep of
Arizona State last weekend before
a pair of wins in a Tuesday double-
header against Portland State. This
weekend, the Ducks head to Los
Angeles for a three-game series
against UCLA, which set the record
with 35 straight wins to open the
season in 1999.
The Ducks lost eight players —
five starters — from last year’s team
that won a fourth-straight Pac-12
title and advanced to the NCAA
Super Regional before falling to
the Bruins in three games. UCLA
went on to play in the College World
Series.
White was named last season’s
Pac-12 Coach of the Year while
senior LHP Cheridan Hawkins was
named the league’s Pitcher of the
Year.
Collin Andrew/The
Register-Guard via AP
White said he wasn’t quite sure
what he’d have this season, but one
of the most inspirational surprises has
been right fielder Danica Mercado,
a fifth-year senior outfielder who is
batting .435 this season at the top of
the lineup.
“This year I think she’s a lot more
comfortable, because she’s earned
that starting spot. Now she’s just
focused on doing her job for the
team,” the coach said. “But she’s
always been a leader, too. She’s very
vocal, she’s 100 percent whether it’s
on the field, in the classroom or in
the weight room. That’s how she
leads.”
Mercado’s journey to this point
has been rocky.
Going into her sophomore
season, she broke her leg while
sliding during practice. The injury
required a pair of surgeries and
metal screws in her ankle, which
was dislocated. Then before her
junior season she broke her thumb,
which also required surgery and set
her back.
She agrees with White that now
that she’s locked into a starting role
in right field, it’s made her more
consistent.
“I’ve been given more opportu-
nities this year than I’ve ever had
on this team. And I think that when
you’re able to get comfortable,
you’re able to really play to your
full potential,” she said. “Me playing
right field and getting comfortable
out there, and then getting a lot of
at-bats, not just pinch hit role, but
getting consistent at-bats, I feel
comfortable and I would expect to
have success.”
The Ducks are currently ranked
No. 2 in the latest NFCA coaches’
poll.
South Carolina set the overall
NCAA record with 38-straight wins
during the 1997 season. Arizona
won 47 straight games over the 1996
and ‘97 seasons.
Mercado said the Ducks aren’t
paying attention to the outside noise
like the ranking, the streak, or the
hype.
“Years in the past, I feel like we
maybe have gotten wrapped up in
the rankings and all that,” she said.
“That’s really not what it’s about. It’s
just about that one day — play your
best that one day, that one pitch, that
one game. The next thing you know
you’re undefeated without even
trying to be.”
White expects the streak to end.
They always do, after all.
“We certainly have an extremely
tough schedule the rest of the way
with Arizona, UCLA, Washington,
Florida State, just to name a few.
That’s a real gauntlet,” the coach
said. “But I kind of like it, too,
because it’s progressively harder as
we go along. ... As long as we don’t
get beat up or wore down from it
mentally, we should be in good
position for the postseason.”
Prep Basketball
Porter leads the US over the world team at Hoop Summit
By MALIKA ANDREWS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Michael Porter
Jr., who recently decommitted from
Washington to verbally commit to
Missouri, scored 19 points and the
U.S. national junior select team beat
the world team 98-87 in the 20th
annual Nike Hoop Summit.
Porter, the 2017 Naismith Trophy
Player who is widely viewed as the
top player in the 2017 class, saved
his best and most exciting play for
the last minute of the game, finishing
back-to-back plays with one-handed
slam dunks to seal the win for the
United States.
Jarred Vanderbilt also had 19
points and Troy Brown Jr., who
signed a national letter of intent to
play at Oregon, also got cheers from
the crowd at the Moda Center and
finished with five points.
Germany’s Isaiah Hartenstein,
son of former Oregon basketball
player Florian Hartenstein and a
projected 2017 NBA draft pick, was
Billy Gates/The Oregonian via AP/The Oregonian via AP
Team USA’s Michael Porter Jr. dunks during the first half of the Nike
Hoop Summit basketball game in Portland, Ore., Friday, April 7, 2017.
the biggest name on the world’s
roster and had 10 points. Kostja
Mushidi, projected to be a second
round 2017 draft pick, led the world
team with 14 points.
The annual Hoop Summit compe-
tition features the best 19-and-under
players in the world.
NBA players like Serge Ibaka
(2008), Tony Parker (2000), Kryie
Irving (2010) and Kevin Love
(2007) all played in the Hoop
Summit in past years, making it a
wildly popular event for NBA scouts
and media members looking to
familiarize themselves with up-and-
coming young talent.
Unlike the 2016 competition
where the U.S. team dominated
for 101-67 victory, Friday’s game
stayed close throughout, despite both
teams struggling with turnovers.
The United States closed the first
half with an alley-oop from Collin
Sexton to MJ Walker for a 10-point
halftime lead.
The world team didn’t allow the
United States a basket for the first
two minutes of the fourth quarter
and was able to close the gap to four-
points off of a breakaway lay-up
from Iowa State commit Lindell
Wigginton, but that is as close as
they would get.
MLB
Maybin, Calhoun drive Angels to 5-1 victory over Mariners
By GREG BEACHAM
Associated Press
ANAHEIM,
Calif.
— Cameron Maybin and
Kole Calhoun homered,
and Jesse Chavez pitched
five-hit ball into the sixth
inning of the Los Angeles
Angels’ 5-1 victory over
the Seattle Mariners on
Friday night.
Mike Trout drove
in the first run amid
numerous
“M-V-P!”
chants as the Angels
snapped a four-game skid
in home openers.
Nelson Cruz drove
in the only run for the
Mariners, who dropped
to 1-4 on their season-
opening road trip. Yovani
Gallardo (0-1) yielded
eight hits and three runs
over five innings in his
debut for Seattle.
Maybin put his first
homer for the Angels into
the elevated right-field
stands in the sixth inning.
Calhoun added a two-run
shot in the seventh, also
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Seattle Mariners catcher Mike Zunino goes after a wild pitch his first of the season.
by Yovani Gallardo to Los Angeles Angels’ C.J. Cron during the Maybin, who also made
third inning of a baseball game Friday, April 7, 2017, in Ana- a sweet sliding catch
early in the game, is the
heim, Calif.
Angels’ latest attempt to
get stability in left field,
where a series of strug-
gling veterans have spent
the past three seasons.
Trout was serenaded by
his fans in his first home
game since winning his
second AL MVP award
in three seasons, and he
drove in the Angels’ first
run with a sacrifice fly
in the first inning. Los
Angeles added another
in the third when Kyle
Seager bobbled Albert
Pujols’
bases-loaded
grounder, which could
have been converted into
an easy inning-ending
double play.
The Angels chose
Chavez (1-0) to be their
fifth starter after a long
career spent mostly as a
reliever, and the native
of nearby Fontana looked
sharp for 5 2/3 innings.
He had retired 11 straight
before the Mariners
chased him with three
straight singles in the
sixth, but Jose Alvarez
struck out Seager to end it.
Danny Espinosa made
his home debut at second
base for the Angels,
going 1 for 3 with a walk.
Espinosa, acquired from
Washington in December,
grew up a few miles away
in Santa Ana, California,
and went to countless
Angels games with his
father, a season-ticket
holder.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: RHP Garrett
Richards went on the
10-day disabled list with
an injured right biceps,
but the team is hoping
the problem isn’t serious.
Richards left his first start
of the season in the fifth
inning with pain in his
throwing arm. He made
just six starts last season
before getting shut down
with a partially torn
elbow ligament.
UP NEXT
Mariners:
Felix
Hernandez (0-1, 3.60)
pitched only five innings
on opening day, striking
out six at Houston.
Angels:
Ricky
Nolasco (0-1, 4.76 ERA)
returns from a middling
start on opening day. He
got a win over Seattle for
the first time in his career
last season.