SPORTS
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3B
NBA
Final day of NBA season will decide some seeds, matchups
The Associated Press
There will be final-night
intrigue in the NBA.
The two remaining playoff
berths will be decided, along
with the No. 1 seed in the
Eastern Conference and the
site for Game 1 of the series
that starts this weekend
between the Utah Jazz and
Los Angeles Clippers.
Most individual stat races
are already sewn up, barring
something that would be
most improbable. Oklahoma
City’s Russell Westbrook
will become the 16th player
in NBA history to win two
scoring titles, Houston’s
James Harden will lead the
league in assists for the first
time and Miami’s Hassan
Whiteside should be able to
wrap up his first rebounding
crown.
Golden State’s Stephen
Curry is a lock to lead the
league in 3-pointers made
for the fifth straight year, and
his Warriors teammate Klay
Thompson will finish second
Charlotte Hor-
nets’ Cody Zeller,
top, and Boston
Celtics’ Isaiah
Thomas, bottom,
vie for a loose
ball in the second
half of an NBA
basketball game
in Charlotte, N.C.,
Saturday, April 8,
2017. The Celtics
won 121-114.
in that category for the fourth
consecutive season.
TOP OF THE EAST
Boston controls the race
for the top seed in the East
playoffs.
The Celtics will be No.
1 in the East if they beat
Milwaukee, or if Cleveland
loses to Toronto. The Cava-
liers won’t have LeBron
James on Wednesday night,
and are 0-7 this season when
he doesn’t play.
Depending on perspec-
tive, James will either be
resting, recovering or revving
for the start of the playoffs.
It’s part of his usual playoff
preparedness, since he hasn’t
appeared in a regular-season
finale in a decade.
Cleveland can still be No.
1 with a win and a Boston
loss.
BOTTOM OF THE EAST
Dwyane Wade helped
Miami win three champion-
ships.
Now, he might help keep
AP Photo/Chuck Burton
the Heat out of the playoffs.
It’s three teams — Indiana,
Chicago and Miami — for
the last two spots in the East
field. Indiana (which plays
Atlanta) and Chicago (which
plays Brooklyn) control their
destinies.
If the Pacers win, they’re
in. If the Bulls win, they’re
in. If either loses, the door
opens for Miami.
The Heat would reach
the playoffs with a win over
Washington, and a loss by
either Indiana or Chicago.
EAST MATCHUPS
The 1-8 and 2-7 matchups
in the East cannot be finalized
until Wednesday. But the
other two first-round series
are now set, after Atlanta
wrapped up the No. 5 seed
BUCKAROOS: Solomon sees work at plate pay off
Continued from 1B
Tim Cary said there is no
such thing as an easy win at
Yantis Park.
“I think we’re playing
pretty well right now and
Mac-Hi is always a great
team to play, and the atmo-
sphere here is great with the
fans right on top of you,”
Cary said. “Mac-Hi is going
to go very very far in 4A, they
could win the whole thing,
without a doubt. They’re a
great team, they forced us
to stay on top of our game
defensively and offensively.
And we played well. The
defense was very clean and
Lauren was spectacular
again.”
Pendleton’s offense got
going right away with a
run in each of the first three
innings.
In the first inning Rich-
ards reached base and went
to second on the first of seven
Mac-Hi errors, and advanced
to third on a ground out. She
then scored what would be
the game-winning run on a
passed ball before Mac-Hi
starter Sydney Earls could
get out of the inning with
another ground ball.
In the second, Aspen
Garton was hit by a pitch to
lead off, then went to third
on Tatum Fell’s double to the
corner in left field. Garton
then tagged up on a sacrifice
fly by Ellie Nirschl to make
it 2-0.
Pendleton’s third started
with back-to-back infield
errors by the Pioneers, then a
hit batter to load the bases. A
grounder to third by Garton
brought Alexi
Brehaut
across for Pendleton’s third
unearned
run.
Mac-Hi
allowed six unearned runs in
the game.
“We made too many
mistakes today, just different
errors. Against good teams
you can’t make those, and
on defense we’re still trying
Staff photo by Matt Entrup
Pendleton’s Lauren Richards pitches during a softball game against Mac-Hi on Tues-
day at Yantis Park in Milton-Freewater.
to put the pieces together,”
Christian said. “We’ve got a
lot of rotations and trying to
figure out what works.”
Pendleton added four
more runs in the fourth inning
when sophomore catcher
Kila Solomon went opposite
field for a three-run homer
to make it 7-0. Consecutive
errors had loaded the bases
but Kalan McGlothan scored
on a wild pitch before Solo-
mon’s shot.
“She has two (home
runs) on the season right
now and she’s just done
an amazing job improving
from last year to this year,”
Cary said. “She’s always
been outstanding defensively
behind the dish, but she’s
worked so hard on her hitting
in the offseason about trying
to go the opposite way with
an outside pitch. That’s
something that was tough
for her last year, but she
worked at it, and worked at
it and now it’s probably her
strength right now.”
“It was just something I
knew I had to sit down with a
Staff photo by Matt Entrup
Mac-Hi’s Sydney Richwine bunts for a single in a soft-
ball game against Pendleton on Tuesday at Yantis Park
in Milton-Freewater.
tee and focus on it,” Solomon
said. “A lot of pitchers in this
age group throw outside and
it’s something I had to work
on.”
A passed ball and error on
the same plays allowed two
more Pendleton runs in the
seventh.
UP NEXT
Both teams will play
league doubleheaders on
Saturday starting at noon.
Pendleton will host The
Dalles for its Columbia River
Conference openers, and
Mac-Hi hosts La Grande in
Greater Oregon League action.
———
R H E
PHS
111 040
2 — 9 8 1
M-H
000 000
0 — 0 2 7
L. Richards and K. Solomon. S. Earls, M.
Copeland (6) and M. Copeland, B. Potts (6).
W — Richards. L — Earls.
2B — T. Fell, A. Garton (PHS). HR — K.
Solomon (PHS).
with a win over Charlotte on
Tuesday night.
No. 3 Toronto plays No. 6
Milwaukee in the first round.
No. 4 Washington gets the
fifth-seeded Hawks.
Indiana
controls
its
destiny for No. 7. There are
scenarios where the Heat,
Bulls and Pacers all could be
No. 7 or No. 8.
However it shakes out, this
much is certain: LeBron James
will go up against longtime
postseason nemesis Indiana,
or his close friend Dwyane
Wade, or his former Heat team
in the opening round.
And that will be made-
for-TV stuff.
CLIPPERS-JAZZ
Utah hasn’t started the
playoffs at home since 2001.
The Jazz could change
that this year, if they beat San
Antonio on Wednesday while
the Clippers lose at home
to Sacramento. That’s the
only scenario where the Jazz
would be seeded No. 4 in the
Western Conference playoffs.
Otherwise, the Clippers
will get home-court for the
first-round series against
Utah.
All the other seeds and
matchups out West for the
first round are set: No. 1
Golden State vs. No. 8 Port-
land, No. 2 San Antonio vs.
No. 7 Memphis, and No. 3
Houston vs. No. 6 Oklahoma
City.
BRIEFLY
TCU running back
Trevorris Johnson
to transfer to
Oregon State
CORVALLIS, Ore.
(AP) — TCU running
back Trevorris Johnson
is transferring to Oregon
State for his final season of
eligibility.
Johnson will graduate
this June with a bachelor’s
degree in criminal justice
from TCU. He is expected
to arrive in Corvallis in
June and will be available
immediately as a graduate
transfer.
The 6-foot, 237-pound
back rushed for 789 yards
and eight touchdowns in
36 games over his career at
TCU, after redshirting as a
freshman in 2013.
He ran for a career-best
105 yards in a game against
Texas Tech in 2014.
“We are very excited to
have someone of Trevorris’
ability, character and focus
join our program,” Beavers
coach Gary Andersen
said. “He brings a level of
maturity to our team on
and off the field.”
Johnson plans to pursue
a master’s degree in
counseling at Oregon State.
Ex-Oregon Ducks
coach pleads
no contest to
drunken driving
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) —
A former assistant football
coach at the University of
Oregon pleaded no contest
to a charge of driving while
intoxicated.
David Reaves, 38,
entered the plea Monday
and must complete a
court-ordered diversion
program in his home state
of Florida. The drunk-
en-driving charge will be
dismissed if he completes
the diversion program.
The Register-Guard
reports that Reaves
declined comment
following his court
appearance in Eugene.
City prosecutors agreed
to dismiss a charge of
recklessly endangering
another person.
Reaves came to Oregon
this year to serve as the
Ducks’ co-offensive
coordinator and tight ends
coach. He was arrested Jan.
22 — five days after his
hiring was announced.
Oregon’s Tyler
Dorsey declares
for the NBA draft
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) —
Oregon sophomore Tyler
Dorsey says he will declare
for the NBA draft and hire
an agent.
Dorsey was a key to
the Ducks’ run to the Final
Four this past season. It
was the first time Oregon
had made it to the national
semifinals since they won
the first NCAA Tournament
in 1939.
He made the announce-
ment on Twitter.
“I have carefully
deliberated this decision
with my family and feel
the timing is now right
to pursue my path to a
professional basketball
career,” he said in the post.
The 6-foot-4 two-year
starter averaged 14.6
points, 3.5 rebounds and
1.7 assists per game last
season. His play picked
up as the season went
on and he averaged 23.5
points over the Ducks’ five
tournament games.
Dorsey also declared
for the draft last season and
went through the evalua-
tion process but never hired
an agent.
TIGERS: Reliever Klay Jenson gives Stanfield another steady arm in rotation
Continued from 1B
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Stanfield’s Tony Flores throws from the mound in the
Tigers’ 13-3 win against Irrigon on Tuesday in Stanfield.
solid outings from its pitchers
in Flores and Klay Jenson,
though Flores did have
some rocky moments. In the
first inning, Flores walked
Irrigon’s (9-1, 2-1) leadoff
hitter Lino Covarrubia and
then gave up a towering
double to Rice to put runners
on second and third with no
outs. Roa scored Covarrubia
on a sacrifice fly to center
and Zach Henrichs had an
RBI groundout to give the
Knights a 2-0 lead.
Then Flores tossed four
straight strikeouts, which
included striking out the side
on just 12 pitches in the second.
But in the third he ran into more
trouble, giving up a single,
walk and single to load the
bases with no outs. He walked
Roa to bring in a run and give
Irrigon a 3-1 lead, before
re-discovering his groove and
tossing three straight strikeouts
to end the inning.
“I felt pretty good
overall, I just need to work
on controlling my fastball,”
Flores said of his early strug-
gles. “Sometimes I leave it
too high and I tend to walk a
lot there ... but I knew I just
need to throw strikes. Guys
are going to hit the ball, that’s
what baseball is, so I just got
it under control.”
Stanfield took the lead for
good in the third when Jenson
ripped a two-out single that
found a gap between third
base and shortstop and into
left field to bring in a pair to
put the Tigers up 5-3. They
added on in the inning when
Thyler Monkus popped one
up behind the shortstop but
some miscommunication by
the Knights shortstop and left
fielder allowed the ball to drop,
scoring a pair for a 7-3 lead.
Flores and Dylan Grogan,
who finished a team-best 3 for 4
at the plate, then smacked back-
to-back doubles into the left-
center field gap to put Stanfield
up 9-3 after three full innings.
“Last week we kind of
struggled a bit getting into
hitters counts but man they hit
the ball really well tonight,”
Stanfield coach Brad Rogers
said of his team. “They were
really selective, had great
approaches at the plate which
is something I thought we
needed to improve on and
they did a good job.”
Jenson picked up where
Flores left off in the fourth
inning, as he tossed three
hitless and scoreless innings
of relief, giving up just two
walks and four strikeouts.
Jenson, who missed all of last
season recovering from a knee
injury, has now thrown 10
consecutive innings without
giving up a run or a hit span-
ning three games, where he
has allowed just four walks
with eight strikeouts.
“He’s improved so much,”
Flores said of Jenson. “He’s
missed what, two years now
and we feel more confident
with him. He brings a spark
and you just want to match
him and compete with him.”
Rogers said that adding
an arm like Jenson to an
already loaded Tiger pitching
staff that returned everybody
from last season makes it that
much sweeter.
“It’s an arm we didn’t have
last year and the same thing
with Hunter Barnes who
has been throwing quality
innings,” Rogers said, “it’s a
big bonus for us. But Klay’s
first outing of the year he kind
of struggled and I sat down
and talked with him, and now
he’s been working really hard
and he’s back to form he was
in and that’s big for us.”
Stanfield’s offense picked
up again in the fourth when
Woods led off the inning
with a solo home run that he
blasted over the 350-foot sign
in left-center field. Woods said
afterward that he got a belt-
high fastball from Irrigon’s
pitcher, and he knew it was
gone as soon as it left his bat.
Then in the fifth, Stanfield
got a leadoff triple from
Grogan followed by an RBI
double from Ryan Bailey to
make it a 11-3 game. Woods
was then hit with a pitch, and
Hunter Barnes followed with
an RBI double and Justin
Keeney reached on an Irrigon
error which brought home
Woods to inact the 10-run
rule and make the game final.
UP NEXT
Stanfield will host Nyssa
(4-6, 2-1) for a doubleheader
Friday starting at 1 p.m.
Irrigon will host Joseph on
Friday for a doubleheader
also starting at 1 p.m.
———
R H E
IHS
201
00 —
3 3 1
SHS
126
13 — 13 13 0
(IHS) A. Rice and Z. Henrichs, A. Roa
(3), J. Phillips (3), Harrington (5) and K.
Fleming. (SHS) T. Flores, K. Jenson (4) and
T. Monkus. WP — T. Flores, LP — A. Roa.
2B — A. Rice (IHS); T. Flores, D. Grogan,
R. Bailey (SHS). 3B — D. Grogan (SHS). HR
— B. Woods (SHS).
———
Contact Eric at esinger@
eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0839. Follow him
on Twitter @ByEricSinger.