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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2017)
SPORTS THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Little League Baseball HERMISTON Pendleton wallops Triangle Hermiston repeats state title The Herm- iston High School trap shooting team pos- es after winning the Ore- gon Clay Target League state champi- onship for the second straight year at the Hills- boro Trap & Skeet Club on Saturday, June 24, 2017. Pendleton 11/12 all-stars advance to championship game East Oregonian ENTERPRISE — The Pendleton 11/12-year-old all-star baseball team survived elimination one more time at the District 3 Little League tournament, walloping Triangle 21-3 on Wednesday. With the win, Pendleton advances to the champion- ship game to face La Grande today at 5 p.m. in Enterprise. The two teams met on Sunday with La Grande holding on for a 6-5 win. Pendleton’s offense picked up right where it left off against Hermiston, belting 24 hits to score its 21 runs. All 10 players that batted recorded at least one hit, led by Clayson Cooley who went 4 for 4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI. Meanwhile, each of Payton Lambert, Easton Corey, Jack Lieuallen and Andrew Deminew recorded three hits in the game, with Corey adding two home runs and double to pick up three runs scored and a team-high fi ve RBI. Dylan Gomez also hit a home run for Pendleton. On the pitching mound, See LITTLE LEAGUE/2B Contributed photo from Erin Wallace Blake Betz wins high gun honors, helps Bulldogs defend clay target title By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian Contributed photo from Erin Wallace Hermiston’s Blake Betz readies to fi re during the Or- egon Clay Target State Tournament on Saturday, June 24 at the Hillsboro Trap & Skeet Club. Betz won tourna- ment high gun honors with 97 points. HERMISTON — For the second consecutive year, the Hermiston High School trap shooting club team earned the title of state champion. Hermiston went to the Oregon Clay Target League State Tournament at the Hillsboro Trap & Skeet Club on Saturday, June 24 and defended its title after scoring 465 points to tie with Molalla. Hermiston then won it outright on a tiebreaker, which was either team’s high-gun score and Bulldogs’ Blake Betz’s 97 score and overall high-gun honors for the tournament. Rounding out the top fi ve team scores was Madras in third with 461, Cascade Christian with 446 and Echo with 436. The championship was much tougher to come by for Hermiston this season, seeing the number of teams it was competing against rise from two last season to 13 this year. It’s only the second year of the league and the team, but Herm- iston coach John Adams is already impressed with the progress. “The improvement in MLB Phillies stun Mariners with ninth inning rally “Baseball is a great game but many days it can be cruel.” Diaz tallies his third blown save of season By TIM BOOTH AP Sports Writer SEATTLE — Presented an opportunity to rebound after a tough weekend, the Seattle Mari- ners instead stumbled at home against the worst team in baseball. Tommy Joseph hit his 13th homer of the season leading off the ninth inning off Seattle closer Edwin Diaz, Andrew Knapp followed with a two-out RBI single and the Philadelphia Philadelphia Phillies rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Mariners on Wednesday. Facing the Seattle lowly Phillies was supposed to be an opportunity for Seattle to stabilize after dropping two of three against Houston. Instead, the Mariners have lost four straight headed out on a brief three-game road trip against the Angels before returning home for seven games before the All-Star 5 4 — Scott Servais Seattle Mariners manager on his team’s ninth-inning collapse. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Seattle Mariners pitcher Edwin Diaz sits in the dugout after he was pulled from a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phil- lies in the ninth inning, Wednesday, June 28, 2017, in Seattle. Diaz was charged with the loss and a blown save as the Phillies beat the Mariners 5-4. break. “Baseball is a great game but many days it can be cruel,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. The collapse on Wednesday was on the shoulders of Diaz, Seattle’s young closer who was brilliant last year as a rookie but has stumbled at times in 2017. Seattle held a 4-3 lead headed to the ninth and had not allowed a hit to the Phillies since the third inning. Joseph changed that quickly hitting a 98 mph fastball on a 3-2 pitch from Diaz (2-3) out to left fi eld, tying the game at 4-all. Diaz struck out the next two batters, but walked Cameron Perkins and a balk moved Perkins into scoring position. Knapp delivered, lining a 1-2 pitch into right fi eld to give the Phillies the lead. It was the second straight game Diaz was less than his best in the ninth inning. Diaz allowed four runs — none earned — in a non-save situation on Tuesday. Servais was critical of Diaz’s focus but wanted his closer back in on Wednesday. Servais got his wish, but Diaz couldn’t deliver, blowing his third save of the season. Servais said he’s likely to stick with Diaz as his closer going forward. “I missed a couple of pitches and I paid the price,” Diaz said. “It was nothing mechanical. Just missed location.” Philadelphia won a road series for the fi rst time since late April. Ricardo Pinto (1-0) pitched three innings of relief to get the win and Hector Neris worked the ninth See MARINERS/2B these kids was remarkable,” Adams said on Wednesday. “A lot of them went from hitting single digits to hitting almost all of them.” Betz’s high-gun victory was also a tight race, as he fi nished tied with Echo’s Hunter Barnes with a 97. But Betz won the tie break on the reverse run of the scorecard. Also brining home awards from the tournament was Hermiston’s Jenna Wallace, who won high gun in the female junior varsity category with 92 points. Echo’s Natalee Sherbahn See HERMISTON/2B Smyly out for rest of season Centerpiece of offseason trade to have Tommy John surgery next month By TIM BOOTH AP Sports Writer SEATTLE — Drew Smyly was the centerpiece to one of Seattle’s many offseason moves by general manager Jerry Dipoto. He was a priority acquisition as a proven lefty for the rotation the Mariners believed would thrive pitching at Safeco Field. Smyly will end his fi rst Smyly season in Seattle never having thrown a pitch during the regular season. The Mariners announced Wednesday that Smyly will need Tommy John surgery after being diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament. “I feel bad for Drew. I know how excited he was when we acquired him, getting a chance to pitch in Seattle, how excited he was to be part of the See SMYLY/2B Sports shorts Cubs release Miguel Montero after criticizing teammate WASHINGTON (AP) — The Chicago Cubs cut ties with Miguel Montero on Wednesday after the veteran catcher blamed pitcher Jake Arrieta for allowing seven stolen bases in Tuesday’s loss to the Washington Nationals. Montero, who turns 34 on July 9, was designated for assignment, and the World Series champions recalled catcher Victor Caratini from Triple-A Iowa. Montero is Montero batting .286 with four homers and eight RBIs in 44 games. “Right now through 77 games, we haven’t gotten it going yet. We haven’t come together as a team,” Hoyer said. “We’re fi ghting to come together and I think those comments were a detriment to what we’re trying to accomplish right now at this point in the season.” “(It was) just pure instinct. You hear stories of this all the time, people aiding, and I saw a situation where I was lucky enough to be able to help and try to think of everything I could do ... I’m glad to say that she can have another day with us and I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time.“ — John Trumpane The MLB umpire rescued a woman from potentially jumping off a bridge into a river and alert- ed authorities prior to the game in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. USA track and fi eld moves Olympic trials from Eugene INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — USA track and fi eld says the Olympic Trials for the 2020 Games will be held in the Los Angeles area. Track’s governing body said Wednesday its board of directors voted 11-2 to bring the event to Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California. The stadium is going through a $62 million upgrade that’s scheduled to be completed in 2019 and will expand seating to more than 21,000. Mt. SAC beat out Sacramento, California, and Eugene, Oregon, which hosted the last three Olympic Trials at Hayward Field. The 2020 Olympic Trials are scheduled for June 19-28. USATF has been diversifying its locations for championship meets to foster relationships with cities. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1990 — Dave Stewart of the Oakland A’s pitches the fi rst of two no-hitters on this day, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0. Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers duplicates Stewart’s feat, throwing a 6-0 no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s the fi rst time in major league history that two no-hitters are pitched in the two leagues on the same day. 2004 — Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks becomes the fourth pitcher to record 4,000 strikeouts when he fans San Diego’s Jeff Cirillo in the eighth inning of the Padres’ 3-2 win. 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