SPORTS
THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2017
1B
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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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