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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2017)
SPORTS WEEKEND, JULY 1-2, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON PENDLETON Barrel racing back this weekend More than 130 competing at Round-Up Arena East Oregonian Barrel racers will take over the Round-Up Arena this weekend for a Fourth of July competition, and spec- tators are welcome to watch for free. More than 130 riders will compete beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday in the Round-Up Independence Barrel Race, testing their skills on the longest competitive barrel pattern in the world. According to a press release from the Round-Up, riders have nicknamed the grass course “the Green Mile” and the event was created to give barrel racers a chance to try out the unique pattern. “This is a bucket list highlight for barrel racers of all ages,” said Nick Siro- vatka Pendleton Round-Up Competitive events director, in the press release. “They have heard the legends, seen the videos, and Sunday will be able to race it for them- selves.” Amateurs and profes- sionals from the Western states and Canada will compete in separate catego- ries in the event sanctioned by both Barrel Racers National 4D and the Women’s Profes- sional Rodeo Association. A record number of competitors are expected in the event’s fi fth year. The course will get a warm up Saturday at 10 a.m. as more than 200 barrel racers will give the course a practice run, which is also open to the public. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Members of the Thompson RV A’s hold their hats over their heart during the National Anthem before the start of the Pendleton Babe Ruth Baseball League’s championship game. Building back up Pendleton Babe Ruth trying to rebuild its foundation By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian On Thursday evening, the Thompson RV Athletics and Big John’s Red Sox battled against each other in the Pendleton Babe Ruth Baseball League championship game. The game was an entertaining affair as both teams traded the lead back-and- forth early before the Athletics’ pitching and defense began to solve the Red Sox and hung on for a 9-8 victory. It was a great celebration of the Babe Ruth league, which promotes giving every kid a chance to play as well as a chance for kids to play against their friends and play the game they love. However, just a few short years ago the same league was in danger of falling through the cracks. What was once a popular league in Pendleton with team numbers in the double digits had fallen to a league with enough teams to count on only a few fi ngers on one hand. There are multiple reasons for the sharp decline, such as more sports to choose from, different interests outside of sports, select travel baseball teams. On top of those, what used to be a league of 13-15-year-olds is now mainly just 13 and 14-year-old See BABE RUTH/2B Staff photo by E.J. Harris Big John’s coach Ricky Scruggs talks to his team before the start of the Pendleton Babe Ruth Baseball League’s championship game. Little League Baseball MLB Pendleton captures district championship Mariners thump Angels Pendleton 9/10-year- olds beat La Grande East Oregonian Photo contributed by Corey Neistadt The Pendleton 8-10 year old all-star little league base- ball team poses with the District 3 championship banner after beating La Grande 16-4 on Thursday in Enterprise. Pictured Front, right to left: Keegan Kline and Anson Dressler. Middle row, left to right: Tugg Mc- Quinn, Evan Lehnert, Joseph Albitre, Jayden Hoeffert, Landon Willman, Jacob Neistadt, Kaden Moore, Casey Van Dorn, Payton Hoeffert, Art Hill, Connor Cook. Back row: Coach Corey Neistadt, Manager JR Cook, Coach Chris Moore. ENTERPRISE — The Pendleton 9/10-year-old all-stars fi nished off a dominant perfor- mance at the District 3 tournament on Friday afternoon, beating La Grande 16-4 to win the champion- ship. The win clinches a spot in the state tournament for Pendleton, which will start on July 22 at Erv Lind Stadium at Normandale Park in Portland. The middle of Pendleton’s lineup did most of the offensive damage for Pendleton, as Connor Cook, Tugg McQuinn, Evan Lehnert and Jacob Neistadt combined for 11 hits, 10 runs, nine RBI and four extra-base hits. Cook was the standout going 3 for 4 with a double and a triple, three runs scored and fi ve RBI. Neistadt and Lehnart combined to pitch a solid game for Pendleton, with Lehnart striking out six and giving up two hits in three innings and Lehnart striking out three with two hits allowed in one inning. Pendleton jumped on La Grande from the start, when Cook and McQuinn reached base with one out and set up run-scoring singles by Lehnert and Neistadt for a 3-0 lead after one inning. It added on in the second with a three straight walks by Joe Albitre, Anson Dressler and Kaden Moore brought Cook to the plate and he cleared the bases with a double to center and Pendleton held a 7-0 lead after two innings. The offense didn’t stop there for Pendleton, with another three runs pushed across in the third inning and three more in the fourth. In the four games of the tournament, Pendleton’s offense averaged 18.3 runs per game. Cano, Miranda lead the way for Seattle Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. — Robinson Cano hit two home runs, Ariel Miranda allowed only two hits in seven innings and the Seattle Mariners snapped a four-game losing streak with Seattle a 10-0 victory Friday over the Los Angeles Angels. Cano’s 15th and 16th home runs of the season gave him fi ve RBIs. Miranda (7-4) threw his Los Angeles fi nest game of the season. The only hits he allowed were a bloop single to Kory Calhoun in the fourth and a double to Andrelton Simmons in the fi fth. He walked two and See MARINERS/2B 10 0 Sports shorts West Linn grad named MaxPreps Male Athlete of the Year WEST LINN — Tim Tawa, a two-sport standout at West Linn High School, was named 2016-17 MaxPreps Male Athlete of the Year. As a shortstop and pitcher on the baseball diamond, Tawa hit for a .356 average with a .654 slugging percentage and scored 40 runs and went 7-2 with a 1.38 ERA as his West Linn team fi nished as state runner-up in Class 6A. In football, the 6-foot Tawa quarterback threw for 3,994 yards, 55 touchdowns and just one interception and completed 69 percent of his passes, leading West Linn to a 14-0 record and a 6A state title. He now holds three all-time state records with passing yards (11,357), touchdown passes (143), and completions (720). Tawa will attend Stanford University in the fall on a baseball scholarship. “It’s an unfortunate situation. I’m going to do everything I can to get that ball, that’s how I play, and I hit the wrong part of the fence, it was just kind of a freak accident that you can’t really do anything about.“ — Dustin Fowler The New York Yankees rookie’s MLB debut was cut short on Thursday night when he slammed into the low fence along right fi eld at Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field in the bottom of the fi rst inning. Fowler ruptured his patellar tendon his his right knee and will miss the remainder of the 2017 season. Warriors, Steph Curry agree to record contract OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers says a contract will be fi nalized with two-time MVP Stephen Curry once the free agency moratorium ends July 6. The Warriors confi rmed that in an email to The AP on Friday night. Curry’s agent, Jeff Austin of Octagon Sports, fi rst told ESPN that the deal will be worth $201 million over fi ve years, a record for the NBA. Curry, who won the MVP the past two years and earned $12 million this season, scored 28.1 points in the playoffs while also contributing 6.7 assists and 6.2 rebounds. On Thursday, NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant declined to opt in for the second year of his contract with Golden State and becomes an unrestricted free agent, but still plans to sign with the team. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1859 — Amherst defeats Williams 73-32 in the fi rst intercollegiate baseball game. The game is played by Massa- chusetts Rules, a wide-open form of the sport commonly known as roundball. Amherst wins by reaching the pre-estab- lished score of 65 runs. 2011 — The NBA locks out its players, a long-ex- pected move that puts the 2011-12 season in jeopardy. 2012 — Tiger Woods wins the AT&T National at Congressional in Bethesda, Md. for the 74th win of his career. That moves him past Jack Nicklaus into second place on the tour list. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
