SPORTS
WEEKEND, JULY 1-2, 2017
1B
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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