SPORTS
WEEKEND, JULY 22-23, 2017
1B
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Happy Oregon wins West Regional opener
trails
Pendleton all-stars rally past
Southern California in pool play
M
PENDLETON
y fi rst experience
in Pendleton was
nearly getting
stranded at the airport.
It was October of
2006, and I was in town to
interview for the position of
sports reporter at the East
Oregonian.
We landed late at night
after a stormy, turbulent
fl ight, and the promise of a
ride from the sports editor
apparently came with a time
limit that had expired.
Thankfully one of the
fl ight
attendants
was kind
enough to
offer me
a lift to
my hotel,
spinning
what could
have been
Matt
taken as an
Entrup
ominous
Comment
sign into
an uplifting
tale of small-town
hospitality.
When I accepted
the position I told then-
managing editor Steve
Brown that I would give the
paper a year, minimum, but
I couldn’t see myself staying
more than fi ve.
I guess you could say the
area grew on me.
It was a big transition
coming from the congestion
and 24-hour convenience
of living near a large city,
but the friendly locals, wide
open views and nearby
mountains were acceptable
trade-offs.
Eventually, with a
cheap pair of hiking boots
and some ridiculous ideas
about what it meant to
properly pack for a week in
the wilderness, I began to
really explore the region’s
backcountry. What I found
there was like nothing I’d
ever seen before, and it was
after that fi rst hike into the
Wallowa Mountains that I
offi cially adopted Oregon as
my new home state.
Throughout the years, as
other sports reporters came
and went — eight at my last
count — I’ll admit there
were times when I thought
there might be greener grass
to be had. But when it came
time to actually send out
resumes, the idea of leaving
all this natural beauty behind
kept me from following
through.
Ironically, the mountain
ranges and well-maintained
trail systems that made it
so hard to leave, actually
planted the seeds for my
departure now after more
than 10 years covering
the athletes and teams
of Umatilla and Morrow
Counties.
In my time here
I’ve seen 10 Pendleton
Round-Ups, too many state
championships to name,
and a never-ending fl ow of
student-athletes using sports
as an avenue to further their
academic opportunities.
I thank those of you who
allowed me into your lives,
East Oregonian
Contributed photo courtesy of Jeanine Youncs
Oregon’s Allison Galloway gets a hit against Southern California on Friday
in the fi rst game of pool play at the Little League Softball West Regional
Championships in San Bernardino, California. Oregon won 6-3.
SAN
BERNARDINO,
Calif. — Representing the very
fi rst game of the 2017 Little
League Softball West Regional
tournament on Friday morning,
Team Oregon made sure to give
a good fi rst impression.
Team Oregon, comprised of
the Pendleton all-stars, scored
six unanswered runs late to
overtake Southern California
for a 6-3 victory in Game 1
of pool play at Al Houghton
Stadium in San Bernardino,
California.
Southern California scored
the fi rst runs in the bottom of
the third, when back-to-back
walks from Oregon pitcher
Sauren Garton led to a two-RBI
triple and an RBI groundout for
a 3-0 Southern California lead.
Garton then settled in after the
inning, recording four strike-
outs and giving up six hits with
zero runs the rest of the way and
fi nished with seven punchouts
overall.
Oregon was able to get those
runs back in the fourth. Three
See LITTLE LEAGUE/2B
PENDLETON
Racers break in Round-Up
Joe Kopp of
Mica, Washing-
ton leads the
pack coming
into the fourth
turn of the
eighth heat of
the Thunder in
the Blues fl at
track racing
on Friday at
the Pendleton
Round-Up
Grounds.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Motorized racing returns to Pendleton arena after 77-year absence
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
The last time that motorized
racing of any kind had zipped around
the half-mile track of the Pendleton
Round-Up Arena, the White House
was occupied by Franklin Delano
Roosevelt.
That changed on Friday night, as
the inaugural Thunder in the Blues
fl at track motorcycle race enter-
tained an intrigued crowd in the
famed rodeo arena in the midst of
Pendleton Bike Week festivities. Joe
Kopp, the 2000 American Motor-
cycle Association Grand National
Champion and Mica, Washington
See RACING/2B
Golf
Spieth turns in a beauty on nasty day at British Open
Jordan Spieth
of the United
States on the
18th green
at the end of
his second
round of the
British Open
Golf Cham-
pionship, at
Royal Birk-
dale, South-
port, England,
Friday July 21,
2017.
AP Photo/Peter
Morrison
See HAPPY TRAILS/2B
Uses stellar short
game to take
2-stroke lead
By DOUG FERGUSON
Associated Press
SOUTHPORT, England —
Jordan Spieth expected a rough
time at the British Open before
he even got to the golf course.
He spent Friday morning at
his rented house in front of the
television, watching players
battle a relentless wind at
Royal Birkdale, all the while
checking a forecast that was
even worse for when he played
in the afternoon.
“It wasn’t a great feeling
knowing we were coming into
something harder than what we
were watching,” he said.
Spieth did more than just
survive.
With a short game as sharp
as it has been all year, and a
3-wood that turned out a lot
better than it looked and led
to an eagle, Spieth seized
control with a 1-under 69 that
gave him a two-shot lead over
Matt Kuchar going into the
weekend.
Spieth turned a bogey or
worse into an unlikely par by
chipping in from just short of
the 10th green. And he learned
enough from watching TV to
know that going a little long
on the par-5 15th would give
him a better birdie chance than
playing short. So he switched
from a 3-iron to a 3-wood,
hit it a little off the neck and
watched it run hot and fast
some 100 yards along the wet
See BRITISH OPEN/3B
Sports shorts
Cavs’ Irving asks to be traded
CLEVELAND (AP) — Two people familiar
with the situation says All-Star guard Kyrie
Irving has asked the Cleveland Cavaliers to
trade him.
Irving made the request last week to owner
Dan Gilbert, said the people who spoke Friday to
The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity because the team is not
commenting on the star’s demands.
Irving’s appeal was fi rst
reported by ESPN.
A four-time All-Star, Irving has
spent six seasons with the Cavs, who
Irving
selected him with the No. 1 overall
pick in 2011. The 25-year-old has
overcome injury issues and developed into one of
the league’s elite point guards.
Irving is under contract for two more seasons
with Cleveland, which has had a tumultuous
offseason following a loss to Golden State in
the NBA Finals.
“It’s pretty cool to come
in here and have a
chance to go for three in
a row. But it’s frustrating
that it’s been 365 days
since we’ve won one of
these things.“
— Kyle Busch
NASCAR driver on going for a
third-straight victory in the
Brickyard 400 on Sunday in
Indiannapolis. He also won the
last two Xfi nity Series races held at
the track, tying him with Formula One
superstar Michael Schumacher,
who won the U.S. Grand Prix four
straight years in 2003-2006, for
most consecutive wins in Indy.
Montreal Canadiens to charge
for paper season tickets
MONTREAL (AP) — Montreal Canadiens
fans looking forward to the annual arrival of
their season tickets got an unwelcome surprise
when the team announced it
would be charging extra for
printed tickets.
Canadiens spokesman
Francois Marchand confi rmed
that the default option will
be mobile tickets and fans who want physical
tickets will be charged $150 plus tax per seat.
A letter to season-ticket holders cited
security, ease of use and environmental
sustainability as reasons for the change.
A platinum season ticket last season cost
$9,564 before tax, and the cheapest ticket sold
for $1,795.
While other teams do offer mobile ticket
options, not all charge for physical tickets.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1962 — Gary Player of
South Africa becomes the fi rst
non-resident of the United
States to win the PGA cham-
pionship.
1984 — Kathy Whit-
worth becomes the all-time
winner in professional golf
tournaments by winning the
Rochester Open. Whitworth,
with 85 career wins, passes
Sam Snead’s total of 84 PGA
tournament victories.
1996 — Naim Suley-
manoglu of Turkey becomes
fi rst weightlifter in Olympic
history to win three gold
medals. Suleymanoglu wins
the 141-pound division by
hoisting 413 pounds.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com