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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2017)
SPORTS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS MLB Altuve, Stanton crowned as MVP’s In this Oct. 25 fi le photo, Houston Astros’ Jose Al- tuve hits a home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game 2 of the World Series in Los Angeles. Altuve and Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton were named AL & NL MVPs on Thurs- day. AP Photo/ Mark J. Terrill, File Altuve wins AL in runaway, Stanton wins tightly-contested NL race By JAKE SEINER Associated Press NEW YORK — Jose Altuve and the Houston Astros have grown together, enduring an arduous rebuild and coming out the other side among baseball’s best. These days, nobody is standing taller. Altuve won the American League MVP award Thursday, towering over New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge by a wide margin and capping Houston’s championship season with another piece of hardware. Giancarlo Stanton won the NL MVP, edging Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds in the closest vote since 1979. The 5-foot-6 Altuve drew 27 of the 30 fi rst-place votes in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “I was surprised that I won it,” AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File In this Aug. 10 fi le photo, Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton (27) watch- es his home run during a game against the Washington Nationals. Altuve said. “I wasn’t expecting this.” It was a landslide long in the making. Altuve has been in Houston since general manager Jeff Luhnow took a scorched earth approach to developing a winner. The Astros lost 100-plus games in each of Altuve’s fi rst three seasons, beginning in 2011. Houston won its fi rst World Series earlier this month, and it needed its longest-tenured player to get there. Altuve batted a major league-best .346 in the regular season, hit 24 home runs with 81 RBIs, scored 112 times, stole 32 bases and showed a sharp glove at second base. Voting for these honors was completed before the postseason began. It’s been over a decade since Altuve signed with Houston from Venezuela — only after he was sent home from one tryout and told he was too short. “They told me not to come back,” Altuve said. “It was some- thing me and my dad, he went with me that day, we were like, ‘We have to go again. We have to try again.”’ See MVP/2B Women’s College Basketball Hebard helps No. 10 Oregon beat No. 19 Texas A&M NCAA Ducks stay hot to start season, next face No. 5 Louisville on Sunday #10 Oregon #19 Texas A&M Associated Press 83 68 COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Ruthy Hebard scored a season-high 24 points on 10-for-10 shooting and No. 10 Oregon beat No. 19 Texas A&M 83-68 on Thursday night. Down six at the half, the Ducks (3-0) scored the fi rst seven points of the third quarter to grab a 35-34 lead. After A&M (2-1) briefl y led once more, Oregon began running away late in the period. The Aggies unraveled before the home crowd in the third quarter primarily because of Oregon’s precision passing and clutch shooting, the latter in particular by the sophomore Hebard, who only missed from the free throw line (4 of 7). Oregon senior guard Lexi Bando, one of the nation’s top long-distance shooters, was 3 of 6 from the 3-point line, in particularly stinging the Aggies from the left corner in the decisive second half. Bando’s career 46 percent shooting from the 3-point line leads the nation among active players. The Aggies tried making it interesting late in the game, when a layup by Anriel Howard and consecutive 3-pointers by Lulu McKinney and Danni Williams tightened the gap to 67-62 with 3:28 remaining. But Hebard’s hard-fought short jumper from the right side of the key on her 10th fi eld goal of the night on 10 tries lifted the Ducks to an insurmountable lead. Freshman guard Chennedy Carter paced the Aggies with a career-high 23 points, and Howard grabbed 13 rebounds. BIG PICTURE Oregon: In the fi rst true test of the season and fi rst venture on the road, the Ducks fl ew past the defensive-minded Aggies with fl ying colors (primarily neon green and yellow). The Ducks have won all three of their games by double- digits, with A&M easily the stiffest test to date. Texas A&M: While smarting from a home loss and their fi rst setback of the season, the Aggies in a couple of months will look back on this one, when they led a solid Oregon squad 34-28 at halftime, as great experience for the grind of the SEC. UP NEXT Oregon: The Ducks play at No. 5 Louisville on Sunday in the fi nal of the preseason WNIT in what amounts to a bonus game this season, prior to resuming regular-season play on Tuesday at home against Eastern Washington. Prep Sports Winter sports season is here already Practices began this week, contests get underway Nov. 29 By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian PENDLETON — After a fast three-plus months, outdoor grass fi elds at high schools across Oregon now sit mostly empty and gymnasiums remain full, though volleyball nets at the center of the court have been replaced by basketball hoops at either end. Fall sports are nearly complete, and the winter sports season is already underway as prep basket- ball and wrestling teams across the state began practices on Monday. This week marked the begin- ning of Kyle Tedder’s third season leading the Pendleton boys basket- ball team, and prior to his team’s practice on Thursday the Buckaroo coach said he is thrilled to get going with his new-look group. No longer is all-state star Caden Smith wearing the green-and-gold on the court, along with other key players like Wyatt Morris and Johnny Stuvland. However, the Buckaroos return some experience with starters Shaw Jerome, Ryan Russell and Tyler Newsom. “It’s exciting getting back, it always is,” he said. “The best thing is having our team set now and being able to start molding our process. I’ve been calling us a project from the start of the summer and that’s basically what we are. We have a great group of guys, they’re fun to be around and I think they like each other, but it’s a work-in-progress.” For each of the past three seasons, the Buckaroos have been molded around the leadership of Smith and earned three consecu- tive league titles and a fourth place fi nish at the 5A state tournament just last season. As the Buckaroos begin their challenging road to a fourth consecutive title, Tedder said that the team’s focus throughout the summer and these fi rst few weeks of practice are fi guring out who will be the next group to step up. “Can you play without a guy that this program had been molded around? Who’s going to be that next guy? That was a fun process to see and I think we have a couple of guys that could step up and take that role,” Tedder said. “But what is nice is it’ll be shared through a couple of guys, which is good.” The Buckaroo boys are not the only storyline to follow throughout the winter, though. Here are a few more from Umatilla and Morrow County schools to keep track of this season: NIXYAAWII REPEAT?: The Nixyaawii Golden Eagles girls basketball team steamrolled through their season with a 27-0 record to capture the Class 1A state championship, and looked primed to do so again this year. The 2016-17 East Oregonian Player of the Year Mary Stewart is joined again by fellow seniors Milan Schimmel and Kaitlynn Melton, a trio that terrorized opponents last season with their abilities to score, rebound and dish out passes. Nixyaawii gets its season underway on Dec. 1 with a road See WINTER SPORTS/2B Sports shorts Timbers, Caleb Porter part ways PORTLAND (AP) — A person familiar with the decision confi rms that head coach Caleb Porter has parted ways with the Portland Timbers. The surprise move was fi rst reported Thursday night by the soccer website FourFourTwo.com. Porter, 42, has been coach of the Timbers for the past fi ve seasons, guiding the team to the MLS Cup Championship in 2015. He was named the MLS Coach of the Year after his fi rst season with the team in 2013. The Timbers fi nished this season Porter as the top seed in the Western Conference, but fell in the confer- ence semifi nals 2-1 on aggregate to the Houston Dynamo. Porter fi nishes his run in Portland with a 60-50-52 record. A team spokesman did not respond to messages seeking comment. “It all stems from hard work and it stems from wanting to be difference makers. ... It’s about bringing it together with hard work. That’s what we’ve been doing. We just have to make sure we keep it going.” — Gabe Landeskog The Colorado Avalanche forward was modest, praising the team’s effort after his fi rst-career hat trick in the 6-2 victory over the Washington Capitals. Mariners trade reliever Vieira for international bonus money ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Seattle Mariners have gained more fl exibility if they want to try to sign star Japanese pitcher/ outfi elder Shohei Otani. They acquired an additional $500,000 for their international signing bonus pool from the Chicago White Sox in a trade for right-hander Thyago Vieira. Otani, a 23-year-old, would be limited to a minor league contract with a signing bonus under Major League Baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement. The trade announced Thursday increases the Mariners’ available money for a signing bonus to $1,557,500. The 24-year-old Vieira made his major league debut with a scoreless inning against Baltimore on Aug. 14, his only big league appearance. He had a 4.00 ERA in 41 games between Double-A and Triple-A. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 2009 — Kobe Bryant scores 40 points for the 100th time in his career, and the Los Angeles Lakers avoided a rare three-game losing streak with a 106-93 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Bryant trails only Wilt Chamberlain (271) and Michael Jordan (173) in 40-point games in NBA history. 2013 — Jimmie Johnson wins his sixth Sprint Cup championship in eight years. Johnson, who needed only to fi nish 23rd or better to wrap up the title, fi nishes ninth. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
