SPORTS
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3B
NFL
Sherman says move from Seahawks to 49ers adds fuel to his fire
By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Richard
Sherman spent seven years
tormenting the San Francisco
49ers with his lockdown coverage,
colorful trash talk and celebratory
turkey eating at midfield.
Now he has decided to join the
enemy, signing a three-year contract
with the 49ers almost immediately
after being let go by the Seattle
Seahawks last Friday.
“It’s a little odd to put on a
different jersey. I’m sure it will
take some getting used to for me,”
Sherman said Monday. “I’ve spent
a lot of time wearing a red jersey in
the Bay so I’m sure I’ll be able to
figure it out.”
The former Stanford star has
returned to the Bay Area since he
wanted to stay on the West Coast
to be close to his parents in Los
Angeles and his soon-to-be wife’s
family in Seattle.
Getting the chance to stay in the
NFC West and play the Seahawks
twice each year was an added bonus.
“It definitely
had a part of
it,” he said.
“I’d love to get
to play in that
stadium again
in
different
colors.
I’m
going to try
my best to ruin
Sherman
their day. I do
want a chance
to show what I can do out there.”
Sherman, who turns 30 later this
month, is coming off an Achilles
tendon injury that cost him half of
the 2017 season. Sherman also had
a cleanup surgery on his opposite
ankle during the offseason. That led
to Seattle’s decision that he wasn’t
worth his $13 million salary for 2018.
Sherman became a star in Seattle,
bringing a brash attitude and will-
ingness to speak out on any topic
to go along with his stellar play. His
best seasons came in 2013 and 2014
when Seattle made two Super Bowl
appearances.
Sherman still was one of the
better cornerbacks the past three
seasons, ranking second in the
NFL by allowing just 49.2 percent
of passes against him to be caught,
according to Pro Football Focus.
Getting cut only adds fuel to
Sherman.
“It kind of reignited that gasoline
fire that I always had burning,” he
said. “It just threw a lot more gas
on it and I appreciate that and I’m
thankful for this motivation and
inspiration. I have a lot of people
to show. I’m excited about those
prospects.”
That fire was always evident
against the 49ers, most notably
when he went on a postgame
interview tirade after sealing the
NFC championship in January 2014
by deflecting a pass that turned a
potential game-winning touchdown
for the 49ers into an interception for
the Seahawks.
The following season Sherman
celebrated a Thanksgiving night win
at Levi’s Stadium by eating a turkey
leg at midfield, although he said that
was prompted by NBC producers
who told him to “eat the turkey”
during the interview.
“You’re excited after the game.
You’re winning. We weren’t
thinking anything else honestly. We
were just enjoying the moment,”
he said. “We played pretty well that
game. I honestly didn’t think it was
disrespectful. But people can take it
any way they want to.”
Sherman, who negotiated his own
contract, described the few days after
being released by Seattle as “chaos.”
He was at the NFLPA meetings in
Las Vegas when the Seahawks gave
him the news and he heard from
49ers GM John Lynch and coach
Kyle Shanahan almost as soon as the
transaction hit the waiver wire.
Sherman then flew to the Bay
Area, where he had dinner with
Shanahan on Friday night and met
with defensive coordinator Robert
Saleh, a former assistant in Seattle.
He underwent medical tests
Saturday before going to the 49ers
facility for five hours of negotia-
tions. After coming to an agreement,
Sherman called Seahawks general
manager John Schneider to give
him a chance to match. Schneider
declined but told him it was a solid
deal, although he might want to
tinker with the roster bonuses.
Sherman also called the Raiders
and Lions to tell them he had made
his decision and then signed the deal.
“Neither side wanted to walk
away without a deal because we felt
like there was a great relationship
and great understanding and some-
thing both sides could benefit from,”
he said. “We came to an agreement
and it was awesome.”
Pro Football Talk reported that
Sherman will get a $3 million
signing bonus, a $2 million roster
bonus if he passes a physical the first
day of training camp and a $2 million
salary for 2018. He also has $2
million in per-game roster bonuses,
a $1 million bonus if he plays 90
percent of the defensive snaps, a $1
million incentive for making the Pro
Bowl, and $2 million for being an
AP All-Pro.
He has a $7 million base salary
in the final two years of the deal,
which goes to $8 million if he makes
the Pro Bowl the previous year. He
also has per-game roster bonuses,
playing time incentives.
TIGERS: Three pitchers combine to throw no-hitter in victory
Continued from 1B
Stanfield (1-0) scored all of their
runs in the second and fifth innings,
using a mix of patience at the plate
and aggressiveness on the base
paths. The Tigers had only four hits
for the game, but worked 10 walks,
four hit-by-pitches and stole six
bases.
Eight of the 12 runs came in the
second inning when the Tigers sent
14 batters to the plate and worked
through three different Bruins
pitchers. Justin Keeney gave the
Tigers their first lead at 2-1 with
an RBI single up the middle and
TJ Smith made it a 5-1 game with
a two-RBI single that skipped past
the third baseman.
Later in the inning, Damien
Curiel — who finished 2 for 2 with
two runs, three RBI, three stolen
bases and two walks — busted it
open to a 7-1 lead when he flipped
a single into shallow right-center
field that brought in a pair of runs.
Makiah Blankenship’s sacrifice
fly brought home Shayne Keltz to
close the scoring in the inning.
After going down quietly in the
third and fourth innings, the Tigers
got some offense going following
an error on White Salmon to get
Keeney on base. That brought up
Brody Woods, Keltz and Curiel, all
of whom worked walks to bring in
one run and load the bases with two
outs with a 8-1 lead.
Blankenship appeared to end the
inning with a grounder to shortstop,
but the throw short-hopped the
first baseman and allowed Woods
to score and Keltz and Curiel, too,
after the throw to home got by the
catcher to seal the victory.
“This feels great,” Rogers said of
the victory. “I was just looking for
us to come out and compete, and get
better and have fun.”
Stanfield’s pitchers had a solid
days’ work on the mound, as
Woods, Smith and Curiel combined
to no-hit the Bruins.
Woods,
Stanfield’s
lone
returning pitcher with major
varsity experience, got the start and
allowed one run, struck out four and
walked three in two innings. He
struggled to command his fastball
in the first inning, walking the first
three batters of the game to load the
bases. However, he induced an easy
Prep Roundup
Mac-Hi
baseball gets
walk-off win
over Elgin
in opener
East Oregonian
MILTON-FREEWATER —
The Mac-Hi Pioneers rallied
for three runs in the bottom of
the seventh inning to defeat the
Elgin Huskies
Baseball in the two
teams’ 2018
season opener
on Monday
Elgin
afternoon.
Mac-Hi
(1-0) trailed
5-3 heading
into its last
at-bat,
but
Mac-Hi
Jesus Vela and
Eric Rencken
both
drew
walks
and
Rudy Esparza
was hit by a pitch to load the
bases with nobody out. An Elgin
fielding error allowed Vela and
Rencken to score to tie the game
until Taylor Turner’s bunt single
brought home Rencken for the
game-winning run.
Rencken also helped open
the scoring on Monday, as his
RBI single in the first inning
gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead.
Mac-Hi pushed across its first
run when Anthony Hardesty
scored on a wild pitch.
Rencken had a solid day at
the plate with two hits, one run
and one RBI. Devon Cothey
struck out seven Huskies (0-1)
and allowed three hits and three
runs in 4 2/3 innings to earn the
win for the Pioneers.
UP NEXT
Mac-Hi plays at Weston-
McEwen on Thursday at 3:30
p.m.
————
5
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Stanfield’s Justin Keeney scores on a T.J. Smith singe in the second inning of the Tigers’ 12-2 win
against White Salmon on Monday in Stanfield.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Stanfield’s Damien Curiel looks to throw home after tagging
White Salmon’s Davis Koester out at second base in the Tigers’
21-2 win against the Bruins on Monday in Stanfield.
groundout and notched two strike-
outs with his curveball to escape
with only one run allowed.
He came back in the second
inning locked in, breezing through
a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts
and a flyout on only 15 pitches.
“He’s got that toughness,”
Rogers said of Woods. “To be
honest, we we’re going to tell him
he was coming out after the first
with 30-ish pitches, but he said ‘I
want to go another (inning).’ So
we gave him another inning and he
came back and proved himself.
“Kind of a slow start, but first
game of the season, you’re going to
have some of that.”
ROGERS HAPPY TO BEAT
ALMA MATER: Aside from being
the season opener of his second
year as the varsity baseball coach
at Stanfield, Monday’s win also
had a special meaning to Rogers
on a personal level. Rogers is an
alumnus of Columbia High School,
and the current Bruins team featured
several kids that are the children of
Rogers’ high school friends.
“That was pretty neat to see,”
Rogers said.
UP NEXT
Stanfield travels north to take on
Tri-Cities Prep for a doubleheader
on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.
————
R H E
CWS
101 00 —
2 0 5
SHS
080 04 — 12 4 3
COLUMBIA — S. McMahon, J. Musgrove (2), D.
Raether (2) and T. Webster. STANFIELD — B. Woods,
T. Smith (3), D. Curiel (4) and A. Renner. W — B.
Woods, L — S. McMahon.
————
Contact Eric at esinger@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-
0839. Follow him on Twitter @
ByEricSinger.
6
EHS
011 300
0 — 5 7 2
M-H
200 010
3 — 6 6 0
(EHS) C. Lathrop, J. Lathrop (3), B. Howes (6).
(M-H) M. Cunnington, D. Cothey (3). W — D.
Cothey, L — B. Howes.
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