SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2018
LES BLEUS
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HIGH SCHOOL RODEO
Five locals go for national title
National HS Finals
Rodeo starts on Sunday
East Oregonian
EO File Photo
Heppner’s Jaiden Mahoney competes in barrel racing and is one of
five Intermountain members that will compete at National Finals.
When the National High School
Finals Rodeo gets underway Sun-
day in Wyoming, five kids from
Umatilla and Morrow counties will
be gunning for the title of national
champion.
Intermountain High School
Rodeo team members including
Echo seniors Hayden Hilliard and
Daylon Eng, Heppner juniors Jacee
Currin and Jaiden Mahoney and
Pendleton junior Trent Sorey will
be in attendance, as all five quali-
fied with exceptional performances
at the Oregon High School Rodeo
Finals in Prineville on June 6-10.
They will be competing against
approximately 1,500 high school
cowboys and cowgirls from across
the country at the Sweetwater Event
Center located in Rock Springs,
Wyoming, from July 15-21.
To secure a qualifying spot
for the national finals, competi-
tors needed to finish in one of the
top four spots of each event at the
state finals. Hilliard was a co-state
champion in bull riding, while the
remaining four — Eng in saddle
bronc (110 points), Currin in goat
tying (145 points), Mahoney in bar-
rel racing (141 points), and Sorey
in tie-down roping (131 points) —
were reserve champions.
It’s the second consecutive year
that both Currin and Mahoney will
be competing for a national cham-
pionship. In 2017, Mahoney fin-
ished 75th in the barrel racing aver-
age with a time of 36.195 seconds,
while Currin was 120th in goat
tying with a time of 8.55 seconds.
The top 20 competitors through
the first round of performances will
advance to the finals on July 21st.
Angels bullpen quiets M’s
Angels overcome
injury to Richards, beat
Mariners 9-3
By JILL PAINTER LOPEZ
Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kole Cal-
houn and Andrelton Simmons each
had three hits and two RBIs to lead
the Los Angeles Angels over the
Seattle Mariners 9-3 on Tuesday
night.
The Angels got 15 hits and over-
came an injury to starting pitcher
Garrett Richards, who left in the
third inning with right forearm irri-
tation. He is scheduled to have an
MRI on Wednesday.
Simmons, seeking his first All-
Star appearance as one of five can-
didates in online balloting for the
final AL roster spot, hit a go-ahead
double in a four-run fourth.
Calhoun and Albert Pujols both
homered to lift a Los Angeles
offense that needed a boost. The
Angels have won three of their past
four games.
Seattle All-Star Mitch Haniger
hit a three-run homer, his 18th of
the season, in the first inning for
a 3-0 lead against Richards, who
allowed three consecutive hits to
begin the game. He exited in the
third while pitching to Nelson
Cruz.
Richards’ velocity was down.
After a 92 mph pitch, a trainer
and Angels manager Mike Scios-
See MARINERS/3B
AP Photo/Alex Gallardo
Seattle Mariners’ Guillermo Heredia, right, reacts after being called out on strikes, as Los Angeles Angels catcher Martin Mal-
donado throws the ball during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif., on Tuesday.
Columbia Juniors head to regionals
The Columbia Junior League
softball team will be represent-
ing Oregon in the 2018 West
Region Junior League Softball
Tournament in Tucson, Arizona,
July 13-19. After finishing second
in the state tournament, Colum-
bia was chosen by the board to
advance to regionals. The team’s
first game will be Saturday at
11:30 a.m. and will live stats will
be available on Gamechanger.
com by searching “Columbia Lit-
tle League (OR).” Pictured from
left to right: (back row) Jennifer
Flores, Taylor Longhorn, Court-
ney Gregerson, Alexis Shelby,
Zuri Reeser, Katelyn Griffin, Zoe
Ramos, Morgan Gaines, Faith
McCarty; (front row) Rheanna
Rivera and Myla McAdams.
PENDLETON
All-Stars cruise to semis
12U softball team
stays perfect
East Oregonian
The Pendleton 12U Little
League Softball All-Stars kept
their dominance going at the state
tournament on Tuesday in Baker
City, as the team thumped Klam-
ath Falls 14-2.
The win ends pool play for
Pendleton, which locked up the
top seed for the four-team bracket
play after a perfect 5-0 record,
winning by a combined 67-19
score.
Bailey Moore led Pendleton’s
offense on Tuesday as she went
Photo courtesy of Karissa Porter
3-for-4 with two RBI and two
runs scored from the No. 9 spot
in the batting order. After her,
Samantha Wilks was 2-for-4 with
a triple, two RBI and two runs,
Melanie Boatman was 1-for-4
with a home run and two RBI
and Madaline Schumacher was
1-for-4 with three RBI and two
runs scored.
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the
second, Pendleton took control
of the game when Lily Brooks,
Nessa Neveau and Moore all
scored on errors and Lanie Burke
scored on a passed ball for a 4-1
lead. Wilks’ RBI triple helped
See ALL-STARS/3B
Sports shorts
Tri-City Dust Devils’
stadium wins award
The Tri-City Dust Devils’ Gesa
Stadium was voted as the best
Short Season-A ballpark by fans as
part of Ballpark Digest’s “Best of
Ballparks 2018” competition this
week, edging out Spokane’s Avista
Stadium in the finals.
Gesa Stadium, located in Pasco
since it opened in 1995, started
the fan voting process as the No.
20 seed for the online fan voting
competition, upsetting five higher
seeds along the way.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
Stock car racing team makes history,
starts 3 female drivers
NEWTON, Iowa (AP) —
Stock car racing team Ven-
turini Motorsports has had a
tradition of employing women
that stretches back for decades.
On June 29, the ARCA outfit
made history — starting three
female drivers in the same race
for the first time in the modern
era of the sport.
Natalie Decker, Leilani
Münter and Toni Breidinger
finishing 12th, 18th and 20th
respectively at Chicagoland
Speedway. By starting
as a trio, they
helped
raise
the profile of
women in a
sport long
dominated
by men.
Natalie
Decker
1914 — Babe Ruth makes his
major league pitching debut for
the Boston Red Sox against Cleve-
land, getting the 4-3 victory over
the Indians.
1967 — Tony Perez homers in
the 15th inning off Catfish Hunter
to give the National League a 2-1
win in the longest game in All-Star
history.
1985 — Nolan Ryan of the
Houston Astros becomes the first
pitcher in major league history to
reach 4,000 strikeouts.
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