SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2018
1B
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HERMISTON
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Dayshawn Neal charges onto the field carrying a Hermiston flag followed by his teammates before the start of the Bulldogs’38-35 win against
Churchill in the 5A state championship in Hillsboro on November 25, 2017.
New league, new rivals
Hermiston looking ahead to new rivals
in the Mid-Columbia Conference
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
H
ermiston High School will be seen as the rookies
this upcoming athletic year.
This year is their first as a member of the Wash-
ington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA)
after leaving the OSAA earlier this summer. With that
comes a major cultural overhaul within the local athlet-
ics community. Their longstanding rivalry with Pend-
leton High School will be no more. In fact, Hermiston
isn’t set to face any Oregon schools at all during their
upcoming season.
The Bulldogs will open their football season on Fri-
day, August 31, against Pasco, which shares the same
mascot, marking their first-ever WIAA event. Still,
potential new rivals are under consideration.
“Rivalries are born from competition,” said Herm-
iston athletics director Larry Usher. “It’ll take a few
years to decide. We’re now in the Mid-Columbia Con-
ference — the most competitive conference in the state
of Washington. The coaches and kids are well aware
that things just got real tough.”
Usher says that Richland and Chiawana are shaping
up to be their fiercest competitors. Last year alone, the
Photo by Patrick Hagerty, courtesy the Tri-City Herald
Photo courtesy the Tri-City Herald
Pisco’s Isaiah Gonzalez points to his fans after de-
feating Tahoma’s Austin Michalski in their 4A 113
lb. State Wrestling championship match Saturday,
Feb. 18, 2017, in Tacoma, Wash.
Chiawana’s Summer Yates (10) heads the ball
during a Mid-Columbia Conference high school
girls soccer game against Richland last season.
Yates scored 3 goals before the half.
Richland Bombers took home the state championship
in football and baseball, and the Pasco Bulldogs took
home the title in boys’ soccer. Chiawana is the newest
high school in the Tri-Cities, opening its doors in Ken-
newick in 2009, but they’ve already claimed state titles
in football in 2014 and girls’ bowling in 2016.
The schools that populate the Mid-Columbia Con-
ference also dwarf the schools that Hermiston used to
face in population. While Pendleton has a student body
of 805, Kennewick, the smallest in the conference,
practically doubles that with 1702. Hermiston comes
in with an enrollment of 1,607, while Chiawana is the
See RIVALS/3B
Reddick’s homer helps Astros hold off M’s
By TODD MILLES
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Josh Reddick
homered to give Houston the lead
and the Astros held on to beat
the Seattle Mariners 3-2 Tuesday
night.
Reddick’s tiebreaking homer
in the fourth inning put the Astros
ahead 2-1, and Yuli Gurriel added
an RBI single in the sixth for a
two-run lead.
Seattle pulled to 3-2 in the
eighth inning on Ben Gamel’s RBI
single to right field, but stranded
the tying run at third base after
pinch hitter Nelson Cruz and Dee
Gordon struck out against Roberto
Osuna to end the inning.
Hector Rondon earned his 14th
save with a spotless ninth inning as
Houston snapped a five-game skid
against Seattle and remained tied
with Oakland atop the AL West
standings.
MLB
Astros
Mariners
3
2
Rookie left-hander Framber
Valdez (1-0), who came up from
Triple-A Fresno earlier in the day,
won in his big-league debut, toss-
ing four-plus innings of one-run
ball in relief of Brad Peacock.
Both teams used Tuesday as a
“bullpen” day, although the Mar-
iners were originally scheduled
to start Mike Leake, who was
scratched two hours before the
game with an illness. Reliever
Nick Vincent made his first career
start, tossing two scoreless innings.
Houston took a 1-0 lead on Car-
los Correa’s sacrifice fly off Ross
Detwiler (0-1) in the third inning.
The Mariners tied it when
Mitch Haniger scored on Mat Stas-
si’s passed ball after Kyle Seager
struck out in the third.
Reddick lifted Detwiler’s 86
mph changeup deep into the right-
field bleachers in the fouth to put
the Astros ahead.
Seattle turned a franchise-re-
cord six double plays in the game.
ROSTER RESHUFFLING
Astros: To make room for Val-
dez, LHP Cionel Perez was sent to
See MARINERS/3B
Sports shorts
Oregon to open 2022
season with Georgia
ATLANTA (AP) — Oregon and
Georgia will meet for only the sec-
ond time when the schools play in
the 2022 season opener at Mer-
cedes-Benz Stadium.
The teams will play in the
annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff game
on Sept. 3, 2022. Oregon will
become the second Pac-12 team
to play in the game. Washington
will play Auburn on Sept. 1 in this
year’s opener.
Georgia beat Oregon 27-16 in
Athens in 1977.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
Storm’s Stewart AP Player of the Year
NEW YORK (AP) — Bre-
anna Stewart has taken her
game to a new level this year to
lead Seattle to the top spot in the
league.
Her efforts earned her Asso-
ciated Press WNBA Player of
the Year honors on Tuesday.
Stewart averaged 21.8 points,
8.4 rebounds and shot 52.9 per-
cent from the field this season to
help the Storm earn a bye until
the semifinals of the playoffs.
She received 12 of the 14 votes
with Liz Cambage earning the
other two.
“To be recognized as the best
player is where I want to be and
I want to continue to get bet-
ter,” Stewart said in a phone
interview. “The biggest change
I made besides improving on
the court was preparing myself
off the court. Make myself
strong and take care of my body
nutritionally.”
1950 — Althea Gibson becomes
the first black tennis player to be
accepted in competition for the
national championship.
1961 — Roger Maris becomes
the first player to hit his 50th
homer in August.
1965 — In the third inning of a
game against Los Angeles, pitcher
Juan Marichal of the San Francisco
Giants hits catcher John Roseboro
of the Dodgers in the head with his
bat. A 14-minute brawl ensues and
Roseboro suffers cuts on the head.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com