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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 PREP SOFTBALL Pendleton softball tops Tigers in seventh-inning rally Bucks take advantage of key La Grande errors to claim the win By BRETT KANE East Oregonian Wednesday afternoon wasn’t the fi rst time the Bucks softball team played La Grande this sea- son, and the fi rst time wasn’t pretty. Previously, the Bucks dropped a 7-1 home game to the Tigers, but on Wednesday it was their turn to beat La Grande on their own fi eld. Although Pendleton trailed 2-0 for six innings, they put in four UP NEXT Pendleton (6-3) returns home to host Mac-Hi/Helix today at 4:30 p.m. for their fi nal presea- son game. runs in the seventh to clinch the lead and emerge victorious, 4-3. “This is night and day com- pared to the fi rst time we played these guys,” said coach Tim Cary. “That was a terrible game for us. Today, Sami Spriet pitched great, and really, that’s the difference. We can be a good team if we don’t allow those walks and errors.” Spriet struck out three and walked just three for the day, but the Tigers got on the board early with Allie Brock’s two-run home run at the top of the fi rst inning. Brock also kept the Bucks score- less for the ensuing six innings, striking out 10 at the plate, and walking none. “She throws pretty hard and up in the zone,” Cary said of Brock. “If you chase those pitches, you’ll swing and miss. She’s a pretty powerful strikeout pitcher.” But Pendleton fi nally fi red back when sophomore DeLaney Duchek hit an RBI single to drive junior Carissa Cooley home at the top of the seventh. Senior Elli Nirschl bunted soph- omore Maria Lillenthal home on the next at-bat, and Duchek would make it home on an error by Tigers left fi elder Lexee Gomes. Nirschl scored on Jayce Seavert’s catching error on the fol- lowing play. “We did a good job battling at the plate,” Cary said. “It’s good for us to see this type of pitching right before we start the league. We were a little more disciplined at bat in that last inning.” The Tigers would get one more run during their fi nal offen- sive showing, but couldn’t man- age enough to overcome the Bucks again. Cooley, Lillenthal, and Duchek were all 1 for 3 at the plate with a run each. Both teams got seven hits, but La Grande committed four errors on the day, while Pendleton walked away with a clean slate. Up next, Pendleton (6-3) returns home to host Mac-Hi/Helix today at 4:30 p.m. for their fi nal presea- son game. “We came out with positive atti- tudes and had great energy,” Cary said. “I’m hoping to see much more of the same tomorrow.” Bucks coach Phillips steps down Over 18 seasons, Pendleton coach had 65 wrestlers place at state level By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian For the past 50 years, the Pendleton High wrestling team has known just three coaches — Rollin Schim- mel, Dale Freeman and Fred Phillips. The Buckaroos will be looking to start anew as Phillips stepped down at the end of the season. Phillips, 46, who started at Pendleton at the start of the 2000-01 season, said it was time to put his family fi rst. “Last year, my daugh- ter (Grace) looked at me and said, ‘You never watch me swim,’” Phillips said. “I realized I’d spent my whole life watching other people’s kids.” Grace is a sophomore at Pendleton, who competes on the cross country, swim and track teams. His son Vance is in the fourth grade. “I have been talking about it (retiring) for four years,” Phillips said. “Now people are saying they aren’t ready for me to go. This was a good group this year. I have known most of them since they were 5 or 6 years old.” While Phillips would never put himself in legend status with Schimmel, but he certainly will be remem- ber for his work with the program. In 18 years, the Bucks never had a losing dual meet season. He coached 65 state placers. “Some how, some way, we were always able to put a winning record on the mat,” Phillips said. “I like duals. You can move guys around and maybe get a bet- ter matchup. Sometimes it AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, center, shoots between Memphis Grizzlies guard Delon Wright, right, and forward Ivan Rabb during the fi rst half of an NBA basketball game in Portland on Wednesday. Blazers beat Grizzlies as Turner shines with second triple-double Associated Press Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton wrestling coach Fred Phillips is stepping down after coaching the squad for the past 18 years. backfi res, but then again, your guys have to go out and perform.” Phillips doesn’t know what Schimmel’s record was when he coached, and he has no desire to know. Phillips only knows his own record (336-71) because his assistant coaches were per- sistent a couple of years ago. “I have never been a per- son who has kept track of wins and losses,” Phillips said. “I was more concerned about watching the kids improve and getting them to state. Whoever gets the job needs to make it their own.” Phillips will continue as an assistant football coach with the Bucks. “I still want to be around kids, but I don’t want to be the head coach,” he said. “I know I will miss it. I have been participating in wres- tling since I was 6 years old. I will miss the kids and coaches, they are my friends.” The path to Pendleton Phillips was an assistant at Portland State Univer- sity for Marlin Grahn when budget cuts would have had See Phillips, Page B2 PORTLAND — Evan Turner had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists off the bench for his second consecutive triple-dou- ble and the Portland Trail Blazers reached 50 wins this season with a 116- 89 victory over the short- handed Memphis Grizzles on Wednesday night. Damian Lillard came close to a triple-dou- ble, too, with 20 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, but he sat for the fi nal quarter. Enes Kanter had 21 points and 15 rebounds for his third straight double-double. The Blazers, now 50-28, continue to jockey for home-court advantage in the playoffs as the sea- son winds to a close. Going into the game, Portland was holding on to fourth in the standings, two games up on the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference. Chandler Parsons had 16 points off the bench to lead the Grizzlies (31-47), who have been eliminated from playoff contention. Turner had 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists on Monday for a 132-122 victory over the Timber- wolves. It was his fi rst triple-double with the Blazers. Turner clinched the tri- ple-double with an assist on Anfernee Simons’ 3-pointer with just under two minutes left. He added one more assist before heading to the bench. Turner is the fi rst Blaz- ers player with back-to- back triple-doubles since Clyde Drexler in the 1989- 90 season. The Blazers led by as many as 29 points in the second half after trailing by as many as 10 in the fi rst. The Grizzlies had just 10 players available for the game. SPORTS SHORTS Murray State: Morant will enter NBA draft MURRAY, Ky. (AP) — Mur- ray State says that All-Ameri- can guard Ja Morant will enter the NBA draft following a record-breaking season for the Racers. The school said Wednesday night on its website that Morant announced his decision at the team’s arena. The athletic 6-foot-3 soph- omore is projected as a lottery pick and could be chosen as high as second in the June 20 draft. Morant led Murray State to the Ohio Valley Conference reg- ular season and tournament championships and was the league’s Player of the Year. In the Racers’ fi rst-round NCAA Tournament win over Marquette, he had the ninth tri- ple-double in tournament his- tory with 17 points, 16 assists and 11 rebounds. Morant, who averaged 24.5 points per game last season, is the fi rst NCAA player to average 20 points and 10 assists since assists became an offi cial statis- tic in the 1983-84 season. AP Photo/Elise Amendola
