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Wednesday, May 29, 2019
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Bucks hold off West Albany for trip to state championships
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
Gabe Umbarger’s early
home run put the Pendle-
ton Buckaroos to the 5a state
championships.
On Tuesday, the senior cen-
terfielder drove a fly ball over
the right field fence to score
three runs and overcome a
2-1 deficit against their West
Albany hosts in a 5A semifinals
matchup. The Bulldogs would
put just one more run on the
board, and couldn’t stop Pend-
leton from taking home a 4-3
victory.
The Bucks will travel to
Keizer on saturday to chal-
lenge the 5a’s top-ranked Cen-
tral Panthers in a state cham-
pionship game. It will be their
first championship appearance
since 1992.
“We’ve had good teams that
have been to the quarters and
semis,” said Pendleton coach
TJ Haguewood, “but it’s been a
long time. We’re honored to be
that team.”
not only did Umbarger seal
the game for the Bucks, but he
also got things going in the top
of the first inning as he scored
on Ty Beers’ single to put Pend-
leton up 1-0.
Ryan stahl let two runs
slip after walking two Bull-
dogs and hitting another to
load the bases. West albany’s
Kellan soriano drew a walk to
put their first run on the board,
and Carson Van dyke singled
on the next at-bat to drive in
another run.
It would be the only Bulldog
lead, and it wouldn’t last.
With Tanner sweek and Kyle
Field both on base, Umbarger
sent a 1-2 pitch out of the park
for what would end up being
the game-winning hit in the top
of the second.
“That’s the difference,”
Haguewood
said.
“Gabe
crushed it — that’s it.”
Central’s Porter Phillips
singled on a line drive to left
field to drive in Blake Bowers,
but neither team would score
another run for the remainder
of the game, leaving Pendleton
ahead for good.
stahl tallied three strikeouts,
but allowed five walks and three
runs over four innings spent on
the mound. Chris Large threw
three innings of relief and kept
the Bulldogs away from home.
“Ryan was our ace, but he
started to struggle,” Hauge-
wood said. “He battled and
gave us enough innings before
turning it over to Large. (Large)
threw a heck of a game and fin-
ished strong.”
Umbarger’s 2-for-3 show-
ing at the plate scored two
runs and generated three RBIs
— enough to lead Pendleton’s
offense. Bowers went 2-for-4
for West albany, but only put
one run on the board. Chase
Reynolds fanned seven Bucka-
roos, but surrendered all four of
Pendleton’s runs.
Pendleton’s saturday oppo-
nents are coming off a 1-0
semifinals win over Thurston.
The Panthers are coming in as
the no. 1 seed in the 5a divi-
sion, while the Bucks are the
underdogs at no. 9.
“I’ve had two teams while
I coached at Weston-Mcewen
play (at Keizer),” Haguewood
said. “It’s a different feeling
— it’s almost like you’re on
an island, away from the high-
ways. It’s different than your
typical high school ball park.”
The two teams will contend
for the state title at the salem-
Keizer Volcano stadium. The
last time the Bucks played in a
title game, they lost to Mcnary
7-4 in the 4a championships.
“It’s not just a varsity win
— it’s a program win,” Hague-
wood said. “The boys have
played their butts off all season,
and I can’t say enough about
the assistant coaches and what
they do.”
By TIM REYNOLDS
Associated Press
The first NBA game was in
Toronto.
and now, the nBa Finals are
headed there.
Finally.
The nBa Finals are set after
the Toronto Raptors won the east-
ern Conference championship
on saturday night and earned the
right to play the Western Confer-
ence champion Golden state War-
riors. For the Raptors, it’ll be the
first time on this stage; for the
Warriors, it’ll be an 11th trip to the
finals and fifth in a row, as they
look for a fourth crown in the last
five seasons.
Game 1 is Thursday night in
Toronto, which will become the
AP Photo/Morry Gash
first city outside the U.S. to play
host to a finals game — a milestone Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard looks to pass during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference
that comes just about 73 years after Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks on May 23, 2019.
Toronto was the site of the first
game in nBa history.
While it is the first finals trip for the past two seasons.
his third in a row and fourth over-
The Raptors weren’t around
“We’re not satisfied,” Raptors all; if he wins Finals MVP — that
then: Toronto’s first NBA team was the Raptors franchise, many play-
called the Huskies, a club that went ers on the team have been there. President Masai Ujiri said. “We would seem unlikely at this point,
because he isn’t expected to play
22-38 in its only season. The Rap- Leonard and danny Green got want to win the championship.”
tors have been around since 1995, there with san antonio in 2013 and
For the Warriors, this has almost in Game 1 and it’s unknown if
and in their 24th season they’re 2014, with Leonard winning MVP become an annual rite.
he’ll actually appear in the series
finally going to play for a ring.
of the series against Miami five
stephen Curry, Klay Thomp- at all because of a calf injury —
“They’re the champions,” Rap- years ago. serge Ibaka was with son, draymond Green, andre he would join Michael Jordan and
tors star Kawhi Leonard said of Oklahoma City for its appearance Iguodala and shaun Livingston shaquille O’neal as the only play-
the Warriors. “We’ve got to go in, in 2012 and Raptors reserve Pat- have been part of each of these ers to win that trophy in three con-
have the mental focus, enjoy the rick McCaw was part of the War- five runs to the finals by Golden
riors for their title runs in each of state. Kevin durant is going to
See NBA, Page A9
moment and take the challenge.”
Blues must try to slow down Bruins in Stanley Cup Final
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
BOsTOn — Jake deBrusk got
a step on Robert Bortuzzo and he
was off to the races.
despite missing the net on
the breakaway, the message was
already sent.
Two minutes into the stan-
ley Cup Final, the Boston Bruins
flashed the speed and skill that got
them to this point and exploited it
to beat the st. Louis Blues in the
series opener. If the Blues have any
hope in Game 2 Wednesday night
and beyond, they will have to slow
down the Bruins somehow, some
way.
“There’s different ways that
you can wear guys down whether
it’s physicality or speed,” deBrusk
said. “That’s the game now. That’s
how you have to play. It’s just races
to loose pucks and then playing
physical when the opportunity
presents itself.”
Game 1 will be remembered for
5-foot-9 Boston defenseman Torey
Krug’s helmetless hit on Rob-
ert Thomas, but the Bruins won
because they came at the Blues in
waves. They got contributions up
and down the lineup and played a
style that flustered St. Louis into
turnovers and a 30-12 shot disad-
vantage in the final two periods.
The fact that 77.2% of teams
that win Game 1 go on capture the
Cup doesn’t much matter to Blues
coach Craig Berube and his play-
ers. The Blues, after all, climbed
from last place in the nHL on Jan.
3 all the way to the final. They
also responded well after a similar,
sluggish start to the Western Con-
ference final against San Jose.
Armed with that confidence, the
Blues understand the key to earn-
ing a split in Boston is stunting
their opponents’ relentless rush.
“It’s not feeding into their
transition as much,” center Ryan
O’Reilly said. “When we have an
opportunity to put it behind them
and play that 200-foot game, we
need to because you give them the
opportunities, they can move the
puck real quick and they come at
you full speed. It’s not giving them
any real easy opportunities.”
Boston’s top line of Brad March-
and, Patrice Bergeron and david
Pastrnak had zero points at even
strength, but in the end the Bruins
AP Photo/Bruce Bennett
didn’t need them on the score sheet.
Coach Bruce Cassidy credited The puck slides toward the net behind goaltender Jordan Binnington (50)
as Boston Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron, right, approaches during the first pe-
See Hockey, Page A9 riod in Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final on Monday in Boston.