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THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2019
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A8
LEGION BASEBALL
DIAMONDJAXX
split with Legends
AP Photo/John Froschauer
Seattle Mariners’ Domingo Santana hits an RBI
single against the Kansas City Royals during the
fourth inning of a baseball game on Wednes-
day in Seattle.
Santana has 2
HRs, 5 RBIs in
Mariners’ 8-2 win
over Royals
By CHRIS TALBOTT
Associated Press
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Pepsi Diamondjaxx pitcher Kobe Fell throws during Wednesday’s game against La Grande at Bob White
Field.
Pendleton’s 16U
legion rallies back
in closer for split
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
baseball players on Pendle-
ton’s 16U Pepsi Diamond-
jaxx have faced those on La
Grande’s Legacy Legends for
years. Because of that, they
knew exactly what to expect.
“I’ve been playing against
most of these kids since I was
9,” Pendleton starting pitcher
Kobe Fell said. “I knew it was
going to be tough.”
And Fell was right. In
Wednesday’s home double-
header, the Diamondjaxx
dropped a 15-1 opener, but
came back to take the second
game, 15-9.
“Our team’s shaping up
well,” Pendleton coach Nick
Bower said. “We’ve come
a long way since the begin-
ning. Our chemistry is coming
along. But we just came out
fl at today. Once (La Grande)
jumped out to that early lead,
we couldn’t recover.”
Fell got the fi rst three outs
of the game from the mound.
While La Grande’s Daniel
Rogers was able to single off
him, Fell turned around and
struck out the next batter, and
nabbed a line drive for the sec-
ond out. He threw two consec-
utive walks to load the bases,
but fanned the next batter to
strand all three runners.
But the Legends wouldn’t
be denied for much longer.
Two walks and a sacrifi ce
bunt put La Grande on the
board in the top of the second,
and Cole Jorgensen ended the
scoring with a two-RBI single
that kept them up 4-0.
Three innings later, Cesar
Rodriguez and Derek Begin
each drove in runs off singles.
Pendleton fi nally scored in the
bottom of the fi fth.
Colton Henderson, who led
Pendleton with a 2-for-3 bat-
ting performance, doubled to
lead off the inning. With two
outs on the board, Blane Peal
singled, allowing Henderson
to score a run. Before a second
run was in question, Peal was
tagged out stealing second.
But the Legends still
weren’t through. They sent 12
batters to the plate in the top
of the seventh, which got them
eight more singles. Logan
Williams sent a two-RBI dou-
ble to left fi eld, aiding in the
six-run inning.
“Their hitting is great,”
Fell said of La Grande. “Their
fi elding is average, but their
hitting makes up for it. It’s
their biggest strength.”
Rodriguez led the Legends,
going 2-for-5 and scoring two
runs and three RBIs in the
opener. Williams went 2-for-4
and put up three more runs
and a pair of RBIs.
“The kids have confi dence,”
La Grande coach Tyson Wick-
lander said. “That’s important.
It’s summer ball — it’s good to
SEATTLE — Mariners manager Scott
Servais had an idea his struggling team was
poised for a big performance.
“The guys weren’t real happy with how
we played this last couple of days,” Servais
said after Seattle’s 8-2 win Wednesday over
the Kansas City Royals. “You could feel it in
the clubhouse when you came in this morning
and we responded.”
Domingo Santana hit two home runs in a
game for the third time this season, Marco
Gonzales won his third straight start and the
Mariners avoided an embarrassing series
sweep by returning to a recipe that helped
them start the season 13-2.
“Marco pitching well and we’re hitting
homers — that’s a good formula for us,” Ser-
vais said.
Santana, who had fi ve RBIs, and Dan-
iel Vogelbach hit back-to-back homers in the
fi rst inning to give the Mariners a 4-0 lead
and they went on to snap Kansas City’s three-
game winning streak. The Mariners had been
outscored 15-4 by the Royals in the fi rst two
games of a series between last-place teams.
Seattle jumped on starter Brad Keller
(3-9) immediately. Mallex Smith doubled to
open the bottom of the fi rst and J.P. Crawford
walked before Santana hit his fi rst home run
of the day to left-center fi eld. Vogelbach fol-
lowed with his 18th of the season, off the Hit
It Here Café in the second deck.
It was the eighth time this year the Mar-
iners, second in the majors in homers, have
gone back-to-back.
“When these guys make mistakes, you’ve
got to make them pay,” Vogelbach said. “You
can’t really give them more pitches and more
opportunities. Credit to Mallex and J.P. for
getting things going, and Domingo hitting
the homer. (Keller) made a mistake with two
strikes and I was able to make him pay.”
It marked the fi rst time the Mariners scored
in the fi rst inning since June 6 and the fi rst
time they posted multiple runs to begin a
game since May 11. They are 22-12 when
scoring fi rst.
Gonzales said he went back to the mound
in the second inning riding “a wave of
confi dence.”
Seattle showed some of the small-ball
potential of its new young lineup in the fourth
after Dylan Moore singled to start the inning.
Keller hit Smith with a pitch, then gave up
run-scoring singles to Crawford and Santana
before Vogelbach’s sacrifi ce fl y made it 7-1.
See Baseball, Page A9
See Mariners, Page A9
SPORTS SHORTS
Wedding to follow World Cup for U.S. teammates Krieger, Harris
By RONALD BLUM
Associated Press
P
ARIS — Many World Cup team-
mates have special bonds. The tie
that binds U.S. defender Ali Krieger
and American goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris
is among the strongest at the tournament.
They got engaged last year and are
planning a December wedding.
“A lot of our teammates with their part-
ners and spouses, they don’t get to be here
day in and day out,” Krieger said. “It’s
really nice to be able to share this moment
with her and to make these memories with
her.”
They announced their engagement
in People magazine in March, revealing
Harris proposed on the beach in Clearwa-
ter, Florida, during a picnic last Sept. 15
and surprised Krieger with a ring.
“She is what makes me. She is my life.
She is the person I am spending the rest of
my life with,” Harris said.
They fi rst met in 2010, a time both
were training with the national team.
They were teammates with the Washing-
ton Spirit of the National Women’s Soc-
cer League for much of 2013-15. Harris
was left unprotected in an expansion draft
and was taken by the Orlando Pride, and
Krieger joined her when she was traded to
the Pride after the 2016 season.
AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino