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MILTON-FREEWATER
Shrine Game has special meaning for
PATTON WRIGHT
B1
Diamondjaxx
sweep opener
in Spokane
tournament
Hodgen Distributing goes
1-1 in day one of weekend
tourney
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Patton Wright, of Weston-McEwen, who will play in the East-West Shrine All-Star Football Game on Aug. 3 in Baker City, poses
with his grandfather, Larry Wright. Larry wears his Shrine All-Star jersey from 1964.
Weston-McEwen lineman is a
Shriners patient, and his grandpa
played in the game 55 years ago
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
M
IltON-FrEEWatEr — Patton
Wright has five screws in his hips.
Souvenirs, so to speak, from his three
surgeries over six years at Shriners
Hospitals for Children in Spokane.
It’s because of those surgeries that
Wright was able to play football at
Weston-McEwen High School, and sub-
sequently earn an invite to play in the
67th annual East-West Shrine All-Star
Game on Aug. 3 in Baker City.
“I was super ecstatic about it,”
Wright said of the invite.
It’s rare that a patient at the Shriners
Hospital has an opportunity to play foot-
ball, let alone play in the game that is a
major fundraiser for the organization.
“I like to think I am giving back to
the kids who can’t play, and the hospital
that helped me,” Wright said. “A lot of
the kids, unfortunately, can’t play regu-
lar sports, let alone contact sports. After
three surgeries, I am able to play foot-
ball and wrestle. My left leg is about an
inch shorter than my right. I have a little
limp, but it’s not real noticeable unless
you know to look for it.”
Wright will be joined on the East
roster by Derek Howard and Tyler Car-
SPOKANE — Pendleton’s 16U
Pepsi Diamondjaxx were unstoppable in
day one of Spokane’s summer baseball
tournament.
The team opened play with a five-in-
ning 19-0 blowout over Coeur d’Alene’s
Northern Lake and followed it up with a
16-8 win against Spokane’s own North
Central to complete the sweep.
“Our base running was the best it’s
been all summer,” coach Brett Swan-
son said. “We had some good situational
hitting.”
The Diamondjaxx were hot right out
the gate, putting up five runs in the top
of the first. It would be their first of three
five-run innings.
Aiden Gunter got things started with
an RBI-double into left field, and from
there, Blane Peal, Jacob Devereaux, and
Andrew Demianew all followed with
RBI-singles. Devereaux’s drove in two.
Kobe Fell, who led Pendleton with a
3-for-5 batting performance that scored
three runs, notched a double of his own
in the top of the fifth, driving in a run.
Devereaux, Demianew, and Hayden
Hodson each hit RBI-singles to secure
their 19-run advantage, enacting the ten-
run rule and ended the game early.
“We played some strong defense
today,” Swanson said. “We would hit the
ball right at them, and once they strug-
gled we just capitalized on that.”
Payton Lamber and Jack Monkman
also chipped in three runs apiece.
But Pendleton was strong on both
sides of the ball, with Fell and Hod-
son combining to shut out their North-
ern Lake opponents from the hill. Each
gave up just one hit, but no runs. Hodson
benched four batters, including a strike-
out that ended the game.
“Both games were good all-around
wins for us,” Swanson said.
Hodgen Distributing
ter of Heppner and Josh Gray of Ione.
Trent Durfey of Umatilla also was
selected to play, but he will not be able
to participate.
According to Shriners International,
the game is the largest fundraiser in
Oregon for the Shriners Hospital and is
considered the second-largest athletic
money-maker for Shriners Hospitals in
North America.
Though he is a lineman, Wright will
wear No. 27 in the game, honoring his
grandfather, Larry Wright, who played
in the Shrine Game in 1964.
“I didn’t even know that until this
came about,” Wright said of his grand-
father. “He was really excited for me. He
Pendleton’s 17U Hodgen Distribut-
ing battled their way through the Spo-
kane-hosted weekend tourney, suffering
a close loss to Northwest Advantage 6-4,
but rallying for a 4-1 victory over Mt.
Spokane to finish the day.
“It’s been a good tournament so far,”
coach Wes Armstrong said. “We played
against two nice, competitive teams
today.”
Nic Sheley and Jordan DeGeer scored
on a pair of wild pitches in the top of the
second for an early 2-0 Pendleton lead,
but Northwest Advantage was quick to
retaliate with four runs in the bottom of
the third.
See Football, Page B2
See Baseball, Page B2
15-year-old Coco Gauff still unfazed, unbeaten at Wimbledon
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer
WIMBLEDON, England —
It was easy to forget that Coco
Gauff is still just 15 as she stood
on the grass of Centre Court,
pounding her chest and shout-
ing, “Let’s go! Come on!” to
celebrate a 32-stroke point that
forced a third set in her match
Friday evening at Wimbledon.
Up in the stands, Mom rose
to pump a fist and yell, “Yes!”
Thousands of spectators jumped
out of their seats, too, roaring.
By then, Gauff already twice
had been a point from losing in
the third round to Polona Her-
cog of Slovenia.
Most players, no matter the
age, would not be able to find
a path past that kind of a defi-
cit on this imposing a stage,
would not be able to handle that
sort of stress and figure out a
way. Gauff is, quite clearly, not
most players. That much has
been established. How far can
she go, both this fortnight and
in the future? The tennis world
is watching, waiting to learn the
answers.
That Gauff, ranked 313th
and facing another unseeded
player, was scheduled to appear
at Wimbledon’s main stadium
says plenty about what a sen-
sation the Floridian already is.
That she won this one, and how
she did so — erasing a pair of
match points and coming back
to beat Hercog 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5
— offers some insight into what
Gauff might become.
“Obviously, this moment is
an incredible moment,” Gauff
said. “I’m still excited I get to
keep living it.”
As it is, she was the youngest
player to qualify for Wimbledon
in the professional era, winning
three matches last week against
higher-ranked women in the
preliminary rounds.
Then, by upsetting five-time
champion Venus Williams, who
is 39, in the first round of the
main event, Gauff became the
youngest woman to win a match
at the All England Club since
1991, when Jennifer Capriati
reached the semifinals at 15.
That was followed by a win
against 2017 Wimbledon semi-
finalist Magdalena Rybarikova,
See Tennis, Page B2
AP Photo/Ben Curtis
United States’ Cori “Coco” Gauff reacts after
winning the second set against Slovenia’s
Polona Hercog in a Women’s singles match
during day five of the Wimbledon Tennis
Championships in London on Friday.