E AST O REGONIAN
TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2019
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B1
U.S. wins
4th World
Cup title
WORLD CUP
USA
Netherlands
2
0
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Photo Contributed by Julie Murphy
Pendleton’s Nessa Neveau hits a Del Norte pitch in a Little League softball state playoff game in Keizer on Saturday.
Pendleton 12U softball
KNOCKS DOWN
FIRST ROUND
The little league team
sweeps fi rst day of
Keizer-hosted tourney
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
EIZER — Twenty runs and
250 miles later, and Pendleton’s
10/11/12 Little League softball
team made off with a sweep in round one
of the 12U state championships in Keizer.
On Saturday, Pendleton began with a
10-2 blowout over California’s Del Norte
program, followed by a 10-5 win against
Beaumont.
With the two victories under its belt,
Pendleton is on its way to defending its
championship title.
“We hit the heck out of the ball today,
and our pitching was pretty solid,” coach
Scott Wilson said. “We made a few mis-
takes that weren’t normal. I think our
girls were a little nervous. There’s a lot
K
on the line, and they know that. They
made a goal to win the state tournament.
They put a lot of pressure on themselves.
I think we had some fi rst-day jitters, but
we managed to pull through despite that.”
Madaline Schumacher hit two singles
against Del Norte, aiding in her perfect
2-for-2 batting performance that scored
three runs and an RBI. She also stole
three bases.
Pendleton put up four runs in the top
of the second to take down Del Norte
early on. The offensive charge was led by
Nessa Neveau, who singled to score two
runs. The play put Pendleton up 6-1.
“Del Norte was a good team,” Wil-
son said. “They know how to play the
game, they just didn’t hit as well as we
did today.”
Kendall Murphy threw a complete
game, holding Del Norte to just two runs,
and benching two batters.
Beaumont posed more of a challenge,
jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of
the fi rst inning.
Pendleton was quick to answer back,
however, with another four-run second
inning, and it only took two hits to do so.
Lea Wilson got it started with a ground
ball to shortstop that scored Neveau and
Maddy Lieuallen. With two outs on the
board, Melanie Boatman singled to left
fi eld and sent Bailey Moore and Reese
Furstenherg across home plate, allowing
Pendleton to recover the game and take
a 4-2 advantage that Beaumont never
overcame.
Although Lilli Brooks gave up fi ve
runs, she also tallied fi ve strikeouts over
fi ve innings on the hill. Schumacher
threw an inning of relief, keeping Beau-
mont scoreless for the remainder of the
contest.
Neveau led Pendleton’s offense in
game two, going 2-for-4 with three runs
and two RBIs.
“Beaumont can hit the ball pretty
well,” coach Wilson said. “We played
two good teams today. Maybe one
of them will come up from the los-
er’s bracket, and we’ll see them in
the championships.”
LYON, France — Megan Rapi-
noe stood on the fi eld, arms out-
stretched, striking her now-trade-
mark victory pose symbolizing the
confi dence of a U.S. team that cel-
ebrated and savored each triumph
at the Women’s World Cup.
Rapinoe won the Golden Ball
as top player and the Golden Boot
as top scorer, and the United States
backed up its brashness by win-
ning while simultaneously mak-
ing a strong statement for gender
equity.
“We’ve done exactly what we
set out to do, done exactly what
we wanted to do, said what we
feel,” Rapinoe said. “All of us,
really. I know sometimes my
voice is louder, but everybody is in
this together. We’re such a proud
and strong and defi ant group of
women.”
The U.S. won its record fourth
Women’s World Cup title and sec-
ond in a row, beating the Neth-
erlands 2-0 Sunday night when
Rapinoe converted a tiebreaking
penalty kick in the second half and
Rose Lavelle added a goal.
Rapinoe scored in the 61st min-
ute after a video review deter-
mined Stefanie van der Gragt had
fouled Alex Morgan with a kick to
the shoulder while competing for a
defl ected pass in the penalty area.
Two days past her 34th birthday,
Rapinoe slotted the ball past Sari
van Veenendaal for her sixth goal
of the tournament. She became the
oldest player to score in a Women’s
World Cup fi nal.
“Getting to play at the highest
level of the World Cup with the
team we have is just ridiculous.
But to be able to couple that with
everything on the fi eld and to back
up all of those words with perfor-
mances and to back up all of those
performances with words, it’s just
See Soccer, Page B2
Mets’ Alonso outlasts Vlad Jr. to win HR Derby
By TOM WITHERS
Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Mets rookie
Pete Alonso has a million-dollar
swing.
New York’s newest slugger
outlasted a worn-down Vladimir
Guerrero Jr. in the fi nal round of
the All-Star Home Run Derby on
Monday night to win $1 million —
nearly double his 2019 salary.
Alonso somehow had enough
to edge Guerrero, who hit 91 hom-
ers but ran out of gas in the last
round following an epic semifi -
nal matchup against Dodgers out-
fi elder Joc Pederson.
Needing 23 homers to beat
Guerrero, Alonso connected for
a homer to left-center before fl ip-
ping his bat high into the air
and hugging his pitcher, cousin
Derek Morgan. Alonso was then
swarmed by the NL All-Stars who
were treated to a power display
unlike any in the event’s history.
“This was surreal,” Alonso
said.
Alonso is the second rookie to
win outright, following Yankees
star Aaron Judge in 2017. He’s
also the fi rst Mets player to win
the derby since Darryl Strawberry
shared the title with Wally Joyner
in 1986.
Alonso, making the major
league minimum of $555,000 this
season, has hit 30 home runs. He’ll
showcase his swing again in Tues-
day night’s All-Star Game as base-
ball continues this season of the
longball.
One of the only bright spots this
season for the struggling Mets,
Alonso gave New York’s NL fans
something to brag about while the
Yankees chase another title.
Alonso showed some dramatic
fl air with two nail-biting wins to
reach the fi nal against Guerrero.
He nipped Cleveland’s Carlos San-
tana 14-13 in the fi rst round and
Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. 20-19
in the second to set up a show-
down with the 20-year-old Guer-
rero, whose father won the event
in 2007.
With one of baseball’s most
fearsome swings, Guerrero fi gured
to be a force but there was no way
of predicting he’d hit 91 homers —
74 more than his dad’s entire total
12 years ago.
But Alonso was up to the chal-
lenge, and shocked Guerrero, who
had electrifi ed a crowd of 36,199
fans while also destroying an
on-fi eld camera with one of the
balls he didn’t crush over the wall.
Guerrero defeated Pederson in a
semifi nal that required three extra
swing(ings) and will go down in
See Derby, Page B2
SPORTS SHORTS
Blanco, Clark lead Timbers to 1-0 win over NYCFC
NEW YORK (AP) — Sebastián
Blanco scored his fi rst goal in more
than two months, Steve Clark had his
second consecutive shutout and the
Portland Timbers beat New York City
FC 1-0 on Sunday night.
Clark had fi ve saves and has had
clean sheets in each of his last three
starts.
Diego Valeri lobbed a free kick
into the center of the area and, after it
defl ected of defender Sebastien Ibe-
agha, Blanco scored on a fi rst-timer in
the 14th minute.
NYCFC (7-2-8) lost for the fi rst time
since a 4-0 loss to Toronto on March 29
and had its 12-game unbeaten streak
snapped.
Portland (7-8-2) has won back-to-
back games for the fi rst time since a
three-game win streak from April 20 to
May 4 and has four wins in its last six.
Portland Timbers mid-
fi elder Sebastian Blan-
co (10) battles for the
ball with New York City
defender
Sebastien
Ibeagha, left, during
the second half of an
MLS soccer match Sun-
day in New York.
AP Photo/Adam Hunger