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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN Thursday, July 11, 2019 WIMBLEDON Federer, Nadal to play at Wimbledon for 1st time since 2008 By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer WIMBLEDON, England — All these years later, Roger Federer and rafael Nadal will meet again at Wimbledon for the 40th install- ment of their terrific rivalry — and first at the All England Club since their memorable 2008 final. “Such a long time,” Nadal said. They moved on to the semifinal showdown everyone’s been think- ing about since the tournament draw by each overcoming a tough opening set Wednesday. A 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Kei Nishikori gave the No. 2-seeded Federer his 100th match win at the All England Club, the first man to reach that total at any Grand Slam tournament. Not long after that ended on Centre Court, the No. 3-seeded Nadal finished off Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 Court. Friday’s other semifinal will draw far less attention: No. 1 Novak djokovic, the defending champion, against No. 23 Roberto Bautista agut, never before this far at a major. looking ahead to what comes next for himself, Federer said: “Obviously, I know people always hype it up.” Well, why shouldn’t they? These are, after all, two of the greatest players in tennis’ long history, winners of more Grand Slam titles than any other men. Of Federer’s 20, a record eight came at Wimbledon. Of Nadal’s 18, 12 came at the French Open, where he routed Federer in the semifinals last month. That gave Nadal a 24-15 career edge head-to-head, including 10-3 at the Slams. But that one was on the red clay Nadal rules. This one is on Feder- er’s territory: grass. This is their fourth matchup at Wimbledon — and first that won’t come in the final. Federer beat Nadal for the 2006 and 2007 titles, but Nadal won the championship 11 years ago in a 9-7 fifth set as dusk descended. “Well, we have a lot of infor- mation on rafa, and so does he about us,” Federer said. “So you can either dive into tactics and all that stuff like mad for two days — or you’re just going to say: ‘You know what? It’s grass-court tennis and I’m going to come out there and play attacking tennis.’ And if he can defend that, that’s too good. and if he can’t, well, then, that’s good for me.” It is the 13th time that the Big Three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are in the semifinals at a major tournament together. On 11 of the previous occasions, one of them claimed the title. There were some shaky moments for each Wednesday. “The beginning,” Federer said, “was brutal.” The eighth-seeded Nishikori jumped out to an early edge by breaking in the very first game, FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 Pepsi Diamondjaxx sweep Pendleton Black Sox in doubleheader By BRETT KANE East Oregonian PENdlETON — after spend- ing two weeks on the road, Pend- leton’s 16u Pepsi diamondjaxx summer baseball team returned home for another win, even if it wasn’t against the team they were expecting. The diamondjaxx were slated to play Irrigon, but because Irri- gon came up short-staffed on Wednesday, Pendleton’s 13U Black sox traveling team took their place. The Diamondjaxx made off with the doubleheader sweep in the last-minute Pendle- ton civil war. “It’s a little unorthodox,” Dia- mondjaxx coach Nick Bower admitted, “but the Black sox are a tough team. They’re a good squad. They’re going to be studs.” The diamondjaxx won the opener 13-3, then had to rally in the bottom of the seventh in the nightcap for a 9-8 victory. although the Black sox scored the game’s first run in the opener, the diamondjaxx wasted no time responding. Kobe Fell led off in the bottom of the first, stealing second base before moving on to third following an error at second. Blane Peal drove in Fell, and Jack Monkman stoled home on a fielder’s choice that benched Peal. The inning gave the diamondjaxx a 3-1 advantage. The Black sox knocked down a double play at third and second base in the bottom of the second to slow down the diamondjaxx’s scoring, but the 16u team put up five runs in the next inning before the Black Sox got even one out. By the fourth inning, the Dia- mondjaxx were up 11-1, threaten- ing an early game. Brock Mackey delayed the win by driving in an RBI-single in the top of the fifth. Monkman got the diamond- jaxx back on track, however, See Baseball, Page B2 Pendleton 12u softball DEFENDS STATE TITLE Photo contributed by Julie Murphy Pendleton’s 12U All-Star Little League softball team poses for a team photo after defending its state title against Redmond in Keizer on Wednesday. Pendleton’s little league all-stars take down redmond for fourth state title By BRETT KANE East Oregonian KEIZER — For the fourth year in a row, the Pendleton 12u softball pro- gram won the state championship. On Wednesday evening, the Pendleton’s 12u all-star little league softball team cruised to a 14-0 shutout over redmond, success- fully defending its state championship title. It was the second consecutive win that this lineup has claimed. “We did this last year with the same group of girls,” coach Scott Wil- son said. “There was a lot of pressure on them this year. Everyone expected them to do it again. The girls felt it. They made it look easy. They’re great kids and tremendous athletes — every one of them. I couldn’t be more proud.” The victory was the second shut out of their state run — the team came in hot after a 16-0 win over East lane/ Sheldon on Monday. Pendleton may have been slow to start, but no matter — their redmond rivals had trouble containing them, amassing eight errors by the game’s end. Following her single, Melanie Boat- man rounded two more bases and crossed home on an error at third base to put Pendleton on the board in the Photo contributed by Julie Murphy Pendleton’s Lea Wilson hits a Redmond pitch in a Little League softball state title game in Keizer on Wednesday. top of the first. Bailey Moore singled to score Maddy Lieuallen one inning later, and Madaline schumacher and Nessa Neveau capitalized on two more red- mond errors for a healthy 4-0 lead by the top of the third. “We were aggressive on base today,” Wilson said. “We took advantage of some defensive errors when (redmond) made them. There wasn’t a whole lot of action on the field, but when there was, we did exactly what we needed to do.” However, the All-Stars really came to life in the fourth. With two outs on the board, Avery Krighaum and Nessa Neveau scored on two more passed balls, and Neveau, lieuallen, and lea Wilson all drove in additional runs as redmond’s defense struggled to stop the offensive charge. and Pendleton still wasn’t through, as the team put up five more runs in the following inning that would secure the championship title. Krighaum and Boatman both sin- gled, and schumacher walked to load See Softball, Page B2 See Tennis, Page B2 SPORTS SHORTS Memorial to marathon bombing victims takes shape in Boston Associated Press BOsTON — Four bronze spires that will make up part of a memorial to the victims of the Boston Marathon bomb- ings have been put in place near the finish line. The spires, ranging in height from about 17 feet to 21 feet, will serve as light poles for the memorial. They were installed Wednesday at one of the two locations where pres- sure cooker bombs detonated on april 15, 2013, killing three people and wounding more than 260 others. Memorials will eventually stand at both sites and will also honor two police officers who died after the attacks. Planning began four years ago for the $2 million memo- rial, and it’s since undergone substantial redesign. artist Pablo Eduardo has said it’s important to meet the hopes and expectations of families who lost loved ones. Lighting designers dis- cuss the plan to install light in bronze pillars, as a memorial to victims of the 2013 Boston Mar- athon bombings takes shape on Wednesday at one of the bombing lo- cations near the finish line on Boylston Street in Boston. AP Photo/Elise Amendola