A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
PAC-12 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
OREGON STATE 88, NO. 14 OREGON 77
Goodman scores 20, Beavs upset ranked rivals
Associated Press
EUGENE — Aleah Good-
man scored 20 points, leading six
into double figures as a deep and
balanced Oregon State offense
knocked off No. 14 Oregon 88-
77 in the annual rivalry game on
Sunday.
The game was a regular-season
finale for both teams, who await
seeding into the conference tour-
nament March 3-7 in Las Vegas.
Goodman scored on break-
aways,on stepbacks and added
a pair of 3-pointers for good
measure. Sasha Goforth added
17 points for Oregon State (9-6,
7-6 Pac-12), making 9 of 9 free
throws. Ellie Mack and Taya
Corosdale each scored 14; Coros-
dale hitting 4 of 5 from beyond
the arc. Taylor Jones scored 11
and Talia von Oelhoffen 10 for
the Beavers, who shot 50% for the
game (27 of 54) with 11 3-point-
ers.
Sedona Prince paced the Ducks
(13-7, 10-7) with 22 points on 9 of
15 shooting, but scored only four
in nine minutes after halftime.
Taylor Mikesell and Erin Boley
each added 16 points and Nyara
Sabally 13 with 10 rebounds for
Oregon. It was Sabally’s fourth
double-double of the season.
After a 6-2 spurt to begin the
contest, the Beavers led for all
but the final 1:41 of the opening
quarter. A pair of Goforth free
throws followed by a Corosdale
3 put Oregon State on top 31-27.
Oregon tied it at 31 but never re-
gained the lead.
The Beavers broke away with a
14-4 run over the last 5:04 of the
third quarter, holding Oregon
to four free throws, to lead by 11
going into the final period. The
Ducks never came closer than
eight.
PGA TOUR
Morikawa steady,
thanks Tiger
MLB | Spring training
Welcome back
Optimism abounds as spring baseball includes fans
Brynn Anderson/AP
PGA champion Col-
lin Morikawa shook off
an early mistake and
played a steady hand on
a Concession golf course
known for calamity, clos-
ing with a 3-under 69 for
a three-shot victory in the
Workday Championship.
Morikawa picked up a
few short-game tips from
major champions —
Mark O’Meara on his put-
ting, Concession mem-
ber Paul Azinger on the
chipping — and he says
it carried him to another
big win.
And there was a trib-
ute to Tiger Woods, his
golf idol growing up.
“We don’t say ‘Thank
you’ enough,” Morikawa
said, referring to how
much Woods has raised
the profile and prize
money in golf. He also
mentioned his grandfa-
ther dying a month ago
and began to get emo-
tional.
Morikawa won by
three over Brooks Koepka
(70), Viktor Hovland (67)
and Billy Horschel (70).
He finished at 18-un-
der 270 and became
the 24th player to win a
major and a World Golf
Championship title since
this series began in 1999.
He joined Woods as the
only players to win both
before turning 25.
There were red num-
bers on the board and
on the golf course, with
several players wearing
red shirts and black pants
— the Sunday colors of
Woods — as a show of
support as Woods recov-
ers from career-threaten-
ing leg injuries from his
car crash in Los Angeles
last Tuesday.
Fans sit in social distance squares during a spring training baseball game with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox on Sunday in Fort Myers, Florida.
NASCAR
BY DAVID BRANDT
Associated Press
S
COTTSDALE, Ariz. —
Brian Delaney checked his
ticket, found his seats and
then sat down for a minute in the
sunshine. It wasn’t a typical late
February day in Arizona — a little
cool, a little breezy — but Delaney
didn’t complain a bit.
“You ever been through a Colo-
rado winter?” the Colorado Rock-
ies fan said with a grin.
The good humor and smiles
were easy to find as baseball fans
streamed into Sunday afternoon’s
spring training opener between
the Rockies and Arizona Dia-
mondbacks. A downward trend
in COVID-19 cases throughout
most of the country has meant
that a limited amount of fans are
allowed back in spring training
facilities throughout Arizona and
Florida.
At Salt River Fields at Talking
Stick, the crowd was capped at
about 2,200 fans, which is 16% of
the usual capacity. Delaney said
he never hesitated to get tick-
ets for himself and Debra Mier-
zwa once they went on sale a few
weeks ago.
“Oh yeah,” Delaney said. “We
were never worried. This is great.”
The happy and halfway-nor-
mal scene on Sunday was a far cry
Jae C. Hong/AP
A young fan wears a face mask while watching a spring game between the San
Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Angels in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Sunday.
from 353 days ago, when incredu-
lous fans stood outside Salt River
Fields and digested the news that
baseball — and pretty much the
rest of the world — was being
shutdown because of the spread-
ing coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly a year later, things are
very different.
“It seemed like forever,” said
Brandon Ramsey, who lives in
the Phoenix area and went to the
Reds-Indians game in Goodyear
on Sunday. “Last year got cut a
little short. To come out here for
opening day is just fantastic. They
did a great job in socially dis-
tancing. They made sure we were
safe.”
Aside from the World Series
and NL Championship Series
held last October at a neutral-site
park in Arlington, Texas, this
marked the first time fans were
allowed at big league baseball
games since March 12.
By now the safety protocols for
sports events have become famil-
iar. Fans in Scottsdale are spread
out in small pods of two, four or
six people. Masks are worn except
when eating and drinking. People
sitting on blankets in the grass be-
yond the outfield wall were given
spray-painted squares to stay sep-
arate. Cleaning crews are ubiq-
uitous.
But spring baseball appears to
have considerable safety advan-
tage over its NBA, NHL and col-
lege basketball counterparts: It’s
played outdoors where studies
have shown the virus is less effec-
tive at spreading.
“We feel really good about our
ability to host spring training in
the safest possible way,” Cactus
League executive director Bridget
Binsbacher said.
All 30 teams in Major League
Baseball are allowing fans at their
spring training facilities in Ari-
zona and Florida, though capac-
ity will be severely limited. The
Chicago Cubs are welcoming the
most fans (3,630 per game) while
the San Francisco Giants will have
the fewest (1,000 per game).
The Yankees and Twins have
the largest percentage of seats
available, with the potential to
reach 28% of capacity.
Fans certainly seem excited
about getting back to the park.
The players have missed them,
too.
See Baseball / A6
Byron is another
surprise winner
After years of seeing
a handful of drivers —
the same guys, really —
dominate NASCAR’s top
level nearly every week,
the Cup Series is expe-
riencing a little parity to
start the season.
It’s a welcome sight for
some. Others hope it’s a
fleeting moment.
William Byron was
the third surprise win-
ner through three races
this season with his vic-
tory Sunday at Home-
stead-Miami Speedway.
Byron joined Michael Mc-
Dowell and Christopher
Bell as unlikely winners to
start this season.
Byron controlled most
of the final two stages
at Homestead to win for
the second time in 111
Cup starts. His first one
came at Daytona last Au-
gust and landed him one
of the final spots in the
playoffs.
No one saw that one
coming.
Byron entered the
weekend as a 28-1 shot
to win a race many ex-
pected would provide a
return to normal for the
racing series.
— Associated Press