INSIDE: COMICS, OPINIONS & CLASSIFIEDS
B
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • SaTUrday, aprIL 10, 2021
MEN’S COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
Ducks rescheduling
top opponents
EUGENE — At one
point or another Oregon
was scheduled to poten-
tially play three of the
four No. 1 seeds in this
year’s NCAA Tournament,
including national cham-
pion Baylor, and two of
those teams still owe the
Ducks games at Matthew
Knight Arena.
Michigan and Hous-
ton were scheduled to
play at Oregon this sea-
son, Baylor was going to
be a neutral site game at
T-Mobile Arena in Las Ve-
gas and Illinois was also
in the four-team field at
the Emerald Coast Clas-
sic. All of those games
were scrapped due to the
pandemic, but Michigan,
Houston and Baylor are
all still supposed to play at
UO at some point, possi-
bly in 2021-22.
“We’re talking with
people trying to get
schedules to match up,”
Oregon coach Dana Alt-
man. “Everybody looks at
home and road in a par-
ticular year, they want to
get X number of home
games, X number of roads
games and we’re the
same. We’re going to play
those people sometime
— they owe us a game,
we’re not going to let
them off the hook — I just
don’t know when. But we
are in discussions trying to
get everything going.”
For now, the Ducks
have at least three games
scheduled as part of the
Maui Invitational from
Nov. 22-24 in Hawaii. The
eight-team field also in-
cludes Wisconsin, Texas
A&M, Butler, Notre Dame,
Houston, Saint Mary’s and
Chaminade.
“Hopefully they won’t
send us to North Carolina
to play that; we’ll go to
Maui,” Altman said, re-
ferring to the site of this
year’s Maui Invitational,
which was relocated due
to the pandemic.
— The Oregonian
MLB
Dodgers receive
World Series rings
LOS ANGELES — The
Los Angeles Dodgers re-
ceived their World Series
rings Friday in front of the
loyal hometown fans who
didn’t get to witness their
2020 championship run
in person.
Clayton Kershaw,
Mookie Betts and the
Dodgers collected their
jewelry before Los An-
geles’ home opener. The
team also raised a cham-
pionship banner behind
center field to the roars
of a Chavez Ravine crowd
that made up for its pan-
demic-limited numbers
with joyous noise.
Those fans never got
into Dodger Stadium to
witness their team’s run to
its first championship in
32 years.
“We’ve had a year that
we could have never
imagined,” said Dodgers
owner Mark Walter.
The Dodgers intro-
duced each player with a
congratulatory video from
one of his baseball heroes
Pitcher David Price got
a World Series ring de-
spite opting out of his first
season with Los Angeles
due to the pandemic, but
he announced he is auc-
tioning the ring to benefit
The Players Alliance and
its social justice causes.
The Dodgers also
took a moment to honor
Tommy Lasorda, the be-
loved former manager
who died in January, just
over two months after he
witnessed Los Angeles’
championship-clinching
victory in Texas.
— Associated Press
bendbulletin.com/sports
PREP SPORTS
Sisters returns to 4A state volleyball match
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
For months, the Sisters vol-
leyball program was unsure
whether it would have a chance
to compete for a state champi-
onship. Now, it has the oppor-
tunity to capture the program’s
seventh state title since 1996.
Saturday at 4 p.m. at Pleasant
Hill High School, the Outlaws
will take on Sweet Home High
for the third time this season
— this time with the Class 4A
state championship on the line.
“This is something that we
have been looking forward to,”
said Sisters coach Rory Rush,
whose program last won a state
“This is something that we have been looking forward to.
To go back for the championship game is super exciting.
The biggest thing for us is not getting caught up in the
excitement of the game.”
— Rory Rush, Sisters volleyball coach
championship when this year’s
senior class were freshmen
in 2017. “To go back for the
championship game is super
exciting.”
The Outlaws had to take the
long road to reach the state title
game. Because they shared the
Oregon West Conference title
with Sweet Home, the Huskies
got the higher seed due to a set
tiebreaker — meaning sixth-
seeded Sisters had to travel for
each of its playoff matches.
With victories over Cor-
bett (28-26, 25-14, 25-20) and
Junction City (25-15, 25-16,
25-20) in the 4A Showcase —
the classification’s postseason
alternative because there is no
Oregon School Activities Asso-
ciation-sanctioned postseason
due to COVID-19 — the Out-
laws are starting to peak at the
right time.
“We played loose, we played
confident, we served well, we
kept them out of their system,”
said Rush about Thursday’s
semifinal win over Corbett.
“We just looked really good.”
To win a title, the Outlaws
will have to beat the only 4A
team that has defeated them
this season, 3-0 in the final reg-
ular season game. Sisters and
Sweet Home split the series,
with each team winning on its
home court.
“The biggest thing for us is
not getting caught up in the
excitement of the game,” said
Rush on the keys to winning
the match. “Knowing it is a
big game, but not letting that
get to us. We have to limit un-
forced errors.
“We know that we can com-
pete with them; beating them
at our place we know we can
go toe-to-toe with them hit-
ting and serving,” added Rush.
“The biggest thing is playing
with mental toughness when
you are playing a league oppo-
nent and rival.”
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0307,
brathbone@bendbulletin.com
WORLD CUP SKIING
THE
RIGHT
TIME
Bend’s Laurenne Ross
announces retirement from
World Cup alpine ski racing
BY MARK MORICAL
The Bulletin
or Bend’s Laurenne
F
Ross, it was simply the
Alessandro Trovati/AP file
right time.
Bend’s Laurenne Ross competes in downhill training at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Jeongseon, South Korea, in February 2018.
After a gritty career defined by
injuries and dramatic comebacks,
Ross announced her retirement from
World Cup alpine skiing Thursday
through her social media.
“From the community to the thrills,
the injuries and pain, the sights, the
flow, the love and the growth, I’m so
grateful for every single part of my
adventure through ski racing,” Ross
posted on Instagram and Facebook.
“It feels like I’m about to lose an enor-
mous part of myself, but I am com-
forted by the gut feeling that ‘it’s time.’”
Ross, 32, overcame several major
“From the community to the thrills, the injuries and pain, the sights, the
flow, the love and the growth, I’m so grateful for every single part of my
adventure through ski racing. It feels like I’m about to lose an enormous
part of myself, but I am comforted by the gut feeling that ‘it’s time.’ ”
— Laurenne Ross, in social media posts
knee injuries throughout her career, as
well as a shattered pelvis, shoulder dis-
locations, a hip tear, bulging discs and
severe ankle sprains.
She said her final race will be at the
U.S. Championships that conclude
next week in Aspen, Colorado.
Ross is a two-time Olympian who
raced the downhill at both the 2014
and 2018 Winter Olympics, her top
finish 11th at the Sochi Games. She
also made two World Cup podiums
and was fifth in the downhill at the
World Championships in 2017.
In 2016, Ross finished eighth in the
World Cup standings in super-G and
10th in downhill.
In 2017, she finished ninth in
downhill in the standings.
Ross, who mainly competed in
the speed events, made a grueling
comeback from a devastating right
knee injury in March 2017 to qual-
ify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in
Pyeongchang, where she finished 15th
in both the downhill and super-G.
See Ross / B2
GOLF | THE MASTERS
Rose clings to lead as Spieth, Thomas lurk
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Justin
Rose was happy enough to still
have the lead Friday at the Mas-
ters, even if only by a fraction
on a day when Augusta Na-
tional was more forgiving and
he had to rally just to shoot par.
The two players right behind
had reason to be thrilled just to
be at the Masters.
One of them was Brian Har-
man, barely inside the top 100
in the world a month ago un-
til two good weeks changed
his fortunes. The other was
24-year-old Will Zalatoris, who
just over a year ago was toiling
in the minor leagues and still
doesn’t have a full PGA Tour
card.
Gregory Bull/AP
Dustin Johnson looks down after putting on the 18th hole during Fri-
day’s second round of the Masters in Augusta, Georgia. The reigning
Masters champion closed bogey-bogey to miss the cut by two strokes.
“I wanted to be here my en-
tire life,” Zalatoris said after
birdies on his last three holes
for a 4-under 68. “Some peo-
ple shy away from that, but
I’m excited to be here. There’s
no reason to feel intimidated
now. I made it to here. And ob-
viously, the job is not done by
any means.”
The job is over for defend-
ing champion Dustin Johnson,
who bogeyed three of his last
four holes for a 75 to miss the
cut by two shots.
For everyone else, it’s just
getting started.
Ten players were within
three shots of Rose, who had
a 72 and was at 7-under 137.
That group included former
Masters champion Jordan Spi-
eth, who is coming off a victory
last week in the Texas Open
and is starting to look like the
Spieth of old, even at age 27.
“Having made a triple and
five over-par holes through
two rounds, I feel pretty good
about being at 5 under,” Spieth
said after a 68.
The group three shots be-
Gregory Bull/AP
Justin Rose hits out of a bunker on the seventh hole during Friday’s sec-
ond round of the Masters in Augusta, Georgia.
hind included Si Woo Kim,
who played the final four
holes without a putter that he
broke out of frustration. Af-
ter a three-putt bogey on the
14th and a chip that nearly ran
off the green at the 15th, he
jammed the head of the club
into the turf and damaged it.
Kim used a fairway metal to
close with four pars and a 69.
Asked if he had a backup putter,
Kim replied, “No. I don’t want
to answer anymore. Sorry.”
Rose was staked to a four-
shot lead at the start of a warm,
overcast day and it was gone
after seven holes. He didn’t
drop a shot the rest of the way,
picked up three birdies on the
back nine and salvaged the day.
“Just a classic day at Augusta
National when you’re slightly
off,” Rose said. “I kind of told
myself going up the eighth
hole, ‘You’re leading the Mas-
ters. Your frame of reference is
a little bit different to yesterday.
Four ahead is something, but
you’re still leading. So just enjoy
it and keep it going.’”
See Masters / B2