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Thursday American Legion — District 2 Tournament, 5 p.m. at RBHS MLB—Rockies at Braves, 10 a.m., MLBN MLB—Cubs at Nationals, 4 p.m., WGN MLB—Athletics at Rangers, 5 p.m., CSNC MLB—Padres at Giants, 7 p.m., CSNB Tour de France — Stage 6, 5 a.m., VERSUS Sports 1B Thursday July 7, 2011 Athletics beat Mariners OAKLAND (AP) — Guillermo Moscoso was more worried about shutting down Seattle than his status in Oakland’s rotation. Moscoso made a strong case to keep his spot by allowing two hits in seven innings and Scott Sizemore homered to help the Athletics salvage the finale of a three-game series with a 2-0 victory over the Mariners on Wednesday. ‘‘Like I said before the game. I have to be focused today and not worry about if this would be my last start,’’ Moscoso said. ‘‘I just had to stay focused and make quality pitches today and give the team a chance to win. That’s what we’re looking for.’’ Sizemore hit a solo homer in the second inning and added an RBI sin- gle in the fifth against Jason Vargas (6- 6) to give Moscoso (3-4) more than enough support to win for the first time since May 29. Moscoso won his first two starts before going 0-4 in June, despite post- ing a 2.25 ERA. Despite the solid per- formance, Moscoso’s spot in Oak- land’s rotation is in jeopardy with Tyson Ross expected to come off the disabled list following the All-Star break. ‘‘I just have to do my best, keep doing my best and try to stay deep into games and give the team a chance to win,’’ he said. ‘‘Any role, starter or reliever. I’m just trying to stay here as long as I can.’’ Moscoso made a strong case to remain in Oakland’s starting five, allowing only singles to Dustin Ack- ley in the second inning and Adam Kennedy in the seventh. Moscoso struck out five, walked one and got 13 of his outs in play on flyballs. Moscoso has allowed just one earned run in his past 24 2-3 innings, lowering his ERA to 2.16. ‘‘Every time out he’s been that strong,’’ closer Andrew Bailey said. ‘‘I wouldn’t say today is his best but it’s definitely one of them. Everything he’s asked to do he’s done, whether it’s bullpen or start. Each and every time out he’s made the most of the opportunity. It’s going to be a tough decision. That’s what you want. You want the front office to have to make a tough decision. That means you’re Little League Updates LITTLE LEAGUE The tournament resumed Wednesday night with loser bracket games featuring Corning against Yreka and Cotton- wood versus Foothill. The winners advanced to play tonight at 6 p.m. in West Redding. Red Bluff will also play tonight at 6 p.m., in a winner’s bracket game semifinal against East Redding. LITTLE LEAGUE Cottonwood won the District Tournament by battling back in the championship to beat Foothill twice. Corning finished third and Red Bluff was fourth. LITTLE LEAGUE Corning claimed the District title by knocking off Red Bluff 7-1, Tuesday night. They advance to sectional play. LITTLE LEAGUE MCT photo Guillermo Moscoso pitches Wednesday against Seattle. pitching well and playing good base- ball.’’ Joey Devine pitched a perfect eighth and Bailey finished for his eighth save in nine chances. The Mariners managed just two hits and had their three-game winning streak snapped. ‘‘We just didn’t put a lot of pressure on him,’’ DH Adam Kennedy said of Moscoso. ‘‘You look at his numbers and he’s a flyball pitcher but we should be able to make adjustments. We just didn’t get it done today.’’ The A’s lost the first two games between the AL’s lowest-scoring teams in predictably tight fashion. Seattle won the opener 2-1 behind a strong start by Michael Pineda and then won 4-2 Tuesday with help from a throwing error by Oakland shortstop Cliff Pennington in the 10th inning. Sizemore got the A’s started in the first inning when he turned on a first- pitch fastball from Vargas and drove it into the left-field seats for his third homer of the season to make it 1-0. Oakland added a second run in the fifth inning when Pennington reached second on an infield single and throw- ing error by shortstop Brendan Ryan. He moved to third on a balk and scored on Sizemore’s two-out hit to center field. Vargas allowed two runs and five hits in eight innings for his fourth complete game in his past seven starts. ‘‘Sizemore got him a couple times but Jason threw the ball well again, gave us every opportunity to win the ballgame,’’ manager Eric Wedge said. ‘‘You can’t say enough about how consistent he’s been. He was efficient all day long.’’ South Korea to host 2018 winter Olympics DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — The victory margin was massive and the mes- sage loud and clear: Persis- tence paid off for South Korea in its third consecu- tive bid for the Winter Olympics. After two stinging defeats in a decade of trying, the South Korean city of Pyeongchang finally won its Olympic prize Wednesday, burying two European rivals in a landslide vote for the 2018 Winter Games and bringing them back to the lucrative Asian market. ‘‘We are grateful to peo- ple who persevere and are patient, and each time the bid has improved,’’ Interna- tional Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said. The Koreans lost narrow- ly in the final round of vot- ing for the 2010 and 2014 Games, but this time they defeated Munich and Annecy, France, by a one- sided margin that few had expected. ‘‘Koreans have been waiting for 10 years to host the Winter Games,’’ bid leader Cho Yang-ho said. ‘‘Now we have finally achieved our dream. ‘‘I believe that all the IOC members understood our message. They under- stood it was right time, right place, right now.’’ Needing 48 votes for vic- tory, Pyeongchang won an overwhelming 63 of the 95 cast in the first round of the secret ballot. Munich received 25 and Annecy seven. ‘‘I was surprised by the one-round victory and I was surprised by the margin,’’ Rogge told The Associated Press. ‘‘We had three techni- cally equivalent bids and then the other factors came into play and definitely the patience and perseverance of the Koreans has been rewarded.’’ South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who deliv- ered a speech in English during the final presentation, reminded the IOC of his country’s successful hosting of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and said: ‘‘Now Korea wants to give back to the Olympic move- ment and to the world.’’ Pyeongchang will be the third city in Asia and first outside Japan to host the Winter Games. Japan held the games in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998. Under the slogan ‘‘New Horizons,’’ Pyeongchang drove home the theme that it deserved to win on a third try by offering the potential of spreading the Olympics to a lucrative new market and become a hub for winter sports in the region. ‘‘They have tried very hard and they have done everything that we told them to do and I think that a lot of people felt that they really deserved it,’’ Norwegian IOC executive board mem- ber Gerhard Heiberg said. ‘‘And they will have a really good legacy for the whole of east Asia.’’ Pyeongchang hit all the right notes in its final pre- sentation, combining emo- tion and humor with its solid technical bid plans. ‘‘We never gave up, and tried again and listened to your advice and improved our plans,’’ said Kim Jin- sun, the former governor of Gangwon Province, where Pyeongchang is located. ‘‘I believe it is my destiny to stand in front of you for the third time,’’ he said, his voice choking and eyes welling with tears. ‘‘Our people have waited for over 10 years for the Winter Olympics. Today I humbly ask for your support for the chance of hosting the Winter Games for the first time in our country.’’ The Korean victory fol- lowed the IOC’s trend in recent votes, having taken the Winter Games to Russia (Sochi) for the first time in 2014 and giving South America its first Olympics with the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. ‘‘It’s kind of like the Rio situation where it’s time,’’ Canadian IOC member Dick Pound said. ‘‘They’ve been here twice already. ... They’ve done everything they’ve been asked to do. If you’re a worldwide organi- zation, you have got to be able to show that by moving around the world.’’ Waving Korean flags, Pyeongchang delegates in the conference hall erupted in cheers and chants after Rogge opened a sealed envelope and read the words they had longed to hear: ‘‘The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the 23rd Olympic Winter Games in 2018 are awarded to the city of Pyeongchang.’’ President Lee turned to 20-year-old reigning Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na, who was in tears. ‘‘I am lost for words about now,’’ Kim said. ‘‘I’m really excited. It will be very good to compete in my own country.’’ In Pyeongchang, hun- dreds of people watching a giant TV screen at a ski jump venue roared with delight, dancing, hugging and shedding tears of joy. Despite South Korea’s elation, worries about North Korea will likely linger over the Pyeongchang Games. The town of 47,000 people, 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of Seoul, is in Gangwon province, which shares a tense border with the com- munist country. North and South Korea technically remain in a state of war, with their 1950-53 conflict ending in a truce, not a peace treaty, and ten- sions have been high since Seoul said the North sank a South Korean warship last year, killing 46 sailors. Also last year, North Korea shelled a South Korean island, killing four people, including two civilians. Still, both countries have cooperated before in the sports arena. In 2002, South Korea helped pay for North Korea to send cheerleaders to the Busan Asian Games. Athletes from the two Kore- as also marched together in the opening ceremony at the Sydney and Athens Olympics. Pyeongchang has stressed during its bids that a Winter Olympics would encourage a mood of peace and even prod North Korea into reaching out to the world. It was the first time an Olympic bid race with more than two finalists was decid- ed in the first round since 1995, when Salt Lake City defeated three others to win the 2002 Winter Games. The Utah capital, later embroiled in a bribery scan- dal related to the bid, won by 40 votes — 54 to 14 each for Sion and Ostersund. Red Bluff was playing in the winner’s bracket semi- final Wednesday night against West Redding. The winner moves onto the championship round, while East Redding will play the loser tonight at 6 p.m. in Mt. Shasta. Red Bluff sent East Redding to the loser’s bracket in their first game with a 6-2 win. Red Bluff opened up with four runs in the first inning. Drew Stacy led off with a bunt single then went to second on a throwing error. Justin Nicholls added a sin- gle driving in Stacy, followed by a walk by Ian Hoskins. Three consecutive singles by Koleby Potter, Casey Moore and Nolan Stacy drove in the next three runs. Red Bluff scored one more run in the fourth when Stacy bunted safely to lead off and stole second, before Nicholls plated him with a double. The final score came when Moore capped a 3-for-3 game with a home run over the left center wall for the final score in the fifth. Nicholls pitched 5-1/3 allowing two run and striking out seven. Hoskins came in to relieve Nicholls and threw 10 pitches to retire the side and close out the game. Red Bluff beat Cottonwood 8-1 in their second game. Stacy again got things started for Red Bluff with a game opening bunt. He was sacrificed to second by Colton Youngblood. Hoskins doubled to score Stacy. Hoskins scored after stealing second base and came home on an RBI single by Potter. Red Bluff scored three in the third with doubles by Nicholls and Potter and a single by Hoskins. Red Bluff experienced the long ball, for the second time of the tournament when Nicholls blasted a solo home run in the top of the fifth. The final two runs for Red Bluff were in the sixth when they rolled off five consecutive base hits, starting with Ian Skejgstad’s first hit of the tournament. Red Bluff’s defense was stellar behind another pitch- ing gem by Hoskins, who went five complete innings, allowing only the one run in the fifth, on four hits, while striking out seven. Potter came in close out the game by striking out the side in the bottom of the sixth on 15 pitches. LITTLE LEAGUE The three-team double-elimination tournament began Tuesday with Redding beating Cottonwood 6-0. Corning was playing Redding, Wednesday night. LITTLE LEAGUE Corning faces East Redding, Friday, at 6 p.m. in a battle of the Northern and Southern bracket unde- feated teams. The winner heads to the championship, while the loser will have to play the winner of the North- ern and Southern bracket teams with one loss each. Tehama Tracker AMERICAN LEGION The Red Bluff Bulls play host to the American Legion baseball district tournament beginning today at Red Bluff Union High School. The Redding Rattlers will face the Shasta Coun- ty Trojans at 4 p.m. The loser sticks around to play Red Bluff Bulls at 7 p.m. Baseball Division (11, 12) Little League Softball Division (11, 12) Little League 9-and 10-year-old Softball Division Baseball Division 11-year-old Seattle 0 Athletics 2 Baseball Division Junior 9-and 10-year-old Baseball Division American Legion District 2 Tournament