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ByJeffFaraudo BayAreaNewsGroup OAKLAND Klay Thompson's as- signment in the Western Confer- ence finals is straightforward: Try to keep James Harden, NBA's most prolific free-throw shooter, off the foul line. "It's very difficult to do, but it is imperative," said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose club opens against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena. "How many times did he get to the line in (the conference semi- final) Game 7 ... 18 times?" Harden was only 7 for 20 from the field Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers, but the Rock- ets won their third consecutive game to close out the series be- cause Harden converted 15 of 18 free-throw attempts and scored 31 points. The runner-up to Stephen Curry for the MVP and the league's No. 2 scorer, Harden practically has a reserved park- ing sign at the foul line. He at- tempted 824 free throws this sea- son — more than 10 a game. He has shot 107 since the playoffs be- WARRIORS GoldenState will try to keep Harden off FT line By John Hickey Bay Area News Group HOUSTON The A's visited their most successful venue Monday night, Minute Maid Park, and once again enjoyed success. After losing 10 of their previ- ous 11 games, the A's scratched out a 2-1 win over the Astros, the American League West leader when Brett Lawrie's bases-loaded single in the sixth broke a 1-all tie. The A's came to Houston April 13-15 and won two of three, in- cluding the only back-to-back wins all season for Oakland, still stuck in last place in the West at 14-26 at the one-quarter mark of the season. The A's are 3-1 in Houston, 11-25 everywhere else. Although Oakland won a one- run game for just the second time in 15 tries and survived another error, the night wasn't all enjoy- ment. Starter Drew Pomeranz left the game in the fifth inning with left shoulder tightness. BASEBALL A's win one- run game over Astros JustinSmithhitthegymlike Monday mornings, or any other morning. Then he had news to share, but not in a retirement ceremony with him in a suit and tie, nor even in his favorite bluejeans and cowboy boots. 49ERS SF'sSmithdecides to retire from NFL FULLSTORYONPAGEB2 Red Bluff High School's baseball team is scheduled to visit Pleasant Valley at 4p.m. today for a Northern Sec- tion CIF semifinal elimination game. The two teams split a doubleheader on Friday. BASEBALL PLAYOFFS Red Bluff visits Pleasant Valley today The third-seeded Corning Car- dinals are scheduled to host No. 6Central Valley in the first round of the Northern Section CIF so ball playoffs at 4p.m. today. The winner will go on to face either Sutter or Winters. SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS No. 3 Corning hosts Central Valley today Get your puzzles fix with the NEA Crossword, 7Little Words and Celebrity Cipher, start your day off right with your horoscope, and read the latest advice doled out by Amy Dickinson. YOUR DAILY BREAK Fun and games inside today PAGE B3 By Joseph Shufelberger jshufelberger@chicoer.com @JShufelberger on Twitter RED BLUFF The Pleasant Val- ley High baseball team showed some fight in overcoming 5-0 and 8-3 deficits in the first game of a doubleheader against the top-seeded Red Bluff Spar- tans in the best-of-three series in the Northern Section Division II semifinals. The hosts showed they had plenty themselves by bouncing back in the nightcap. A seven-run sixth inning first fueled Pleasant Valley's 12-9 vic- tory in the opener before sopho- more lefty Wesley Clawson lim- ited the Vikings to four hits in a complete-game effort the Spar- tans sorely needed in a 7-3 tri- umph that kept their season alive. That sets up the decisive third game at the Vikings' home at 4 p.m. today at Ron Doryland Field in the Hooker Oak Recre- ation Area. PV reliever Brandon Wright had his own big game, pitch- ing the final three innings of the first contest as he allowed one hit and ended up with the win after the momentum-shift- ing rally as he let the remaining Vikings' arms rest. "Our middle guys did an abso- lute fantastic job," said PV coach Fred Ludwig, including reliever Cooper Davis in the discussion after he soaked up innings in the nightcap while keeping the Vikings in it after a 4-0 deficit in the second inning. Ryan Steindorf, who didn't pitch Friday and would seem the likely choice for today's winner- take-all contest, was 3 of 4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored in the victory for fourth-seeded PV (18-11-2). Jaret Flint got the Vikings within 8-5, pulling a two-run home run to right field in the fifth. Justin Morris drove in two runs and had two hits. Jay Sals- bury and Tyler Maria had two hits. "We had a lot of energy in that game. We had a ton of energy. The kids believed," Ludwig said. For Red Bluff (25-8), Ryan Gamboa was 3 of 3 with a double and two RBIs. Sam Hendricks drove in two runs, and Bryce Sinclair had two hits. But the sixth inning turned it around for PV as Wright, bat- ting ninth, drew a leadoff walk and Salsbury also received a free pass. Busby reached on a fielder's choice, and Maria and Steindorf produced RBI singles. PV also scored a run on a wild pitch, another on a balk and a third on an error, one of two costly Spartans miscues in the rally. Morris then hit a catchable fly ball that fell for a hit, letting NORTHERN SECTION DIVISION II SEMIFINAL NO. 1 SPARTANS SPLIT WITH PV Championship berth to be decided today at Doryland Field Red Bluff High's Lane Pritchard throws against Pleasant Valley Friday at Red Bluff High School. PHOTOS BY ANDRE BYIK — DAILY NEWS Red Bluff High's Joseph Bosetti heads home in the first game of a doubleheader Friday against Pleasant Valley. By Joseph Shufelberger jshufelberger@chicoer.com @JShufelberger on Twitter CORNING The Northern Section softball playoff brackets were re- leased Saturday and as expected Pleasant Valley and Biggs were awarded the No. 1 seeds in their respective divisions. Those two aren't the lone area teams that are guaranteed at least one home game, however. Corning received the third seed and Willows the fourth seed in the DivisionIVplayoffs,andDurhamis fourth in Division V. All three host quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Pleasant Valley (17-13) and sec- ond-seeded Chico (10-16) are the lone teams in Division II. The two teamsdecidedtoplaytheirchampi- onshipat4p.m.Tuesdayalongwith all the other playoff games. The fi- nalwillbeattheVikings'homefield intheHookerOakRecreationArea. Admissionforplayoffgamesis$6 foradultsand$4forseniors,students with student ID and children in kin- dergarten through eighth grade. Chico and PV split their two Eastern Athletic-Sacramento River League meetings this sea- son with the home team winning each time. PV took the first con- test 15-7 on March 24 before the Panthers won 4-2 on May 1. Last year, the teams moved up their fi- nal to Wednesday but went with Tuesday this time around. The Division III field consists of four teams including No. 3 Para- dise (18-16). The Bobcats play at No. 2 Enterprise (19-13) at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The other semifinal fea- tures No. 4 Shasta (18-17) at No. 1 Foothill (26-7) with the winner advancing to the championship, which is set for 2 p.m. next Sat- urday at the higher-seeded semi- final winner's home field. The championships are all ten- tatively set for 2 p.m. next Satur- day but can be changed by mu- tual consent. In Division IV, No. 3 Corning (22-10-3) hosts sixth-seeded Cen- tral Valley (26-11) for a 4 p.m. Tuesday quarterfinal, and No. 4 Willows (17-7-2) hosts fifth-seeded Wheatland (15-15-1). Top-seeded Lassen (34-4) has a bye into the semifinals, which will be played at 4 p.m. Thursday at the higher seeded team's home field. The other D-IV quarterfinal has No. 7 Winters (13-17) at No. 2 Sutter (34-6-1) with the winner playing the Corning-CV winner. The Division V field has 11 teams and includes No. 4 Dur- ham (18-10) hosting No. 5 Mount Shasta (22-7)at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Sixth-seeded Hamilton (13-12) plays No. 11 CORE Butte (10-7) at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Colusa. The win- ner then takes on third-seeded Colusa (21-10-1) at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Seventh-seeded Modoc (17-11-1) plays No. 10 Etna (12-14-1) at 2 p.m. Tuesday in East Nicolaus, which is the second seed. The Modoc-Etna winner then plays host East Nico- laus (19-10) at 4 p.m. Ninth-seeded Trinity (13-14-1) plays No. 8 Esparto (11-12) at 2 p.m. Tuesday at top- seeded Quincy (19-6) with the host Trojansplayingthewinnerat4p.m. As with other brackets, the semifinals then will be played at 4 p.m. Thursday at the higher seed's home field with the championship set for 2 p.m. Saturday. The Division VI has eight teams includes No. 1 Biggs (20-4) hosting eighth-seeded Princeton (10-9) in a 4 p.m. Tuesday quar- terfinal. The other three games at 4 p.m. Tuesday are: No. 5 West- wood (8-5) at No. 4 Chester (17- 7-1), No. 6 Fall River (12-15-1) at No. 3 Dunsmuir (13-7) and No. 7 Burney (14-11-1) at No. 2 Redding Christian (19-4). Semifinals are at 4 p.m. Thurs- day with a 2 p.m. final Saturday. HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS No.3CorninghostsCentralValley Game scheduled for 4 p.m. today BASEBALL PAGE 2 WARRIORS PAGE 2 PLEASANT VALLEY 12-3, RED BLUFF 9-7 Up next: Red Bluff at Pleasant Valley, 4p.m. Tuesday at Ron Doryland Field. THESCORE SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, May 19, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1