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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2021
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Oregon softball alum Goodrum makes MLB history
Ryan Thorburn
Register-Guard
USA TODAY NETWORK
Sara Goodrum’s field of dreams has
become a reality.
The former Oregon softball player
was promoted to the position of minor
league hitting coordinator of the Mil-
waukee Brewers.
The 27-year-old Goodrum is the first
woman to have that role in any Major
League Baseball organization.
Goodrum didn’t consider the gravity
of being a female in a male-dominated
profession while spending the last three
seasons in the Brewers' sports science
department.
“It just becomes your normal way of
life,” Goodrum said during an interview
with The Register-Guard. “Everyone
that I've interacted with has been so
supportive. So I never really thought
about the gender part of it a lot.”
This has been a monumental year for
women breaking down barriers in
sports.
Notable glass ceiling breakers in-
clude Becky Hammon (first woman to
serve as a head coach in an NBA game),
Sarah Fuller (first woman to play in a
college football game at the Power Five
level), Callie Brownson (first woman to
coach a position group in a regular-sea-
son NFL game) and Sarah Thomas (pre-
paring to be the first woman to officiate
a Super Bowl).
When Kim Ng was named the general
manager of the Miami Marlins in No-
vember — the first woman to ascend to
the role of full-time general manager in
any of the major men’s leagues in North
America — Goodrum was inspired to
dream about the
possibilities for advance-
ment in MLB.
“That’s kind of when it
hit me a little bit more be-
cause, for me, I finally
Goodrum
saw someone at such a
high point in their ca-
reer,” Goodrum said. “Becoming a gen-
eral manager is a really big deal. So for
me to be able to see, holy cow, the sky
could be the limit for me, look at what
Kim Ng just did.
“That's when it made me kind of like
sit back and think, ‘OK, what could this
type of position that I'm in now do for
younger women coming up?’”
Ng reached out to Goodrum on Friday
to congratulate her on the ascension.
“I think it's great for the organization,
for Milwaukee,” Ng told MLB.com. “I
think it's great for baseball to put anoth-
er woman in a more visible position for
others to see.”
Goodrum was a role player for the
Ducks from 2012-15, which she de-
scribes as “the four best years of my
life.”
Oregon made three appearances in
the Women’s College World Series over
those four years.
The architect of the historic run, Mike
White, now entering his third season
coaching at Texas, described Goodrum
as a team-first player and said “you
could always see that she was studying
and learning."
Goodrum took the experiences of
playing with stars like Cheridan Haw-
kins, Jenna Lilley, Janie Takeda and
Nikki Udria with her to professional
baseball.
“I loved working with my teammates.
I have kept in touch with some of them
very closely,” Goodrum said.
“For me, that culture of being around
a group of people that are very driven
and are working toward a common goal
of winning championships — that drive
is something that I think will never leave
me.”
While majoring in human physiology
and working as an undergraduate re-
search assistant at the Bowerman
Sports Science Clinic at Oregon, Goo-
drum knew she wanted to pursue a ca-
reer in sports after graduating.
“I would always joke in classes at
Oregon that when I was trying to learn
stuff, I’d get frustrated because the in-
formation wasn't retained,” Goodrum
said. “But I'd always have SportsCenter
on in the background and I could retain
what SportsCenter was saying when I
wasn't even paying attention.
“I always had a passion for sports.
During my studies, I was learning about
how the body moves. And then when I
was playing, I was always thinking
about my body moving in space. So
(sports science) was always something
that piqued my interest. For me it was
just a matter of kind of realizing that
baseball was a potential avenue.”
Goodrum earned a master's degree in
exercise and sports science from Utah
and began interning with the Brewers in
April 2017. Her first job title with the or-
ganization was coordinator for integra-
tive sports performance.
Now she will be overseeing the Brew-
ers’ minor league hitting apparatus, im-
plementing a curriculum that aligns
with the organization’s philosophies
and traveling around the country to the
minor league affiliates to make sure
coaches and players throughout the or-
ganization are on the same page.
“What I'm doing professionally,
where we are all working toward a com-
mon goal of helping our players get to
the major leagues and then also big pic-
ture-wise winning championships at
the big league level, it's really cool,” Goo-
drum said. “I’m able to still be in that
kind of competitive environment and
work around people that are also very
passionate about helping people ac-
complish their goals.”
Goodrum, who won a high school
state championship in Arizona before
playing for the Ducks, will be based in
Phoenix, where the Brewers conduct
spring training.
When players report to their field of
dreams for the 2021 season, the gender
of the new minor league hitting coordi-
nator won’t be given a second thought.
“The thing about it is that everyone I
work with has a ton of passion for what
they do, which is why it's so awesome to
be in such a great environment and to
work for such a great organization,”
Goodrum said. “At the end of the day, if
you can provide good information that's
going to help them accomplish their
dream of getting to the big leagues, it
really doesn't matter who you are or
what you look like.
“If you can help and you're there for
them and you show them that you care
about them, that is the most important
thing.”
Contact reporter Ryan Thorburn at
rthorburn@registerguard.com or 541-
338-2330, and follow him on Twitter
@By_RyanThorburn.
Vaccine
Flu
Continued from Page 1A
Continued from Page 1A
Employees and residents of skilled
nursing, long-term care and memory
care facilities.
h Emergency medical service pro-
viders and other first responders.
h Tribal health programs.
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h People working in correctional set-
tings.
h Death care workers.
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h Daycare staff.
some “low activity” — according to
CDC monitoring data.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Jason
Cronin, a doctor of infectious diseases
for PeaceHealth, said about the contin-
uation of a mild flu season.
But the flu season isn’t over yet.
Health officials often look to how
Australia in the Southern Hemisphere
experiences its flu season, which is
earlier, to inform what the United
States and the Northern Hemisphere
may expect, Cronin explained.
“The Southern Hemisphere had a
low flu year, as well, so we’re hopeful
this will continue to correlate, but we
don’t want to let our guard down. Even
though the flu season is mild thus far, it
could rebound — that’s happened be-
fore,” Cronin said.
Typically, OHA anticipates a second
peak of influenza cases in late January
and into February or in late February
and into March.
While social distancing, mask
wearing, increased hand washing and
fewer social gatherings contribute to
the mild flu season, OHA still is en-
couraging the influenza vaccine, which
can be administered at a variety of
pharmacies and even grocery stores.
“We need to keep emphasizing that,
generally, this time of year we have not
peaked yet,” Modie said. “We are still
encouraging people to get their flu
shots. It’s not too late.”
To find a flu vaccine near you, visit
the CDC-recommended vaccine finder,
https://vaccinefinder.org/find-vaccine
.
Contact reporter Dana Sparks at
dsparks@registerguard.com or 541-
338-2243, and follow her on Twitter
@danamsparks
and
Instagram
@danasparksphoto .
Sign up for an appointment
Eligible residents are asked to regis-
ter and sign up for an appointment
through the Salem Health's My Chart
online at
www.salemhealth.org/covid-19/
covid-vaccine.
There is no guarantee doses will be
available for walk-ins.
If you have trouble using My Chart,
call 503-562-4278.
If you are unable to schedule an ap-
pointment in MyChart, other accom-
modations can be made at the fair-
grounds. However, know that wait
times and vaccine availability can vary.
Andy Henning, an OHSU nurse practitioner, rings a bell and cheers for a vehicle
full of newly-vaccinated people during a drive-thru vaccination clinic at the
Portland International Airport in Portland on Jan. 24.
ERIK ROBINSON / OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
the Pacific Room of the Werner Center
and is currently open the week of Feb. 1
from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. Enter off Jack-
son Street West, to the screening sta-
tion in the parking lot south of the WOU
football field.
The clinics are closed some days due
to the lack of vaccine doses available.
Go to the clinic
enough vaccine is on-hand.
If you didn't use My Chart, report to
the vaccine clinic on or after your sec-
ond dose due date. Be sure to bring the
vaccine card you received with your
first dose. No reminders will be sent for
a second dose.
Who is next in line for the
vaccine?
Get your second shot
The Marion County vaccine clinic at
the State Fairgrounds, 2330 17th St. NE
in Salem is being held in the Jackman-
Long Building. On most days, the clinic
is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Enter from
Silverton Road on the north end of the
fairgrounds (Lana Avenue gate). From
there, you will be directed by flaggers to
a screening area and parking.
The Polk County vaccine clinic at
Western Oregon University is held in
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is ad-
ministered in two doses 21 days apart,
while the Moderna vaccine is adminis-
tered in two doses 28 days apart.
For those used My Chart to reserve
your first shot, there will be a reminder
notification in your account to reserve a
time for your second dose. Second dose
appointments are not available until
the day before your due date, to ensure
On Feb. 8, the state will begin vacci-
nating residents 80 and older and will
expand eligibility by age in five-year in-
crements. The state hopes to expand to
a new age group each week, but that
will depend on the number of doses
available.
Bill Poehler covers Marion County for
the Statesman Journal. Contact him at
bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com
or
Twitter.com/bpoehler
LOCAL
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