Sports
7A
Saturday, June 12, 2021
Th e Observer
4A BASEBALL
DAVIS
CARBAUGH
Tigers
earn
all-state
honors
CARBAUGH’S CORNER
2021 hoops
season
unlike any
before
his year’s modifi ed spring
basketball schedule has
caused chaos that coaches,
athletes and even reporters never
quite expected.
In what would normally span
most of the winter and into the
spring, this year’s basketball
season has been condensed into
about four weeks. To make things
more diffi cult, head coaches are
dealing with players still com-
peting in spring sports, seniors
graduating and back-to-backs on a
regular basis.
“It’s just been a constant, really
changing and evolving thing this
year,” Tony Haddock, Imbler boys
basketball coach, said.
In basketball seasons of the
past, teams would occasion-
ally play games on back-to-back
nights. However, several teams
around the area are playing games
up to four days in a row, with
little time to practice in between
games. Back-to-backs are also
much more common now than in
previous years.
Another key element is the lack
of an off season, with most teams
being very limited compared to
previous years. Haddock noted
the Imbler boys played around 10
games this spring with roughly
fi ve practices all season.
Many elite athletes in the area
often excel in multiple sports,
which has had a big impact on this
season. Baseball and track state
championships were held in May,
forcing many multi-sport athletes
to miss the fi rst few games of the
2021 basketball season.
While the circumstances
are diffi cult, the playing fi eld is
fairly even in that all teams have
to overcome similar challenges.
Powder Valley girls basketball
coach Allen Bingham echoed the
sentiment that the lack of practice
has been detrimental.
“You’re introducing stuff pre-
game and learning it on-the-fl y
during the game,” Bingham said.
Bingham and the Badgers have
yet to conduct a practice where
every athlete on the team was in
attendance. Between graduations,
senior trips and crossover into
spring sports, teams with many
upperclassmen have faced obsta-
cles that would never be an issue
in previous years.
The Union boys team started
its season 6-2, with a stretch of
games on three-straight days and
a period of three games in four
days.
“It’s defi nitely a shift as a
coaching staff ,” Union head coach
Odin Miller said. “We have to be
really patient and understanding
about the circumstances. I can’t
Six La Grande
players named to
4A all-state team
T
See, Hoops/Page 8A
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
move the animals over the
course of the day, including
46 bulls from various owners.
According to Hutsell, everyone
working at the rodeo helps each
other throughout the event,
from transporting the animals
to releasing them into the arena
to making sure that the bulls
don’t injure the riders.
For bullfi ghter Sean
Peterson, a Summerville native
LA GRANDE — The Class 4A
selection committee voted six of
La Grande’s top baseball players
to the 2021 4A all-state team for
their overall performance this past
season.
La Grande’s 2021 all-state nom-
inations are fi rst-team pitcher Riley
Miller, second-team pitcher Jace
Schow, fi rst-team
catcher Cole Jor-
gensen, second-team
infi elder Devin Bell,
fi rst-team outfi elder
Payton Cooper and
second-team utility
Cooper
player Nick Bornstedt.
“It’s pretty impres-
sive to have that
number of kids
coming from the pro-
gram,” head coach
Parker McKinley said.
“It speaks loudly to
Miller
the respect those kids
have earned around
the state through their play and how
they conduct themselves.”
The Tigers came up one game
short of winning the 2021 4A state
championship, losing in the cham-
pionship game 5-2 to Hidden
Valley. A walk-off grand slam in the
bottom of the seventh inning lifted
the Mustangs.
La Grande ended its season with
a 14-2 record and averaged just
under 14 runs a game.
Miller was a consistent ace on
the mound for the Tigers, going 5-1
on the season with 46 strikeouts and
a 0.48 ERA in 29 innings.
In what McKinley described as
one of Miller’s best performances
of his career, the senior right-hander
held Hidden Valley to one run over
six innings in the state champion-
ship game.
“There were a lot of people
watching that game that were really
impressed,” McKinley said. “The
fact that he’s going to play at the
next level and continue his career,
all that points to being a fi rst-team
guy.”
Miller is signed to play colle-
giate baseball for Clark College
in Vancouver, Washington, which
competes in the Northwest Athletic
Conference.
Schow joined Miller on the list of
La Grande pitchers to be named to
the all-state list, making the second
team. The sophomore starter fi n-
ished the season with a 3-0 record,
2.07 ERA and 21 strikeouts over
See, Rodeo/Page 8A
See, Baseball/Page 8A
Bullfi ghting brothers Ryan Manning and Miles Barry, with Sean Peterson, taunt the angry bull White Noise away from
a downed cowboy on Thursday, June 10, 2021, at the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show in Union. Bullfi ghters spend years
learning how to manage adrenaline and fear while in the ring, allowing them to keep clear minds while facing down bulls.
For the love of rodeo
Support personnel
make sure Ed Miller
Xtreme Bull Riding
event runs smoothly
By CARLOS FUENTES
The Observer
U
NION — Blake West
had a long day.
For most people,
the Ed Miller Xtreme
Bull Riding event at the 2021
Eastern Oregon Livestock Show
started at 6:30 p.m. Thursday,
June 10, and fi nished a little
over two hours later. For West,
the event started at 8 a.m. and
didn’t fi nish until long after the
bulls were done bucking and the
crowd had gone home.
West, a Union High School
graduate and Blue Mountain
Community College rodeo
coach, is a pickup man for
bull riding shows — in other
words, during every ride, he is
mounted on a horse waiting to
steer the bull to the exit. He said
he considered this year’s show a
success, which he attributes to
the event planners.
“The guys here at the stock
show do a great job. This is
my favorite rodeo all year,” he
said. “It’s like a family and high
school reunion every time it
happens, and I really do love it.”
However, being a pickup
man requires more than two
hours of work. Throughout
the day, West was constantly
sorting, gathering and trans-
porting livestock, all to
ensure that the main event ran
smoothly.
Out of 39 bull riders, Payton
Fitzpatrick and Ruger Piva tied
for fi rst place with scores of 84.
Each of them earned $3,388 for
the win. Heavy favorite Derek
Kolbaba, a Wallowa County
native who now lives in Walla
Walla, was scheduled to com-
pete but was not in attendance.
Carlos Fuentes/The Observer
Blake West, a pickup man at the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show in Union,
readies a lasso Thursday, June 10, 2021, during the Ed Miller Xtreme Bull Rid-
ing event.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Donnie Landis looks back as pickup man Blake West rides through the arena
during the Ed Miller Xtreme Bull Riding event Thursday, June 10, 2021, at the
Eastern Oregon Livestock Show in Union. Landis has served as a rodeo clown
throughout the Northwest for nearly 50 years.
According to Chad Hutsell,
stock contractor, none of this
would be possible without end-
less hours of behind-the-scenes
work.
“Everybody works hard, and
they gotta love it to do it,” he
said. “Everyone that is here is
passionate about the sport and
wants the event to go as best as
possible, so that’s why we work
hard.”
As many as 30 people
worked to transport, sort and
SPORTS SHORT
Report: Former Oregon State baseball coach could be headed to LSU
By NICK DASCHEL
The Oregonian
CORVALLIS — Former
Oregon State baseball coach Pat
Casey may be headed for LSU to
replace retiring coach Paul Main-
ieri, according to a report.
D1Baseball.com reports it has
sources claiming Casey, who
won three national titles during
his 24-year Oregon State tenure,
has emerged as the leading can-
didate at LSU.
The Oregonian/OregonLive
attempted contacting Casey for
comment, but he did not respond.
Casey, 62, retired as coach in
2018, and has since worked in
Oregon State’s athletic depart-
ment as a special assistant to
athletic director Scott Barnes.
Casey is currently under con-
tract at OSU through June 2022.
Casey is slated to make $630,000
during the fi nal year of his deal.
At the time of his retirement
press conference, an emotional
Casey was confl icted about
retiring. Casey wasn’t certain
that he was fi nished as a coach,
but said “my problem is what
I expect out of my players on
the fi eld is what I expect out of
myself. Right now, I’m not pos-
itive I can give them the same
eff ort.”
Casey was eventually
replaced in 2019 by Mitch
Canham. Oregon State recently
fi nished its 2021 season when it
lost in the Fort Worth Regional
championship game to Dallas
Baptist.
LSU won the Eugene
Regional on Monday and takes
on Tennessee in a three-game
super regional this weekend.
LSU athletic director Scott
Woodward has some familiarity
with Casey, as he was previ-
ously AD at Washington during
Casey’s Oregon State tenure.
Casey’s record at OSU was
900-458-6. Combined with a
seven-year stint at George Fox
before taking over at OSU in
1995, Casey has won nearly
1,100 games as a college coach.
Under Casey, the Beavers won
national titles in 2006, 2007 and
2018, and played in six College
World Series.
Nati Harnik/Associated Press, File
Former Oregon State coach Pat Casey walks in front of the dugout in the ninth
inning of an NCAA College World Series baseball elimination game against LSU
on Saturday, June 24, 2017, in Omaha, Nebraska.