Sports
6A
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Th e Observer
Capping the season
Litt le League teams to
vie for District 3 title
34 teams will play
in 6-day tournament
in Baker City
Baker, Powder
Valley set to host
32-team Class 1A
state tournament
By COREY KIRK
Baker City Herald
TOURNAMENT
INFORMATION
More information is available
at the Baker Little League Face-
book page, including a link to
full tournament coverage at
https://tourneymachine.com/
R92074.
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
BAKER CITY — In
what has been a tumul-
tuous indoor sports season,
Class 1A basketball teams
will still get a proper post-
season experience this
year.
Baker High School
and Powder Valley High
School athletic depart-
ments will welcome 16
boys teams and 16 girls
teams for the Class 1A
state tournament from
Monday, June 21, through
Thursday, June 24. The
double-elimination tourna-
ment will be hosted at both
schools and run simultane-
ously in the early rounds,
leading up to a champion
being crowned.
“My approach has been,
I want to do the best I can
for my seniors and my
families because they’re
missing these opportuni-
ties,” said Baker School
District Athletic Director
Buell Gonzales.
The start of the 2021
indoor sports season was
delayed several times and
the season has been a chal-
lenge with spring sports
and events going on at the
same time.
Baker will host games
throughout all four
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Nixyaawii’s Dakota Sams (11) drives toward the basket during the second half against La Grande on
Tuesday, June 1, 2021. Nixyaawii heads into the 2021 Class 1A state boys basketball tournament as the
No. 1 overall seed.
days of the tournament,
including the champion-
ship matchups. Powder
Valley will hold contests
through the semifi nals,
with some games run-
ning simultaneously in the
school’s secondary and
main gymnasiums.
“Everything is coming
together really well and
I’ve been impressed by
everyone’s eff orts so far,”
said Powder Valley Ath-
letic Director Brad Dunten.
The 1A boys and girls
teams will each compete
in a 16-team, double elim-
ination bracket. The tour-
nament will not be an offi -
cial 1A state tournament,
according to the Oregon
School Activities Associ-
ation, but the Baker and
Powder Valley athletics
directors are aiming to
conduct the tournament
like any other season.
The brackets are slated
to include the two top
teams from each Class 1A
conference, but opt-outs
and summer commitments
play a role in which teams
can attend. The Crane
girls basketball team is the
reigning champion on the
girls side, while Damascus
Christian won in 2020 on
the boys side.
Powder Valley will
compete on the girls side
as the No. 3 seed, while the
boys team is still waiting
on end-of-season results.
Allen Bingham’s girls
squad will tip-off against
Elkton at 7 p.m. June 21 at
EOU hosts high school
all-star volleyball game
A dozen athletes from
Union, Wallowa
counties to compete
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
The area’s elite volley-
ball players are coming
together in La Grande for a
fi nal showcase.
Nine Union County vol-
leyball players will com-
pete at the annual all-star
game hosted by the Eastern
Oregon University volley-
ball team on Saturday, June
19. In addition, Wallowa
High School will send three
players to the all-star event.
Powder Valley is
coming off a perfect 14-0
season and will send three
athletes to the game. Out-
side hitters Belle Blair and
Keanna Bingham were
selected to the all-star
roster, while Brooke Allen
was chosen as a setter.
The Badgers fi nished
with an undefeated record
on the year, but were
unable to compete in an
offi cial postseason because
OSAA did not schedule a
state tournament due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. In a
2A/1A culminating tour-
nament, Powder Valley
edged out Union in the
fi nal round by a score of
3-0.
The Bobcats will send
right-side hitter Ahnica
Shoemaker to compete in
the all-star game. Shoe-
maker contributed to
Union’s 13-2 record during
the 2021 season.
Imbler and Powder
Valley have the most
athletes in attendance
amongst Union County
schools with three players
participating. The Pan-
thers selected to com-
pete are outside hitter
Erin Coston, setter Rylee
Deal and libero Anika
McDonald. Imbler fi n-
ished the 2021 season with
a 5-3 record, going 4-1 in
1A Old Oregon League
competition.
“They’re very
deserving, and they’ve
been a huge part of our
volleyball program all
four years of their volley-
ball careers, especially
with how athletics played
out this year,” Imbler head
coach Jennifer Teeter said.
Presley Justice and
Anna Green will be in
attendance for La Grande,
a duo that helped lead the
Tigers to an 8-5 record in
the 2021 season. Justice
plays setter and right-side
hitter while Green plays
outside hitter and middle
blocker.
Green will be com-
peting in track and fi eld at
Lane Community College
and Justice will be playing
volleyball at Kentucky
Christian University.
“I’m really proud
of both of those two,”
La Grande head coach
Melinda Becker-Bisenius
said. “This year was a
really challenging year and
they really persevered.”
For Wallowa, setter
Ashlyn Young joins hitters
ShannaRae Tillery and
Jamie Johnston on the all-
star roster. The Cougars
concluded the 2021 season
with a 6-5 record.
Young and Johnston are
2020 graduates of WHS.
EOU head volleyball
coach Kaki McLean-More-
head is hosting the all-star
event at Quinn Coliseum
on the university’s campus
in La Grande. The players
will be divided into teams
and compete in exhibition
games. The teams will be
decided prior to the con-
test, which is set to begin
at 10 a.m.
ON THE SLATE
Schedule subject to change
SATURDAY, JUNE 19
Prep boys basketball
Joseph at Grant Union, 3 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
Powder Valley at Grant Union, 1:30 p.m.
MONDAY, JUNE 21
Prep boys basketball
Class 2A state tournament, Eastern
Oregon University
Union vs. TBD, Time TBA
Class 1A state tournament, Baker
City
Joseph or Powder Valley vs. Umpqua
Valley Christian, North Douglas or Days
Creek, 5:15 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
Class 2A state tournament, Eastern
Oregon University
Union vs. TBD, Time TBA
Class 1A state tournament, Baker
City
Elkton vs. Powder Valley, 7 p.m.
TUESDAY, JUNE 22
Prep boys basketball
Class 4A state tournament, Site TBA
La Grande vs. TBD, TBA
Class 1A state tournament, Baker
City: Teams and Times TBD
Prep girls basketball
Class 4A state tournament, Site TBA
La Grande vs. TBD, TBA
Class 2A state tournament, Eastern
Oregon University
Union vs. TBD, Time TBA
Class 1A state tournament, Baker
City: Powder Valley vs. TBD, TBA
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23
Prep boys basketball
Class 2A state tournament, Eastern
Oregon University
Union vs. TBD, Time TBA
Class 1A state tournament, Baker
City:
Teams and Times TBD
Prep girls basketball
Class 2A state tournament, Eastern
Oregon University
Union vs. TBD, Time TBA
Class 1A state tournament, Baker
City
Powder Valley vs. TBD, TBA
THURSDAY, JUNE 24
Prep boys basketball
Class 1A state tournament, Baker
City
Teams and Times TBD
Prep girls basketball
Class 1A state tournament, Baker
City
Powder Valley vs. TBD, TBA
Baker High School.
June 21 games will
entail a mix of boys and
girls games across the
three available courts.
Boys teams will then play
games at Baker on June
22 and at Powder Valley
on June 23. Likewise, girls
teams will play at Powder
Valley on June 22 and at
Baker on June 23.
The championship
games on June 24 will be
at Baker High School with
the girls set for 5:30 p.m.
and the boys tip-off sched-
uled for 7:30 p.m.
Both schools will hold
attendance to 50% capacity
for the games, and masks
will be required for specta-
tors unless vaccinated for
COVID-19.
BAKER CITY — A
total of 34 Little League
baseball and softball teams
from across Eastern Oregon
will gather in Baker City
Saturday, June 19, through
June 24 for the District 3
tournament.
Games will be played at
the Baker Sports Complex
and at Wade Williams Elks
Memorial Parkfor teams in
seven divisions:
• Baseball: ages 8-10,
9-11, 10-12 and juniors
• Softball: ages 8-10,
10-12 and juniors
There will be squads
competing from Baker City,
Harney County, Hermiston,
La Grande, Milton-Free-
water, Pendleton, Wallowa
Valley, Grant County, Pilot
Rock and Columbia.
Baker Little League was
scheduled to host the 2020
district tournament, but
those plans were derailed
due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
That gave Baker Little
League offi cials more time
to prepare for the event.
“We’ve known about the
tournament for a couple of
years now,” Baker Little
League President Jason
McClaughry said.
This is the fi rst major
tournament Baker City has
hosted since the 2018 state
softball event.
“The planning of course
starts at the Baker Little
League level. As the host
we have to plan conces-
sions, we have to plan out
fi eld maintenance, who
is going to do the score
keeping as far as score-
books and scoreboards,”
McClaughry said. “Any
training that we’ve done to
do those things, hosting the
umpires, fi nding accom-
modations for them. Just
kind of the basic supplies
that go into hosting an
event, whether it’s trash
cans to trash bags, spoons,
forks, baseball equipment
to chalk, to lining fi elds,
there’s a lot of little details
that go into it.”
McClaughry said volun-
teers are crucial for putting
on the tournament, with
parents and community
members contributing.
“Without the commu-
nity, it doesn’t happen,”
McClaughry said. “Without
all the volunteers that we
have spending many hours,
the local season doesn’t
happen. When we have
a week-long tournament,
where we are going to have
that variety of teams with
multiple games happening
at two venues, it’s going to
take a lot of people.”