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TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021
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A10
Stone takes over
Hermiston soft ball
Former
Pendleton
standout
Lindsey
will assist
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Hermiston’s Jayden Ray drives toward the basket during
the fi rst quarter against the Chiawana Riverhawks. Chi-
awana defeated the Hermiston Bulldogs 44-40 on June
15, 2021, at Hermiston High School. Ray was selected to
the Mid-Columbia Conference second team for girls bas-
ketball.
Hermiston’s
Ray earns MCC
basketball honor
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
Defensive Player of the
Year, and Brian Meneely
was Coach of the year.
Hermiston did not have
any players selected to
the all-conference
team.
H ER M ISTON —
Hermiston’s Jayden Ray
was selected to
the Mid-Colum-
bia Conference
MCC bowling
second team for
girls basketball.
H e r m i s -
Ray, a senior,
ton
seniors
averaged 10.64
Halle Penning-
points a game
ton and McKen-
Ray
for the Bulldogs,
zee Hendrickson
were named to the
who finished the
M i d - C ol u m b i a
season 6-8. Ray
has signed to play
Conference girls
college basketball
bowling team.
for Pacifi c Univer-
Pe n n i n g t o n ,
sity.
who averaged a
Richland,
168.9 during the
Washington, soph-
season, was named
omore Kylee Fox,
Pennington
to the fi rst team.
who averaged 20
Hendrickson,
whose average was
points a game,
was named Player
164.33, was named
of the Year. Kami-
to the second team.
akin sophomore
Kennewick
Nikole Thomas
ju nior Paige
was named the
Harns, who aver-
aged 190.96 during
Defensive Player
of the Year, and Hendrickson the season, was
named Bowler of
the Braves’ Lane
Schumacher was selected the Year. Her average was
as Coach of the Year.
more than 10 pins better
For the boys, Kami- than the next player.
akin swept the awards —
Ken new ick’s Tom
junior Tyler Bilodeau was Richardson was selected
named Player of the Year, Coach of the Year by his
junior Trey Arland was the peers.
ON THE SLATE
TUESDAY, JULY 6
FRIDAY, JULY 9
Youth baseball
The Dalles at Hodgen Distributing,
(2), 5 p.m.
Wednesday, July 7
No events scheduled
YOUTH BASEBALL
La Grande at Pepsi Diamondjaxx, (2),
5 p.m.
THURSDAY, JULY 8
Youth baseball
Hodgen Distributing at Selah, (2),
5 p.m.
SATURDAY, JULY 10
Youth baseball
Walla Walla Grizzlies at Pepsi Dia-
mondjaxx, (2), 11 a.m., at BMCC
MONDAY, JULY 12
Youth baseball
Selah at Hodgen Distributing (2),
5 p.m.
Pepsi Diamondjaxx at La Grande (2),
5 p.m.
H
ERMISTON —
Amy Stone is
quite familiar
with the Herm-
iston softball program.
She was an assistant for
her sister Kate Greenough
from 2017 through the 2020
season, which was cut short
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greenough left after that
season, and Stone had her
fi rst child, Laynee, who just
turned 1 year old.
With cur rent coach
Rebecca Pridmore moving
out of the area, the Bulldogs’
coaching job came open,
and Stone threw her hat in
the ring.
“I had to do the whole
interview process,” said
Stone, who is a special
education teacher at the high
school. “It was pretty intim-
idating, I’m not going to lie.
It worked out for the best.”
Her m iston Athlet ic
Director Larry Usher said
the school district is happy
to have Stone back in the
coaching ranks.
“We are very excited that
Amy has decided to return to
the diamond and take on the
challenge with our softball
program,” Usher said. “The
Hermiston High School
softball coaching staff and
athletes will get the oppor-
tunity to play in the brand
new softball complex on the
high school campus, and we
look forward to watching
them compete this fall and
spring.”
Stone, 31, said she was
hesitant to apply for the job,
but is glad she did.
“Now that I have more of
a grasp of being a fi rst-time
mom, I was ready to go,” she
said. “I have a super support-
ive husband (Justin). We
discussed it and I decided
to go for it. Coaching these
kiddos, they mean the world
to me. I feel like I still have a
lot to give.”
Stone is ready to get to
work, starting with slow
pitch in the fall and fast pitch
in the spring.
“I am excited,” she said.
“The last time I was with a
lot of these girls, they were
freshmen. They are raring
and ready to go. It’s fun to
see them excited. They are
full of talent, they just have
to put it all together.”
While the Bulldogs have
played fast pitch for years,
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Amy Stone poses for a photo at the new Hermiston High School softball facility Friday,
July 2, 2021. In the fall, Stone will take the reins as the head coach of the school’s softball
program.
the slow pitch came in a
couple of years ago in the
Mid-Columbia Conference.
“They are diff erent, but
they are so much fun,” Stone
said. “Some of the first-
year girls, who didn’t plan
on playing, start with slow
pitch. Slow pitch is import-
ant, but it’s a diff erent speed
and you get to play your own
game and have fun and be
successful. I want to bring
that back to Hermiston soft-
ball.”
Growing up in the
sport
Stone is a 2008 grad of
David Douglas, and while
she played high school and
college softball, she had a
ball in her hand long before
“Dad vowed he was going
to have a boy and he would
be left-handed,” Stone said.
“He had two girls. My mom
used to work at night and
Dad would have this thing
where we had to grab things
with our left hand. That
didn’t turn out his way, we
were both right-handed.”
But he did give them the
love of sports.
“Dad took us to softball
lessons, took us to camps
and he watched videos and
he really helped us,” Stone
said. “My dad still gives
pitching lessons to soft-
ball players. It’s been fun
to watch him change over
time.”
Stone and her sister
played basketball and soft-
“SHE’S A BADASS AND
A GREAT PERSON. I’M
EXCITED TO HAVE HER
ON MY COACHING STAFF.”
— Amy Stone, Hermiston softball coach
she put on a uniform.
Amy and Kate’s dad,
Steve Greenough, was an
all-star left-handed pitcher
for South Eugene High
School. He was drafted out
of high school in the 22nd
round of the 1969 Major
League Baseball Amateur
Draft by the New York
Yankees.
Greenough opted to go to
college, and played for the
University of Oregon. He
later was drafted in the 15th
round of the 1972 MLB draft
by the San Francisco Giants
while he was playing for the
Ducks. He played four years
of minor league ball, posting
a 3.17 ERA over 101 games.
While at Oregon, Gree-
nough roomed with teammate
Jim Dillingham. Greenough
would later marry Dilling-
ham’s sister Linda.
ball at David Douglas. Kate,
a pitcher, went on to play
softball at Northern Illinois,
then Utah State her junior
and senior years.
Stone, a pitcher and fi rst
baseman, played one year
of softball at Blue Mountain
Community College, then
transferred to Wenatchee
Valley. Once she had her
associate’s degree, she went
to Corban University, where
she finished her playing
career and her education
degree.
Kate Greenough took
over the Hermiston program
at the start of the 2015-16
school year, and Stone joined
her a year later as an assis-
tant coach.
At Hermiston, they ran
into an old foe in Bulldogs
track coach Emilee Strot.
“We didn’t know Emilee
until we moved here, but we
played basketball against
each other in high school,”
Stone said. “She was at
Gresham, we were at David
Douglas. She was scary. We
hated playing against her.”
A top assistant
Stone already has an
assistant coach in place —
former Pendleton standout
Darian Lindsey.
Lindsey, an infi elder, was
the 5A Player of the Year in
2012, 2014 and 2015, and
helped the Bucks win state
titles in all three years.
“She’s a badass and a
great person,” Stone said.
“I’m excited to have her on
my coaching staff. What
was neat, I introduced her
to a few of the girls and you
could tell by their faces they
were stoked. They were
pumped that she was going
to be part of the program.”
Lindsey played one
season at Mount Hood
Community College. She led
the team with a .477 batting
average, along with 14 home
runs, 46 RBIs and 68 runs.
The Saints won the 2016
NWAC title. Lindsey was the
Southern Region Player of
the Year, was on the NWAC
all-tournament team, and
was a fi rst-team All-Amer-
ican.
From Mount Hood, Lind-
sey went to Portland State,
where she was named Big
Sky Conference Newcomer
of the Year and was a second-
team Big Sky selection as a
sophomore.
Her junior year, she
started all 51 games for the
Vikings. She hit .404 on the
year with 20 doubles, seven
home runs and 33 RBIs. She
earned fi rst-team Big Sky
honors.
“She knows what it takes
to be good,” Stone said.
“This will be her fi rst coach-
ing experience. We know
how to get them to where
they need to be if they are
willing to work that hard.”
SPORTS SHORT
Former OSU star leaves $1,000 tip at Portland IHOP
By ARON YOHANNES
The Oregonian
PORTLAND — Chad Johnson
is a generous man.
One of the most entertaining
players the game of football has
ever seen, Johnson shares much of
that same fl air off the fi eld.
He showed that off Friday, July
2, while dining locally in Portland.
The former Oregon State star
was at an IHOP near Portland
International Airport getting his
usual unhealthy slate of food —
this time in the form of pancakes,
where his bill at the restaurant
totaled $33.53. His tip? A massive
$1,000.
The tip didn’t come without a
fi nal message, however. The star
wide receiver left a little jab for
Portland Trail Blazers star Damian
Lillard.
“I beat Damian Lillard in 1 on 1
years ago in the YMCA,” Johnson
scribbled.
A Cincinnati Bengals legend,
Johnson has left generous tips of
that amount before. He told The
New York Post he’s been doing it
for 20 years.
Once during a visit in Houston,
he left a $1,300 tip on a $107.17 bill
at James Harden’s Thirteen Hous-
ton restaurant. He left another
$1,000 tip at Houston’s Turkey
Leg Hut.
No offi cial video proof of John-
son’s 1-on-1 victory against Lillard
is out there (yet). Until then, we’ll
have to take his word.
Former Cincinnati
wide receiver Chad
Johnson, front,
runs the ball as
Baltimore’s Willie
Gaston tries to
tackle him Nov. 11,
2007, in Baltimore.
Johnson was at an
IHOP near Portland
International Air-
port July 2, 2021,
where his bill at the
restaurant totaled
$33.53. His tip? A
massive $1,000.
Gail Burton/The Associ-
ated Press, File