E AST O REGONIAN
Saturday, June 18, 2022
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BACK IN THE GAME
Porter returns
to sidelines
with Pilot Rock
volleyball
SPECIAL DISTRICT 7
Heppner, W-M
players earn
baseball honors
round 2A/1A state playoff
game with a 13-3 win over
Bonanza, then dropped a
13-1 game to Knappa in
the second round.
Peal was the heart and
By ANNIE FOWLER
soul of the tigerScots. On
East Oregonian
the mound he was nearly
HePPner — Special untouchable. In 49 ⅔
d i s t r ic t 7 b a s e b a l l innings, he allowed just
coaches selected three nine hits and one earned
run. He struck out
He p p ne r play-
ers, and two from
118 and walked
Weston-Mcewen,
nine while finish-
to the all-league
ing with an era
first team.
of .141.
Seniors toby
Peal, who is
headed to George
nation
and
Fox university,
Kason Cimmiy-
otti, and sopho-
Cimmiyotti
also earned first-
more Ca meron
team outf ield
Proudfoot, earned
honors. He hit .549
honors for the
with a team-high
39 hits, including
Mustangs, while
nine doubles, two
Blane Peal and
triples and four
Qui n n G raham
got first first-team
home r uns. He
nods for the tiger-
had 28 rBIs and
Scots.
Graham
scored 41 runs.
dufur, which
Peal also set
won the league
the state record
title with a 15-1
for strikeouts in
record, had five
a row with 14 on
players selected to
april 12 in an 8-0
win over Stan-
the first team.
nat ion, the
field/Echo.
an inf ielder,
Mustangs’ third
Nation
Graham hit .338
baseman, had a
.560 batting aver-
w it h 2 4 h it s ,
age with a team-
i nclud i ng fou r
doubles, one triple
high 47 hits. He
and 13 rBIs. He
had 10 doubles,
also scored 31
one triple, two
runs.
home r uns and
the tigerScots
a team-high 31
rBIs.
finished 14-2 in
a cat che r,
Peal
league play and
18-4 overall. they
P rou d fo ot h a d
lost in the second
156 putouts and
r o u n d of t h e
just four errors
2a/1a state play-
i n 25 g a m e s .
off to Neah-Kah-
at the plate, he
nie 4-3.
hit .451 with 26
hits, including 10
In addition to
doubles. He also
all-league honors,
Proudfoot
Peal was named a
had 21 rBIs and
scored 31 runs.
first-team all-state
In the outfield, Cimmi- pitcher, while Graham
yotti did not have any earned third-team honors
errors in 17 games. He hit as an infielder.
.479 with 23 hits, includ-
nation and Cimmiy-
ing two home runs. He otti earned second-team
also had 17 rBIs and all-state honors at their
scored 27 runs.
respective positions.
dufur’s Isaac anthony
The Mustangs finished
third in the Sd7 stand- was named the 2a/1a
ings with a 12-4 record. all-State Player of the
They finished 16-9 over- year, while C.S. Little was
all. They won their first- named Coach of the year.
tigerScots’ Peal
named a first-team
all-state pitcher
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
P
ILOt rOCK — Jen Porter
had no intention of coach-
ing volleyball when she and
her husband Cody returned
to Oregon five years ago to
take over his family’s ranch.
She filled in at the end of the season
for danielle Baleztena at Pilot rock
High School last year, and that lit the
volleyball fire once again.
“I just wanted the girls to have a
positive experience,” Porter said of her
interim duties.
and now?
“I thought it would be nice if some-
one who had experience came in,”
said Porter, who recently was hired
to lead the rockets. “We had a talk
about how it’s going to be different.
More structured and disciplined. I was
really encouraged after meeting with
them. they all seem very excited and
on board. I need them to buy in, that’s
important.”
Porter definitely has the experience
to take the rockets in the right direc-
tion.
a 1992 graduate of McLoughlin
High School, Porter played volleyball,
basketball and track for the Pioneers.
She then went on to play volleyball at
Blue Mountain Community College
where she played outside hitter, middle
blocker and defensive specialist.
after college, Porter took a few years
off from volleyball. She worked as a
dental hygienist before she went back
to the court.
She still has her hands in people’s
mouth as a dental hygienist at Columbia
dental in Hermiston. She also works for
an agency that tests college students for
their board exams.
Living in Montana, Porter played
city league volleyball and basketball in
Bozeman for several years, and went
into coaching, starting with a club team
in 2005. She also coached the Belgrade
middle school team in 2006, and at
Belgrade High School from 2008-11.
In 2010, she became the Big Sky
Volleyball Club athletic director/lead
coach for the uSaV 18 elite team.
“If I wasn’t coaching, I was play-
ing city league,” Porter said. “I think
it teaches you so many life lessons. I
don’t have any connection other than
I love the sport. a lot of my success
and having confidence comes from my
athletics. It’s a great team sport. you
don’t have a ball hog.”
the athletic director/coach position
at the Big Sky Volleyball Club was a
B1
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Pilot Rock High’s new head volleyball coach Jennifer Porter poses for a portrait
Tuesday, June 14, 2022, at the school gym.
full time, year round position with skills
clinics, camps and private lessons. the
Club had more than 300 athletes and
18-20 coaches.
“I was fortunate enough to work
with some great experienced coaches
and to mentor young coaches,” Porter
said.
Between her high school and club
players, she had 22 athletes signed to
play in college at a variety of schools,
including university of Hawaii,
Montana State university, university
of Montana and Boise State.
that list includes her daughter
Jorden, who played four years of college
volleyball.
“that is an adjustment at Pilot
rock,” Porter said. “all the players I
coached were going on to play college
volleyball. I did that in high school. as a
coach, it has been players who only play
volleyball, or a few that played a few
other sports. I think if you give them a
good experience you are doing good.”
The Rockets finished the season 1-18
last year. They lost five players to grad-
uation, but have a good core of players
returning, including aiva ellis, Malory
Walborn, Payden Bennett and teagen
thornton.
“I have pretty high expectations for
the kids,” Porter said. “I think they will
try to meet those. I told them we are
starting with a clean slate and tryouts. I
have quite a few kids coming back, and
eight freshmen coming in. there are 19
trying out.”
Summer league has gotten off to a
good start. Porter had seven players the
first week, and expects to have 11 next
week.
“they are really excited, which
makes me feel good about things,” she
said. “It’s about being a positive influ-
ence in their life and teaching some
life lessons along the way. Volleyball
practice may be the most positive expe-
rience in their day. you want to give
that to them.”
Return of the catbird
BRAD
TRUMBO
UPLAND PURSUITS
T
he cool humidity of
summer rain stuck
to my skin as the
front rumbled in. Light-
ning flashed in the distance
casting a disco ball lighting
effect on the riparian floor
beneath the dense stand of
white alder and chokecherry.
the alder catkins released the
few remaining tufts of cotton
seeds as the branches rattled
in the breeze, and among the
clatter of leaves, the faint cry
of the gray catbird drifted
through the timber.
the catbird was one of a
few species to successfully
raise a clutch for the first
time in the alder run during
the spring of 2021 and I was
Brad Trumbo/Contributed Photo
See Catbird, Page B2
It took a week to capture this modest photo of the gray catbird as it darted among the alders
and shrubbery .
SPECIAL DISTRICT 7 BASEBALL
First team
Pitchers: Isaac Anthony, sr., Dufur; Blane Peal, sr.,
Weston-McEwen.
Catcher: Cameron Proudfoot, so., Heppner.
First base: Brock LaFaver, sr., Dufur.
Infield: Toby Nation, sr., Heppner; Carson Smith, sr.,
Dufur; Kobe Fell, sr., Grant Union. Quinn Graham, sr.,
Weston-McEwen.
Outfield: Kason Cimmiyotti, sr., Heppner; Isaac Anthony,
sr., Dufur; Blane Peal, sr., Weston-McEwen.
Utility: Gabe Petroff, sr., Dufur.
DH: Joey Holloway, so., Dufur.
Second team
Talon Dark, so., Sherman County; Peyton McClouth,
sr., Weston-McEwen; Taylor McGill, sr., Weston-McE-
wen; Karver Wilkins, fr., Heppner; Ben Hubbard, jr.,
Weston-McEwen; Kaleb Pence, sr., Dufur; Braden
Carnine, sr., Sherman County; Parker Neault, sr., Grant
Union; Willy Cain, sr., Weston-McEwen; Kole Martin, jr.,
Sherman County; Mason Morris, sr., Grant Union; Ryland
Beil, fr., Grant Union; Eric Culley, so., Grant Union; Talon
VanCleave, so., Grant Union; Chase Corwin, so., Pilot
Rock; Javon Curiel, sr., Stanfield/Echo; Isaac Marble, jr.,
Lyle; Levie Phillips, sr., Weston-McEwen; Brody Geer, fr.,
Sherman County; Tucker Ashbeck, jr., Heppner.