A9
WEDNESDAY
July 10, 2019
Disc Golf tees off in Wallowa County
By Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa County Chieftain
If you’ve moseyed up to
Wallowa Lake State Park
recently and gazed into the
stand of big pine trees west
of the river, you might have
noticed some strange but
colorful metal baskets on
poles. The “baskets” are
made of chains, and the
metal poles are red or blue.
You might also have noticed
people with an assortment
of frisbees nearby. Not to
worry. Disc Golf has come
to Wallowa County.
Disc Golf, AKA Frisbee
golf, was fi rst invented in the
early 1900’s in Saskatche-
wan, Canada, where it was
played by tossing tin discs
into targets laid out in sand.
In the 1960’s, college stu-
dents revitalized the game
by tossing disks and/or balls
at targets ranging from trees
and light-poles to trash cans
and water fountains. In 1973,
Ed Hedrick, the inventor of
the modern frisbee, designed
and installed the fi rst disc golf
course in the town of LaCan-
ada Flintridge, California.
So Disc Golf, which now is
played on 9-hole or 18-hole
Ellen Morris Bishop
Disc golfer David Hayslip tries for par on the 9th hole of the Wallowa Lake State Park Disc Golf
Course.
courses, and has its own pro-
fessional association, has
been around for awhile.
When Jason Barber
began work as a ranger at
Wallowa Lake State Park
in 2017, he saw the pine-
shaded grassy area west of
the river as the perfect place
for a disc golf course. He’d
started playing when he was
a National Guardsman in
Clackamas, Ore, and con-
tinued playing on the colle-
giate team at Mount Hood
Community College. “It’s a
fun game and it keeps you
outside,” he said. “The park
here has a great area for a
course—some trees for haz-
ards, but nice fl at ground.
And I got tired of having
to drive all the way to La
Grande to play.” Barber and
Interpretive Ranger Patri-
cia Bass pitched the idea to
Park Manager Mack Free-
born who gave the go-ahead.
Barber and Bass set up
the 9-hole disc golf course in
June. Its fairways are 200 to
280 feet long, (standard dis-
tances for most courses) and
all are par 3 holes. The object
of the game is to toss your
frisbee into the “basket” in a
par number of throws. Haz-
ards at this course include
big tree-trunks, low-hanging
branches and the Wallowa
River if you overthrow the
basket on hole 6. There’s also
the occasional renegade off-
leash dog who may catch and
abscond with an errant disc.
Playing the entire 9-hole
course requires about an hour
if you and your friends take
your time. “If you don’t have
offi cial disc golf frisbees
of your own, the park has
some you can borrow,” Bar-
ber said. “We usually have
three or four groups playing
through here each day.”
The new disc golf course
is slated to move from its
present location to a more
permanent home at the Lit-
tle Alps section of the park,
near the Wallowa River
trailheads in August. Con-
struction on the new Wal-
lowa River secondary chan-
nel, riparian improvements,
and bridge will occupy
much of the present disc golf
area, Barber said. “We’ll
have a similar layout at Lit-
tle Alps.” he said.
Disc golf is new to Wal-
lowa County, but it is a
well-organized sport that
is popular in more urban
areas. It is based on golf—
but played with frisbees
of different weights and
designs rather than a ball and
clubs. The basic set of discs
includes a light-weight fris-
bee designed for long fl ight,
known as the driver, one for
mid-range distances, and a
heavier, more bulbous fris-
bee designed for short ranges
and for hitting the chains
(or other things), known as
the putter. The metal bas-
ket is known as the “hole”.
The Disc Golf Association
(DGA) and Professional
Disc Golf Associations
(PDGA) regulations call for
a “tee” area where disc golf-
ers make their initial throw,
a fairway, and out-of bounds
area, and an area designated
as a “putting green.”
Brad Snook at the Sports
Corral in Joseph said that
the store will soon be stock-
ing disc golf frisbee sets.
“We’ve had several people
call and ask for them,” he
said. “It seems like a new
sport that could be taking
off.”
Junior softball all-stars don state crown after crushing Klamath Falls 15-0
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
For the fi rst time in the
county’s little-league his-
tory, the junior softball
girls team, managed by
Shane Kirkland, won the
state championship after a
15-0 blowout of Klamath
Falls on its own home turf
on Sunday, July 7.
The Cubs traveled down
to Klamath Falls early last
week, fi rst playing Klam-
ath falls on July 6, down-
ing their opponents 19-9,
with a team batting average
of .642 and a .667 on-base
percentage.
Wallowa Valley was
down one run going into
the fourth, but exploded for
eight runs to take a com-
manding lead and added
two more runs in the sixth
and three in the seventh for
insurance and the victory.
Pitchers Aimee Meyers
and Alex Rowley combined
for seven strikeouts on the
day.
Later in the day saw WV
taking on Redmond and
squeaking by with an 11-10
victory. Coach Shane Kirk-
land said the team had an
off hitting day, but they still
batted .441 and had a .529
on-base percentage.
The game proved a see-
saw battle with Redmond
eventually scoring 5 runs
in the top of the seventh,
providing a bleak outlook
for the Cubs ... for a while.
Maci Marr had a key base
hit followed by Rowley
with another.
Two walks forced a run
and the top of the order
came up. After an out,
Meyers came to the plate
with the bases loaded and
hit a screaming rocket to
left center that scored three
and won the game for the
Cubs.
Kirkland noted that both
pitchers struggled at times,
but when the chips were
down, the Cubs infi eld
Courtesy Photos/Laina Fisher
WINNERS AND FIRST-TIME STATE CHAMPIONS — The Wallowa Valley Junior League All-Stars team, the Cubs won not only the
District 3 championship but also brought home the state championship. The local ladies defeated host Klamath Falls 15-0 in the
championship game. They start their way toward a regional championship in Tucson, Ariz. on July 17. First row: L to R kneeling: Alex
Rowley, Iris Delury, Maci Marr. L to R standing: Sydney Hopkins, Sophie Moeller, Cooper Nave, Libby Fisher, Aimee Meyers, Karly
Baremore, Liz Rowley, Abby Straight, Brianna Rouse. Back Row: Coach Mark Moeller, Manager Shane Kirkland, Coach Jim Nave
Wallowa Valley Cubs shortstop, Sophie Moeller, takes a cut
during her team’s state championship for the junior all-stars
run in Klamath Falls over the July 6-7 weekend. The Cubs won
the championship and begin regional play in Tucson, Ariz., on
July 17.
DEADLY BATTERY — Catcher Cooper Nave and pitcher Aimee
Meyers kept opponent bats quiet during the Cubs’ three-
game quest for the state championship in Klamath Falls on
July 6-7. In the championship victory versus Klamath Falls,
both players knocked hits in each at-bat and Meyers won the
player of the game award for her performance on the mound.
turned their second 6-4-3
double play of the tour-
nament to rally the ladies.
Umpires told Kirkland
they’d only seen one dou-
ble play at that level all
Klamath Falls and they pro-
ceeded to pound them mer-
cilessly, 15-0 for the title.
Hitting proved the decisive
factor with the Cubs gar-
nering a .685 slugging per-
year. Kirkland also noted
that Sydney Hopkins came
off the bench and smacked
two key base hits.
The championship game
saw the Cubs again facing
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centage and a .710 on base
percentage.
Meyers and Cooper
Knave each batted 1.000
for the game while three
other hitters batted .750.
The District 5 president
awarded Meyers the player
of the game trophy for her
hitting and pitching perfor-
mance in which she fanned
six and walked only one.
It was the fi rst trip to
Klamath Falls for shortstop
Sophie Moeller, who said
this was the farthest any
team had gotten that she’d
played for. She added she
wasn’t even thinking state
championship when the
season started.
“I didn’t think we’d
make it past District,” she
said.
Moeller said she enjoyed
her time in Klamath par-
ticularly playing on turf,
although the weather was
very hot. She also said she
enjoyed playing on a good
team with good coaches. Her
favorite memory was the two
double-plays she turned.
Nervousness was one of
the most challenging parts
of state play for her and her
teammates, according to
the shortstop. Her favorite
part for herself was playing
her position.
“Making a diving stop at
short was a good thing for
me because having every-
one cheer loud for me is a
good feeling,” she said.
Coach Kirkland said that
he and the other coaches
set out at the beginning of
the year to accomplish only
one thing: To coach disci-
pline and fundamentals that
would deliver young ladies
ready to play ball at the
high school level.
“I would say we are
accomplishing that!” he
said.
The Cubs next travel
to the Western Regional
Junior Softball Tourney
hosted in Tucson, Ariz. on
July 17-25th.
“The competition will be
fi erce”, he said. “We plan
to work all the next week
and have ourselves physi-
cally and mentally ready to
play.”