Wednesday, March 16, 2022
A9
SPORTS
SOFTBALL PREVIEW
Bringing talent to the diamond
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
E
NTERPRISE — Gary Gas-
sett has a problem on his
hands this spring.
Although it’s a problem
most teams in the region
wish they could lay claim to.
“We’ve got 12, 13 good play-
ers,” the Wallowa Valley softball
coach said. “My biggest problem is
going to be getting everyone play-
ing time.”
The Outlaws did lose two seniors
to graduation in shortstop Claire
Farwell and second baseman Grace
Collins. Not only do they lose that
leadership, but the added experience
Farwell brought as the team’s lead-
off hitter.
However, the team has a good
blend of talent, youth and experi-
ence as it gets set to take the fi eld,
Gassett said.
“We do (have) a lot of play-
ers and we have a good mixture
of young, good players and older
good players,” he said. “And a lot
of younger kids that have been well
coached earlier in their career. They
know how to play, and that is always
good when you get them. They
know what to do, you just kind of
got to push the buttons.”
He’s also not confi ned to just one
spot for each player, either.
“A lot can play a lot of posi-
tions,” he said. “You are going to
be able to mix and match and move
players around a bit.”
Among the players back for the
Outlaws, who went 11-8 last year,
are both starting pitchers, including
sophomore Aimee Meyers, who led
the team with an 8-3 record on the
mound.
“Aimee being a freshman (last
year), I thought she did fabulous,”
Gassett said. “Liz (Rowley) is a
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Wallowa Valley’s Rylin Kirkland connects for a home run during a doubleheader with the Echo/Stanfi eld Cougars
on Saturday, May 1, 2021.
good pitcher, and throws about as
hard as anybody, but does have a
tendency to get wild.”
He noted that as a pitching staff ,
the team does “have to cut down on
the walks.”
Another positive that Gassett
believes he’ll have this spring is an
explosive off ense. The team aver-
aged just fewer than 10 runs per
game a year ago, with 188 runs in
19 contests.
Scoring runs I don’t think is
going to be a problem for us,” he
said. “… We can outhit most teams,
and I think that this year we’ll be
able to outpitch most teams.”
Those set to fuel the off ense
include Rowley, who led the team
with four home runs last year, Mey-
ers, catcher Rilyn Kirkland, Sophie
Moeller and Cooper Nave.
“Rilyn is going to be a player
to watch. She was the best catcher
I saw last year out of any team we
played,” Gassett said. “Cooper
Nave is a great defensive fi rst base-
man and also hit well last year.”
As for Moeller, the coach expects
the sophomore will be stepping into
the leadoff role and taking over at
shortstop.
“Last year I think she batted
second, and she did a good job
there,” he said. “It should be a good
transition.”
Wallowa Valley will be road war-
riors to start the season, with 18 of
its fi rst 20 contests outside of Wal-
lowa County, save for a home-open-
ing doubleheader April 1 against
Pilot Rock/Nixyaawii. The team
doesn’t return home until April 29
against Riverside. In that stretch,
the Outlaws play some traditionally
strong teams in nonleague, includ-
ing Weston-McEwen in their opener
March 18, Grant Union, Union/
Cove, and Heppner/Ione.
But due to the pandemic altering
sports the past two years, one thing
Gassett doesn’t have a gauge for is
the level of his team’s competition.
“I have no idea what we’re walk-
ing into,” he said, though he is opti-
mistic. “... I expect good things.
They’re a pretty young team, so I do
expect some issues along the way,
but it’s probably the fi rst group of
kids that I’ve had (that) they know
how to play softball. We’ve had
good teams, but we had a couple
softball players and a bunch of bas-
ketball players. This team, they’re
softball players.”
BASEBALL PREVIEW
New head coach, but similar game plan for Wallowa Valley baseball
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — While there is a new
head coach for the Wallowa Valley
baseball team this spring, much
is going to be the same, including
what has become one of the strong
points for the Eagles the last few
years — deep pitching.
Tanner Shelton will steer the
ship this spring, but he has been on
the staff for several years, and said,
in fact, the coaching staff is largely
the same as it was a year ago, when
Wallowa Valley took third in the
pandemic-shortened season.
“We didn’t turn over any
coaches,” he said. “We actually
added a coach and still have the
same staff . We all have our input,
we accept it from each other and
make the best decisions.”
The Eagles’ M.O. in recent years
has been its pitching staff , and that
won’t change even with the grad-
uation of Trace Evans and Flynn
Nave, two of the team’s top pitch-
ers from last year’s 13-3 squad.
“We did lose some very key
pitching last year, but we have
guys stepping (up),” Shelton said.
“We’ve got Trace Collier. Cody
Fent came on really good last year,
especially toward the end. I think
he’s going to play a (role). And his
brother, Caden. He is always in the
game, it seems.
“Really excited about (Lane)
Rouse and Maclane (Melville) and
Jaxon Grover on the mound.”
And that isn’t even the extent
of the arms available. Shelton said
especially early in the season as
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Wallowa Valley’s Trace Collier, center, is shown trying to escape a rundown during a game against Grant Union on
Saturday, May 1, 2021.
pitchers are building endurance,
pitch counts will be kept lower.
There also isn’t a designated staff
ace, nor, as of March 9, had the var-
sity and JV teams been set.
“We let that play out as the sea-
son goes on, who takes over that
lead starting role,” he said. “As of
right now, we’re a bullpen team.”
Also gone due to graduation
are David Salim and Zeb Rams-
den, with the departure of Ramsden
a big hole to fi ll due to his play as
catcher.
“Zeb is going to be hard to
replace because he caught every-
thing — every inning of every
game,” Shelton said, adding that
Ramsden was remarkably steady,
whether it was early in Game 1 of
a doubleheader or late in Game 2.
“Cody Fent and Maclane are both
very skilled catchers, and I think,
they’re going to be bouncing back
and forth behind the plate for us.”
Off ensively, Shelton said there is
a bit of a focus “to get a little pop
out of our bats,” but said the off ense
will be catered to what the team has.
In-game decisions about how
to handle a scenario already were
being made by Shelton, who already
had been the third-base coach.
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“I’ve been making the calls on
small ball or long ball,” he said.
“We’re going to stay the same until
we can get stopped or we see some-
thing to change our philosophy.”
The biggest challenge ahead
for now is getting on the fi eld for
practice. The team has been largely
using the indoor practice facil-
ity in Enterprise with snow still
on the fi eld, but even that has its
limitations.
“Obviously, we haven’t been
able to throw over 90 feet, so that’s
going to be tough to adjust to once
we get back on the fi eld,” he said.
The slate is road-heavy for Wal-
lowa Valley this spring, with the
fi rst 12 and 15 of the fi rst 16 games
on the slate outside of Wallowa
County.
The team also starts in earnest
with some stiff competition, open-
ing March 18 on the road against
traditional 3A power La Pine, the
2018 and 2019 3A state champions.
The Eagles face St. Mary’s, Med-
ford, later in the day.
“We’ve been wanting these big
games early in the season for power
ranking,” Shelton said. “We’re
excited about playing these oppo-
nents and seeing how we measure
up.”
The fi rst home game isn’t until
April 18 against the Baker JV, and
the fi rst home league set is an April
29 doubleheader against Riverside.
“We’re really excited. New head
coach, but same coaching staff ,”
Shelton said. “We all know each
other, and think we’re going to be
able to make this group of kids as
good as we have been in the past.”