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COLTON'S FASTBALL
Willamina High School senior and
Tribal member Doug Colton has high
hopes for a career playing baseball
in the pro leagues.
Its small wonder, with the record
he's been able to compile playing
vJ high school baseball.
Durina this vear. Colton has led his
l" i I team in many ways. He has struck out
135 Darters in 62 innings ana com
piled a 0.22 earned-run average for
the season. He has pitched four no
hitter games, and made nine home runs
as the team's best hitter.
Chris Leno lets it fly
WILLAMINA BULLDOG BASEBALL
Some ten years ago, many of the play
ers on the Willamina High School
Baseball team began playing ball on a
team sponsored by the tribe. They
won the league championship every
year but the first and after two
years of traveling to Warm Springs,
took the tournament championship
there too.
For the past three years, the Willam
ina Bulldogs have won the West Valley
League Championship, and in 1986 took
the Class A baseball title. In 1987,
they were the number 1 ranked Class A
team in the state.
For the Tribe, they represent a lot
of pride, since six of the fourteen
players are Grand Ronde Tribal mem
bers. They are: Doug Colton, Mike
Colton, Chris Leno, Steve Bobb Jr.,
Joe Larsen, and Jim Bruckner.
For the 1987 season, the Bulldogs
compiled a record of 16-1 in league,
and an incredible 28-2 record over
all. Much of the Bulldog's strength comes
from their strong line-up of pitch
ers. Doug Colton and Jim Bruckner
both pitch for the team. Colton is
considered a pro-league candidate
because of his speed ball.
The Bulldogs are also one of the
state's top hitting teams batting in
the 400s as a team. Tribal member
Doug Colton is the team's batting
1 If ? N'
Mike Colton gets congratulations after a "downtowner"
leader, hitting .586. Tribal mem
bers, Jim Bruckner batted .470 and
catcher Mike Colton , hit .456. Team
member Brett Bishop hit .471 and
Steve Nokleby batted .456 for the
season.
Their strong batting average has
helped the team outscore their oppo
nent by a wide margin. For instance,
six games into the season, the Bull
dogs had outscored their opponents 53
to 12.
The team also did well against Class
AA schools, beating Toledo 11-3 and
17-1, Woodburn 4-2 and Jefferson 17-7
during the season. Their one regular
season loss was to Jefferson in a
double header.
The team's coach is Buz Tautfest. He
has coached for 13 years. He's a
pretty good guy," said Colton. "He
really helped us out working on the
fundamentals. A lot of hit and prac
tice," said Colton.
The Bulldogs were on their way to
winning back to back state Class A
championships, but bad weather de
stroyed their hopes. The team was up
3-0 in the championship game, but
rain resulted in the game being
postphoned after two innings.
After waiting an hour, the game was
cancelled. Unfortunately for the
Bulldogs, the rain stopped minutes
after the game was cancelled.
The game was rescheduled, and an off
day saw the team's back-to-back
championship dreams vanish as the
Bulldogs lost to Salem Academy 5-1.
But for many of the Bulldogs, another
season awaits their mastery of the
game. Their team is relatively
young, with seven of their starters
juniors. Doug Colton, the only
starting senior, graduates this year.
He hopes to play in the pro-leagues.
The Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde congratulates the Bulldogs on
an outstanding season and on a fine
team effort!
b... ...... .J -4, ,...-.-
Doug Colton preprares to tire.
Indeed, its been quite a season for
Colton, who has had many pro-league
scouts watching him play and radaring
his fast ball. Colton' s top recorded
radar speed is 92 miles per hour.
His average is in the 80's. Scouts
watching is game included representa
tives from the Expos, Philies,
Angles, Brewers, Twins and Dodgers to
name a few.
Colton would like to one day play for
the Braves, his favorite team.
For now, unless of course, he is
drafted into the professional league,
Colton plans to go to College. Colton
plans to attend Pima College in Ari
zona or LinnBenton Community College
in Albany. Both colleges have excel
lent baseball teams. The Linn-Benton
team has won the state title the last
couple of years, and Pima College is
considered the top baseball Jr. Col
lege in the Nation.
Colton has also recently been se
lected to play on the West team for
the East-West Class A Ail-Star Base
ball Series. Last year, Colton, as
an Oregon All Star Team member got to
travel to Australia to play ball.