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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2003)
Smoke Signals Take Me Out To The Grand Ronde Night at Keizer Stadium draws thousands for hot dogs, snow cones and baseball. 8 AUGUST 15, 2003 3a I Game '111 'i will ' Yi mm jwij. - I - ' k ft - mfi-i-lm, Community-minded Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Owners Lisa and Jerry Walker are the latest partners of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. By Ron Karten and Peta Tinda Let's face it. There's nothing quite like the ball park on the evening of a game. You can smell the hot dogs sizzling as soon as you hit the parking lot. On San Francisco Giants Night on Saturday, July 26, at Keizer Stadium, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde treated more than 100 Tribal members to an hour-long baseball clinic for the kids followed by a squeaker of a game between the Salem Volcanoes, the minor league affiliate of the Giants and the Yakima Bears, the Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate. CTGR spon sors the Volcanoes. First, the kids were out on the field with team members, playing throw and catch, running the bases and fielding the ball. When they cleared the field, the crowd of fans began growing and continued milling. The hawkers made the rounds with snow cones in four pastel colors and cotton candy in two. On the diamond, the grounds crew placed the forms around the plate and scooped lime into the forms to mark the batters' boxes. The boys of summer ran back out into left field, threw balls back and forth, shielded their eyes from the set ting sun, which was still too bright to ignore. One youngster from the clinic threw out the ceremonial first pitch, a dead-on strike, to get the game underway. When the Bears' designated hitter, Conor Jack son, homered to left center in the top of the fourth to put the Bears ahead, 3-1, the loudspeaker played, the theme from Superman. For a buck, pitchers young and old threw three balls at a strike zone with a batter painted into the batter's box and a gizmo timing the speed of the pitches. Contestants saw the speed of their first two pitches and if they guessed the speed of their third, they won a free baseball. There were 8- S ur... ' . .-U t . ------n r3aj. 9 Ball Park A beautiful night at Salem-Keiser Stadium... a cool breeze, hot dogs sizzling on the grill, the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd and the superman theme on the loudspeakers... It was all part of San Francisco Giant's night which drew more than one hundred Tribal members to the stadium. 11 winners even before the game started. Meanwhile, Salem Volcanoes pitchers Brooks McNiven and Mike Musgrave camped at a table nearby signing autographs. Members of the McNary Cheerleading squad wore t-shirts that said: "Back with a Vengeance." They were wait ing on box seats' customers as a fund raiser for L v 4'. I J 'v A OT J (ft er tit n :.m: their booster club. It all almost made you forget that there was a ball game going on, because all of a sudden, the top of the first was over. It was three up and three down. A mom told her boy, "...butyou already had a hot dog." Meanwhile, Tribal member and Foster Care Resource Specialist Matt Bucknell set up a table with information about the foster care program. "If I get a few people to take some informa tion, I'll be happy," he said. A great sports fan, Bucknell already had been out to the Volcanoes' stadium a few times this year. Between talking shop with potential foster parents, it was no bur- den for him to ; - J J fZi pass the time watching the game. Family Night Tribal members watch a fly ball go up at the baseball game. From left are: Valeria Atanacio, Izabella Atanacio, Nicholas Atanacio, Janel Lara, Kalene Contreras and Allie Holsclaw. Photos by Peta Tinda t-u p. t. 'i.T y urn iff "--r Then, it was two out in the bottom of the fourth and the Volcanoes were down 3-1 off Jackson's homer. Left fielder Michael Wagner walked and first baseman Travis Ishikawa homered to right field to make it a 3-3 ball game. "It's good to be giving back to the community," said Tribal member Janel Lara. "It helps get out the Grand Ronde name and gives the kids something to do." Then, it was the bottom of the fifth with two outs and the bases were loaded. The score was still 3-3. Out fielder Jesse Schmidt came to bat. He was hitting .244 with two home runs and nine RBIs (runs batted in). He could have broken the game wide open with a long single or a double. It was one and two. The pitch. He grounded out to first with three men left on base. The Bears slipped out of the inning like a sec ond story man on a hot streak. "It's nice to get out and enjoy the sun," said Tribal member Kalene Contreras from the bleachers in the general admission area at the far end of the first base line. By the end of the fifth, more than 36 kids had won baseballs at the guess-the-speed-of-your-pitch booth, and a little guy with a big heart was in the process of winning another. His first two pitches were 26 mph and 31 mph. "Guess 30," said his pop, whose word was as good as it gets. "It reminds me of that movie, Bull Durham" said Jesse Hall, boyfriend of Tribal member Kristi Petite. His boss at S&W Woodworking has sea son tickets and Hall had already been to four games this season. "It's a great little stadium. Great energy around the place." At the top of the sixth, the Bears had two out when third baseman Jamie D'Antona doubled to right field. Up next, outfielder Alex Frazier doubled, too, and knocked in D'Antona for the leading run. The batters came and went after that. The seventh inning stretch led to the eighth and then the ninth, but those doubles were all she wrote for that night. Four to three, the Bears won it. From the loudspeakers, the fat lady sang, "Hopelessly Devoted To You." And win, lose or draw it was not a message lost on baseball fans in Salem for this summer's San Francisco Gi ants night.
