SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021 | 3B
Viks
ship, Dalton Stinger and
Clay Kramer. All three se-
niors pitch in addition to
playing other positions on
the field.
“Elijah has caught in
the past,” said Shinn. “He's
played middle infield for
me in the past. He has
played some outfield; he’s
a kid who can do every-
thing.”
Stinger pitches and plays
corner infield, more often
than not third base. Kram-
er is a pitcher and outfield-
from 1B
I was a rookie coach — at
least here at Siuslaw. We
struggled back then. I think
we won three or four games
that first year because we
were really young and
didn't have a whole lot of
talent. Our freshmen were
kind of thrust into things.
But they've been able to see
it through.”
Returning as seniors this
year are Elijah Blanken-
er. All three were freshmen
varsity players when Shinn
took over the program.
While the return of these
seniors will help drive the
program forward this sea-
son, the timing logistics of
the season that have been
affected by the pandemic
will make it a rough start.
“Here’s the difficult
thing,” explained Shinn, “I
have 23 Kids signed up, of
which I've seen a maximum
of 12 in practice because we
still have a lot of the kids
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Siuslaw coach Tom Shinn, now in his fourth year with the Vikings baseball team,
throws practice pitches last week in preparation for this week’s league games.
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playing football. So, a good
portion of what would be
considered my varsity kids,
I haven't even seen in prac-
tice. I'll get one practice
day with the kids that are
doing football prior to our
first game on the 13th.”
One day of practice to-
gether as a team follow-
ing two years between
competitions — and a full
year since the last practic-
es were held — is surely a
challenge. However, Shinn
is aware that this same dis-
advantage is being suffered
by all of the teams in the
league.
“I keep getting reassured
by others that everybody's
going through that,” said
Shinn, “but it doesn't make
it any easier to try and fig-
ure out exactly who your
varsity players are and
where they're going to play.
Everything that we would
like to get installed and get
going, we just really hav-
en't had the opportunity
to do.”
In addition to missing
half of the team to playing
football, the overlap has
been difficult for Shinn as
a coach, because he is one
of the football team’s assis-
tant coaches as well.
“It's been a bit of a strug-
gle there,” admitted Shinn.
“I haven't been able to be
[at football practice] for
the last two weeks. During
spring break, I was run-
ning pitchers’ and catch-
ers’ practices before going
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from 1B
in oxygen and an increase
of carbon dioxide inside
their masks.
Th ese tests make the re-
sults of the Siuslaw High
Schools’ boys and girls
cross country Sky-Em
League
Championships
even more special. Coach
Chris Johnson not only
convinced enough runners
to be a part of the team, he
had to encourage them to
run even with their masks
fastened to their faces.
All Siuslaw and Maple-
ton athletes deserve extra
support for the increased
demands the masked
placed on their perfor-
mances. It might have been
easier just to wait it out un-
til masks would no longer
be required.
It might have been the
reason the Sky-Em cross
country meet had fewer
complete teams than ever.
It does not diminish the
accomplishments of the
Siuslaw teams’ success —
in fact, I think it shows
more
competitiveness
than any of the incomplete
to football, so I could get
some of those kids stron-
ger.
“We've had to be a little
creative with trying to get
kids involved so far.”
Like all coaches this sea-
son, Shinn wishes that he
had more time to prepare.
“This year, I'm going
to have 11 kids that will
have touched a bat for the
first time, possibly in over
a year, coming to our first
team practice — with our
first game the following
day,” said Shinn.
Last year, Siuslaw didn’t
field a JV team. This year,
Shinn plans on having two
teams due to the number of
players who have turnerd
out. But it’s a two-edged
sword with not having
time to develop them. Still,
Shinn is optimistic.
“You’ve got to kind of ap-
proach it as everybody's in
the same boat. And when
you throw your varsity kids
out there, we're going to
just go get them,” he said.
“My personal goal is to win
ballgames and be compet-
itive in our league. I think
our program is starting to
grow and I really thought
last year was going to push
us towards that. Now it’s
this year’s turn to go get
that.”
Earlier this week, follow-
ing that first day of a full
team practice on Monday,
Shinn’s efforts were re-
warded Tuesday (April 13)
when Siuslaw went on to
defeat the Cottage Grove
Lions in their first game of
the season, 11-9.
“It was a little sloppy, we
found some things we need
to work on,” said Shinn.
During the game, the
Vikings tried out three
pitching combinations, all
to sophomore catcher Ian
Sissel.
“Pitching-wise, I liked
what I saw for the most
part,” said Shinn. “The plan
was to limit the number of
pitches guys threw so we
have arms available for Fri-
day (April 16). Both Elijah
and Clay are able to return
if we need them.”
Kramer was followed on
the mound by junior Ja-
son Garcia, who came in to
pitch in the second inning,
with Blankenship taking
the mound in the sixth in-
ning to close out the game.
Blankenship also had 2
runs and an RBI, as well as
2 stolen bases.
In addition to Blanken-
ship, junior Beau Erickson
had 2 runs and 3 RBIs, as
well as a triple. Junior Isaac
Garza also had 1 run and 1
RBI for the Viks.
According to Shinn,
whose team is already off
to a good start in a season
that began with great un-
certainty, “Our goal this
week will be to limit the
errors and strike outs and
just keep improving from
there.”
teams.
Th e OSAA established
guidelines for athletic
contests to take place this
spring. Th ese guidelines
must be consistent and
applied by all Oregon high
schools. I called my daugh-
ter, Miranda, who is an as-
sistant volleyball and head
soft ball coach at St. Helens
High School, to ask her
about their mask-wearing
teams. She said St. Helens
and every team they played
wore masks. In addition,
she noted the need for her
school to take two buses to
each away contest to main-
tain social distancing.
My daughter, Alaura,
told of an Oregon volley-
ball team traveling to a
tournament in Texas. Th e
Oregon team played the
tournament wearing their
masks. Every team they
played were not wearing
masks because the state
of Texas did not require
masks.
I decided to watch some
ESPN this weekend. I
watched some MLB, parts
of the men’s and wom-
en’s NCAA tournament,
axe throwing and Oregon
track. Th e inconsistency of
mask enforcement was ev-
ident and confusing.
Most players were not
wearing masks in each
sport while offi cials and
non-playing players were
wearing masks. Some of
the limited spectators were
wearing masks but most
were not. Th e require-
ments of wearing masks
are inconsistent or peo-
ple are choosing to ignore
them — the real penalty,
of which, just might be the
sickness or death of anoth-
er person.
Siuslaw and Mapleton
High Schools are applying
safety measures until it is
once again safe to be with-
out a mask. I respect their
decision to protect their
athletes, spectators and
our community.
If our athletes can put
forth the extra eff ort need-
ed to train while wearing a
mask, it should be within
our normal everyday ac-
tivities to wear our masks
as well.
GO VIKINGS and
SAILORS!