Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 8, 2016 11A
2016 ITEMIZER-OBSERVER ALL-REGION BASEBALL TEAM
PITCHER
Tucker Weaver
Dallas
The senior took advantage of
his role as Dallas’ ace, finish-
ing with 82 strikeouts and a
1.16 ERA. Weaver walked only
eight batters during the sea-
son, giving up just 11 earned
runs in 67 innings of work.
Weaver
But Weaver also improved
significantly at the plate over the past two years.
In 2016, he had a .303 batting average with 16
RBIs. “Tucker is a great leader and makes others
around him better,” coach Scot McDonald said.
Weaver earned first team all-Mid-Willamette
Conference honors and was named the league’s
co-Pitcher of the Year. He also received second
team all-state recognition.
INFIELD
Tanner Earhart
Dallas
Few, if any, players had a
bigger impact on Dallas’ of-
fense than Tanner Earhart.
The junior led the team in
hits with 37. But his impact
extended far beyond that.
His .389 batting average, 22
Earhart
runs scored and 16 RBIs
ranked among the best on the team and was
responsible for sparking the lineup when
needed. “Tanner is a great athlete,” McDonald
said. “He is dynamic and strong. He can drive
the ball in the gap, and as he goes, our offense
goes. He is a catalyst for us offensively.” Earhart
earned first team all-MWC recognition and all-
state honorable mention.
Peter Mendazona
Central
Mendazona, a sophomore
shortstop, came up big for
the Panthers during the
spring. At the plate, he had
26 hits and 21 RBIs while
batting
.325. He also
pitched
in
10
games, throw-
Mendazona
ing 35 strikeouts in 43 2/3
innings of work. At shortstop, he had a field-
ing percentage of .905. Mendazona’s versatili-
ty made him a key part in all facets of Cen-
tral’s team. “Pete made a lot of plays that kept
us in games as well as threw in some big
games and got some great league wins for
us,” coach Zach Miller said. “His bat was steady
in the two or three spot all year and he was
on base for our four and five hitters to drive
him in.” Mendazona earned first team all-MWC
honors.
Brant Barnes
Perrydale
A four-year starter for the
Pirates, Barnes earned sec-
ond team all-Special District
2 honors during the 2016
campaign. His .405 batting
average and 22 hits were
team highs. He also had
Barnes
seven doubles and two
triples, while driving in nine runs. Barnes was
just as dangerous on base, with 11 stolen
bases. His batting average took a huge step
forward from his junior year, when he hit .250.
Barnes was also a versatile weapon, playing all
four infield positions. “He’s a team leader and a
total team player,” coach Steve Mabry said.
“He’s not worried about his stats. He just wants
to win. He’s a very hard worker.”
Luis Amador
Central
lot of confidence at the plate by hitting to all
fields,” Miller said. Holstad was named first
team all-MWC and earned second team all-
state honors.
Everett Minahan
Dallas
Minahan, a senior, was a
triple threat for the Dragons.
Minahan provided a steady
hand in the outfield and was
also one of the team’s top
starting pitchers with 43
strikeouts and a 3.22 ERA in
Minahan
41 innings of work. But Mi-
nahan was also dangerous at the plate with a
.406 batting average and 22 RBIs. Minahan has
long been one of the Dragon’s best all-around
athletes and he proved he could help Dallas in
a variety of ways in 2016. Minahan received
second team all-MWC honors. “He is a work-
horse,” McDonald said. “He is dedicated to get-
ting better. He is very consistent and a great
leader. He wants everyone to succeed.”
Keenen Bailey
Perrydale
The junior infielder was one
player opposing coaches
hated facing. “Luis was one
of the biggest threats in the
league according to area
coaches due to his physical
nature and how good of a
Amador
hitter he has worked to be-
come,” Miller said. Amador was tied for the
team lead in hits with 30 and hit .375 at the
plate. He led the team with 27 RBIs and struck
out just four times all season long, resulting in
first team all-league honors and a major role in
the Panthers run to the play-in round.
The Pirates may have strug-
gled to find wins, but the
senior outfielder/pitcher was
a bright spot. Bailey earned
all-league honorable men-
tions for outfield and pitch-
ing. On the mound he threw
Bailey
64 strikeouts and had a 2.56
ERA as the team’s top starter. At the plate, Bai-
ley hit .306 with six doubles and three triples,
driving in 12 runs. He also had nine stolen
bases. “He pitched far better than his record in-
dicated,” Mabry said. He left most games he
pitched either tied or leading. He just wants
the ball and had no fear ever when on the
mound. He’s a great kid.”
OUTFIELD
UTILITY
Jackson Holstad
Central
The junior center fielder be-
came one of the Panthers’
most dangerous bats. Hol-
stad led Central in batting
average (.414), on base per-
centage (.481) and slugging
percentage (.729) and
Holstad
ranked second in hits (29).
Holstad also hit five home runs. “He gained a
Eric Kessler
Dallas
Kessler may only have been
a freshman, but he proved to
be an invaluable asset for
the Dragons. At different
times during the season, he’s
played in the outfield, sec-
ond base, third base, catcher
Kessler
and pitcher. His versatility al-
lowed him to play wherever he was needed
and gave Dallas a dangerous weapon who
could hurt opponents from anywhere on the
field. At the plate, he hit .319 with 22 hits, 13
RBIs and 13 runs scored and earned second
team all-MWC recognition. Kessler made quite
the impact as a freshman and he figures to be
one of the cornerstones for Dallas’ baseball
team for years to come. “Eric was a freshman
who could play anywhere on the field,” Mc-
Donald said. “He loves baseball and gets better
each day.”
CATCHER
Treve Earhart
Dallas
The sophomore proved to
be a key part of the Drag-
ons’ success in 2016. He had
just five passed balls in 193
innings and developed key
chemistry with his pitchers,
allowing Dallas to find suc-
Earhart
cess on defense. Earhart
also had the arm and sight to keep runners on
base at bay. He threw out half of all stolen base
attempts. Earhart earned second team all-
MWC honors for his efforts during the season.
“Treve is a brick wall,” McDonald said. “He
blocks everything, receives the ball well and
has a great arm. He played through injury this
year and at the plate, really got it going once
healthy. He is a big reason we are good at
pitching.”
COACH
Scot McDonald
Dallas
The 17th-year coach helped
the Dragons achieve great
success in 2016. Under his
guidance, Dallas finished
second in the Mid-
Willamette Conference and
earned a trip to the first
McDonald
round of the state playoffs.
On April 26, Dallas’ league record stood at 7-6.
McDonald helped the Dragons win their final
eight league games of the season to move into
second. Dallas also saw seven players earn all-
league honors under his guidance, including
Weaver who was named co-Pitcher of the Year.
—
The 2016 all-region high school baseball team
was selected by Itemizer-Observer Sports Editor
Lukas Eggen, along with heavy input from area
coaches.
Pride: Weaver has big league aspirations
Continued from Page 10A
“I’ve been looking at the highest
level since I was a little kid,” Weav-
er said. “Ever since we started, I’ve
had a couple of players I was just
infatuated with and wanted to be
just like them.”
Pitchers like Tim Lincecum and
Marcus Stroman showed Weaver
that undersized players could find
their way into the spotlight.
“(Marcus) has this trademark
that height doesn’t measure heart,”
Weaver said. “I jumped onto that
and I have it stitched into my
glove. It’s something I really buy
into.”
By the time he reached high
school, Weaver knew he wasn’t
going to be the most physically im-
posing player.
“It was a reason why I had to
outwork everybody,” Weaver said.
“It pushed me to separate myself
from my competition. I’m not the
biggest guy. I’m not the strongest
and I don’t throw the hardest. But I
work hard and compete with
everyone. I’m trying to knock them
off their throne.”
Finding the balance between
improvement and being overly
critical proved difficult.
“I had trouble with getting past
my mistakes,” Weaver said. “I was
striving to be perfect. That’s not re-
alistic. … Baseball, above every-
thing else, is not a perfectionist’s
game. You get out seven times out
of 10 and you can make the Hall of
Fame. You can’t throw a shutout
every time or have a perfect season
in the outfield.”
Once he realized that, he had
more fun and was one of the Drag-
ons’ top starters as a junior in
2015. But there was one thing that
irked him.
“I thought I had a strong cam-
paign (to be first team all-league)
and I had a couple of games that
just sank me,” Weaver said. “That
really, really upset me. I set that bar
really high.”
He would not be denied as a
senior.
“I came in knowing I could be
one of the top pitchers in the
state,” Weaver said.
He lived up to that billing, earn-
ing first team all-league and sec-
ond team all-state honors, thanks
in part to the changeup — a pitch
that had proven elusive in previous
years became a weapon.
“If you have a changeup that’s
really deceptive, that’s probably
the best pitch you can have in this
game,” Weaver said.
As a senior, he also felt the re-
sponsibility to become a leader.
“I think that was something that
was missing the last few years,”
Weaver said. “I just wanted to pass
along as much knowledge as I
could.”
Weaver isn’t done with baseball
yet. He will play for Feather River
College in California. After that, he
hopes to get a chance to work his
way up through a professional
team’s farm system. He knows at 5-
foot-8, he doesn’t have the physical
build of a typical professional base-
ball player. But he is ready for his
chance.
“I want to be playing this game
as long as I can,” Weaver said. “If
that means being stuck in double A
ball not making a whole lot of
money, I don’t care. It’s not about
the money for me. It’s about being
able to be a kid, or that much
longer to be able to play a game
that was made for kids. Playing that
as long as you can is the most ideal
life I could possibly imagine. Why
not put all your eggs in one basket
and put all your chips on the table.
You only get one shot at this.”
Burn: Heat makes triathlon field games difficult
Continued from Page 10A
Corn hole was up first. My
teammate (and coworker)
Jolene Guzman went first.
Then it was up to me. I
grabbed the sand bags, took
aim and threw it toward the
board. Well … the more ac-
curate statement was I
threw it in the general direc-
tion of the board. Good
news is no one was injured
during my turn. Bad news
was landing on the board or
in the hole was … not hap-
pening.
My next round, I made
some adjustments, took aim
and attempted to channel
my inner ninja.
I launched my bags high
and arching — and proceed-
ed to miss the board again.
It soon became clear that
my goal changed from
achieving victory to score a
single point.
We lost a tight battle —
21-4. Jolene scored three of
the four points.
But we did score. Mission
accomplished (sort of).
It was time to redeem my-
self in bocce ball.
For the uninitiated, one
player throws a white ball
out, then teams take turns
rolling balls as close as pos-
sible to it. To our credit, we
had to measure almost every
one of our shots because
they were so close. The bad
news is that required us
walking back and forth to
measure.
If the spirit of Chuck Nor-
ris was there … he wasn’t
helping. Instead the sun con-
Track: Dallas runners try
to avoid training on track
Continued from Page 10A
At the core of the issue is
the track’s age.
“We tell people 10 to 12
years is the time frame for
resurfacing,” Gary Logsdon
said. Logsdon serves as
vice-president of sales for
Beynon Sports Surfaces —
the company that installed
the track surface in 2004.
“We have to start talking
about putting in a brand
new surface if they wait too
long.”
Logsdon checked out the
track in the spring of 2014,
stating in an email sent to
the high school that resur-
facing was suggested in a
year or two.
A campaign to raise
funds for resurfacing the
track and installing field
turf on the football field
began in the spring of 2014,
but fell short of its goal.
It’s clear the track’s con-
dition continues to deterio-
rate and the school must
start planning its fix, Lar-
son said.
“We need to start think-
ing about what is our plan
for replacement,” Larson
said. “Whatever the
amount of money is, we
don’t have it sitting in a lit-
tle bank. We should be say-
ing here’s a need, let’s start
putting funds toward the
track.”
When, and if, those
funds come together re-
mains a mystery. Until
then, Masei said he’ll con-
tinue to look for ways to
keep the Dragons as
healthy as possible.
“I’ve been a teacher and
a coach for over 20 years,”
Masei said. “I know every-
thing is powered by the
almighty dollar. If you don’t
have the money, you don’t
have the money. We do the
best with what we have.”
tinued to beat down on us.
We lost 15-6. Though losing
meant we got to wait in the
shade and drink water while
others continued to play so
who really “lost” that one?
The final event was disc
golf. The 18-hole course at
Dallas City Park seemed a lit-
tle bit daunting. But, how
hard could throwing a disc
be?
On our first hole, I
stepped forward and
launched the disc into the
air watching it sail toward
the hole — then immediate-
ly swerve to the left, wind up
in the road and go about as
fourth as long as everyone
else’s throw.
On the bright side, I fig-
ured, it can only get better
from here. Boy was I wrong.
I had throws wind up in the
water, the bushes, hitting
trees and going in all sorts of
directions.
It made my golf game
look like a champion and let
me tell you, it’s not.
Add in the heat, and mid-
way through the round, I
wasn’t focused on winning. I
was focused on finishing the
round without passing out
(which I did thank you very
much).
We The News may have
failed in our attempt to grab
glory in corn hole, bocce ball
and disc golf. But I did learn
one important thing — I
probably shouldn’t be the
person who throws knives at
people on stage because …
frankly my aim isn’t that
good.
Solution on Page 2A
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