LOCAL & STATE
SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
CHAMPIONS
“You have kids nine, 10, 11 years old who managed
to keep it together physically, emotionally, mentally. It
was pretty remarkable. It was a drama-fi lled evening.”
Continued from Page A1
The fi rst game in the
championship round was
supposed to start at 4:30 p.m.
on Wednesday, Briels said.
But a lightning storm
that pummeled Baker City
delayed an earlier game three
times, pushing back the fi rst
pitch of the Baker-Pilot Rock
contest to about 7 p.m.
Baker led 8-3 in that game
and seemed poised to win the
district title the easy way —
and long before day’s end.
“But we had a couple of
bobbles and things went the
other way,” Briels said.
Pilot Rock scored nine runs
in the sixth inning and won
11-8, forcing a winner-take-all
second game.
But with the time nearing
10 p.m., the question was
whether that game would
take place Wednesday or be
moved to Thursday.
Briels said Baker was
eager to play despite the late
hour.
Had the game been pushed
back to the next day, a couple
of Baker players and one
coach, who had previous fam-
ily commitments, would have
missed the game, he said.
Pilot Rock was willing, so
the fi nal game started around
10:10 p.m.
The next potential time
issue was midnight.
Briels said Little League
rules don’t allow an inning to
start after midnight.
— Jim Ingram, assistant coach for Baker’s 9-11-year-old
baseball team that won the District 3 championship
Baker Little League/Contributed Photo
Baker’s all-star baseball team in the 9-11-year-old division won the District 3 championship
late Wednesday, June 23. Baker will compete in the state tournament starting July 17.
Fortunately, Baker took a
14-4 lead after four innings,
which ended the game, at
about 11:40 p.m., by 10-run
mercy rule.
After a scoreless fi rst in-
ning, Baker scored fi ve runs
in the second and led 5-3
after two innings. Baker took
control with six runs in the
third inning.
Antonio Govern earned the
complete-game win on the
mound for Baker.
Briels said he was glad
the fi nal game was played
Wednesday night, and for a
couple of reasons.
It was much cooler, for one
thing, compared with playing
Thursday afternoon.
And he said the Baker
players also enjoyed claim-
ing their district title banner
under the lights at Wade
Williams.
“For this age group it’s
pretty special to win a cham-
pionship under the lights,”
Briels said.
Jim Ingram, one of Baker’s
coaches, said he was im-
pressed that Baker’s players
— most of whom typically are
in bed by the time the fi rst
pitch of the championship
game was thrown — main-
tained their composure and
focus.
“You have kids nine, 10, 11
years old who managed to
keep it together physically,
emotionally, mentally,” said
Ingram, whose son and team
member, Coleman, is nine.
“It was pretty remarkable. It
was a drama-fi lled evening.”
Jim Ingram said Baker
players arrived at Wade Wil-
liams around 3 p.m. to start
warming up.
“It was a long nine hours,”
he said.
After the disappointing end
to the fi rst game, Ingram said
the Baker coaching staff, once
the decision was made to
play the championship game
despite the late start, encour-
aged the players to not worry
about what was at stake.
“We said let’s just go out
there and have fun,” Ingram
said. “The second game was a
far more relaxed atmosphere.
And it worked. I think these
kids deserve a lot of credit
for their energy and enthusi-
asm, and that goes for both
teams.”
Baker’s team roster is
Beau Briels, Landon Mar-
lia, Tucker Reid, Antonio
Govern, Coleman Ingram,
Joseph Warbis, Wyatt Carey,
Ambrose Rexroad, Liam
Jobes, Cooper Bain, Ty Price,
Gavin Meyers, Keller Barr.
Manager Brandon Briels
is assisted by coaches
Ingram and Brandon Reid.
Briels said that although
the team can only have
three coaches in the dugout
for games, he also has had
invaluable help from two
other coaches, Drew Barr
and Kelly Jobes.
“We would not be where
we are without them,” Briels
said.
State COVID mandates to end
EO Media Group
Oregon will lift pandemic limits in place for
over a year no later than Wednesday, June 30,
Gov. Kate Brown said Friday, June 25.
“When Oregon reaches 70% or by Wednes-
day, June 30, we will lift the safety programs
we have relied on and open our economy,”
Brown said in a press call on Friday morning.
After the deadline passes, mandates on
masks, social distancing and capacity limits of
restaurants and venues will be removed.
“Effectively, Oregon is 100% open for busi-
ness,” Brown said.
But Brown and health offi cials said that the
crisis for the state is not over.
“Some 98 percent of people dying from CO-
VID-19 are unvaccinated,” Brown said.
Oregon Health Authority Director Pat Allen
said the pandemic is not over, but the manage-
ment of the crisis will shift to local offi cials.
County commissioners will be responsible
for public health decisions and the state will
only compile statistics and offer assistance.
“Local offi cials will be responsible for those
decisions and for the consequences,” Allen
said.
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