Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
A13
WEDNESDAY
June 27, 2018
Wildfire softball girls win District 3 tourney
9-11 and 18U girls
busy competing
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant County Wildfire 9-10-
11 girls softball team dominated the
Hermiston Bulldogs at the District 3
Little League Tournament, which was
a best of three series between the two
teams.
The tournament in Pilot Rock was
rained out on June 18. Then the Wild-
fire powered forward, winning game
one, 12-1, on Tuesday and game
two, 8-3, on Wednesday.
Head coach Zach Williams said
his team performed well, despite the
hot weather.
“The girls played solid defense,”
he said. “They had to be really pa-
tient at the plate, which we struggled
with. Everybody on the team con-
tributed.”
Pitcher Drewsey Williams was
in the circle for all 10 innings of the
tournament.
In game one, she threw four in-
nings, striking out five and giving up
no hits.
Offensively, the team was walked
13 times, and Halle Parsons, Jaydika
Anderson and Bailey McCracken
each had one hit.
The team won in four innings,
due to the mercy rule.
Drewsey Williams pitched a full
six innings in game two, striking
out eight batters and giving up two
walks.
Parsons went 2 for 3, and Lauren
Wenger tripled in the second inning.
Addy Northway and Savannah Wat-
terson each had one hit.
The Wildfire and 18U Lady Pros
team competed at the June 22-24
Amateur Softball Association Boi-
se Blast Summer Shootout in Ida-
ho, eight games against teams from
throughout the northwest.
Coach Williams said the ASA
games are more competitive, and
Contributed photos/Tanni Wenger Photography
The Grant County Wildfire 9-10-11 team gathers after winning the Oregon District 3 Championships on
June 20. The team beat Hermiston 12-1 and 8-3 in Pilot Rock. Front row, from left: Bailey McCracken,
Preslee Lenz, Savannah Watterson, Addy Northway, Jaydika Anderson, Drewsey Williams, Sivanna Hodge,
Lauren Wenger, Halle Parsons, Ava Gerry, Lexi McKrola, Lilly Rockhill and Reece Jacobs; back row,
assistant coaches Ray Wenger and Levi Watterson and head coach Zach Williams.
they are up against opponents with
girls who try out for their teams.
The Lady Pros won the silver
bracket at the June 15-16 Magic Val-
ley Madness Tournament in Twin
Falls, Idaho.
After competing in Boise, both
Grant County teams will play at an-
other ASA tournament in Medford.
The Wildfire will compete at the
9-10-11 Little League Softball State
Tournament, which starts July 18
in Medford. Last year, the Wildfire
girls had a third-place finish.
“We’re looking forward to going
back to the state tournament,” Wil-
liams said.
By the time the Wildfire and
Lady Pros reach the end of the sea-
son, each team will have played 45
games.
Williams is manager for the Lady
Pros team with assistant coaches
Mike Strong, Lance Zweygardt,
Amy Hittle and Brandon Culley.
Assistant coaches for the Wildfire
team are Levi Watterson, Marissa
Williams and Ray Wenger.
Grant County Wildfire’s Halle Parsons looks for the
pitch in the game against Hermiston.
Grant County Wildfire third
baseman Lauren Wenger
competes in the District 3
Championships in Pilot Rock.
Grant County Wildfire catcher Addy Northway
competes in the District 3 Championships
against Hermiston in Pilot Rock.
Prospector softball legacy began with simple question
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Many hands have made the
Grant Union Prospector soft-
ball program what it is today.
It all started in 2002 when
an inquisitive father, new to the
area at that time, asked a sixth-
grade teacher about softball for
his girls.
Now retired, DeAnna Nash
was a teacher with Grant School
District 3 when, on that first day
of school, Mark Croghan asked
if there was a softball program.
Mark’s daughters had
played Little League softball in
Idaho, and they hoped to keep
playing.
“I remember meeting
them,” Nash said. “That was
one of the first questions Mark
had for me.”
A chat with the Little League
baseball board of directors, in-
cluding Lucie Imoos and John
Stearns, got the ball rolling, and
by spring 2003 a Little League
softball program formed.
Croghan’s daughter Taylor
and Nash’s daughter Megan
were on that first team of 11-
and 12-year-olds.
Nash said there were four
town teams when Little League
softball started, and later an ad-
ditional three teams with older
girls.
“All of the sudden every lit-
tle girl in town wanted to play
softball,” she said. “Parents
were almost as excited as the
kids to get girls involved in the
softball program.”
Mark said, the first year the
girls played, they went to a dis-
trict tournament and won some
games.
“(They) did well for some
girls who’d never competed be-
fore,” Mark said. “From there,
those girls progressed on up to
high school, and there was a big
enough group that they wanted
to continue.”
Mark and his wife, Lorie,
both coached their three daugh-
ters through Little League, who
all went on to play for the high
school team.
Nash also coached her four
daughters in Little League for
several years.
Lorie recalled several par-
Contributed photo/Lorie Croghan
Girls on the first Grant Union softball team pose in their dugout in 2006. Back row, left to right: Megan Nash, Sidney
Swaggert, Jonna Porter, Kelsi Livran, Amanda Buckhaults; middle row, Mikayla Alley, Hilary Ashmead, Taylor Croghan,
La’Shawnda Gill, Kristina Hansen; front: Sharon Houpt.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Reagan Shelley gets the signal
from then-head coach DeAnna Nash to take it on home
from third in a 2017 league playoff against Burns in Vale.
ents stepped up to help coach
Little League, including Les
DeHaven and Jeff Meyerholz.
When the girls on the first
Little League softball team
reached their freshman year, a
high school softball club started
that spring in 2006.
Nash was head coach and
Lorie, who was and still is a
teacher with Grant School Dis-
trict 3, was assistant coach.
“Initially the program
wasn’t funded — we had to
prove ourselves,” Nash said.
“We went to state the second
year and fourth year of the pro-
gram.”
Most of the girls on the first
team were freshmen, about 14
of them, with a couple upper-
classmen that first year.
Mark, who continued to
coach Little League until 2014,
said the high school team per-
formed well and people were
“pretty surprised because they
were so young.”
Little League volunteers
built the softball dugouts, and
Tony Gardner donated the first
two batting cages.
DeHaven was another assis-
tant coach over the years, and
Nash’s husband, Monty, was
also a volunteer assistant.
DeAnna Nash credits those
first six dedicated freshmen,
who played all four years, with
developing the program.
“If the Croghans had never
come to John Day, we probably
wouldn’t have softball in high
school — 100 percent, I believe
that,” she said.
By the fourth year of the
high school program, there
were 27 players on the team.
They won the district tour-
nament and went to state a
second time. Then the school
began paying the coaches. The
excitement was contagious.
Younger girls who saw the
success of the older girls be-
came interested, and team mem-
bers encouraged others to join.
“It’s definitely fun to see
the girls have an opportunity
to compete in softball,” Mark
said. “It’s a lot funner to watch
to see the interest develop with
people coming up.”
He said he helped Little
League players and some var-
sity players learn pitching tech-
niques.
“The parents and the kids
took that on themselves, and
I think a lot of them went to
pitching camps,” he said.
Nash said during her last
year of coaching the Prospec-
tors, in 2017, there were four
or five players who hadn’t been
in the program long or who had
never played.
“They all wanted to be a
part of that high school pro-
gram, and I think that’s a ben-
efit,” she said.
“It was fun for those girls
who had a lot of skills to re-
member that they were at that
point once upon a time,” she
added. “It helped them remem-
ber the fundamentals.”
She said it was a great expe-
rience to see the newer players
progress through the season.
Lorie was assistant coach
through 2010 and also assist-
ed in 2014. When she wasn’t
coaching, she kept records for
Nash.
Taylor Croghan said she’s
glad her dad helped start Little
League softball.
“It was pretty cool that I
could be on the first softball
team here and know that my
family was part of that and all
my friends,” she said, adding
she was also pleased to see the
playing field even out with the
ratio between boys and girls
high school sports.
“And now the softball team
is doing well and competed
really well at state,” she said.
“I’ve talked with some of those
players, and (they) had looked
up to the previous players that
had been on the team — those
who’ve had an influence on the
younger girls is nice.”
She said she was happy with
her team and how they all got
along.
“It’s fun to see how far our
community has come, to start
out at such a young age and play
at the skill level that they do now
in high school,” she said.
Zach Williams started
coaching the Prospector soft-
ball team this season, leading
the team to the OSAA State
Championship quarterfinals.
This summer, he is also
coaching the ASA 18U Lady
Pros team, and the 12U Grant
County Wildfire Little League
softball team. Both teams are
frequently on the road for
games.
Mark Croghan credits Wil-
liams for helping the girls gain
softball experience as they
move up through the ranks.
Williams said there is “a lot
of hard work by a lot of volun-
teers” in Little League.
Last year, he managed the
16U ASA team, which ended
in the top half at the ASA State
Championship Tournament in
Medford. He also led the 8-10
team to third place at the 2017
Oregon State Little League Tour-
nament, also played in Medford.
“I’m sure they’ll continue to
do well,” Mark said.