SPORTS
Blue Mountain Eagle
A8
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
Caught with
your pants down
H
unting (like life) is 90% being in the right
place at the right time. Of course, it takes
skill, discipline, continual training, but
nothing can take the place of standing in the exact
right location when luck comes to call. Of course,
when that does happen you need to be prepared or
you may just miss out.
Many years ago, a friend of mine and I were
hunting elk in the mountains. We hiked and hiked
all morning hoping to get a shot at a bull as that is
what we had tags for. Upon crest-
ing a summit overlooking a small
bunch of trees, we stopped to glass
before proceeding. Biology being
what it is, I felt the call, and so I
leaned Old Reliable up against a
tree and took a few steps away to
get some privacy. No sooner had
Dale Valade
I unzipped my fly and passed the
point of no return when my buddy
exclaims, “There’s a bull!” Trying to hurriedly
finish taking a leak, without frantically zipping
up the family jewels in the fly of my pants while
grasping for a rifle that I conveniently left out of
reach, led to missing our only chance at a bull. I
never got a look at him, nor did I see a bull elk the
rest of the season.
I’ve seen cheechakos and pros alike neglect
to remove scope caps, forget to load their rifles
or omit to disengage the safety in the heat of the
moment. I’ve heard of a fella who get so excited
that he ejected all of the cartridges from his .30-30
without once touching the trigger. Maybe just a lit-
tle buck fever.
Another tethered their .270 to a pack animal
with such amazing efficacy that when he jumped a
big buck just off the trail it took him several min-
utes to get it free and into action, and of course,
by then the buck was long gone. Frequently, vari-
able-power scopes get turned to the maximum set-
ting in anticipation of a long-range shot only to
rob us of a 40-yard shot at a moving animal who
doesn’t permit us the necessary time for any scope
adjustments.
Then there are the dudes who left their ammo
at home or, worse yet, brought the wrong caliber.
The list literally is endless and gets longer each
year.
Then are those times where everything just
works to come together, and campfire lore
becomes reality. The pictures and taxidermy stand
idyllic, as it were, as a sort of monument to correct
choices meets proper preparation. And it is worth
every moment of work that it took to get there.
Who’s to say which outcome it will be each
time we take to the woods? Moral of the story is
this: All the fancy gadgets and preparation in the
world are for not if you aren’t ready at the moment
of truth. When that moment comes, don’t get caught
with your pants down.
Want to sound off? Write to us at shootingthe-
breezebme@gmail.com!
Dale Valade is a local country gent with a love
for the outdoors, handloading, hunting and shooting.
Contributed photo/Marissa Williams
The Lady Prospectors 18U softball team gathers for a team photo Sunday. The girls took third overall at the North American Fastpitch Asso-
ciation Summer Nationals Tournament in Newberg last weekend.
Lady Pros take third at national tourney in Newberg
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
TEAM ROSTER
When COVID-19 canceled
the Lady Prospectors’ softball
season, head coach Zach Wil-
liams told the girls, no matter
what happened, he would keep
trying to salvage some sem-
blance of a season.
As soon as the fields
opened up in June, Williams
put together a team of mostly
Grant Union girls and got them
to commit to showing up for
practice.
The perseverance paid off
last weekend when the 18U
Lady Pros took third at the
North American Fastpitch
Association Summer Nationals
in Newberg.
Out of the six tournaments,
he registered the team to com-
pete in, Newberg’s NAFA tour-
ney, which was the only tour-
nament the girls were able to
play in, the rest canceled due to
COVID-19.
“In the end, it was short and
sweet,” he said. “But we ended
it on our terms.”
Williams said he tried to put
together a team of only Grant
Grant Union
La Grande
Taylor Allen, going to Mt.
Hood Community College in
the fall to play softball
Ali Brock, going to Universi-
ty of Montana in the fall to
play softball
Shaine Madden, going to
Columbia Basin College in
the fall to play softball
Jayce Seavert, going to Or-
egon Tech in the fall to play
softball
Harli Grove
Grace Neer
Riley Robertson
Kara Gooderham, currently
an Eastern Oregon Universi-
ty student and soccer player
Paige Weaver
Raney Anderson
Union girls, which, in years
past, is what he has always
done with the older players, and
they treat the summer league as
a high school softball season.
He said he could not get the
numbers this year.
Williams said, in addition
to seven Grant Union players,
he brought four high school
players from La grande High
School.
The four-day national tour-
nament kicked off Thursday.
The Lady Pros won both of
their pool games, shutting out
Northwest Mayhem 8-0 and
besting South Valley Storm
4-3 on a walk-off by Jacee
Seavert, a La Grande High
School graduate who will play
softball for Oregon Tech in the
fall.
As a result of winning their
first two games, Williams said
the Lady Pros were seeded first
in their pool and placed in the
gold bracket.
He said, in a 16-team tour-
ney, the top eight teams place
in a gold bracket, and the bot-
tom half place in silver, or
platinum, brackets.
The girls defeated the
Redeemer
Lutheran Church
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Sunday School ...................... 9:30 a.m.
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Sunday Morning Worship .. 10:50 a.m.
No Mid-week Services
Pastor Jesse Gosnell
300 W. Main, John Day
541-575-1355
627 SE Hillcrest, John Day
st
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Pastor Keith DeHart
JOHN DAY
UNITED
METHODIST
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Northwest Thunder, 5-0, but
the Diamond Bandits shut out
the Lady Pros 10-0 in their
quarterfinal game.
With their backs against the
wall, the Lady Pros had to step
up and win Saturday.
“We had to win our way
back to play for the champion-
ship,” Williams said.
The girls bested the Dia-
mondbacks 7-3 in their only
game Saturday. Sunday morn-
ing, the girls handily defeated
the Cascade Christian Chal-
lengers, 6-2.
Needing one more win to
play for the championship, the
girls fell to the South Valley
Storm, 13-3, taking third place
overall.
Williams said it was good
to have all of the girls back on
the field before moving on to
fall sports or college.
He said four of the girls on
the team would play college
softball in the fall and another
plays soccer while the other
five will be returning to their
high school teams next season.
“We had a great time,” he
said. “And I think everyone got
better.”
Sunday School ..................... 9:45 am
Sunday Worship ...................... 11 am
Fox Community Church ............. 3 pm
Sunday Evening Bible Talk ......... 6 pm
Saturday Men’s Study ............... 6 pm
Full Gospel- Come Grow With Us
541-575-1202 Church
311 NE Dayton St, John Day
Pastor Al Altnow
Cornerstone
Christian
Fellowship
139 N.E. D AYTON S TREET , J OHN D AY
541-575-2180
Sunday Worship Service 10 am
Sunday Youth Group 3 pm
Thursday Celebrate Recovery 6 pm
Pastor Levi Manitsas
cornerstonejohnday@gmail.com
ccfjd.org
CHURCH OF THE
NAZARENE
Sunday School .......................... 9:30 am
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St. Thomas
Episocopal
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59357 Hwy 26 Mt. Vernon
Seventh-Day
Adventist
Church
SATURDAY SERVICES
Celebration of Worship
JOHN DAY
110 Valley View Dr.
541-575-1216
Head Elder ..........................541-575-2914
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LONG CREEK
E. Main Street
541-421-3033
Head Elder .................................421-3468
Bible Classes (all ages) ......................2 pm
Worship .............................................3 pm
Jr./Sr. High
Youth Connection
Sundays 5:30pm
Youth: 0-6th Grade
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Thursdays 6:30pm
Youth: 0-6th Grade
Wednesdays at 6:30pm
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Mondays at 6pm at
LWCC
A Christ-Centered, 12-Step
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Pastor Sharon Miller
541-932-4910
www.livingwordcc.com
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