New faces, new
philosophies,
new challenges
W
hile preparing
stories for the
spring sports tab
together, I noticed something
rather unexpected: how
many area teams had new
coaches this year.
The Hermiston baseball,
track, girls tennis, boys
tennis and girls golf teams
all have new head coaches.
The Umatilla softball team
has a new head guy.
Six new head coaches
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That’s probably close to
unprecedented in the area
and creates some interesting
things to keep an eye on as
the spring unfolds.
A new head coach
presents different dynamics,
based on the situation. For
instance, new Hermiston
baseball coach Lance
Hawkins was an assistant
at Hermiston for 15 years.
He already knows the
program, the players, the
league and the landscape as
a whole. Monty Williams,
new Umatilla softball coach,
is fresh. He’s still learning
names, learning the league
and learning the landscape.
These things present
different challenges for
players and coaches.
Sometimes change
is a good thing. As I’ve
mentioned before, my
high school football team
was terrible for two years
until we got a head coach
who turned things around.
He brought a fresh voice,
fresh concepts and pure
enthusiasm to the team, and
we bought into it. We truly
felt like the new guy had
our backs and would go to
war for us. We reciprocated,
and it propelled us to the
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program has only gotten
better since then.
In baseball, a similar
thing happened. Our baseball
program was in shambles a
year before I got there, and,
with a new coach and largely
the same players, we reached
the playoffs in his first year
and five years later played
for a state championship. He
also brought with him a fresh
voice, fresh concepts and pure
enthusiasm. It was the same
situation with the same result.
Sometimes transitioning
to a new coaches can be
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basketball coach in my
sophomore year, and things
did not go so well. I think
the previous head coach was
politely pushed out because
the district implemented
new policies: He wasn’t a
SPORTS
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
A9
PREP SOFTBALL • SCHEDULE
SAM BARBEE
FROM THE SIDELINES
Sports reporter
teacher and had no desire
to be. The guys on the team
that year just didn’t buy into
the new coach. He brought
a fresh voice and fresh
concepts, but they differed
from what we thought R.
A. Long basketball was
about. The program suffered
because of it and still hasn’t
entirely recovered.
Three sports, three
coaching changes, differing
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are unique.
I’m interested in seeing
what the new coaches
will do. Some, like new
Hermiston girls tennis coach
Jason Sivey, aren’t planning
on an overhaul. He said
he’s continuing the same
sort of coaching style and
philosophies as the previous
regime. New Hermiston
track coach Emily Strot is
building on Bulldog football
coach Mark Hodges’ love
of acronyms and infusing
them into her own program.
Her TRAIN like a Bulldog
philosophy has gone well.
A couple of seniors have
fully bought into the Trust,
Resilience, Ambition,
Intensity, No excuses
program and are giving
others reason to buy in, too.
Still, it’s harder for a
new coach to come into
a successful program and
insert his or her will. It was
easy for my new football
and baseball coaches to
convince us because we
were bad. It was hard for
the new basketball coach to
convince us because we had
just gone to state.
Other team’s have
different experiences.
Though, Hermiston
baseball was pretty good
last year, Hawkins was
around. Players already
know and respect him. His
philosophies are familiar
and accepted. He’s not a
new coach: He’s a new head
coach, which is a subtle, yet
important, distinction. He
won’t have to work hard
to win the players over. He
already has.
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I did my last one: Here’s to a
good spring, coaches. I hope
everything goes well.
—Sam Barbee is the
sports reporter for the
Hermiston Herald and can
be reached at (541) 564-
4542 or sbarbee@hermis-
tonherald.com
GO SEE IT
Saturday, March 21
Baseball
Umatilla @ Dufur, 11 a.m.
Umatilla vs. Kennedy @ Dufur, 1 p.m.
6WDQ¿HOG YV &DVFDGH /HDYHQZRUWK # &DVFDGH
(WA), 1:30 p.m.
6WDQ¿HOG#&DVKPHUHSP
Sunday, March 22
Lacrosse
+HUPLVWRQYV&DQE\SP
Monday, March 23
Golf
Hermiston @ Grandview Invite, 9 a.m.
Baseball
Hermiston vs. Redmond (DH), 11 a.m.
Softball
+HUPLVWRQYV2UHJRQ&LW\#6SULQJ%UHDN,QYLWD-
tional, 12 p.m.
Hermiston vs. Franklin @ Spring Break Invitation-
al, 4 p.m.
Tuesday, March 24
Softball
Hermiston vs. Milwaukie @ Spring Break Invita-
tional, 10 a.m.
+HUPLVWRQYV&ODFNDPDV#6SULQJ%UHDN,QYLWD-
tional, 2 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25
Lacrosse
Hermiston vs. Richland 5 p.m.
Baseball
Hermiston vs. Kamiakin, 4 p.m.
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston third baseman Elory Jones slides in under the tag of Post Falls catcher Abi Melton for Hermiston’s third run of a 6-4
come-from-behind victory at Rocky Heights Elementary School on Friday. Hermiston swept the Trojans after beating them 10-6
in game 1 of the double header.
HERMISTON SOFTBALL SWEEPS POST FALLS
Second win comes
by default
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
Down 4-2 in the bottom
of the fourth in the second
game of a double header
Friday, the Hermiston soft-
ball team needed a rally.
Post Falls (ID) start-
ing pitcher Brooke Bow-
ers had kept Hermiston at
bay all game, holding the
high-powered Bulldogs to
just the two runs on two
hits.
In the fourth inning,
however, the Bulldogs
popped for three. Jaime
Hinkley singled sharply
into left with two outs, plat-
ing Elizabeth Weems and
Alex Barton, to put Herm-
iston up for good at 5-4.
Post Falls went on its own
rally in the top of the sixth
to take an 8-5 lead, but the
game was called due to
darkness, with the score
reverting back to that of
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giving Hermiston the 6-4
default win.
In her second and lon-
gest varsity outing, Breyan-
na Naylor picked up the win
after two innings of shutout
ball. The junior, who was
on the junior varsity squad
last spring, struck out one
and threw just 26 pitches in
her two frames of work.
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boost for our kids,” Herm-
iston (2-1) head coach
Kylee Lete said after the
game. “We got some young
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now, and every advantage
we can have (we’ll take).
We had a lot of young kids
step up in big ways for us
tonight. I see them being
excited about that, too.”
Hinkley was 1-for-3
with the single and two
RBIs, and Abi Drotzmann
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston junior Breyanna Naylor comes to the plate with a pitch during Hermiston’s 6-4 victo-
ry over the Post Falls (ID) Trojans on Friday at Rocky Heights Elementary Schools. Naylor went
two scoreless innings in her second varsity appearance.
was 2-for-3, Mikayla Ko-
pacz had an RBI single and
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hits.
It was a group effort to
produce the six runs, which
LQFOXGHGEXQWVVDFUL¿FHÀ\ they’re capable of doing the
balls and RBI knocks.
same thing.”
“The bottom part of our
That bottom of the or-
lineup was really young der, largely made up of ju-
today,” Drotzmann said.
SEE BULLDOGS/A10
“That showed them that
Bulldog softball team has high hopes this season
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
After reaching the state
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Hermiston softball team
didn’t have the season it
was hoping for in 2014.
Inconsistency plagued the
Bulldogs’ season, forcing
them into fourth place in the
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with a 2-10 record, 6-18
overall, and they lost their
last nine games of the year.
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ally strong softball league.
Last year, Pendleton won
the state championship, and
Hood River Valley reached
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before, in 2013, Hermiston
was the state runner-up in a
1-0 heartbreaker to Sandy.
In 2012, Pendleton again
won the state champion-
ship, but it was The Dalles
that reached the semis.
In three years, all four
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state championships came
of those three appearances.
With that tough league
comes talented players, and
Hermiston plans to show
off its fair share heading
into this season.
“We have a lot of ath-
leticism,” third-year head
coach Kylee Lete said. “If
we can overcome some of
the knowledge of the game
and we can grow in that
area, we’re going to be a
competitive ball club. We
just have to grow to under-
stand the game and deep-
en our knowledge of the
game.”
The Bulldogs expect
quite a bit out of at least
three players.
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Drotzmann has commit-
ted to play softball at Lin-
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Mikayla Kopacz scored
two runs without getting a
hit out of the three hole in
Hermiston’s opening day
loss to Ridgeview earlier in
the week, and Ashley Mos-
er, batting second, went
2-for-4 and also scored
two runs. Hermiston lost
that game 12-7, but it was
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and a good indication of
what is coming.
The softball team lost
some key hurlers from the
past two years, however,
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to replace them. Freshman
Julissa Almaguer threw six
solid innings in the open-
ing-game loss, and Lete has
some others who will get a
look in the circle, too.
“We saw (Almagu-
er) work all off season
(and) work last year as an
eighth-grader,” Lete said.
“We gave her an oppor-
tunity, and she impressed
(Tuesday). She kept her
compsure really well, and
as far as our ace goes, I
don’t know. We have some
pretty competitive candi-
DWHVIRUWKDWVSRWEXW,GH¿-
nitely think she’s going to
be an asset to our pitching
staff this year.”
Offensively, the Bull-
dogs have a number of
left-handed slap hitters who
can run, switch hitters and
power throughout the line-
up. Drotzmann put up spar-
kling numbers last spring,
batting .459 and an impres-
sive slugging percentage of
.838. To put that number in
context, Babe Ruth slugged
.847 in 1920, a record that
stood for nearly a century.
This balance, plus Drot-
zmann, Lete said, is going
to be something Hermiston
will rely on this season, and
the seven runs earlier in the
week is proof of that.
“All of (our hitters) have
power,” Lete said. “The
lefties have speed. It’s nice.
We have options this year
as far as our order goes. It’s
not just power. It’s speed
(and) power.”
Lete said what will cer-
tainly help Hermiston this
season is a desire to reverse
last year’s fortunes. The
Bulldogs have had a taste
of championship-level soft-
ball and want to get there
again.
“The girls (were) real-
ly eager to start this year,”
Lete said. “In the off sea-
son, they did a lot of work
on their own working out,
and that showed (Tuesday
in a 12-7 loss). Just as far
as the beginning of the year
goes, they have a lot of
things that they are eager
to accomplish and wipe it
clean from last year.”