MARCH 25, 2015
A10 WEDNESDAY,
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Finding a
reasonable,
viable solution
T
he ending, if you
could call it that,
to Hermiston’s
baseball game against
Redmond Monday was
weird, and it should never
have happened.
The game was called
because of the sun glaring
off the roof of a storage
building behind home
plate, something I’ve
never heard of being
done. But I went out to
the mound and to the
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and looked toward home.
Sure enough, the glare
was blinding. Not only
could I not see, but it
was so bright my vision
was becoming splotchy
like I was staring into the
sun. It wasn’t safe, and
something had to be done
to prevent an accident
from occurring. We don’t
want players or umpires
taking line drives in the
face because they can’t
see.
That wouldn’t be good.
But just walking off
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option, either. That’s what
the umpires did: They
simply walked off the
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liability issue — it was.
But they said the game
didn’t matter — it did.
With how Oregon School
Activities Association
rankings work, every
game matters, and every
game matters to every
team on any given
schedule. So it was really
a bad thing to just call
that game because of the
fallout. Redmond lost out
on a near-sure win and a
nine-run explosion, and
Hermiston has to spend
more money on gas and
the athletes have to miss
more class time because
the teams have to make
up the game at a neutral
site, preliminarily in The
Dalles.
It really wasn’t the
right decision.
After talking to people
who have a great deal
of knowledge about
the baseball complex at
Armand Larive Middle
School, I learned
nothing like that had
ever happened before.
Hermiston Athletic
SAM BARBEE
FROM THE SIDELINES
Sports reporter
Director Blaine Ganvoa
said, in the construction
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about glare coming off
the roof of the building
in question and the color
painted was chosen
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reason: to avoid glare.
So, in the two or three
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has been in use — both
for high school and Babe
Ruth games — no game
had been in jeopardy due
to any sort of glare.
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properly. In the afternoon,
the sun is behind home
plate, putting it in the
eyes of everyone on the
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and home plate umpire.
Then there’s the metal
roof which, according
to Ganvoa, was painted
its dark brown color on
purpose.
But it didn’t work.
It still happened. And
though it’s only happened
once, a game was still
called prematurely, and a
contingency plan has to
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It’s not an ideal situation,
and it’s one that could
have been avoided.
A good portion of the
blame, though, has to be
put on the umpires. There
was no thought on their
part about what might
happen if they walked
RIIWKH¿HOG7KH\GLGQ¶W
consider waiting for the
sun to move in the sky to
eliminate the glare. They
had a single purpose, and
that was getting off the
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and coaches a disservice
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immediate solution. They
took the easy road, and it
was the wrong one.
Fixing the potential
glare issue — it’s not an
issue yet, but it could
become one — isn’t as
simple as throwing a tarp
on the roof and calling it
good — mostly because
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SEE SOLUTION/A11
Schimmel leads
Cardinals to Sweet 16
Former
Hermiston
player and current Louis-
ville Cardinals guard Jude
Schimmel helped lead
her third-seeded squad
to a 60-52 win over No.
6 South Florida Mon-
day night, putting Louis-
ville into its third straight
NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Schimmel scored 13
points on the night, with
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three minutes and six in
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“I knew that I had to
be a leader,” Schimmel
told the Associated Press.
“At that point, we needed
somebody to step up and I
said ‘Why not me.’ ”
Louisville takes on
seventh-seeded Dayton at
2 p.m. Saturday in the Al-
bany, New York regional
VHPL¿QDO
GO SEE IT
Wednesday, March 25
Lacrosse
Hermiston vs. Richland, 5 p.m.
Baseball
Hermiston @ Kamiakin, 4 p.m.
Softball
Echo vs. Knappa @ Heppner, 10 a.m.
Echo vs. Clatskanie @ Heppner, 2 p.m.
Thursday, March 26
Baseball
6WDQ¿HOGYV8QLRQDP
Softball
Echo vs. Colton, 3 p.m.
Friday, March 27
Baseball
Hermiston vs. Century (DH), 12 p.m.
Saturday, March 28
No events scheduled
SPORTS
PREP BASEBALL • SCHEDULE
Dogs look to retool this season
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
The Hermiston baseball
team has some shoes to
fill.
Last year, Hermiston
had arms it could rely on
to eat up innings when-
ever possible in pitchers
Austin Monahan, Nychal
Gritz and Sean Smith,
who helped carry Herm-
iston into the playoffs.
Those players have grad-
uated, and first-year head
coach Lance Hawkins
doesn’t know yet who
will step into those shoes.
He’s got some candi-
dates, however. Junior
left-hander RJ Robles
threw four scoreless in-
nings in the season open-
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to Ridgeview, and Tyler
Sexton, a big righty, al-
lowed just two runs over
six innings in an 8-2 vic-
tory over Pasco March 18.
Other than those two
players, and some relief
arms, Hawkins isn’t sure
what kind of staff he has
yet.
“In the past, we’ve had
guys that you can say,
‘They’re gonna throw 120
innings,’ ” Hawkins said.
“We don’t have that this
year. We don’t have that
ace. That’s why we’re
gonna play five games in
eight days and figure out
who can throw.”
Hermiston,
howev-
er, has other players on
whom it will rely this sea-
son.
Two-time
all-league
outfielder Cole Smith is
roaming right field and
bats third. Senior Jay
Lindeman, who primarily
played in the outfield last
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston righty Hayden Edmiston delivers a pitch during a
non-league baseball game between the Bulldogs and the Red-
mond Panthers Monday. The game was called in the bottom
of the sixth due to glare, and it is uncertain if the game will be
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season, has made a case
to take over behind the
plate and went 3-for-3 in
his first game as the start-
ing catcher. Landon Gam-
mell is in the mix for the
catcher spot, too. Dylan
Caldwell and Sexton are
battling it out at first
base, and junior Chase
Root is going to start at
shortstop “for the rest of
his career,” Hawkins said.
The other two out-
field spots are also up
for grabs. Senior Michael
Gossler started in center
against Ridgeview. Fresh-
man Dayshawn Neal got
the start in left March 17
until Robles was relieved,
and Neal figures to get
outfield innings as well.
Neal isn’t the only
freshman getting playing
time, though. Lukus To-
lan is on track to secure
the third baseman slot for
the next four years.
Hawkins said he is ex-
cited about certain pieces
of his team puzzle, but
he’s not yet sure how to
fit other pieces together.
Hawkins isn’t shying
away from tweaking his
starting lineup from game
to game according to
matchups, he said. He’ll
start his best nine, not his
nine best.
“I’m not really sure
what to expect,” Haw-
kins said. “We got some
guys that just play hard.
Are they true baseball
players? I’m not sure, but
they’re gonna give you
everything they have. I’d
rather work with guys
like that than have prima
donna baseball players.”
With a strong and ath-
letic roster, Hawkins
wants to keep the game
moving. He’s going to
have his players bunt.
They will steal. He’s go-
ing to move the defense
around and try to the
Bulldogs score runs any
way possible.
His focus isn’t game
to game or even inning
to inning. It’s pitch to
pitch, he said, and, so far
at least, that plan has been
received well.
“We’re gonna play the
game,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said he is
pushing urgency this sea-
son: urgency in prepara-
tion, urgency is mindset,
urgency at the plate, in
the field, on the mound,
on the bases. He said,
however, not all the play-
ers are acclimated to that
style of baseball yet.
In the game against
Ridgeview, Ravens catch-
er Even Remick tapped
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time and just barely got
a hustling Remick at the
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inning. Hawkins came out
of the dugout to preach ur-
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ed the pitcher he wanted
him to make a play like
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out of the game, not the
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“I’ve been trying to set
this idea in them: We’re
gonna battle every pitch,
every inning — not show
up, and the next thing you
it’s the fifth inning and
you get your urgency,” he
said. “We’re gonna have
urgency right now.”
Hermiston doubleheader
comes to frustrating close
Second game called
because of glare
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
The doubleheader be-
tween the Hermiston baseball
team and the Redmond Pan-
thers came to a strange end
Monday afternoon.
With Redmond leading
14-5 in Hermiston’s half of
the sixth, the game was called
due the sun’s glare coming
off a shed behind home plate.
Redmond had scored nine
runs in the top half of the sixth
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the game. In the front end of
the doubleheader, Hermiston
squeaked out a 2-1 win be-
hind a solid pitching perfor-
mance from RJ Robles.
The day’s end frustrated
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Lance Hawkins frustrated.
“My frustration comes
down to ... this season we
give up the big inning,” he
said after the second game
was called. “It’s how we do
it. We’re not mentally in the
game. Physically, sometimes
you have some mistakes, but
the mental part of the game,
we talk about it enough,
the kids should know what
they’re doing, and we’re not
competing a full game. We
talk about being great in do-
ing all the little things, and
we’re not doing that right
now — that’s from seniors all
the way down.”
Hawkins had an extra
long talk about that with the
seniors after the games Mon-
day. Hawkins challenged
them to be more mentally fo-
cused and prepared for each
game.
Hawkins pointed out one
play as a prime example of
the Bulldogs’ lack of focus.
With three runs already
in and the bases loaded with
one out, Redmond’s Brock
Penhollow bounced one back
to Michael Gossler at the
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston’s Landon Gammell turns away from an inside fastball during the sixth inning of
the second non-league baseball game between the Bulldogs and the Redmond Panthers. The
game was called two batters later due to glare, and it is still uncertain as to whether the game
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mound, who should have sent
the ball home to start a 1-2-3
double play but instead froze
and held the ball, allowing
one more run to score. Red-
mond found new life after the
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gates.
“That’s I guess getting
caught up in the game, but it
should just be a reaction deal,”
Hawkins said. “It’s thinking
about the game too much,
probably thinking about at-
bats and thinking about other
things. You can only control
the things you can control at
that time. And that’s a dou-
ble-play ball ... The baseball
gods frown upon mistakes
like that.”
The game wasn’t a total
wash, though. Hermiston
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when Dylan Caldwell dou-
bled home Robles. Redmond
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of the third, highlighted by
Hunter Smith’s RBI triple,
however.
The Bulldogs responded
in the bottom half of the third,
plating four of their own to
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out, Cole Smith reached on
an error, and Caldwell was
beaned. Both moved up on a
passed ball, and Lukus Tolan
singled to score both to pull
Hermiston within a run at 5-4.
Freshman Keegan Caldwell
then doubled to left center,
scoring Tolan from second,
which knotted the score.
“I think we did a great job
there (getting back into it),
but after you tie the game up,
there’s nothing,” Hawkins
said. “It was almost like ‘Hey,
we did a great job. We came
out (and) scored (four),’ and
then they were complacent
again.”
Two innings later, Red-
mond scored its nine runs,
and the game was called in
the bottom of the sixth.
In the opener, Redmond
got on the board early when
Hunter Smith tripled to deep
right and scored on a wild
pitch. Hermiston answered
an inning later when Robles
walked, Kyler Mikami dou-
bled and then Mitch Brown
singled. The game remained
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Chase Root reached on an
error, moved to second on
an another error and scored
when Caldwell doubled
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two strikes to take the 2-1 ad-
vantage.
Robles threw 5.2 innings
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pitches. He allowed just one
hit — the lead-off triple, one
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out six.
Despite the win, Hawkins
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“It’s how you approach the
game,” he said. “You keep
battling and you keep your
team close. We had some
chances to get some timely
(hits), and we didn’t again.
Again, those are approaches.
I gotta put the kids, in prac-
tice, (in) those uncomfort-
able situations where they’re
ready for the game.”
Hermiston next takes the
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at Kamiakin (Washington).
———
HERMISTON 2,
REDMOND 1
RHS
100
000
0 — 112
HHS
010
010
0 — 240
WP: RJ Robles LP: Daulton Graham
2B: K. Mikami (HHS), D. Caldwell (HHS); 3B: H.
Smith (RHS), C. Smith (HHS)