Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2015)
APRIL 4, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM A8 SATURDAY, Showing respect R espect. It’s a simple word — just two syllables — and a simple concept. One way it’s GH¿QHGE\0HULDP Webster is “a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way.” That aspect of respect is the kind I’m talking about here. It’s a part of sports, and we hear it all the time: respect for the game, respect for the umpire, respect for an opponent, for the fans, for the coaches. Sports and respect go together like rain forest and, well, rain. They’re inseparable. One doesn’t come without the other. They’re symbiotic. Respect is to sports as Kurt Cobain was to Nirvana: synonymous. So what I saw on a particular day at a particular game recently stuck with me. It was a complete lack of respect. Now, I’ve been on teams that didn’t respect the coach, and, let me tell you, each of those teams were bad. We lost (way) more games than we won, and it made playing on those teams miserable for me. I always respected coaches. Most of it was because I played for my dad for so long that the line between coach and parent blurred for me a bit. Most of the time, I couldn’t say anything back to my coach because I was going to eat dinner with him later, and I would hear about it. But I was also told to respect those in authority because they’re in authority. There isn’t any other reason of which to speak. That’s it, and that’s all. So when I saw a total lack of respect, I was disheartened. I was upset. I was even a little angry. I saw players turn their backs when being instructed by a coach. I saw them consciously ignore instruction and continue to do things their own way. I saw players completely ignoring assistant coaches. I saw players not paying attention, then talking back to the coach when they were called out. It was upsetting to me. It was blatant disrespect for the game and their coach. There was a part of me that wanted to do something about it, to say something about it. But I can’t. I’m just a À\RQWKHZDOODWWKHVH things, and my actions only hurt in those kinds SAM BARBEE FROM THE SIDELINES Sports reporter of situations. But that’s how strongly I felt. I can only imagine what the coach feels like being walked all over in front of a crowd. I wouldn’t handle it with the same patience and grace that I saw. I’m not saying I was always perfect because I wasn’t. There were a few times that I was terrible. But I learned, and by the time I was in high school, it was second nature. I still have a hard time second-guessing coaching decisions, even when I am the odd man out. That’s not something I do. I, the player, play, and the coach coaches. I didn’t see that this day. I saw players thinking they were coaches and telling the coach how they thought things should be handled. I heard players telling the coach outright that a bad decision was made. These are things that are unacceptable on any ¿HOGDWDQ\OHYHODWDQ\ time. This column may come off as a condemnation. It’s not intended for that purpose at all, but I want it to be known that I wasn’t happy with what I saw and heard. I’m a pretty easy-going guy. I don’t get wrapped up in stuff like this very often, and usually I can understand why certain situations are the way they are. But this was inexcusable, unacceptable and (unfortunately) unavoidable. I’m intentionally mentioning zero details because those aren’t important. I’m not in the business of dragging names through mud. But respect is a matter of the highest order when on teams. Teams aren’t democracies. 8QOHVVVSHFL¿FDOO\JLYHQ players have no voice, no authority, no rights, to be frank. Teams are oligarchies and maybe even dictatorships. There is one voice, one leader, one who commands respect for no other reason than that person is the head coach. I hope things get cleared up soon because the coach deserves better. — Sam Barbee is the sports reporter for the Hermiston Herald. He can be reached at sbar- bee@hermistonherald. com GO SEE IT Saturday, April 4 Golf Hermiston girls @ Redmond Tournament, 8 a.m. Lacrosse Hermiston @ Sisters, 12 p.m. Track Echo @ Sherman County, 11 a.m. Sunday, April 5 No events scheduled Monday, April 6 Golf Hermiston @ Pendleton @ Wildhorse, 12 p.m. Tuesday, April 7 Track Hermiston @ The Dalles, 3:30 p.m. Softball Hermiston @ Madison, 4 p.m. Umatilla @ Irrigon, 4 p.m. Echo vs. Weston-McEwen, 4:30 p.m. Tennis Umatilla vs. Ione, 3:30 p.m. Baseball Umatilla @ Irrigon, 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 8 Boys Tennis Hermiston vs. The Dalles, 4 p.m. Girls Tennis Hermiston @ The Dalles, 4 p.m. SPORTS PREP SOFTBALL • PREP BASEBALL • SCHEDULE Hermiston softball splits with Reynolds Betz, Drotzmann pace Bulldogs in 6-1 win BY SAM BARBEE HERMISTON HERALD Abi Drotzmann was an- gry. Head coach Kylee Lete moved her from her usual third spot in the order down WR WKH ¿YH KROH /HWH WROG her she was thinking too much and wanted to get her a good at-bat. Drotzmann responded by sending an 0-1 fastball over the left ¿HOG IHQFH IRU D WKUHHUXQ shot, lifting Hermiston to a 6-1 win over Reynolds to salvage a split Friday evening at Rocky Heights Elementary School. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Hermiston (3-5). Reynolds took the ¿UVWPDWFKXS “(Coach Lete) was like, ‘Maybe you should get mad more often,’ ” Drot- zmann said after the eve- ning win. “I was like, ‘I’m still mad.’... She moved me down because I put too much pressure on myself being at three.” 7KHIRXUUXQ¿UVWLQQLQJ was all Hermiston would need. Tayor Betz was near-unhittable in the cir- cle. The righty went the dis- tance, allowing one earned run on six hits and striking SAM BARBEE PHOTO Hermiston’s Bobbi Hoffbauer bends to try to lay a bunt down during Hermiston’s 6-1 win over the Reynolds Raiders Friday at Rocky Heights Elementary School. out three. Betz relied on her dev- astating change-up to keep the Raiders’ hitters off bal- ance all night. She threw mostly change-ups in her complete-game win. “Taylor threw the ball well,” Lete said. “She stepped up really well in this game, and her change- up looked great. It’s a nice go-to pitch for her, and it’s her best pitch.” The win also demon- strates a mental toughness Lete said was missing the past few seasons. After SOD\LQJD³WLJKW´¿UVWJDPH Hermiston came out loose and scored early in the sec- ond. Drotzmann said Lete kept her team in the dugout between games to work out why they lost. “When we’re ahead, we’re having more fun,” Drotzmann said. “It’s hard — we need to work on that. We’ve always been like that. If we get down, we get down on ourselves, and it’s hard to come back out of it. That’s something we’re working on.” :LWKRQHRXWLQWKH¿UVW inning, Ashley Moser sin- gled, and Mikayla Kopacz then reached base. Ellery Jones got on base on an er- ror, plating Moser and set- ting up Drotzmann’s three- run bomb. SEE SOFTBALL/A9 Vale sweeps Umatilla baseball in league opener BY SAM BARBEE HERMISTON HERALD The Umatilla baseball team knew it would have its hands full against the Vale Vikings, and the blue-and- orange-clad Vikings gave the black- DQGJUH\9LNLQJVD¿JKW Vale ended up sweeping Umatilla Friday 5-1 and 8-1, but it was how his team played that had Umatilla head coach Corleone “Booter” Lew- is smiling after the games were over, although his team is now 0-5 to start the season. “I’m liking the things I’m seeing,” he said. “We can play catch. We’re re- ally consistent. I can throw my pitcher out there, and I feel like they’ll last all seven.” Josh Dever almost went all seven innings in the 8-1 second leg, but he pitched well. The right-hander went ¿YH LQQLQJV DQG DOORZHG WKH HLJKW UXQVRQMXVW¿YHKLWVZKLOHVWULNLQJRXW ¿YHDQGZDONLQJ¿YH Diego Soto relieved Dever in the ¿IWK ZLWK WKH EDVHV ORDGHG DQG DO- lowed a two-RBI single, but was otherwise effective from the mound, putting an aggressive Vale offense SAM BARBEE PHOTO 8PDWLOOD·V&RU\/DQGRQJHWVEDFNWRÀUVWVDIHO\GXULQJDSLFNRIIDWWHPSWGXULQJ Umatilla’s 8-1 loss to Vale on Friday in Umatilla. off-balance. them cleanly. The defense, however, let Uma- Umatilla led after the bottom of the tilla’s pitchers down. Dever con- ¿UVWZKHQ&RU\/DQGRQWRPDKDZNHG sistently induced ground balls, but SEE BASEBALL/A9 KLV9LNLQJWHDPPDWHVFRXOGQ¶W¿HOG Tigers defeat Riverside in doubleheader A couple of big innings KHOSHG WKH 6WDQ¿HOG 7LJHUV sweep a doubleheader against Riverside Friday night in 6WDQ¿HOG 7KH7LJHUVXVHGD¿YHUXQ ¿UVW LQQLQJ WR GRZQ WKH 3L- rates 12-6 in the opener and plated six in the fourth inning of the nightcap to complete the sweep with a 15-5 win in six innings. Tony Flores and Ryan Bai- ley combined for 10 strike- outs on the mound in the front end, and Klay Jenson threw ¿YHLQQLQJVRIVKXWRXWEDOOLQ relief in the nightcap to earn the win. ,QWKHRSHQHUWKH6WDQ¿HOG pitchers provided much of the offense, as well. Bailey was 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Flores was 1-for-3 with three RBIs, and four other Tigers drove in runs. 6WDQ¿HOG¶V¿YHUXQH[SOR- VLRQ LQ WKH ¿UVW LQQLQJ VWDUW- ed with an RBI single from Bailey and continued with two runs coming off an error. Then Jason Fitzpatrick drove in Flores, whose ground ball allowed two runs to score, and the rally was capped when Jenson scored on a wild pitch. Riverside came right back, though, and scored one in the second and three in the third WRFXWLWVGH¿FLWWRRQHDW 6WDQ¿HOG VFRUHG LQ WKH next three innings, however, highlighted by Bailey’s RBI double and Jenson’s RBI tri- ple. 6WDQ¿HOG SOD\V QH[W$SULO 11 in a doubleheader against Elgin, which is set to start at 1 p.m. ——— STANFIELD 12, RIVERSIDE 5 RHS 013 020 0 — 6 8 3 SHS 503 220 X — 12 10 2 E. Castillo, G. Roberts and J. Salgado. T. Flores, R. Bailey and T. Monkus. 2B: J. Salgado 2 (RHS), R. Bailey (SHS). 3B: K. Jenson (SHS). ——— ,Q WKH QLJKWFDS 6WDQ¿HOG took a little longer to get go- ing. Riverside jumped to a 5-2 lead after two innings with a ¿YHUXQ VHFRQG LQQLQJ DQG the Pirates led 5-3 after three LQQLQJV6WDQ¿HOGHUXSWHGIRU VL[UXQVLQWKHIRXUWKDQG¿YH LQWKH¿IWKKRZHYHUWRWDNH a 14-5 lead, and the Tigers tacked on another in the sixth to initiate the mercy rule. Monkus started, going just one-plus inning. The sophomore threw 31 pitches DQGDOORZHG¿YHUXQV²WZR earned — on just three hits and walked one. The crafty lefty Jenson came in, how- ever, and slammed the door, SLWFKLQJWKHQH[W¿YHLQQLQJV without a run on seven strike- outs. Steven Allan, Bailey, Jen- son, Fitzpatrick and Makiah Blankenship each had two RBIs for the Tigers. Jenson and Blankenship had RBIs without recording hits. :LWK 6WDQ¿HOG GRZQ in the bottom of the fourth, Fitzpatrick reached on an er- ror with one out. Blankenship then walked, and Fitzpatrick scored on a wild pitch with Damian Curiel at the plate to close the gap to 5-4. Curiel would be beaned, Monkus walked and then Bailey de- livered with a two-out double to plate Curiel and Blanken- VKLSWRJLYH6WDQ¿HOGWKHOHDG at 6-5. Flores then walked to load the bases, and then Jen- son, Hunter Barnes and Fitz- patrick each had RBI bases RQ EDOOV WR JLYH 6WDQ¿HOG DQ OHDG ,QWKH¿IWK0RQNXV$O- len and Bailey were each put on, and Monkus stole home with Bailey at the dish to get 6WDQ¿HOG XS -HQVRQ walked with the bases load- ed to plate Allan, and Jen- son scored on a wild pitch WR %DUQHV WR SXW 6WDQ¿HOG up 12-5. The Tigers would get two more that inning, and Allan’s line-drive RBI single in the sixth to plate Monkus put the Tigers up 15-5 and ended the game. ——— STANFIELD 15, RIVERSIDE 5 (6) RHS 050 000 — 5 6 4 SHS 111 651 — 15 6 2 J. Salgado, W. Killian, G. Roberts, D. Bingaman and J. Salgado. T. Monkus, R. Bailey and S. Allan. 2B: G. Roberts (RHS), Abel Rodelo (RHS), R. Bailey (SHS), H. Barnes (SHS). 3B: G. Roberts (RHS). SOFTBALL The Umatilla softball team was swept by Vale on Friday. Vale took the opener 5-3 and the nightcap 14-2. No further details were re- ported.