A message
to my mom
SAM BARBEE
FROM THE SIDELINES
Sports reporter
S
unday is Mother’s Day. It’s an
opportunity for us to honor and thank
those women who raised us and made
us the people we’ve become.
For many boys, that means helping with
sports, whether it’s driving or bringing
snacks or keeping score. They help make
it happen just as much as the players and
coaches do.
A couple of weeks ago, I told the story
about the most amazing sports experience I
ever had, a playoff baseball game my team
had no business winning but somehow
pulled off. My mom was there. She had her
book to read between innings and watched
the game as a fan. She knew I wasn’t going
to play, but she went and watched my team
and rooted for my team. She was just as
happy as I was that we had won. There
was no disappointment or frustration that I
didn’t play. It was all about the team.
And that’s been my mom. Very rarely
has my mom been upset with my playing
time, and when she was, it mostly had to do
with politics outside of the team dynamic.
When I was growing up playing for my
dad, my mom kept score. She said my dad
taught her how by giving her a score book
and having her score Mariners games.
That’s where she learned baseball.
Actually, the reason I played quarterback
at all in my football career was because of
her.
I started playing football in fifth grade,
the normal time then to start in Longview.
The team that drafted me needed a
quarterback, as the previous guy had
graduated from Longview Youth Football.
After the first or second practice, it was
my mom’s turn to pick me up, and she was
late. So, to fill the time, the coach grabbed a
football and asked if I wanted to play catch.
I said I did, and I guessed I impressed him
because I played quarterback that year. My
mom arrived at the field huffing and puffing
and embarrassed, but there we were, me
and the coach I barely knew, throwing and
laughing and getting to know each other.
He later told me that catch session put me at
the top of the prospective quarterback list.
Thanks for your tardiness, mom.
She was my chauffeur, too. I remember
in eighth grade I had just grown a couple
inches and my mom had this Mazda Miata.
They were fun cars, but man they were
small. I went to private school, but in the
fall I played football at a local middle
school. I had to haul my gear around, and
I could barely fit into my mom’s car with
my gear. That’s when she decided to get the
PT Cruiser, the car I drive now. It was in
that car that she drove me to have my ankle
looked at during spring football one year. I
sprained it during a tackling drill, and she
left work to come get me. I couldn’t walk,
and she helped me to the car. That’s what
moms do, I guess.
My mom made it a point to go to
as many games as she could. That was
important to her. I can count the number
of games she missed on one hand. There
was a freshman basketball game in Camas,
Washington. There was a summer baseball
game once, and there was a JV football
game. I think that’s it. She would get upset
and apologetic if she ever missed a game. It
was that important to her.
I admit this with difficulty, but
sometimes I’ve taken my mom for
granted. Her unconditional love became
standard, became expected, and I stopped
appreciating it. But as I get older,
I’m realizing the intrinsic value that
unconditional love brings. I always had
someone in my corner, ready to fix my cuts
and give me water and encouragement. I
never had to look for that anywhere else. It
was always right beside me.
So, Mom, thank you for everything
you’ve done for me. I wouldn’t be the
person I am today without your constant
love and support. From bringing me water
at baseball games, to driving me places, to
just being my mom. Happy Mother’s Day. I
love you.
— Sam Barbee is the sports reporter for
the Hermiston Herald. He can be reached
at sbarbee@hermistonherald.com
SPORTS
SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
A9
PREP BASEBALL • SCHEDULE • PREP TRACK
Hermiston’s Robles shuts out The Dalles
Bulldogs defeat
Riverhawks 1-0
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
Midway through the 2015
baseball season, Hermiston
first base coach John Christy
sent head coach Lance Haw-
kins a detailed text message
after a game that conceded per-
haps the Bulldogs aren’t a gap-
to-gap doubles team — perhaps
they’re a win-with-good-pitch-
ing-and-defense team.
Friday night, they were just that.
RJ Robles threw his sec-
ond straight solid home out-
ing, tossing a complete game
shutout on just three hits in a
1-0 pitcher’s duel over The
Dalles at Armand Larive Mid-
dle School.
“It was big, especially for
our seniors,” Dylan Caldwell,
whose fourth-inning sacrifice
fly plated the game’s only run,
said of the win. “It’s lose or go
home right now ... All we can
control is keep winning and
keep doing what we can do
and knowing we can do it and
believe in ourselves.”
Caldwell’s sacrifrice fly in
the fourth broke open a score-
less game that had no end in
sight. Robles was dominant,
not allowing a runner past first
base until the seventh. River-
hawks hurler Colton Walker
was just as good, allowing just
the one earned run on four hits
in a six-inning complete game.
Hermiston did just enough
offensively to not spoil Ro-
bles’ outing.
“When you got to win every
game to get into the playoffs,
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston junior RJ Robles (2) is congratulated by teammates including Chase Root, right, and Lukas
Tolan, center, after throwing a complete game shutout Friday evening to beat The Dalles 1-0.
I’ll take two wild pitches and
a sacrifice fly,” Hawkins said.
“I’ll take that every time.”
After missing two oppor-
tunities with runners in scor-
ing position in the first three
innings, Hermiston finally
capitalized on Riverhawk mis-
takes. Lukas Tolan walked to
lead off the fourth inning and
was sacrificed to second by Jay
Lindeman. Then, with Cald-
well at the plate, Walker’s 1-0
delivery got to the backstop,
allowing Tolan to scamper to
third. The next pitch, Cald-
well connected with the ball
and lifted it into left-center
field, giving Tolan more than
enough time to cross home
plate for the game’s only run.
“He gave me a little elevat-
ed fastball, and I just took ad-
vantage of it,” Caldwell said
of the sacrifice fly. “I trusted
my hands like coach says and
got the job done.”
The run gave Robles all the
room he needed. The junior
lefty struck out nine batters,
giving him 23 in his last two
outings. The Dalles’ three hits
were scattered, and Robles
walked just two Riverhawks.
At one point, he retired 14 of
the 15 Riverhawks he faced
until the seventh.
After not allowing a runner
past first base all game, Robles
got in a huge jam in the sev-
enth with Riverhawks occupy-
ing second and third base with
just one out.
The junior never panicked.
He got Boston Bate to ground
out harmlessly to shortstop,
keeping Walker at third, and
he sawed off Dylan Des-
Rochers for the final out of the
ball game.
The outing was business as
usual for Robles.
“It’s awesome because we
always know we’re going to get
strikes and his best from him,”
Caldwell said of the lefty. “Any-
thing he does, he’s so concen-
trated in the dugout and always
gives his best to everybody, so
everybody wants to give their
best in return to him.”
Hermiston has just two
games remaining on its sched-
ule, and it must win both. The
Bulldogs will host league
champion Hood River Valley
Tuesday at Armand Larive
Middle School and closes out
its season with the Pendleton
Buckaroos in Pendleton Fri-
day. Both games are set to
start at 4:30 p.m.
———
HERMISTON 1,
THE DALLES 0
TDR
000
000
0 — 0 3
3
HHS
000
100
X — 1 4
1
C. Walker and K. Mathisen; R. Robles and L.
Gammell.
Amie Zitterkob finds home on track
Umatilla senior went
from manager to
sprinter in one day
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
As a freshman, Umatilla’s
Amie Zitterkob wasn’t inter-
ested in sports.
She describes herself as a
“loner” that year, not willing
to put herself out of her com-
fort zone in awkward situa-
tions.
“I just thought I wasn’t go-
ing to be a high school athlete,
and I just decided the next year
to be (one),” the senior said. “I
knew that if I branched and
tried something new, I would
have a lot of fun with it.”
So, her sophomore year,
she joined the volleyball team
in the fall. It went well enough
that she intended to play her
junior year, as well. To help
stay in shape in the off season,
she decided to turn out for
spring track.
So she approached sprint-
ing and football coach Mike
Mosher to ask if she could
come on as a manager to just
train and not run any meets.
After one practice, Mosher
told Zitterkob she had a new
job on the team.
“I said, ‘You’re no longer a
track manager. You’re now a
track sprinter,’ and one thing
led to another,” Mosher said.
“She learned how to run, and
her athleticism showed when
she learned how to run.”
“I remember we were
training for 200s, and he kept
asking me where I was last
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Umatilla track athlete Amie Zitterkob only started sprinting her
sophomore year, but in her senior year she is the top 100- and
200-meter sprinter in class 3A.
year,” Zitterkob remembered.
“He always said I was dumb
for not doing it my freshman
year.”
Still, for that first month,
Zitterkob considered track
as only a training period for
volleyball. Her first meet was
at the Grandview Invite in
Washington, where she fin-
ished in 13.58 seconds in the
100 meters, a time she still re-
members. She didn’t run that
fast for another five meets, but
the die was cast. Zitterkob had
fallen in love with sprinting.
“I liked the training that we
did,” she said. “It just seemed
to really click.”
After that, Zitterkob’s men-
tality went from using track
to train for volleyball to using
volleyball to train track before
dropping volleyball entirely.
Her times began to drop, as
well, and in an Eastern Ore-
gon League meet, she set her
personal best of 13.29. She
ran a 62.63 400-meter at that
same meet, giving her a spot
at state her very first season of
sprinting.
Zitterkob said she has nev-
er been more nervous before a
race than she was at her first
state appearance.
“I was ready to throw up I
was so nervous,” she said.
She placed fourth in the
400.
---
Mosher said Zitterkob’s
work ethic was the catalyst
for taking her from newbie to
recording the fastest time 100
time in girls 3A.
“One thing that really
stands out is her work ethic,”
Mosher said. “It’s one of those
things that really goes unseen.
The extra stuff that she does,
coming in in the morning to
lift and run, doing the extra
stuff that a lot of times people
won’t. It’s a lot of things that
when people aren’t watching,
she’s doing.”
The process has become
Zitterkob’s favorite part of
track. She understands that
good times aren’t created at
meets — they’re created in the
heat on a Tuesday afternoon
when it’s just the Umatilla Vi-
kings athletes and coaches on
the track.
“Just training as hard as I
can and seeing how far I’ve
come (is enjoyable),” she said.
“I just kind of impressed my-
self with what I was capable
of. I didn’t know what I was
capable of. Seeing my hard
work in races has really been
cool.”
SEE ZITTERKOB/A10
GO SEE IT
Saturday, May 9
Lacrosse
Hermiston @ Sisters @ Sali Tournament, TBD
Track and Field
Hermiston @ Pendleton @ Pilot Rock (CRC Novice Fi-
nale), 10 a.m.
Stanfield @ Weston-McEwen, 11 a.m.
Echo @ Arlington, 10 a.m.
Tennis
Umatilla @ Sub-districts @ Hermiston, 9 a.m.
Stanfield @ Sub-districts @ Hermiston, 9 a.m.
Baseball
Stanfield @ Portland Christian, 11 a.m.
Stanfield vs. Clatskanie @ Portland Christian, 1
a.m.
Softball
Echo @ Portland Christian, 2 p.m.
Sunday, May 10
Lacrosse
Hermiston @ Sali Tournament, TBD
Monday, May 11
Boys Golf
Hermiston @ Districts @ Redmond, TBD
Tennis
Hermiston girls vs. Pendleton (from 5/8), 4 p.m.
Umatilla @ Sub-districts @ Hermiston, 9 a.m.
Stanfield @ Sub-districts @ Hermiston, 9 a.m.
Tuesday, May 12
Boys Golf
Hermiston @ Districts @ Redmond, TBD
Baseball
Hermiston @ Hood River Valley, 4 p.m.
Umatila @ Sherman County, 4 p.m.
Stanfield vs. Irrigon, 5 p.m.
Softball
Hermiston vs. Hood River Valley, 4:30 p.m.
Umatilla vs. Walla Walla Academy (WA), 4 p.m.
Echo @ Irrigon, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, May 13
Track and Field
Hermiston @ Districts @ The Dalles, 4 p.m.