WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
SPORTS
Umatilla hires
volleyball and assistant
football coaches
Echo hits skid at softball tourney
The Echo Outrage 18U
softball team started well,
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t h r e e
SOFTBALL straight
losses at
a tourna-
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The Outrage defeated
the Salem Warriors, 8-3,
to open play on Saturday,
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Explosion, 13-8. Their late
efforts came up just short in
a 7-5 loss to Forest Grove
Rampage that began Sun-
day’s action, and then Echo
fell, 9-2, when it ran into
the Explosion again in their
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pitched in the win over
Salem, and allowed one
earned run on three hits
while striking out six and
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the most consistent bat and
recorded at least one hit in ev-
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9 with two runs and one RBI.
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drove in a team-high three
RBIs over the weekend,
and each hit a home run.
Erika Parks (4 for 8) hit two
doubles, scored three runs
and added two more RBIs,
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for 7) each hit two RBIs.
Blankenship led the team
with four runs scored.
Umatilla High School will
have two new coaches this fall.
The Umatilla School
Board approved recom-
mendations to hire a volley-
ball coach and an assistant
football coach on Thursday.
UHS math teacher and
previous volleyball assis-
tant coach Sonia Borders
was promoted to the head
position, and Dan Durfey
was hired as an assistant
football coach.
BASKETBALL:
to think outside of the box:
How do you get them here?
In addition to the Department, who also relationship.
Takin’ It to the
What do you do (when
waining
attendance, couldn’t handle it. From
Streets,
though the same
they’re here)?”
Thompson
said
that
there,
it
was
shelved.
continued from Page A8
One
outside-the-box
SpudFest, as a whole,
But in the early 2000s base concept as Shake n’
three basketball.
idea hatched last year was
just didn’t have the kind with the arrival of a Bake, is “apples and or-
That tournament was of community support Hermiston boys bas- anges,” Thompson said.
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“There really isn’t
called Shake n’ Bake, that things like it have ketball coach and new
court. Thompson men-
and ran the duration of now. Plus, there just athletic director , “fresh any tie from what was
tioned trying to attract big-
SpudFest from 1994- wasn’t enough man- blood and fresh ideas” done then to what is be-
ger and better vendors so
1997. The tournament power to go around. The infused themselves into ing done now,” Thomp-
the fan experience is im-
was running fine for the tournament was pawned WKH IUD\ ,W ZDV /DUU\ son said. “It was a way
proved, as well.
first couple of years with off first to the high Usher, then the boys to bring funding for pro-
“Everyone kinda does
50 or 60 teams signed school, which didn’t baskeball coach, who grams, bring families to
the same things, so were
up, but by 1997 partic- have enough staff. It spearheaded Takin’ It to town. That was more of
going, ‘What can we do dif-
ipation dwindled to just was then , handed it to the Streets. It was Usher its origin. It wasn’t nec-
ferently?’” Thompson said.
about 10 or 15 teams, the fledgling Hermiston who contacted Hoopfest essarily trying to bring-
“I guess were still trying.”
Joe Thompson said.
But the relationship with
Parks and Recreation in Spokane and built a ing back the past.”
Hoopfest is at the center
of Takin’ It to the Streets.
It has been from the be-
ginning and will be for the
duration. Thompson said
Hoopfest is very self-aware
about what its become, “the
“granddady,” as he put it,
and they are not unwilling
to use their experience and
expertise in helping oth-
er, smaller tournaments be
successful.
That said, it still has a lo-
cal focus. The money raised,
outside of the local econom-
ic impacts at places like
restaurants, hotels and gas
stations, goes toward high
school athletic programs or
local AAU teams. Coach-
es from schools around
the area bring their teams
and get a cut of the funds.
For Thompson, and many
others, it’s about exposure
through fund-raising.
“It’s a great family week-
end,” he said. “It’s a way to
bring the kids to town with
mom and dad. Whether
you’re playing downtown
in front of the Herald, or
you’re down here at East-
side, it’s a great environ-
ment: shaded sidewalks are
a great way to stay cool;
great retailers downtown.
It’s a fun, positive environ-
ment ... It’s a great way to
FILE PHOTO
get the family together and
bring the town of Hermis- A team member from team Durantulas, pictured in white, takes on a team member from team Never Seen Sunday during the
ninth-annual Takin’ it to the Streets three-on-three basketball tournament last summer on Main Street in Hermiston.
ton some exposure.”
continued from Page A8
were very generous with
their time, and Coach Ush-
er has talked to them a few
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we’ve sponsored a court
in Spokane and we put our
information in their packet
in Spokane in that tourna-
ment.” They even made
up T-shirts with the tour-
nament’s name and dates
screen printed on them and
wore them around the tour-
nament.
Hermiston isn’t alone
in piggy-backing its tour-
ney on another’s. Yakima’s
Hotshots 3-on-3 tourna-
ment advertises on Takin’
It to the Streets’ website for
its August event.
The proactive expo-
sure worked. Participants
from 2005’s Hoopfest saw
T-shirts, packet information
and the sponsored court and
thought that would be a fun
weekend, too. Usher has
kept track of participants
and teams and sends them
an annual newsletter about
the upcoming tourney.
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ling weekend, Takin’ It to
the Streets is entering its
10th year, has grown into
a 160-team tournament of
teams comprised of sec-
ond-graders through adults.
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is packed from Northeast
4th Street to Highway 395
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“There’s been a plateau,
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out,” Thompson said. “I
know from what I under-
stand there are other tour-
naments that have had the
same kind of thing happen
this year where they’ve
reached a certain spot
where (participants) trying
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and lodging, they’re having
to make choices. You got
SOFTBALL:
continued from Page A8
other’s teamwork.”
That teamwork was on
display during a particular-
ly grueling district game a
couple weeks ago.
At the district tourna-
ment in Irrigon, Hermis-
ton took on host Columbia
during the largest heat wave
to hit the West Coast in de-
cades. Columbia jumped
to a quick lead, but the re-
silient squad didn’t back
down. After a 1 p.m. start,
the game was delayed due
to the heat. Several Hermis-
ton players were complain-
ing of heat exhaustion, and
the game was delayed to
get them hydrated. It took
about an hour for the ball-
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ished around 6 p.m.
But the long day seem-
ingly had no effect on
Hermiston. They rebound-
ed for the 11-4 win the next
day, and held off a charging
STREETS:
Columbia squad, 17-14, in
the winner-take-all rubber
match.
“They showed how
they can work as a team,
and get themselves where
they need to go and what
they need to do,” manag-
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for state). The kids have
worked really hard for it
and they deserve it.”
Offensively, Hermiston
appears to be in a good
place. In its last three
games, the team has scored
an average of 15.7 runs.
But the real advantage
Hermiston has entering the
state tourney is its familiar-
ity with the heat. Saturday
and Sunday’s temperatures
in Gresham are predicted
to touch 91 degrees, which
is approaching standard
summer desert tempera-
tures.
“I think we will do very
well with the heat,” Simp-
son said. “It’s an advantage.
We’ve already played in it.”
PHOTO COURTESY HERMISTON
LITTLE LEAGUE
Top row (from left to right):
Breanna Simpson, Manager
Lorena Simpson, Regan
Hereford, Coach Brandy
Findley, Eliza Rodriguez,
Kendyl Inners, Coach Crys-
tal Inners, Marybeth Hernan-
dez, Breanna Reyes-Purcell.
Bottom row: Abigail Findley,
Akira Pierson, Cayleen
Cummings, Alexa Kestler,
Kaylee Billsborough.
THIS WEEK’S ANSWERS
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