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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2016)
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016 HeraldSports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Hoffert retires after eight seasons Bulldogs coach steps aside after seven state tournament appearances By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer After eight years at Herm- iston and more than 30 years in coaching, girls basketball coach Steve Hoffert is retir- ing. “I just felt that it was time,” Hoffert said. “I’ve been think- ing about it for a little while now, and I always said that I wanted to get out when I still had the passion for the game, not when I was tired of it, and I still love it so everything just sort of fell into place.” Hoffert had been trying WR¿JXUHRXWWKHULJKWWLPHWR announce the decision and decided that the banquet on Tuesday evening was the best form since the players and families tied to the program would all be in attendance. STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston girls head basketball coach Steve Hoffert announced that he is retiring from coaching basketball and plans to focus on his business and his family. The announcement came as a shock to numerous play- ers and parents at the ban- quet, but the reaction quickly turned to loud cheers and a standing ovation. “It made me feel good to see the support from the com- munity and to know that my time here was appreciated,” he said. Hoffert compiled a 159-57 overall record in eight sea- sons in Hermiston, includ- ing seven trips to the OSAA state tournament in which the team earned six trophies — most recently a fourth-place ¿QLVK LQ +H VD\V WKDW those accomplishments with those teams will be one of the things that stick with him moving forward. “It means that what we were doing was successful. If I’m on the outside looking in it would be hard to ques- tion this program because we’ve been able to sustain that success,” he said. “And what we’ve built makes you only feel better about the fu- ture.” Aside from success on the state level, the Hermiston Bulldogs were dominant in conference play under Hof- fert’s leadership, compiling a 59-1 record during that time — with the last league loss FRPLQJRQ-DQXDU\ on the road at The Dalles. Hoffert also led the Bulldogs to an unbeaten record against their rival Pendleton Bucka- roos. Hermiston athletic direc- tor Blaine Ganvoa said that the school would like to have a quick search for the new coach, but the school See HOFFERT, A11 Robles pitches perfection against Parkrose Broncos Hermiston baseball shuts out Parkrose for sweep IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN THE GAME Hermiston lacrosse team plays fi rst game after passing of head coach By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer When Hermiston fresh- man Jake Palmer took the ¿HOG DW 6XQVHW (OHPHQ tary on Friday night, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Hundreds of people ÀRFNHG WR WKH %XOOGRJV¶ lacrosse game against the Lincoln Cardinals to support the team and pay tribute to Jake’s father, Hermiston lacrosse coach Trampis Palmer, who passed away on Sunday at WKHDJHRI “It was great ... families of people he coached 15 years back even came out to support him and support us,” Jake said. “He’s been coaching youth sports for so long and it was cool to see them here.” Bulldogs coach Jacob Arnold couldn’t really put into words the emotions and feelings he felt seeing the large crowd. “It was just unreal to see,” he said. “It really shows how many people (Trampis) touched.” Arnold has coached lacrosse with Palmer at the youth and high school level for the past six years, but has known Palmer since both were involved with coaching in the Hermiston Grid Kids youth football program several years ago. Arnold will now take over the reins as the varsity head the ball in play, but the defense maintained the perfect outing. Chase Root made a diving play on a bloop behind third base on one, and Caden Schwirse snagged a line Hermiston senior R.J. drive at second base for Robles pitched a per- the other. Robles also helped his fect game and the Bull- dogs baseball team heads own cause going 3 for 4 into league play on the at the plate and scoring strength of a doublehead- twice. Hermiston (7-5) er sweep of Parkrose on SODWHGQLQHUXQVLQWKH¿UVW two innings and Sexton (3 Friday. Robles struck out 13 of for 4, 4 RBI) and Slade the 15 batters he faced in *ULW]IRU5%,DOVR the opener and the Bull- had big games on offense. “We got a little bit dogs supported him with 13 hits in an 11-0 win in KHDOWK\ LQ WKH ¿UVW JDPH ¿YH LQQLQJV 7KHQ LQ WKH with the bats,” Christy night cap, Tyler Sexton said. “We made a lot of and Chase Root combined contact, got a lot of hits, to throw a shutout and the and the other balls that we Bulldogs scored late to hit were really hard.” Sexton added to his big get a 3-0 victory. “It was really nice to DIWHUQRRQ LQ *DPH E\ see,” said Hermiston as- JRLQJIRUZLWKDQRWKHU sistant coach John Chris- RBI, and he pitched the ty. “We really came out ¿UVW VL[ LQQLQJV DOORZLQJ and, number one, R.J. just two hits and striking Robles is pitching a gem out 11. Root struck out all for us. He threw tons of three batters he faces in strikes and really battled. the seventh for the save. 3DUNURVH*DPH It was tough for (Park- rose) and he really over- starter Gunnar Schlicht- whelmed them with his ing kept the Bulldogs off balance through four stuff today.” The two batters Ro- See BASEBALL, A11 bles didn’t strike out put STAFF PHOTOS BY E.J. HARRIS Top: Megan Palmer, daughter of Hermiston lacrosse coach Trampis Palmer, catches the coin while performing the opening coin toss of the Bulldogs’ game against Lincoln on Friday in Hermiston. Above: Hermiston’s Jake Palmer goes to pass in front of Lincoln’s Sam Paris in the Bulldogs’ 15-1 loss to the Cardinal on Friday in Hermiston. coach, moving up from his varsity assistant posi- tion, while junior varsity coach Carter Christiansen takes on varsity assistant duties. Before Friday’s game, a moment of silence was held in Palmer’s memory and then the honor contin- ued as Palmer’s daughter Megan performed the pre- JDPHFRLQWRVVDWPLG¿HOG with Luke Palmer serving as the captain. Once the game was played, things did not go KRZ WKH %XOOGRJV had hoped as the Cardi- QDOVSXOOHGDZD\DI ter a close opening quarter to earn the 15-1 win. /LQFROQVFRUHGWKH¿UVW goal of the game two min- XWHV LQWR WKH ¿UVW SHULRG and then scored again a mere 15 seconds later WR WDNH D TXLFN OHDG Hermiston was able to battle back and get a goal from sophomore Luke :DOFKL DW WKH PDUN RI WKH ¿UVW ² :DOFKL¶V team-leading 17th goal of the season — to bump WKHVFRUHWRZKLFKWKH teams would take to the HQGRIWKH¿UVWSHULRG But in the second pe- riod, the wheels fell off for Hermiston as Lincoln turned up their intensi- ty and held the posses- sion for the majority of the game. Lincoln scored seven goals in the second period, using their speed WR ÀXVWHU WKH +HUPLVWRQ defense and get some easy looks against Bulldog goalie Beau Blake. “We just kind of ran into a better team today,” Arnold said. “We played with a lot of emotion in WKDW ¿UVW SHULRG EXW WKH boys played hard with what they had faced this week.” Walchi said he and his fellow teammates were very disappointed in the result. “Before the game our emotions were running really, really high and everybody wanted to do well for Trampis,” he said. “But we just kind of got ÀXVWHUHGDVWKHJDPHZHQW along and didn’t do what we wanted to do.” Friday’s game pre- See LACROSSE, A11 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston’s R.J. Robles throws from the mound in a game earlier this month. Robles earned a perfect game for his work from the hill Friday on the road against Parkrose.
