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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2016)
A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2016 Herald Sports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Johnson bids adieu to Stanfi eld By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer CONTRIBUTED PHOTO COURTESY OF BETTY HIATT The Hermiston High School trap shooting team poses with its awards at the inaugural Oregon State High School Clay Target League State Tournament on Saturday in Hillsboro. Hermiston won the team title. Hermiston wins clay target state title Bulldogs capture inaugural Oregon clay target league state championship; Echo fi nishes third Hermiston Herald The Hermiston High School athletic department will need to update its re- cord books. On Saturday, June 25, Hermiston’s clay target league team captured the fi rst-ever Oregon state championship at the Hills- boro Trap and Skeet Club. Hermiston fi nished the tournament with 476 points, defeating second place Oregon City (451 points) and third place Echo (430 points). In the fi rst year of com- petition, the regular season was dominated by Herm- iston as well, as the team fi nished in fi rst place in the fi ve-week season with 384 points and held a 100 point lead over Echo in the stand- ings. Hermiston freshman Case Hiatt earned over- all High Gun honors of the tournament with a 99, holding off Oregon City’s Dylan Nelson and Herm- iston’s Devon Brittner — both of whom scored 98s. Hiatt fi nished the spring season fourth with a season average score of 23, while Brittner was the best in the state with a 24.2. Other varsity competi- tors for Hermiston included Dylan Hunter (96), Tan- ner Meads (89), Mitchell Pimentel (84), and Kaden Smith (94). Hermiston holds on for district title Hermiston Herald The Hermiston all-stars bounced back from their fi rst defeat of the week and never trailed in the championship game of the 9/10-year-old Little League District 3 tournament on Friday, July 1, in Burns. Hermiston was undefeat- ed entering the double elim- ination championship round where it met Baker, which emerged from the consola- tion bracket after losing to Hermiston in the semifi nals. Baker scored twice in the seventh inning to beat Hermiston, 8-7, and force a second game, but JR Starr’s sacrifi ce groundout in the fi rst inning of Game 2 gave Hermiston a 3-0 lead on its way to a 11-7 win. Baker answered with two runs in the bottom of the fi rst, but four more Herm- iston runs in the second and one in the third made it 8-2 before Baker’s next run. Brian Davison pitched 4 1/3 innings for the win and struck out nine. He allowed four runs (two earned) on fi ve hits, and Kaiden Dam- meyer pitched the fi nal 1 2/3 innings. Dammeyer struck out four and allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits. Hermiston only had fi ve hits in the game, but Davi- son fi nished with four RBI. He hit a sacrifi ce fl y in the fi rst inning that scored Dam- meyer for the game’s fi rst run, a two-RBI double in the second, and an RBI ground- out in Hermiston’s three-run sixth. Wednesday, June 29, was a bittersweet day for Bryan Johnson. After 10 years of serving as an educator and baseball coach at Stanfi eld Secondary School, Johnson spent his fi - nal day at the school packing the remaining items from his offi ce. He is moving back to his hometown of Ephrata, Washington to serve as the athletic director at Ephrata High School — the alma mater for he and his wife Katie — and his fi nal day at Stanfi eld capped what has been a long several months. “It’s been an emotional spring,” Johnson said. “I’m happy about getting a new job and having success with baseball, but we’re sad to be leaving because we’ve es- tablished a lot of great rela- tionships with great students, staff and community mem- bers.” It was a very tough de- cision to leave the Stanfi eld school and the Eastern Ore- gon commu- nity, Johnson said, but the pull to head back home with a job he called a Bryan dream was Johnson too good to pass up. “It wasn’t a snap decision by any means,” Johnson said. “Ultimately, Ephrata was a place we wanted to get back to, and having both sets of parents there and a job that’s the best fi t possible for (myself) was what sold it. “I wish I could have wait- ed a year (with the players we have coming back) but the timing was bad.” The 35-year-old Johnson served as the athletic director at Stanfi eld from 2007-2012 before moving into his po- sition as secondary school principal. He developed a passion for the position over that period of time, and he knew it was something he wanted to pursue full-time. He will have to put a hold on his high school coaching career as his administra- tive contract bars him from coaching at that level in Ephrata. But Johnson said he’s happy to have a break from the everyday grind of coaching. “I’m looking forward to a little more narrow focus,” he said. “ Baseball has been in Johnson’s life for as long as he can remember. He played in college at the Universi- ty of Washington and then spent two years as a minor leaguer in the Arizona Dia- mondbacks organization. After calling it quits on playing, he knew he com- pleted his teaching degree and become a baseball coach. He developed experienc- Johnson compiled a 201-81 career record (.713 win per- centage) in his 10 seasons as the Tigers baseball coach and led his teams to nine playoff appearances, fi ve league ti- tles, fi ve district titles, four state Final Four appearanc- es, and two state champion- ships. He broke the news of his impending departure to the Tigers team before the sea- son began, but insisted that the focus not be on his fi - nal games but instead be on working hard, playing as a team and reaching their goal of a state championship. Stanfi eld set a school record with 29 wins on the year as the team dominated their competition. The Ti- gers had the highest-scor- ing offense of any team in the state in 2016, and won those 29 games by an aver- age score of 12-2. The icing on the cake was their 10-inning, 5-4 victory over Santiam Chris- tian to claim the Class 3A state championship. “It was a fairytale fi nish and I couldn’t ask for any- thing better,” Johnson said. “It was a great year with a great team and they have a lot coming back, which made it hard to walk away from.” From Brooke’s asthma to Grandpa Joe’s high blood pressure... We treat all of you. Printed on recycled newsprint VOLUME 110 ● NUMBER 26 Gary L. West | Editor • gwest@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4532 Tammy Malgesini | Community Editor • tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4539 Alexa Lougee | Reporter • alougee@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4534 Jade McDowell | Reporter • jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4536 Jeanne Jewett | Multi-Media consultant • jjewett@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4531 Shannon Paxton | Offi ce coordinator • spaxton@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4530 Audra Workman | Multi-Media consultant • aworkman@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4538 To contact the Hermiston Herald for news, advertising or subscription information: • call 541-567-6457 • e-mail info@hermistonherald.com • stop by our offi ces at 333 E. Main St. • visit us online at: hermistonherald.com The Hermiston Herald (USPS 242220, ISSN 8750-4782) is published weekly at Hermiston Herald, 333 E. Main St., Hermiston, OR 97838, (541) 567-6457, FAX (541) 567-1764. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Delivered by carrier and mail Wednesdays Inside Umatilla/Morrow counties .......... $42.65 Outside Umatilla/Morrow counties ....... $53.90 we are family Periodical postage paid at Hermiston, OR. Postmaster, send address changes to Hermiston Herald, 333 E. Main St., Hermiston, OR 97838. Member of EO Media Group Copyright ©2016 Go where cars can’t take you! Two Rivers Short Trips Wednesday, July 13 and Saturday, July 16 Deparing from Elgin at 10 a.m. Eagle Cap Excursion Train 800.323.7330 or book online www.eaglecaptrainrides.com Open longer to treat you and all of your family, 7:30am-7:00pm forall.org More than just medical–from nutrition to mental health Located just around the corner on NW 11th Street
