WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
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SUMMER TRACK
ALL-STATE FAMILY DUO
A number
of locals
farewell on
big stage
HERMISTON HERALD
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Siblings Wyatt and Bailee Noland played the same position this season for Hermiston High School, Wyatt on the baseball team and Bailee for softball.
Bailee and Wyatt
Noland made up only
a handful of Bulldogs
recognized on the
state level
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
HERMISTON — Hermiston’s
Bailee and Wyatt Noland have
always been competitive.
Whether it’s with teammates,
a parent’s legacy or themselves,
the catchers ruled the plate this
last year with the Hermiston soft-
ball and baseball teams. Only a
year apart, the pair have grown up
together in their respective sport
and in competition.
Over what exactly?
“Over everything,” Bailee said.
The
hyper-competitiveness
these two exude has served them
well as they orchestrated the
defense in some battle-tested wins
and even heartbreaking losses.
The softball team returned to its
winning ways for the first time
since the 2015-16 season, and
made it all the way to the quarter-
finals before falling 11-8 to Leb-
anon. The baseball team, under
first-year head coach Kevin
Moore, showed potential despite
finishing 7-17. Leading the group
of promising Bulldogs were the
Nolands.
Bailee, finishing her sopho-
more campaign, was named to
the first team all-conference for
the second consecutive year, and
recently picked up second team
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Siblings Wyatt and Bailee Noland played the same position this season
for Hermiston High School, Wyatt for baseball and Bailee on the softball
team.
all-state honors as a utility player.
Wyatt, who will be entering his
final year as a Bulldog, was also
awarded a spot on the first team
all-conference and second team
all-state as a catcher.
Not only playing catcher,
Bailee would also spend time in
the circle pitching when Herm-
iston needed her to and would
even take the infield for an inning
or two — helping out whenever
necessary. Her efforts on defense
translated into a high-powered
offense that moved her from the
middle of the pack to either lead-
ing the team or closely following
another teammate.
Bailee went 39-for-88 (.443),
which was second behind team
leader Sydney Stefani (.571) and
one of only three batters above
.400 on the season. She notched
39 hits and scored 25 runs, again
following Stefani, and finished
with a team-best 42 RBIs. Bailee
also had one of the highest on base
percentages (.469) and slugging
percentages (.830).
“This season at practice I
focused more on making myself
better and hitting — I’d keep hit-
ting and hitting until I’d get it
right,” Noland said of her vast
improvements, “and I just had
more motivation this season than
ever because I wanted to beat
what I had done last year; that’s
really my motivation for getting
better.”
Bailee is one of the top players
on a young squad that will return
nearly their entire roster. It was
the team’s youth that also lit a fire
under Bailee.
“It did light a fire because fresh-
man year I didn’t expect going in
that I was going to get first team,
but as soon as I did (I knew) next
year I wanted to get the same exact
thing or better,” she said.
Bailee succeed at that, and
Wyatt followed. He had played
catcher all of his life, along with
Bailee, but last year found an open
spot in the outfield as his cousin
manned the plate. This season, it
was Wyatt’s chance to get back
into a position he loved and he
took full advantage.
Wyatt was a calming force
while Hermiston would cycle
through pitchers, fighting pitch
counts and some explosive oppos-
ing offenses. For Wyatt, it was all
about focusing in and that served
him well when it was his turn to
hover the plate instead of squat-
ting behind.
“Really, I just focused in,” he
See ALL-STARS, Page A10
EUGENE
—
Sev-
eral area students ran and
jumped their way into the
TrackTown Youth League
Championship Meet held
June 9 at Hayward Field
at the University of Ore-
gon, Eugene. Featuring
more than 500 of the top
youth athletes from across
the state, local participants
included:
Girls, age 7/8: Aubrey
Savage of Hermiston, jav-
elin (seventh place, 10.02
meters); Ayana Garcia of
Umatilla, javelin (seventh,
2.73 meters)
Girls, age 9/10: Lily
Borgelt of Hermiston,
100-meter dash (19th,
17.34), long jump (21st,
2.64 meters); Emily Sali-
nas Ortiz of Umatilla, 100
meters (16th, 17.33), 400-
meter dash (16th, 1:21.99);
Rylee Sanchez of Uma-
tilla, long jump (22nd,
2.61 meters) javelin (ninth,
14.05 meters); Alexa Gar-
cia of Umatilla, long jump
(sixth, 14.47 meters)
Girls, age 11/12: Kirsten
Tracy of Hermiston, 100
meters (20th, 15.60), long
jump (13th, 3.28 meters);
Jackie Garcia of Hermis-
ton, 1,500-meter run (fifth,
5:23.93); Morgan Hendrix
of Hermiston, javelin (fifth,
21.68 meters); Claudia
Castro of Umatilla, 1,500
meters (18th, 6:08.43)
Boys, age 7/8: Drayson
Lathim of Hermiston, 400
meters (13th, 1:28.37);
Jayden Martinez of Herm-
iston, 400 meters (14th,
1:29.11), 1,500 meters (8th,
6:07.80); Brayden Cortaber-
ria of Hermiston, long jump
(13th, 2.60 meters); Xzavier
Rodriguez of Umatilla, 400
meters (12th, 1:25.38), jav-
elin (fourth, 16.65 meters)
Boys, 9/10: Brody Par-
rish of Irrigon, long jump
(18th, 2.92 meters)
Boys, age 11/12: Pedro
Alejandra
Chavez
of
Boardman, 100 meters
(15th, 15.00), long jump
(13th, 3.44 meters); Cam-
ren McCann of Hermiston,
400 meters (18th, 1:12.72);
Jaysen Rodriguez of Herm-
iston, 1,500 meters (ninth,
5:16.03); Tate Neddo of
Hermiston, javelin (14th,
19.39
meters); Alexis
Armenta of Umatilla, 100
meters (21st, 15.64), 1,500
meters (22nd, 5:41.39), long
jump (15th, 3.36 meters).
While in Eugene, partici-
pants had the opportunity to
watch the NCAA Track and
Field Championship meet.
For more information, visit
tracktownyouthleague.com
Simplifying the hunt
Oregon trimming
down hunting,
fishing regulations
for 2019
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
Make them simpler.
That’s the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife’s
aim for big game regulations
for the 2019 hunting season.
Hunters for years told the
state agency its regulations
were too complicated. They
joked about needing a law-
yer to understand them.
Nick Myatt said the
department has heard those
refrains. He’s the ODFW
Grande
Ronde
water-
shed manager based in La
Grande, and leading the
team tasked with trimming
them down.
“Regulations
are
often added and seldom
removed,” Myatt said. “It
takes an effort like this to
look at the bigger picture
that we’re providing to our
customers, the hunters.”
ODFW about five years
ago started simplifying fish-
ing regulations, and that
work is nearing its end with
new rules for salmon and
steelhead. But big game reg-
ulations, Myatt said, needed
the biggest reworking.
Corum Delyria of Enter-
prise is on board with that.
He said he hunts most every-
thing he can, and he gets
frustrated with the pile of
state regulations.
“Honestly, there’s a lot of
stuff in there that just should
not be there,” he said.
Delyria doesn’t under-
stand some equipment rules,
such as hunts that allow
him to use his .44 Magnum
handgun with a 10 1/2 bar-
rel but not a lever-action car-
bine rifle that fires the same
round of ammunition.
He also thinks the state
should change when and
how it sells game tags.
ODFW requires hunters to
buy a license and pay for
game tags. If the hunter does
not draw the tag, they are out
of luck. He said that should
be the other way around.
“You put in for your tags
and if you draw your tags,
then you should not be able
to buy the tags until you buy
the license,” Delyria said.
Justin Buckley of Con-
don said he would like to
See HUNT, Page A10
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY CORUM DELYRIA
Corum Delyria of Enterprise shows the bear he killed on
a hunt in Oregon a a few years ago. Delyria would like the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to simplify and revise
hunting regulations and allow for the use of mechanical
broadheads for archery hunts.