Injuries, low turnout dampen Irish expectations
DeSales calls up six eighth-grade students to its softball team to supplement its injury- and low-turnout-ravaged ranks.
WALLA WALLA — When you don't graduate a single senior off of a softball team that placed fourth at state last spring, rebuilding shouldn't be part of the 2012 conversation.Right?Well, Russ Vera, who is beginning his fourth season as the DeSales High varsi
Irish focus on return to state championship
DeSales' baseball team hasn't played in the title game in two years.
WALLA WALLA — In 1989, Kim Cox's seventh season as the head baseball coach at DeSales, the Irish celebrated their first state baseball championship after a 7-2 victory over Toutle Lake in the Kingdome in Seattle.DeSales made it back to the Washington Clas
Buchan: Warriors' Reinland deals with recruiting disparity
WALLA WALLA — Jeff Reinland admits that he wears his emotions on his sleeve.And Reinland looked lower than a snake last weekend at the Toyota Center in Kennewick after his Walla Walla men's basketball team had been knocked out of the NWAACC Championships
WWCC coach fires up team with history lesson
WALLA WALLA — Coach Bobbi Hazeltine's fears that her Walla Walla team couldn't — or wouldn't — regroup emotionally in time for Tuesday's third-place game at the NWAACC Championships women's basketball tournament in Kennewick proved to be unfounded.Fueled
Warriors withstand rally, place 3rd at NWAACC tourney
Despite blowing a 20-point, halftime lead, the WWCC women hang on to beat Chemeketa for third place in the NWAACC tournament.
KENNEWICK — Halftime came too soon here Tuesday afternoon at the Toyota Center as far as Walla Walla coach Bobbi Hazeltine was concerned.The second half lasted way too long.So it's no wonder Hazeltine collapsed in her chair and breathed a deep sigh of rel
Yaks jump over Warrior women
Yakima Valley's defense and 3-point shooting are too much for WWCC as the Warriors fall, 59-47, in the NWAACC semifinals.
KENNEWICK — It's going to be another all-Eastern Region party here late this afternoon at the Toyota Center in the women's NWAACC Championships basketball tournament finals.But for the first time in three years, Walla Walla's Warriors are not invited.
Shoreline Dolphins sink Walla Walla Community College men
Shoreline outshoots the Warriors, 96-94, to end WWCC's NWAACC run.
KENNEWICK — Walla Walla knew that it couldn't get off to another poor shooting performance here Sunday morning at the Toyota Center.Not against a Shoreline team that scored on average 103 points a game during the regular season but also yielded 100-plus p
Early burst lifts Tacoma past WWCC men
The Warrior men fall into the consolation bracket of the NWAACC tournament after losing to Tacoma.
KENNEWICK — It wasn't the 8 a.m. opening tip. And it wasn't tournament jitters, either.Tacoma's fast getaway and subsequent 80-73 victory over Walla Walla here Saturday in the opening round of the men's NWAACC Championships basketball tournament at the To
Warrior women zone Pierce out, 61-46
WWCC defeats Pierce despite hitting just 28 percent from the field in the first half of the NWAACC tournament opener.
KENNEWICK — There were some technical difficulties here Saturday afternoon at the Toyota Center.For starters, the 30-second shot clock wasn't functioning properly during Walla Walla's first-round game against Pierce in the women's NWAACC Championships bas
Warrior weapons loaded as NWAACC tourney tips
The WWCC women can turn to a number of players to lead the way against Pierce on Saturday.
WALLA WALLA — Leslie Stillar has been Walla Walla's most consistent scorer this season, and she leads the Warriors with a 13.7 scoring average going into the women's NWAACC Championships that tips off Saturday at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.But if the
Buchan: Warrior women's coach worried as usual
WALLA WALLA — Bobbi Hazeltine's 13th season in charge of the Walla Walla Community College women's basketball program has been a fairly smooth ride.Other than one early season scare when scoring leader Leslie Stillar appeared to suffer a serious knee inju
Buchan: WWCC men greet dawn's early light
WALLA WALLA — It's Jeff Reinland's opinion that breakfast and basketball do not enhance one another.That said, the Walla Walla Community College men's basketball coach accepts the fact that he's going to have to work some corn flakes in with his practice
Warrior men prep for NWAACC tourney
In a year of spotty shooting, the WWCC men hang their hats on defense as they prepare to face Tacoma Saturday.
WALLA WALLA — Longtime NWAACC Championships basketball fans may not recognise this year Walla Walla representative in the men's 16-team field that begins a four-day run Saturday at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.Although known through the years for their
Buchan: Dayton's Turner big fan of 1995 champs
DAYTON — You don't find many high-school kids who dig watching old movies.But Garett Turner, one of six seniors on this year's Dayton High boys basketball team, is an exception. There's this one old classic in particular.
Ramirez has history with seniors
Dayton coach Roy Ramirez has known the six Bulldog seniors leading the team into the state Class 2B tournament since 2005.
DAYTON — Roy Ramirez is a 1985 Dayton High graduate, but he was living in Spokane when he first became involved coaching basketball in this small farming community.'One of my wife Kristen's cousins had boys who were young and playing AAU basketball, and t
Buchan: Weston-McEwen boys eager to take next step at 2A state
ATHENA — Progress!In a word, that is the definition of Brian Pickard's body of work during his first three seasons as boys basketball coach at Weston-McEwen.Unwavering progress.In year one in 2009, the TigerScots managed a 10-14 season record and missed t
Three fields. three hat. Three teams and the coach that helped to build ... A Special Baseball Bond
When it comes to baseball, Dave Meliah, JC Biagi and Cesar Lopez have a lot in common.
Buchan: District 2B hoops bracket gets failing grade
WALLA WALLA — There's a lesson to be learned from the Southeast 2B District basketball bracket that riled up so many of the participating coaches last weekend at Sherwood Center.Be careful what you wish for.
Waitsburg-Prescott, Dayton boys set for regional tilts
W-P faces Lake Roosevelt and Dayton plays Riverside Christian Friday night in Wa-Hi's gym in regional play.
WALLA WALLA — Devising a successful defensive scheme is a top priority for Waitsburg-Prescott boys basketball coach T.J. Scott as he prepares his team for Friday's regional showdown against Lake Roosevelt in the Wa-Hi gym.It's a tall order. And defense is
Bulldogs face Brewster; Waitsburg-Prescott takes on Crusaders
The girls regional action is set for Saturday with a berth to the state tournament on the line.
WALLA WALLA — Nearly halfway through the season, the Dayton girls basketball team was still in search of its first victory.Now the Bulldogs are just one victory away from their first state tournament appearance since 2006.
Waitsburg-Prescott girls knock out Irish
DeSales, which entered as the No. 1 seed, falls to Waitsburg-Prescott in the District tourney.
WALLA WALLA — DeSales erased all but one point of an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit Saturday afternoon at Sherwood Center before succumbing to Waitsburg-Prescott 47-44 in a girls Southeast 2B District loser-out basketball game.The Irish, who entered the
Waitsburg-Prescott boys down Tri-City Prep
Waitsburg-Prescott overcomes a poor third-quarter shooting performance to take a 37-27 victory.
WALLA WALLA — After nearly shooting itself out of the game in the third quarter, Waitsburg-Prescott turned the tables on Tri-Cities Prep in the fourth period of Saturday afternoon's Southeast 2B District boys basketball game at Sherwood Center on the Whit
Holowaty takes on all comers, his father included
WALLA WALLA — Never let it be said that Jared Holowaty is one to shy away from competition.Whitman College's third-year head baseball coach believes that the best way to build a winning program is to play up. Never mind the disparity between wins and loss
Yankees no longer incite envy; how about the Giants?
WALLA WALLA — Break up the Yankees!That was baseball's bitter battle cry that began in 1923 — the year the Yanks won their very first World Series — and echoed down the halls of the next four decades. And for good reason.
Pro Bowl revises Hawaiian vacation schedule
OAHU, Hawaii — When my wife Margaret and I were unable to book a room at a popular resort that we had discovered here a couple of years ago, we didn't realize that the National Football League was to blame.
Tebow's QB play remindful of tough guy Kapp
WALLA WALLA — I promised myself I wasn't going to weigh in on the Tim Tebow debate simply because I don't believe the sports page is the proper forum in which to argue positions on religion.If there are others in the media ­ ­— and there certainly are — w
Familiar sound foretells baseball's return
WALLA WALLA — Pling!The sound was unmistakable. And inviting.Pling! I was jogging on Tietan Street. The sun was arcing low along the southern horizon and it's brilliance was almost blinding. But my ears were not deceived.Pling!
Buchan: College coaching ranks has distinct WW flavor
WALLA WALLA — Peter Sirmon's decision to return to the Pacific Northwest as a member of the University of Washington football coaching staff is welcome news.Sirmon, a 1995 Wa-Hi graduate, is a good guy who gives all of us here in Cougar Country a reason t
WWCC hoop coaches welcome holiday hiatus
WALLA WALLA — As far as Jeff Reinland and Bobbi Hazeltine are concerned, the Christmas season's basketball interlude couldn't have come at a better time.For Reinland, Walla Walla Community College's men's coach, the necessity of the break is perhaps the p
State title won't end Bartlow's coaching journey
WAITSBURG — When Jeff Bartlow took over the Waitsburg High football program in the fall on 1999, he had a couple of goals in mind.'When we got here 13 years ago, we wanted to win a state championship,” Bartlow said earlier this week, including his wife Lo
Weston-McEwen coach, seniors bonded for life
ATHENA — Weston-McEwen coach Kenzie Hansell learned most of his football Xs and Os during his playing career at Washington State University.But he absorbed his coaching philosophy from his parents growing up on a wheat ranch near Hermiston, where he atten
Touchet no match for No. 1 Warriors
The Indians struggle through freezing cold and fall to undefeated Almira-Coulee-Hartline, 52-8.
MOSES LAKE — It didn't take long for inevitability to sink in here Friday night in a cold-to-the-bone Washington Class 1B-8 quarterfinal football game.Touchet head coach Gary Dorman and his assistants — Guy Gregg, Leland Weber and Saul Martinez — certainl
Indians run into No. 1 Almira-Coulee-Hartline Friday
Touchet hopes to get speedy Vicente Flores healthy for the state B-8 quarterfinal game in Moses Lake.
TOUCHET — When he's at his best, Vicente Flores can expect to touch the ball on offense 10-to-12 times during the course of a game.And more often than not, that's been often enough to produce several Touchet touchdowns, keep opposing defenses honest and s
Touchet's 1978 home playoff tilt a slip of the mind
TOUCHET — If you stay in this newspaper business long enough, one truth is abundantly clear.The readers always write.Or, in the case of the folks who live in and around Touchet, they take you by the arm, look you squarely in the eye and explain your tran
Local linkster enters exclusive ace club
WALLA WALLA — Dave Vargas is a bonafide duffer. His handicap at the Walla Walla Country Club since taking up the game of golf 16 years ago while still in his mid-50s has ranged from the low teens to the mid-20s. He's currently listed as a 21, although he
Touchet defense keys rally past Cusick, 28-20
The Indians can't find their offense in the first half, but overcome a 6-0 halftime deficit for the playoff win.
TOUCHET — The Touchet Indians put forth their best defensive effort of the season here Saturday afternoon in a wind-blown, sometimes-drizzly District 7/9 8-man prep football playoff game against Cusick.Good thing, too, because an Indians' offense that did
WWCC in soccer playoffs
WALLA WALLA — The Highline men and the Clark women will be in town Saturday to face Walla Walla teams in the quarterfinal round of the NWAACC Soccer Championships.The Thunderbirds, who finished second in the NWAACC's Western Division with a 13-1-3 overall
Weston-McEwen heavily favored over Knappa
The TigerScots are heavily favored in Saturday's playoff with Knappa.
ATHENA — On paper, this game shouldn't be close.Blue Mountain Conference champion Weston-McEwen looms as a heavy favorite here Saturday afternoon when the TigerScots entertain Knappa in the first round of Oregon's Class 2A state football playoffs. Kickoff
Indians look to get their swagger back
Touchet has made it to the playoffs eight times since 1999, but has rarely been a serious factor.
TOUCHET — The Touchet Indians won the last of their four Class 1B-8 state football championships in 1999.In the 11 seasons since that thrilling 42-36 victory over Neah Bay in the Tacoma Dome, the Indians have qualified for postseason play eight times, mad
Pomeroy pumped for postseason play with Northport
The Pirates host Northport Friday in a District 7/9 elimination match.
POMEROY — Sanford Bates has been involved in the football program at Pomeroy High for most of his 27 years at the school, ranging from junior high coach to varsity assistant coach to head coach on two different occasions.But Bates was no more than an inte
Surprise! Mac-Hi invited to 4A playoffs
MILTON-FREEWATER — Mac-Hi will play its first postseason prep football game since 1996 Friday night when the Pioneers travel to Baker City to face the Greater Oregon League rival Baker Bulldogs in one of 16 Oregon Class 4A play-in games that will determin
Pirates hand Indians first loss
Pomeroy piles up 457 rushing yards as the Pirates outduel Touchet, 48-42, in their SE1B-8 showdown.
TOUCHET — Yielding huge chunks of yardage isn't anything new for the Touchet Indians' defense.Garfield-Palouse rushed for 438 yards just a week ago. Earlier in the year, Lacrosse-Washtucna combined for 491 yards running and passing. And Colton burned the
Mustangs up next as Weston-McEwen continues title bid
ATHENA — If saving the best for last is the ultimate dining experience, Weston-McEwen football fans are looking forward to a double serving of dessert during the final two weeks of the Blue Mountain Conference season.Nothing sour, please.The unbeaten Tige
Indians use a little fear to remain perfect
Lacrosse-Washtucna holds a late lead, but Touchet responds to garner the 48-36 Southeast 1B-8 victory.
TOUCHET — Fear, it's been said, is a great motivator.The Lacrosse-Washtucna Tigercats came here Friday knowing full well that one more defeat would dash all remaining hope of securing one of the Southeast 1B-8 League's three postseason playoff berths.And
Brewers' Morgan is Walla Walla's reason to watch
WALLA WALLA — When the Atlanta Braves squandered their big September lead and relinquished the National League Wild Card to the onrushing St. Louis Cardinals, it was a big disappointment to many baseball fans hereabouts.With the Seattle Mariners finishing
Indians win SE1B battle with Wildcats
Touchet makes big plays on offense, key stops on defense and capitalizes on opportunities for the 48-38 victory over Colton.
TOUCHET — Two days of incessant drizzle subsided here Friday.Gusty southwest winds sprang up in the vacuum of the front as it moved east, raising havoc with the Touchet High homecoming parade in the morning. But by mid-afternoon, things had settled down.
Shootout in Touchet as Indians entertain Wildcats
WALLA WALLA — It's October.And that means that area prep football teams are heading into what promises to be — for some, anyway — an exciting second half of the season.None more so than Touchet.
DeSales girds for Waitsburg-Prescott rivalry game
WALLA WALLA — When DeSales entertains Waitsburg-Prescott Friday night at Ty Baffney Field, it will be a renewal of the Southeast 2B-11 League's most heated football rivalry.Currently speaking, that is.And it's a rivalry that leans in Waitsburg-Prescott's
Indians remain red-hot in rout of Knights
Touchet scores early and often in the 52-8 win over Sunnyside Christian.
TOUCHET — After last weekend's brief, autumn-like respite high up in the Wallowa Mountains, summer was back in full force here Friday afternoon on the first calendar day of fall.But the searing sun and temperatures that ticked into the lower 90s had no ad
O'Flaherty plays part in Braves' bodacious bullpen
WALLA WALLA — Eric O'Flaherty received some well-deserved recognition earlier this month in Sports Illustrated.O'Flaherty, Wa-Hi Class of 2003, is pitching out of the Atlanta Braves bullpen and has emerged as a member of the most dominant triumvirate of r
