Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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YAKIMA - There are two ways to look at the outcome of the state softball tournament for the WP Tigers: they went further than last year and ended up in the top 12, but they also traveled all the way to Yakima to get knocked out of contention by league rival DeSales. Despite high hopes that they could repeat their narrow upset of the Irish during the district playoffs, the Tigers went down against the Walla Walla team 5-1 on Sunday before the Irish themselves were rolled from the tourney by...
YAKIMA - It wasn't a championship game, but it felt like one. Up against the team that ended up winning the 2B title, the Dayton softball team's tenacity pushed the Saturday evening game against Toutle Lake into extra innings. It wasn't until the 9th that the Ducks finally pierced the Bulldogs' defense and broke the tie in what home spectators described as one of the best games of the state tournament. In the end, Dayton went down 5-1 against Toutle Lake but won against Asotin on Sunday b...
WAITSBURG - Gail Gwinn and Joe Patrick's yard on the corner of Sev- enth and Orchard looks a bit bare. Not only did crews leave "a pretty big hole" when they removed a 135-year- old maple to widen Seventh Street, but the couple just re- located here from Whidbey Island after remodeling their new Waitsburg home and they haven't had much time to devote to a garden. "There are three plants in our yard and some grass," said Gwinn, who had a lush botanical spread at their home near Coupeville and...
OLYMPIA - Thanks to a small Dayton delegation making the case before the state's Department of Com- merce here last week, Blue Mountain Station will get new funds to hook up to Dayton city sewer and en- sure that its largest prospec- tive tenant can operate in the business park. While construction of the first 6,900-square-foot build- ing began last week, Port of Columbia Manager Jennie Dickinson, future BMS tenant Reggie Mace, Dayton Chamber Director Brad Mc- Masters and Pacific Power's Bill Clemens traveled to the state capital to present...
DAYTON - Hoping to shake off its rocky past, the Dayton Farmers Market opens this Saturday with more vendors, a longer season and more marketing support than ever before, organizers said earlier this week. "I'm super optimistic," chamber director and board member Brad McMasters said. "Everybody seems ready and positive." Organizers and vendors are so geared up this year, they're starting the seasonal outdoor market early to take advantage of crowds expected to come to town for the Day...
SPOKANE - If the Lady Bulldogs' last two games of the regionals tournament Saturday were a struggle, the first matchup against Colfax showed them at their best. The 9-6 victory over the other "Bulldogs" secured a seed at state and placed Dayton fourth in District 7 & 9. In the end, a three-run homer from Jessica Tate ac- counted for the three-point margin that put the Lady Dogs over the top in their game against Colfax. "It was really cool," Tate said with an "H" smeared on both cheeks for her...
SPOKANE - While their home town celebrated 100 years of horse racing Saturday, the WP Tigers had a "real sport" celebration of their own 135 miles away. Fresh from wining the District 9 title in Walla Walla the previous weekend, the Waitsburg Prescott softball team proudly held up a second place regionals trophy at Merkel Field in Spokane. The Tigers placed high in the pre-state District 7 & 9 tournament after beating the Mary Walker Chargers 11-3 in the first game and cross- valley rivals Day...
WALLA WALLA - After their narrow 10-9 loss against district title winner WP Friday, the Lady Bulldogs could have hung their heads. They did come out a bit sluggish in the next game against Asotin and by the sixth inning, they were down 5-2. But they rallied when it was their turn in the sixth. When the game was tied in the bottom of the seventh and it was make or break, the Dayton girls' bats came through as well as their spirit. With some additional help from Asotin errors, Dayton won the...
WALLA WALLA - If there was one moment that sparked the WP Lady Tigers' momentum Friday, it was Sam Moss' catch on the fence in the third inning that shielded them against a third Dayton home run and marked the beginning of her team's comeback against the Bulldogs. Already behind 8- 0 against a Dayton team that obviously came to play, it was exactly the kind of catch the Tigers needed to retrieve their passion, find their groove and settle into the game. Moss caught the hit, then fell back...
WAITSBURG - Long before the Lewis & Clark expedition made its way through the Touchet River Valley in the early 1800s, the site of the state park named in their honor was a fall hunting camp for the Palus, Nez Perce and Walla Walla tribes. This place between Waitsburg and Dayton was called Tapash Itxachika, where the tribes said "the ponderosa pine tree fell and was raised again." And the river was called Tu-se, meaning roasting. It's one of the closest Native American historical references to...
WAITSBURG - As the newest and youngest member of a country rock band, Shane Ugalde may not know all the rock classics. When asked at a recent practice if he had ever heard of Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion, he drew a blank. But when it comes to the "country" in country rock, Ugalde is the genuine article, so genuine you might imagine a hint of burning leather around him. "He's a real cowboy," band manager Wendy Richards said. "And he feels like he's always been part of the group." Together with the o...
PASCO - After their Monday night tie-breaker win over St. John-Endicott/ LaCrosse-Washtucna 8-5, the Dayton Bulldogs seemed ready to take on TriCities Prep Tuesday but "shot themselves in the foot" with errors, head coach Sal Benavides said after the game. "We weren't mentally ready," he said. "I thought we were. But we just didn't get it done today." The 10-1 loss was a disappointment to the young team. But the players, who nonetheless made it to the playoffs despite the odds, felt they l...
PRESCOTT - Waitsburg Prescott ended its promising season Tuesday after a 7-4 loss against Takeo-Oakesdale Rosalia in a game that almost turned into a Tigers' come-from-behind classic. "It was a close game," head coach Dustin Snedigar said afterwards. "It was one of those nail biters. But we came up short." The Nighthawks scored in the top of the 1st inning and Dalton Estes answered it with a run of his own in the bottom. But the WP bats went quiet after that, while TOR scored another run in the...
DAYTON - Getting all the fundamentals right from the start, the Lady Bulldogs beat TriCities Prep 13-3 in a five-inning home game Tuesday and advanced to the regional playoffs in Spokane on May 18. The third-ranked Dayton softball team still faces second-ranked Waitsburg Prescott on Friday, but only to decide seeding for the next round of the playoffs, assistant coach Des Jones said. Under the hot afternoon sun, Sam Harting pounded out a two-run homer in the first inning that ignited the...
WAITSBURG - On a sunny Tuesday afternoon last week, Waitsburg Cel- ebration co-organizer Lisa Naylor got a taste of what's to come on the third weekend in May when the town marks the first century of its downhome "one-of-a- kind" horse extravaganza, the Days of Real Sport. In the shade of the grand stand at the fairgrounds, somebody flung a hat down and three cowgirls launched their mounts around the track, hoofs thrashing the soft dirt, smiles flying above the saddles. "The expression on these...
TEKOA - The Lady Bulldogs seemed headed for third in league after sweeping Tekoa-Oakesdale-Rosario in their last doubleheader of the regular season Tuesday. "The girls did well today," assistant coach Des Jones said in a telephone interview after the away games. "They played together and they played smart." In 14 innings marked by a handful of snow flurries, Dayton beat the Nighthawks 11-8 in the first game and 6-4 in the second, ending the season on a high note. "We've struggled some and we...
WAITSBURG - Edward Hopper could have painted it. The little Victorian on Preston Avenue, most re- cently owned by the late gar- lic grower Travis Weedman, sits back from the highway shaded by evergreens. Its porch and porch roof are sagging. But its structure, dating back to 1895 and placed on a new foundation after the 1996 flood, is good, ac- cording to its new owners. Those kinds of "bones" make it a good candidate for restoration, and that's how it became the first project of Touchet Valley...
DAYTON - The Bulldogs track and field team is ready to show off its growing talent at the first home meet of the season co-hosted with Waitsburg Prescott this week, head coach Dan Nechodom said. The meet, which will draw league teams from Asotin, DeSales, St. John- Endicott, Tekoa-Oakesdale- Rosario, WP and Walla Walla Valley Academy, starts at 3:30 pm Wednesday. The afternoon is expected to be sunny with temperatures in the upper 60s. "They're excited," Nechodom said about the eight boys and seven girls on his young team. "I see a lot of...
PROSSER - The Cardinals placed 10th in the tough Prosser Rotary Invitational Saturday thanks to the lofty performances from runner Seth Deal and thrower Ben Shafer. "Seth and Ben both stood out and, between the two of them, got all of our points that we collected as a team," WP head track and field coach Jeff Bartlow said. WP's 32 points allowed the boys team to vault ahead of such competitors as Richland, Kennewick, Ellensburg and DeSales. Dayton did not participate in the event. Shafer p...
PASCO - Three WP athletes qualified for the Pasco Invite on Saturday and each did well in competition, setting new personal records and earning a place on the podium. The meet included only the top athletes from 4A schools on down. Out of more than 60 teams competing from throughout the northwest, only nine were from "B" schools. "I was really happy with our results and the kids should be proud of themselves," WP track and field coach Jeff Bartlow said. Sprinter James Thompkins competed in the 100 meter dash and ran it in 11.49 seco...
PRESCOTT – It was more than a decade ago, but James Thompkins remembers the night like it was yesterday. He was only six, the youngest of six siblings. They lived with their mother in a crammed high-rise apartment on the west side of Chicago. He woke up in the small hours that day when she opened the door for his uncle, who stumbled in with a fresh gunshot wound in his leg. From that moment on, he remembers how trauma and drama were a constant part of his life. The Thompkins were always mo...
WAITSBURG - Fresh from a preseason loss against the Idaho Matadors and the loss of their best running back, the Waitsburg Elite face the high-ranking Spo- kane Wolf Pack in their regu- lar season opener at Cardinal Field Saturday. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. "It will be interesting to see what they bring," team owner and quarterback George Martinez said about the Elite's first opponent of the season. The Elite went down 32-7 against the Matadors on Easter weekend, March 30, a game that drew 225 to the...
SEATTLE - Until last week, Joseph Linder had never heard of Waitsburg. The Austrian-born som- melier from the Fairmount Olympic in downtown Se- attle had been to Walla Walla many times to taste and or- der wines for his diners at the upscale historic 450-room hotel. But it wasn't until he attended the launch of Paul Gregutt's new "Waitsburg Cellars" that the little town in the Touchet Valley got on his radar. Now he's not only plan- ning a stay in Waitsburg dur- ing his next trip to the Walla...
WAITSBURG - It may be too close to call. But with two votes ahead of current council member Scott Nettles, Deb Callahan may become the newest member of the Waitsburg City Council later this month. For the most part, the Truth & Trust slate of canidates headed by Mayor Walt Gobel returned to office in the city's annual elections. Gobel received 216 votes as mayor, while Kevin House got the highest number of votes as councilman with 228, followed by Carl Newell with 216, and Marty Dunn and KC Kuykendahl each with 207. Callahan received 156...
COLTON - The Bulldogs softball team suffered its first losses of the season, going down 10-7 in the first and 3-7 in the second of its spring break doubleheader against Colton Tuesday. "They (Colton Wildcats) got their big opportunity hits when they needed them and we didn't," assistant coach Des Jones said on the way home to Dayton. In the first game, the Lady Dogs out hit the Wildcats 12-8, but couldn't capitalize as well on its superior batting average. Dayton went into the bottom of the t...
