Arghhhh! I missed an almost Pirate victory

   Most of you probably weren't planning on  going to the Churchill-Marshfield game on Thursday.  But here I was, bundled in a turtleneck, sweatshirt, gloves and longjohns ready to go to Churchill.  I made a check of the school schedules on highschoolspsorts.net.  No postponement.  Then I checked the OSAA scoreboard and the game was postponed to Saturday.  So I stayed home.  As I said, "ARGHH."
  Sorry Churchill fans, but I  pull for the Pirates.  I graduated from Marshfield in 1968.  We tied Sheldon for the league title and had a good baseball run for several years in the early 70's.  That was it until I returned in 2003.  A soon to be 1st team all state pitcher and his 90 mph  fastball, Matt Duryea, moved to Coos Bay and I instantly became a great pitching coach.  Marshfield went to state for the first time ever in Duryea's senior year and once more the next year.  The Pirate baseball fortunes then dropped off to the pre playoff years level.
  My ties to the Pirate baseball program and the efforts of coach Quintin Hall to build the program keep me ever hopeful.  So when Churchill's David Doerkson emailed me a score at 9 PM, I let out a giant "No-o-o-o!!".  My wife came into my office and asked me if something had happened to my boys.  I sheepishly told her the truth.   The yell was a two fold yell.   I missed my Pirates AND they pulled off a seventh inning five run rally to take a two run lead and got the first batter out in the bottom of the 7th.  Churchill rallied and stole the  victory from the Pirates. 
  Improving baseball in Coos Bay is a tough challenge.  It's not because of the weather.  North Bend has always had a solid to great program.  A long time ago, Coos Bay had a great little  league program and the varsity played in the heart of town at Mingus Park.  The city booted the high school off the parklands for adult summer league softball and the Pirates moved their facilities 8 miles up Coos River.  Out of sight, out of mind.  The Pirates made another field move within a mile of the school, but the field was still literally out of sight.  The Pirates finally moved to the high school, but if you've been to the facility you know how it compares to North Bend and the Eugene-Springfield schools.  It's tough for the kids to look at the  football/track and basketball facilities and think that the school cares much about baseball.  If I ever win a big  lottery, I'll help Q with one of his visions of moving home plate to the northwest corner.  Then I'll throw in turf and put in lights.
  Two other big issues for the Pirates are kids not staying in school or losing their eligibility and players not playing summer ball.  If  you saw the 2010 version of the Pirates, you noticed that there were several non seniors who looked like legit baseball players - good strokes at the plate, good  footwork turning the double play, a solid catcher and more.  But the team lost over half of those potential returnees.  The result this year is that the Pirates are throwing a lot of babes into the fire.  The good news is that these babes come with good attitudes and their are several skilled ones who just need to grow and get experience.  Good Luck, coach Hall.
  I haven't seen Churchill or Marshfield this year yet.  The Churchill game is already listed as postponed.  Marshfield and North have to make a decision soon about Marshfield driving up to Swede.  With luck, maybe they'll get the game in.  I'm already bundled up.

Photos
I haven't promoted my photos this year.  I finally have team pages set up with direct links to the photo galleries.  Half of the profit goes to the booster clubs.  Purchasing photos helps pay for my gas money,  photo gallery hosting, red vines and state playoff tickets.

• 4x6's are $2.00
• 8x10s are currently $5.99.  Not all pictures can be blown up to 8x10s because I have already cropped them so much. 
• There are options for collages, calendars, t-shirts, etc.
• Buy a lot of photos to spread the shipping cost:)
• Smugmug guarantees the photos.
• To find galleries for your school, go to the index page, hover over 'Photos', then click on your school
• I haven't photographed Churchill or Marshfield yet.  Also, I'm behind on uploading pre league games.
• Reminder that game recappers get free access to pictures of their son(s) for free printing at home or use as a screensaver.  Still could use recappers from Marshfield, South Eugene, and Springfield. 

Booster Clubs and Coaches:  You can check the status of  sales here.

Thanks for your support and encouragement.