Art Osmundson was at the opening ceremonies Friday for the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex, throwing out ceremonial first pitches and spinning tales, as only Oz can.
“I think it was my third year here, 1979, and I went out to our field,” the longtime Ridgefield High baseball and football coach said. “It was a muddy mess, and I was just ‘razza-frazza-razza.’ Then two kids said ‘Coach, we can take our truck down to the Lewis River — I didn’t even know where that was then — and load it up with sand. So off they went, and they were gone the entire practice. When they got back, I asked them what took so long. They said ‘We nearly lost the truck. It started to sink in the sand.’ ”
Any baseball or softball coach in the Pacific Northwest could tell a story or two of their own about dealing with our spring weather.
Dirt has been a part of baseball since the days of Doubleday. You can usually spot a team’s best player by the amount of dirt on the player’s uniform.
But dirt and spring showers in the Northwest often equal mud. Mud leads to rainouts and practices in the gym.
“Usually by this time of year, we’ve got our bunt defense nailed down, because it’s about all we can do in the gym,” said Nick Allen, Ridgefield’s current baseball coach.
Coaches often wear many hats — teacher, psychologist, cheerleader. But for baseball and softball coaches , they add another title — groundskeeper.
“And I don’t even like mowing my own lawn,” Fort Vancouver baseball coach Owen Frasier said.
But this spring, a few fortunate coaches will get to spend more time coaching and less time landscaping.
Prior to this year, only one Clark County high school team played on an all-weather baseball field — King’s Way Christian which plays at neighboring Luke Jensen Park.
But this year, Ridgefield’s varsity and JV teams will play and practice on turf fields at the brand-new Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex or RORC.
There are also softball fields at the RORC. And while the plan is for Ridgefield’s softball team to continue to use on-campus dirt-and-grass field, if conditions are bad, the Spudders can move to the RORC.
Fort Vancouver High School has a new all-weather turf softball field. The Trappers will host a season-opening tournament on Saturday.
Propstra Stadium at Hudson’s Bay hosted its first prep events on its new turf infield on Saturday when Washougal and Fort Vancouver played games as part of the Max Beatty Invitational hosted by Fort.
And coaches have noticed an immediate impact of these new all-weather fields.
“I came home after one of our first practices out here last week,” Allen said of the RORC. “I walked in the house and my wife says ‘What are you doing home?’ And I said ‘We’re done.’ She was like ‘Already?!? Holy cow!’ ”
Frasier understands that.
“If I had this, I could coach forever,” Frasier said of the turf field at Propstra. “When you count all the work you put into your field over the winter, and then during the season, you have use your prep period (as a teacher) to get out to the field early to get it ready for practice or a game, and then after the game … it’s a huge time commitment. And I need more time for my family.”
And while access to all-weather fields have been a blessing for some, there will be some adjustments.
For example, there is a restriction at Propstra’s field against wearing metal baseball spikes, often the only shoes baseball players own.
“You have to wear molded plastic cleats,” Frasier said. “And if you don’t have them, you have to use tennis shoes. That would be fine if the field was all-turf. But it’s just in the infield. So if you are a shortstop in tennis shoes and you have to run out to the outfield for a ball, and the grass is wet, you’re going to slip, and that’s not good.
“So then you have to get new shoes. And that could be a problem for some, especially if you don’t play here regularly. You make the playoffs. Great! Now go buy new shoes. You’ve been selected to our senior all-star game. Congratulations. Go buy some new shoes.”
So the artificial grass is not always greener. But it sure beats mud.
“A lot of games today would have gotten rained out just today because it’s wet and cold,” Ridgefield senior Kellen Bringhurst said after the Spudders’ season-opening win over Kalama on Friday at the RORC. “It’s awesome that we got to play today, get a game in.”
And the coach gets to go home to his family.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep editor for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4538, tim.martinez@columbian.com or follow his Twitter handle @360TMart.
