Oregon Baseball Championship Ends Season with Excitement

By Jennifer Searcy

Spring brings many things. Warm weather, longer days, beautiful flowers and the sound of a baseball bat meeting a ball for a grand slam.

As spring turns into summer and schools break for vacation, Oregon high school baseball teams prepare for the Oregon State Activities Association (OSAA) baseball state championship. This is the teams' last chance to leave an impression on the 2008 season as they battle for the title of state champions.

The 2008 OSAA championship tournament will be held May 30-31. The tournament begins with more than 100 schools within the five sectional divisions. After two weeks, the teams are narrowed down to 10 teams entering the state championship game. The lower divisions' (Division 1A/2A and 3A) championship games are played on Friday, and Divisions 4A, 5A and 6A are played on Saturday.

The OSAA baseball championships began in 1946, and have been housed in several different facilities. Since 1998, the championship games have been played at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, located about 40 minutes south of Portland. The stadium is home to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, a class A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Currently the OSAA is in the second year of a five-year contract with the stadium to host the final games.

Over the years, the games have boasted a number of famous players and moments. Heisman Trophy winner and NFHS Hall of Fame member Terry Baker helped Portland Jefferson High School win the 1959 Division A title . OSAA Executive Director Tom Welter was a first baseman on the 1966 Stayton Regis High School team that won the division B state title.

Several major league players have also battled for the OSAA championship including the Boston Red Sox's Jacoby Ellsbury, Dale Murphy, Brady Clark, Chris Miller and Wayne Twitchell. The tournament has seen at least four major league players in jerseys from Corvallis High School including Harold Reynolds, Don Reynolds, Brian Champion and Dave Roberts.

Attendance for all division championship games averages from 2,000 to 5,000 people. 2006 was a recording breaking attendance game with more than 6,000 people in attendance. The local team West Salem (Salem) High School, located in a suburb near Volcanoes Stadium, played in the final game drawing more people to the game, although the team ultimately lost.

According to its sports information director, Steve Walker, the OSAA does not anticipate any changes to the state championships format.

"Games leading up to the championships will continue to be played at home sites and Volcanoes Stadium should remain our final site for years to come," Walker said.

The OSAA baseball championships are the last event for the association, and Walker said this creates a lot of excitement around the games.

"The fact that everything builds through the spring and our scheduled championships end with baseball, there is a lot of excitement," Walker said. "It is also exciting that we are able to play in a nice facility at Volcanoes Stadium, and if the weather holds out, it makes that weekend fantastic."

Jennifer Searcy is a spring intern in the NFHS Publications/Communications Department. She is a junior at Franklin (Indiana) College majoring in journalism news editorial and public relations.