Yakima Valley Pippins
Our night game at Yakima Country Stadium is another West Coast League clash between the Yakima Valley Pippins and the Portland Pickles. We meet GM Jeff Garretson and see a great game with a walk-off win for the home team.
The heat of the day had begun to recede, which meant it was time for more baseball. Dad and I made the short drive from our hotel to Yakima County Stadium, a.k.a “The Orchard,” built in 1993 to replace Parker Field (from 1937) as Yakima’s premier baseball diamond. The ballpark began its life as the home of the Yakima Bears, a Class-A Short Season affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers and later the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was an upgrade from Parker Field, but after 20 seasons in Yakima, the Bears moved to the larger market of the Portland area, becoming the Hillsboro Hops.
Today, The Orchard is home to the Yakima Valley Pippins, a collegiate summer league team in the West Coast League. The stadium seats 2,800 and is a fine place to watch a ballgame, with a high fence across the outfield, scenic hills in the distance, and a steep seating bowl, giving fans great viewing angles all around the ballpark.
The original Yakima Pippins were a Western International League team that debuted along with Parker Field in 1937. World War II suspended the league, but Yakima returned in 1946 as the Stars, then Packers, and finally, in 1949, the Bears. The WIL reformed into the Northwest League in 1955, and the Bears won six titles in the next nine years. As a Milwaukee Braves affiliate, they became the Braves from 1964 until 1966, when they ceased operations. Professional baseball did not appear again until 1990, when the Salem Dodgers relocated to Yakima. The new Yakima Bears — with future MLB stars Shane Victorino, David Ross, and Paul Konerko — won titles in 1996 and 2000 — before the move to Hillsboro.
The Yakima Valley Pippins joined the WCL in 2014 and promptly won a division title. They also won division titles in 2016 and 2021, with the ever-dominant Corvallis Knights claiming the league championship in both years.
At the gate, Dad and I met Pippins mascot Scott T. Pippin, a name that is both extremely clever and contextually confusing. He appeared to have undergone an intensive weight-loss program
I walked down the third-base concourse and ran into Pippins General Manager Jeff Garretson. A 25-year newspaperman with the Yakima Herald-Republic, Garretson joined the team at the end of 2015 and represents both the Pippins and the Walla Walla Sweets — controlled by the same ownership group — on the WCL’s Board of Directors. “I was actually here on opening night in 1993 when this place opened, covering the Yakima Bears,” Garretson said. But his connection to Yakima baseball goes even deeper: The starting first baseman for the original 1937 Yakima Pippins was Bob Garretson Sr., Jeff’s grandfather.
Up by the broadcast booth, I met Zach McKinstry, who would be calling the game. A recent graduate of the University of South Carolina, McKinstry had spent the previous two summers working for two other collegiate summer league teams: the Lexington County Blowfish (Coastal Plain League) and the Western Nebraska Pioneers (Independence League). We talked about our recent baseball travels, and McKinstry noted that he had taken a 40-hour road trip from Charlotte, North Carolina, just a few weeks earlier to get to Yakima for the summer.
With Pippins General Manager Jeff Garretson (top) and broadcaster Zach McKinstry
The Pippins were struggling mightily in the early season, amassing 15 losses in their first 19 games. They would be facing the visiting Portland Pickles, who still had hopes of catching the Knights at the top of the WCL South standings.
The head coaches, as they are called in collegiate baseball, exchanged their lineup cards. Yakima’s Kyle Krustangel played and coached at Whitworth University; he also played for the WCL Spokane RiverHawks in 2007 and coached American Legion teams in Spokane and Yakima. The Pickles Mark “Mags” Magdaleno began as an assistant coach at Ventura College in 1983 and coached at several small colleges and high schools on the West Coast.
Yakima Valley starter Michael Splaine, a left-hander from UC Santa Barbara, set down the Pickles comfortably in the creeping shadows of the early game. Splaine gave up just a hit and a walk in his first four innings.
Jackson Reed
Portland countered with right-handed freshman Freddy Rodriguez from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He got into trouble right away. Pippins outfielder Jackson Reed (Seattle University) led the game with a triple, his first of four hits on the night. A fielder’s choice-turned-error scored him. Then first baseman Henry Gargus (Stanford) doubled, there was a wild pitch and another error, and suddenly it was 3-0 Pippins with nobody out in the first.
Rodriguez got out of the inning from there and continued through the third inning, allowing one more run. The home team was off to a good start.
Concessions at The Orchard primarily feature ballpark standards, with the exception of the apple nachos — sliced apples with banana-split toppings. I did not see one in the wild and instead chose a hot dog and a very nice Rambling Route hard apple cider from Yakima’s Teton Cider Works.
Splaine pitched well through the fifth inning, giving up just one run on two hits. Meanwhile, the Pickles relief staff kicked into gear, with a trio of live arms keeping the Pippins scoreless for the next five innings.
I took a break to check out the team’s merch options. I wanted the home “Y” hat, but there were very few sizes available. Another candidate for the Christmas list.
The performance of the Pickles relief staff was matched by the offense. Portland made it 4-3 in the sixth on three walks and two singles against Pippins right-hander Julian Taudin-Chabot (Everett Community College).
Never mind the scoreboard. It was broken and was displaying the score from the previous night’s game.
In the eighth, Taudin-Chabot’s successor, Michael Rice (UC Santa Barbara), also had a shaky appearance, allowing three singles, a double, a walk, and two wild pitches. The Pickles now led 7-4.
In the bottom of the ninth, Yakima Valley rallied. A single and two doubles — one of them the fourth hit of the night for Reed — cut the lead to 7-6 with nobody out. Pickles closer Gary Grosjean (San Francisco State) then got two outs before intentionally walking cleanup hitter Jaxon Sorenson to create force-out opportunities. But this also put the go-ahead run at the plate.
Catcher Sam Olsson came up to bat, hitless in his previous five attempts. He would not get a hit in this at-bat, either. Instead, Olsson sent a high fly into left field toward Keith Jones II (New Mexico St.), who tracked the ball to foul line but overran it slightly. He reached back a bit in surprise and missed the ball. With two out, both runners had been moving since the crack of the bat, and both scored. Yakima Valley had come back with four runs in the bottom of the ninth to win it 8-7.
Pippins players poured onto the diamond like a flock of migratory birds, swooping together towards Olsson, who led them on a chase into left field. As the Yakima Valley catcher was mobbed there by teammates, a dejected Jones II — shoulders slumped, his eyes to the ground — made a slow and lonely walk toward his teammates waiting in right field. The moment was both exhilarating and heartbreaking, and easily the most exciting finish of our trip.
