News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Sisters Outlaws’ varsity baseball season is over — but it wasn’t a tough opponent that sent the team to the dugout.
Four of the nine players on the varsity squad allegedly violated Sisters High School’s athletic code in several separate instances. The four players were suspended on Thursday for 12 student contact days, amounting to five games.
The season would have been two-thirds over by the time they returned, according to SHS Assistant Principal Mark Stewart.
Stewart did not go into specifics about the violations though he acknowledged that some involved alcohol consumption. Student athletes are required to sign a contract before playing promising to adhere to certain rules of conduct. Primary among these is refraining from any drug or alcohol use.
Stewart told The Nugget that the problem came to his attention on Tuesday and he and Athletic Director Mary Flande conducted an investigation. He and Flande and Coach Kevin Bigby held a meeting with the team and told them their decision to end the season.
He said none of the student athletes denied the allegations against them. The five players who were not involved are paying the price along with the guilty ones, Stewart acknowledged.
“I feel bad for the kids who are really being punished for the actions of their teammates,” Stewart said.
The assistant principal said there just didn’t seem to be a viable alternative. Bringing players up from the junior varsity squad would have broken up that team, which only fields 10 players. The players left behind would have had no playing time available.
“We didn’t feel it was fair to the JV kids to pull them apart,” Stewart said.
One of the violators is an underclassman; he would be eligible to play on the JV squad after his suspension, Stewart said.
The seniors are out of luck. Their high school baseball career is over. The Outlaws closed the year with a 4-3 overall record.
“It really does make me sad that we’re ending that way,” Stewart said.
He said he hopes that the incident becomes a learning experience for the athletes — particularly that their actions can have repercussions for innocent people.
“If there’s any positive to come of it, that’s it,” he said.
Bigby will move down to assist with coaching the JV squad. The high school will honor his coaching contract.
“He had a contract and the reason why the season was canceled was no fault of his,” Stewart said.
Stewart said he expected a lot of phone calls from upset parents, but he hasn’t received any. He said that in a small town, the parents pretty much knew what had happened and saw this coming. But Stewart also sees something else:
“I think that’s indicative of the parental support for our athletic contract here,” he said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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