Senior Babe Ruth World Series brings the country to the country
The honor is all ours.
When the country comes to the country one more time, the city of Ephrata and the Columbia Basin will take center stage, and welcome the best Senior Babe Ruth players in the nation at the Senior Babe Ruth World Series.
Johnson-O’Brien Stadium is immaculate. The city is spruced up and the Basin will be on display to the people coming from New Jersey, North Carolina, MIssouri, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Arizona and Texas.
It’s a cultural exchange of sorts and it gives us a chance to show off our community and the surrounding area. The opening ceremonies are on Saturday following the Moses Lake River Dogs-Mid County game (somewhere around 7 p.m.). They have fireworks planned for afterward.
The River Dogs will honor long-time Ephrata coach Dave Johnson, the winningest baseball coach in the state of Washington, who was inducted into the Washington Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988, and long-time Moses Lake coach Pete Doumit, just retired after a 45-year career.
It will also be a chance to show off one of the greatest Senior Babe Ruth teams in history, the 1998 Columbia Basin River Dogs, who won a national championship and had seven players from that team go on to play professional baseball.
“Hosting the World Series is a big deal, because it’s a chance to show off where we’re from. You have all these kids from all over the country, most of them have never been to the Northwest, so for us to show off eastern Washington is a thrill,” said Ryan Doumit, who was on that 1998 team and had a chance to coach at Big Bend Community College with his dad during Pete’s final season as the Vikings’ skipper. “If you come from out-of-state, Washington is about all things Seattle. But here in the Columbia Basin, it couldn’t be farther away. So this is a chance to show them our side of the state.
“When we went to Arkansas in ‘97, and then to North Carolina in ‘98, those were the first two times I’d been to those states. It was awesome getting to see some of the culture. The host parents took you around and showed you a little bit how they do things down there. For me, that experience was every bit as important as getting to play the baseball.”
That 1998 River Dogs team included Gabe Boruff, Bryan Johnson, Jim Lambro, Kyle Comstock, Jacob Eisen and Sam Boruff from Ephrata. The Moses Lake guys included Ryan Doumit, Pete Doumit, BJ Garbe, Jason Cooper, Ryan Handly, Brian Skaug and Seth Johnson.
There were three Quincy guys, Brent Duda, Doug Darwood and Josh Hill, along with Jacob St. Mary from Othello and Stefan Bailie of Richland.
Garbe (Minnesota), Cooper (Cleveland), Skaug (Houston), Bailie (Boston), Gabe Boruff (Kansas City), Bryan Johnson (Baltimore) and Ryan Doumit (Pittsburgh) were all drafted and played professionally.
“I just remember the Babe Ruth experience being something really special. I would say the majority of the kids on our team had at least one family member there when we traveled,” said Ryan Doumit, who made his Major League debut with the Pirates on June 5, 2005 against the Atlanta Braves. “We had quite the rooting section. It was a vacation for the parents and a family trip. So this is a chance to show off our community and see some baseball. It really is special. I might just have to stick around and watch the Dogs play.”
If you’d like to come out and welcome the country to the country and see the best of the best Senior Babe Ruth League players in the nation, it all gets going on Saturday and finishes up on championship Saturday on Aug. 12.
For the complete schedule, log on to http://www.ephrataworldseries2017.com/page/show/2532781-series-week
Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com