Rochester’s Brad Quarnstrom and Tenino’s Ryan Schlesser agreed on one thing after their Scatter Creek Showdown matchup Saturday in Tacoma: if the Cheney Stadium grounds crew ever decided to leave the Triple-A ranks, they’d be welcome in Thurston County high school ball.
“One thousand percent yes,” Schlesser said. “I’d take the field too.”
“They do a good job,” Quarnstrom added. “I want to know what kind of grass this is. It doesn’t even look real.”
The grounds crew — and it really was a crew, at least six professional groundskeepers were on the field before the game to touch things up after an entire game had been played on it — saved the Beavers and Warriors’ day on the minor-league stage. The field at Cheney Stadium is already probably the best natural surface in Washington outside of the confines of T-Mobile, and given where it’s located, possibly one of the best in the country at shedding water. And it took just about all of that to make sure the game got off without a delay.
“This game wouldn’t have been played anywhere in the surrounding three or four counties,” Schlesser said. “We saw hail, I think there was some snow coming out of the air at one point. It was pretty impressive that we were able to get those games in, especially with a game before.”
Then again, taking advantage of the efforts of some of the best groundskeepers in America was the point of the whole event, which Tenino’s coaches and administrators entered last year, inviting Rochester to play a game on the big stage.
“It’s a really cool experience,” Quarnstrom said. “It’s something that was on the calendar and all the kids were excited about. I think the kids had a good time, and that’s really what it’s all about.”
Cheney Stadium definitely looked slightly different than it will when the Rainiers take the field for the first time Tuesday against the Reno Aces. The few parents and friends to make the trip north clustered at the very top of the bleachers, in the few covered seats. The upper deck area was empty, as was the party deck in left field, and in an effort to keep the players in the dugout safer, the front steps were removed from the dugout to keep everybody behind protective netting.
But there was still a lot to take in. Both scoreboards were up and running — the traditional one flashing the box score and the video board in left-center showing the name and face of the batter at the plate. At least one concession stand was open. Despite the missing step, the dugouts were actually dugouts, a rarity in high school ball that definitely gave the feeling of a bigger deal.
And, of course, there was the field itself, and in baseball more than possibly any other sport, the difference between the high school normal and professionally-manicured surface is something to remember.
“We have 25 guys on the roster, and all 25 guys made it,” Schlesser said. “It was a cool experience for them. Even if they didn’t get in to play, how many guys can say they came to a Triple-A park and played catch out on the outfield grass? It’s pretty cool.”
Quarnstrom said the Warriors played at Cheney five or six years ago. For Tenino as an athletic department, it was the second game at a professional venue this school year; the football team pounded Klahowya at Lumen Field in September.
“We ask so much of our student-athletes and continually expect them to be leaders on and off the court,” Tenino athletic director Nick Bamer said via text. “One way we can repay them… is to provide unique opportunities for them to make lifelong memories playing sports.”
There are other opportunities in other spots to do similar. Last year, W.F. West and Adna sent basketball teams to play at Moda Center in Portland, on the court the Trail Blazers call home. Two weeks ago, T-Mobile Park itself played host to a couple of high school games, before the Mariners came back to town.
The events range in production value — the basketball games at Portland took place in a silent arena, with one table-mounted scoreboard pointed away from the crowd, so nobody could see the score or how much time was left. In terms of that, Saturday at Cheney Stadium was one of the better operations put out recently. But even without any glitz and glamor, playing at a professional stadium is something to remember.
Between the Beavers and Warriors, seven players got to pitch off of a professional mound. Eighteen runs were scored in a back-and-forth slugfest that Rochester won 11-7, each one had a local athlete cross the same plate that a host of MLB stars crossed, either before they made it up or on rehab starts. When Kellan Knox blasted a home run into the bullpens in left field, he made the same trot that Jarred Kelenic, Kyle Lewis, and Cal Raleigh have made in the past few seasons.
And with the WIAA’s state tournaments and title games mostly confined to high school and multi-purpose venues, these types of games could well be ones players remember more than any other.
“This is something they’ll never forget, for sure,” Quarnstrom said.
