Friday, Apr. 25, 2008

3 Brave leaders for Kamiakin baseball

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

If there were nothing else, Patrick Forgette could still hang his baseball cred on one simple accomplishment: He forced the league's coaches to make room on last year's CBL 3A first team for two shortstops -- himself and player of the year Travis Mattair.

A .500 batting average, after all, commands attention, and the coaches made a unanimous decision to put them both on the first team.

Mattair, who had already signed with two-time national champion Oregon State, went on to be selected by the Philadelphia Phillies with the 83rd pick in the 2007 major-league draft. Forgette went on to play summer ball and go to football workouts to prepare for his first high school season on the gridiron.

Right beside him were longtime teammates and pals Jason Jones and Maxx Garrett. That trio, along with providing senior leadership, makes up the heart of Kamiakin's lineup, hitting second, third and fifth, and longtime coach Rex Easley knows he'll be missing them next season.

"I love having all three of them around," said Easley, whose team is 10-4 overall and 5-1 in league going into today's doubleheader at Hanford. "I'll be sad when they leave."

Sad not just because they'll take with them their numbers -- Garrett and Jones are both batting better than .430, and Forgette is batting .381 despite a serious finger injury and a couple offseason surgeries -- but also the kind of attitudes that Easley has come to appreciate in his 34 years at Kamiakin.

Their junior season ended with the program's first state berth since 1999, but they finished two runs away from qualifying for the final four and a trip to Safeco Field. To make matters worse, they heard plenty over the summer about how great it was to play on the Mariners' home field.

"We play summer ball with the Richland kids on the (Tri-City) Titans, and we got to hear all about their trip," Forgette said, alluding to the Bombers' 4A championship.

Jones was at a Mariners game over the summer, and being so close to the field "made me sick because I knew we could have been there."

No question, Garrett said, the goal coming into this season was to end their prep careers at Safeco. But there were plenty of obstacles for the Braves, even before they started play in a loaded CBL 3A league.

First, there was Forgette's finger, which is permanently bent forward 90 degrees from the first knuckle, the result of a football injury in the first game of the season. The next week, he injured his knee and wound up having surgeries for both.

"I'm kind of a mess," said Forgette, adding that instead of getting in a lot of extra work for baseball, his offseason was "a lot of sittin' on the couch and eating ice cream."

The irony is Forgette wasn't really planning on going out for football, but he heard they needed help in the secondary.

"That was the one thing he was afraid of," Garrett said, "getting hurt for baseball. Funny thing about it, he was contending for a starting spot."

Instead, his only high school football season lasted two weeks.

Garrett had his own injury to overcome -- a broken left hand he played with throughout the football season. But when it came time for his winter work, "I had trouble holding the bat. I'd get sore after 10 swings."

So there was still some rust when the season started. But Garrett quickly found his stride, in part because he had a permanent position behind the plate.

Last season, he split time catching with Matt Swan and also played third, outfield and designated hitter. This season, he couldn't be happier having a home of his own.

"I love it," he said. "It's a little dirty, rough, but you can control the game."

Dirty and rough are words that easily attach themselves to Garrett, an all-state linebacker who loves the rough-n-tumble play on the football field and behind the plate. He's not one to shy away from confrontation or collision, and his uniform isn't quite right until it has a nice patch of dirt on it.

"He's an incredible athlete," Easley said, noting that NAIA powerhouse Lewis-Clark State has shown interest. "Colleges are always looking for good catchers. He was just born to be a catcher. The way he is -- his uniform is always dirty, and he just comes to the yard ready to play."

Jones is cut from a similar mold, having lined up next to Garrett at linebacker on the football team. The lefty in the lineup, Jones is a strong-armed right fielder with good speed and, like the others, good baseball instincts.

Easley expects all three to be playing college ball next season. But their main concern is much more immediate.

"We pretty much said this is the last hurrah," Jones said, "and everybody better bust their butt and do the best they can."