RICHLAND -- The city of Richland might be known nationally as the Atomic City, but in the world of Big Nine baseball, it is Backstop Central.

Richland's Jarrod Turner and Hanford's Chris Synoground will start the beginning of the end of their senior seasons today in the opening round of state play.

Both have realistic expectations of grinding out two more weekends of baseball and finishing their outstanding careers at the same place -- Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, sight of the 4A and 3A semifinals and championship.

What is remarkable is that these two distinguished backstops -- Turner was named to the CBBN 4A first team, Synoground the 3A first team -- started their catching careers in a most indistinguished way.

"It was the first day of Little League practice, and I was in the outfield," Synoground recalled. "They kept asking, 'Who wants to play catcher?' No one answered, so I said I would."

"I was really slow," Turner said bluntly. "I couldn't really move very well. So I'd just sit back there and have to work it out."

By draft or volunteer, both stuck with the position, and their current coaches are quite thankful.

"He just does a great job," Richland coach Ben Jacobs said of Turner. "He's a great leader, a natural leader.

"To be a catcher, you got to be mentally tough and physically tough. And I've never seen him get beat on a ball in the dirt."

"It's not easy being a catcher," said Hanford coach Tom DeWitz, referring not just the physical demands of squatting behind the plate in catchers gear for a doubleheader. "My wife talked to me a few times this year, telling me to take it easy, saying I'm too hard on Syno during the game. I said, 'Honey, he's the catcher, and when we yell at the catcher, we're really trying to talk to the umpire or pitcher, and we do it through the catcher: Move the glove around! Where was that pitch?!'

"Chris understands that."

Both catchers are renowned for their defense, but both are having big years at the plate as well.

Turner is hitting .352 with six home runs, six doubles and 24 RBIs. Synoground hit .400 during the regular season with three doubles, a home run and a team-high 20 RBIs.

But as much as they contribute to the run support, both have a much more important job: handling the pitching staff.

Turner and Synoground call their own games, consulting with coaches beforehand but relying on their own knowledge of their pitchers and opposing hitters to know which pitch to call in what situation against which batter.

Both also catch staffs that predominantly throw breaking stuff, which means a lot of balls in the dirt. Richland's top pitcher, Syd Hall, has a curveball that breaks two different ways, and Turner never knows which until he has to react.

"If you don't block it, then they are scared to throw in the dirt, and they leave it out around the belt," Turner said.

"And next thing you know," Synoground added, "you lose."

Synoground has a particularly difficult task in catching Dan Scheibe, whose split-finger fastball is designed to end in the dirt.

"If he got injured, it would be horrible for me," said Scheibe, who has thrown to Synoground for close to a decade and will continue to do so when both play their college ball at Whitworth. "I couldn't throw any splitters. I'd be concerned throwing any sort of offspeed stuff that bites."

Jacobs doesn't like to think about life without Turner, who will be playing his college ball at Walla Walla next spring.

"You couldn't have a better guy step into that (leadership) role," Jacobs said. "He's not a yeller or a screamer, just a hard worker.

"We've had a lot of great catchers at Richland, and he ranks right at the top."

Indeed, Turner and Synoground don't have to take a back seat to anyone at backstop. And if their life behind the plate started in simple fashion -- one too slow to play in the field, one just looking for playing time -- both have blossomed in college-level players. And neither would want to play any other position.

"It's really nice to be involved with every pitch, have an impact on every pitch," Turner said.

"I can't be standing in the outfield," Synoground added, "getting a couple balls every game."