Sports

Mark Patton

Overview: Dylan Axelrod, the 927th player chosen in the 2007 MLB Draft, pitched in Major League Baseball for both the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds Little Dylan Axelrod had wished for a miracle. He got one on Sept. 7, 2011, when he made his very improbable pitching debut in Major League Baseball. But it […]

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2 months ago

May 25, 2025

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Overview:

Dylan Axelrod, the 927th player chosen in the 2007 MLB Draft, pitched in Major League Baseball for both the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds

Little Dylan Axelrod had wished for a miracle.

He got one on Sept. 7, 2011, when he made his very improbable pitching debut in Major League Baseball.

But it wasn’t the miracle he’d requested.

His biggest wish was that his mother, Joni, would win her battle against breast cancer.

She died on his 10th birthday in 1995.

Sixteen years later, Dylan kept her close when he took the pitcher’s mound for the first time for the Chicago White Sox.

He scratched the letter “J” into the red-brick dirt behind the pitching rubber before holding the Minnesota Twins scoreless during two innings of relief.

“She knew how much I loved baseball,” Axelrod said at the time. “She knew this was my dream.

“I’m absolutely sure she did.”

He pitched in the big leagues for five seasons — three with the White Sox and two more with the Cincinnati Reds — and remains in the game as the pitching performance and integration coordinator for the Detroit Tigers.

Few outside his tight-knit, devoted family would have predicted a big-league life for little Dylan.

His father, Dennis Axelrod, nurtured his love for the sport. Grandma Lula Axelrod kept the faith and the scorebook for all his games until her death at age 90.

“I am where I am because of my dad,” Dylan said. “He raised me to be a hard worker, and his love of baseball and time spent coaching me laid my foundation.”

Axelrod grew up on the PONY League diamonds of MacKenzie Park, Santa Barbara High School’s Eddie Mathews Field, and Santa Barbara City College’s Pershing Park.

SBCC will honor Axelrod on May 31, when it inducts him into the Vaqueros Hall of Fame. The ceremony will begin with a noon reception at the Campus Center, 721 Cliff Drive.

The other Vaquero inductees are former NBA star Ron Anderson, beach volleyball Olympian Dax Holdren, women’s basketball star Carrie LaBudde-Cotter, multi-sport athlete and coach Chuck Melendez, long-time coach and administrator Ellen O’Connor, and golf team booster Diane Wootton.

Click here to purchase tickets online.

Thin Chance

Joni Axelrod made the most of her 10 years with Dylan. She homeschooled him during the last four.

“When Joni was diagnosed, and her prognosis wasn’t good, she wanted to maximize the time she had left with Dylan,” Dennis said. “She started homeschooling him as the way to do that.”

After her death, Dylan would “go behind the mound every inning to connect with Joni’s spirit, because her spirit was so incredibly strong.”

Axelrod began playing baseball a year before her death. His pitching career went much longer than any scout would have dared predict.

Dylan Axelrod wore these pink baseball spikes to honor his mom, Joni Axelrod, on Mother’s Day in 2015 while playing for the Cincinnati Reds’ Triple-A farm club in Louisville. He was called up for his last season in the Major Leagues two months later. Credit: Axelrod family photo

“Fred Warrecker liked to tell the story that when Dylan came out for his team as a sophomore at Santa Barbara High, he weighed about 120 pounds and threw maybe 75 mph,” Dennis Axelrod said. “I think that’s pretty close to the truth.

“Even by the time he graduated, he was probably only throwing in the low 80s.”

Axelrod was only the No. 3 pitcher for the Dons as a junior.

His future didn’t look more promising during the offseason when he severely dislocated his knee in a game of pickup basketball.

“He was out for five months,” his father said. “He couldn’t pitch for that long, but it just made him so determined to get back for his senior year. He worked so hard to do that.

“It might’ve been the key event to happen to him during his baseball career.”

Axelrod’s comeback was so meteoric — 10 wins in 11 decisions for the 2003 Channel League champion Dons — that he was voted as the conference’s Pitcher of the Year.

“I was probably 5-foot-9 back then, and something like 160 pounds,” Axelrod said. “And not a good 160, either. Kind of a fat 160.

“You know, limited strength. I was topping out at 80 mph back then.

“I learned how to get hitters out just by determination.”

That resolve helped him pack his growing frame with more muscle during his two years at SBCC.

He worked out religiously at Dr. Marcus Elliott’s Peak Performance Project (P3) to transform himself into a 6-foot and 195-pound pitching ace.

Axelrod also adopted a long-toss program he saw on the internet. His regimen included throwing a baseball from one football goalpost through the other — a distance of 120 yards — at SBCC’s La Playa Stadium.

“Sometimes I’d get kicked out of there by security guards,” he said, “but I’d always find a way back.”

Ace of the Vaqueros

Axelrod set the school record of 117 strikeouts while leading the 2005 Vaqueros to their first Southern California Regional berth since 1978.

They tied the school record for victories with a mark of 24-15— a record that was broken four years later.

“Teddy Warrecker was the coach,” he said, referring to the son of his high school coach. “And we had a great pitching coach, too, in Matt Hobbs.

“He was super-instrumental in my career.”

Hobbs was selected by D1 Baseball as last year’s NCAA Assistant Coach of the Year after helping the University of Arkansas win the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division.

Axelrod was the front man for Hobbs’ three-man starting rotation at SBCC that included Justin Aspegren and Tyler Davis.

“We called ourselves ‘The Big Three,’” Axelrod said. “We each threw 100 innings.

“I had the highest ERA of all of them and it was about 2.2.

Dylan Axelrod pitched in 48 games for the Chicago White Sox from 2011 until 2013. Credit: Topps Heritage Baseball Cards photo

“It was just fun, turning the program around, and winning was something to be proud of.”

Hobbs was also Axelrod’s pitching coach on the Santa Barbara Foresters’ summer collegiate team of 2006 that won the first of the club’s 11 National Baseball Congress championships.

“I have great memories from there,” he said. “I have some lifelong buddies from that team.”

Axelrod’s greatest memory in baseball came the following spring when he helped put UC Irvine into its first College World Series.

The last of his three NCAA tournament pitching victories came in Omaha, Nebraska, when he held Orange County rival Cal State Fullerton to just one hit in 4⅔ innings of relief.

“The path it took to get there and the guys I played with were just incredible,” he said. “We had two walk-off wins, and we were so close.

“The excitement was hard to describe, and so was the heartbreak of the loss (in the semifinals to eventual national champion Oregon State).

“We were in tears. It was like someone had died. We had to leave each other, and it was like brothers having to leave each other.”

Feeling the Draft

Axelrod became more of a baseball nomad after the San Diego Padres selected him in the 30th round of the 2007 MLB draft. He was the 927th pick overall.

He pitched in 14 different minor-league cities, returning for a second time in half of them. He had three different stints with the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A farm club of the White Sox.

He experienced success at nearly every stop, posting a win-loss record of 27-14 and 2.80 earned-run average during his five seasons in the minors.

Axelrod’s first stint in Charlotte didn’t come until two years after his release by the Padres in 2009.

He kept his career on life support by joining the unaffiliated Windy City ThunderBolts in Crestwood, Illinois.

“It wasn’t the typical route,” he conceded. “I just had to work so hard to get there.”

In 2013, the Windy City ThunderBolts, an unaffiliated professional baseball team in Crestwood, Illinois, retired the jersey number of Santa Barbara’s Dylan Axelrod along with longtime field staff member Mike Kashirsky. Two years later, Axelrod, who went 3-1 with six saves and a 2.21 ERA for the ThunderBolts in 2009, became the first Windy City player to advance into Major League Baseball. Credit: Windy City ThunderBolts illustration

The long odds he faced in advancing from an independent league to the major leagues actually took some of the weight off Axelrod’s shoulders.

“I changed how I thought about baseball,” he explained. “Before, I was feeling that pressure to stay in the Padres system and move up.

“After that was taken away, I had to play for myself, and play for fun.”

Two years later, he became the first Windy City player to ever make it to the Major Leagues.

“It felt so good to me because of the people who were behind me, like my dad and my friends, and everybody who’d helped me out along the way,” Axelrod said. “I got that call and I was like shaking, pretty much … ‘Is this for real?’

“I told my dad first, and then a couple of my closest friends. I hopped onto a plane and pitched the next day.

“I know I pitched two scoreless innings, but I don’t really know how or even what happened. It was kind of a blur, you know?”

Coach Class

Axelrod’s teammates encouraged him to think about a coaching career down the line.

“People would come to me to talk about pitching, and even about the physical part of it,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of knowledge about a lot of different things that can go into sport.”

Much of that came from P3, the local center that applies sports science to its training. He even served an internship at the facility.

“They had a huge role in my career,” Axelrod said. “I can’t say enough about that.”

He passed up an offer to serve as a pitching coach in minor league rookie ball after his last season in the Miami Marlins organization in 2016.

Axelrod returned to Santa Barbara instead and accepted an offer from Foresters’ manager Bill Pintard to become his pitching coach.

“I just didn’t have the desire to be in professional baseball anymore,” he said at the time. “You kind of have your hands tied.

“You can’t create a culture on your own. You have a lot of bosses and organizational structure.”

Dylan Axelrod had a win-loss pitching record of 2-1 and an earned-run average of 2.95 as a relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in 2014. Although he pitched his final season in Major League Baseball in 2015, he has stayed in the game as the Detroit Tigers ’pitching performance and integration coordinator. Credit: Cincinnati Reds photo

He gave it a shot in 2020, however, when the Los Angeles Angels asked him to become their pitching coordinator.

Axelrod was among several coaches purged from the club three years later after former Angels ace Troy Percival paid a visit to their minor league instructional camp.

Percival, who managed a record of only 111-177 during his six seasons as the head coach at UC Riverside, made some condescending remarks about the coaches’ use of technology in player development.

“I’m not one who’s big on using the iPads,” he said. “I understand it. I had to understand it through college coaching.

“I just feel like we need to have coaches with eyes who can see things and put their hands on people and fix them.”

Several others in the Angels’ organization considered Percival’s observation to be way off base.

One said anonymously that Axelrod was “the best source for any player or coach to go to of anyone players had access to in the org.”

The Angels’ loss became Detroit’s gain when the American League club promptly snatched him up. Two years later its current team ERA of 3.35 ranks seventh out of the 30 MLB teams.

The Angels? They rank 27th at 5.01.

Ironically, a game 14 years ago against first-place Detroit assured Axelrod that he belonged in the big leagues.

He rewarded the White Sox for his first pitching start by striking out eight Tigers, handing Chicago a 5-2 lead when he was relieved in the seventh inning.

“It validated the journey,” Axelrod said. “All the trials, time and hard work along the way coming together to achieve what I devoted my life to.”

Fans might have thought that the “J” he scratched on the mound that day stood for “joy.”

Those closest to Dylan Axelrod knew it went much deeper.

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U.S. Girls U19 National Team Takes Silver at 2025 World Championship

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 13, 2025) – The U.S. Girls U19 National Team earned the silver medal at the 2025 Girls U19 World Championship after falling in the final to Bulgaria, 3-1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-17, 29-27) on Sunday in Osijek, Croatia. The U.S. has medaled in the last four World Championships for the age group. […]

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38 minutes ago

July 14, 2025

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 13, 2025) – The U.S. Girls U19 National Team earned the silver medal at the 2025 Girls U19 World Championship after falling in the final to Bulgaria, 3-1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-17, 29-27) on Sunday in Osijek, Croatia.

The U.S. has medaled in the last four World Championships for the age group. The 2023 World Championship, where the team won gold, was the first one contested as a U19 championship. Previously, FIVB held Worlds as a U18 event, and the U.S. won bronze in 2021 and gold in 2019.

The match was close statistically as the U.S. finished with a one-point advantage in kills (46-45) and blocks (11-10), while Bulgaria served eight aces compared to five for the U.S. The key statistic was Bulgaria committing 14 fewer errors (37-23).

Outside hitter Suli Davis, who was named Best Outside Hitter, led the U.S. in points (17), kills (13), aces (3), digs (16) and successful receptions (4). Libero Lily Hayes finished with 14 digs.

Outside Cari Spears totaled 12 points on 10 kills and two blocks, while middle blocker Jordan Taylor shared match-high honors with four blocks to go with seven kills for 11 points. Henley Anderson was named Best Opposite and had seven points on five kills and two blocks in the final.

The U.S. led the entire first set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. A Davis kill extended the lead to six, 10-4. Spears and Davis provided back-to-back kills to make it 14-7 and force Bulgaria to use its final timeout. Bulgaria used a late 7-2 run to cut the margin to three points, 23-20, but kills by Anderson and Davis sealed the opening set.

Davis led all players in the with six points on four kills, a block and an ace. Taylor scored five points on three kills and two blocks. The U.S. doubled Bulgaria’s kill total in the set, 14-7.

Bulgaria scored seven consecutive points to break a 7-7 tie and take early control of the second set. The U.S. got no closer than five points. Davis and Spears each scored three points on kills.

Bulgaria never trailed in the third set, using a 5-0 run to take a 7-2 lead. After the U.S. closed the gap to four points, 13-9, Bulgaria scored the next seven points. Davis scored three points.

The U.S. fell behind 7-4 in the fourth set before using a 5-2 run to even the score at nine apiece on Kelly Kinney kill off hands. A Davis ace and a Taylor block gave the U.S. a three-point lead 13-10 but Bulgaria went on a 10-1 run. The U.S. responded with its own 10-3 run to earn set point on a block by Taylor.

Each team had two set points before Bulgaria converted on its third set point with a block to capture the gold medal. Davis scored five points on three kills and two aces, middle blocker Abbey Emch made some big plays in big moments to finish with four points on three kills and a block, and Spears also contributed three kills and a block.

2025 U19 National Team Roster for World Championship

(Name, Pos., Birth Year, Height, Hometown, School, Region)
3 Jordan Taylor (MB, 6-5, 2007, Houston, Texas, University of Minnesota, Lone Star)
5 Lily Hayes (L, 5-9, 2007, Tampa, Fla., Berkeley Prep HS, Florida)
6 Suli Davis (OH, 6-1, 2007, Euless, Texas, Brigham Young University, North Texas)
8 Abbey Emch (MB, 6-3, 2007, New Waterford, Ohio, University of Pittsburgh, Ohio Valley)
10 Isabelle Hoppe (S, 5-8, 2008, Gibsonia, Pa., Pine Richland HS, Ohio Valley)
11 Kelly Kinney (OH/OPP, 6-2, 2007, West Palm Beach, Fla., The Kings Academy, Florida)
12 Genevieve Harris (S, 5-11, 2007, Raleigh, N.C, Cardinal Gibbons HS, Carolina)
13 Gabrielle Nichols (MB, 6-3, 2007, Winston Salem, N.C., Penn State University, Carolina)
16 Cari Spears (OH, 6-3, 2007, Dallas, Texas, University of Texas, North Texas)
17 Lameen Mambu (OH, 6-0, 2007, Chantilly, Va., Georgia Tech, Chesapeake)
19 Henley Anderson (OPP/OH, 6-3, 2007, Dripping Springs, Texas, Dripping Springs HS, Lone Star)
20 Devyn Wiest (OH, 6-3, 2007, Peoria, Ariz., University of Utah, Arizona)

Alternates
1 Izzy Mogridge (S, 5-11, 2007, Lutz, Fla., Berkeley Prep HS, Florida)
2 Charlotte Vinson (OPP, 6-2, 2007, Muncie, Ind., Yorktown HS, Hoosier)
4 Kalyssa Blackshear (MB/OPP, 6-4, 2007, Torrance, Calif., University of Louisville, Southern California)
7 Ayanna Watson (OH/OPP, 6-3, 2007, Henderson, Nev., Bishop Gorman HS, Southern California)
9 Natalie Wardlow (MB/OPP, 6-5, 2007, Lincoln, Neb., Lincoln Southeast HS, Great Plains)
15 Logan Bell (L, 5-11, 2007, Beech Grove, Ind., Roncalli HS, Hoosier)
18 Aniya Warren (L, 5-8, 2007, Lockport, Ill., Benet Academy, Great Lakes)

Coaches
Head Coach: Keegan Cook (Minnesota)
Assistant Coach: Alyssa D’Errico (Utah)
Assistant Coach: April Sanchez (New Mexico)
Performance Analyst: Jon Wong (Florida State)
ATC: Cherryl Bueno (Coast to Coast AthletiCare)
Team Lead: Courtney Smith (NTDP)

2025 FIVB Girls U19 World Championship Schedule
July 2: USA def. Spain, 3-1 (22-25, 25-16, 25-12, 25-23)
July 3: USA def. Peru, 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-18)
July 4: Poland def. USA, 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-27, 16-14)
July 6: Bulgaria def. USA, 3-2 (25-15, 16-25, 27-25, 13-25, 15-5)
July 7: USA def. Türkiye, 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23)
July 8: Round of 16: USA def. Germany, 3-2 (25-18, 26-28, 17-25, 25-15, 15-13)
July 11: Quarterfinals, USA def. Italy, 3-2 (31-29, 23-25, 20-25, 30-28, 15-8)
July 12: Semifinals, 12:15 p.m.: USA def. Poland, 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-19)
July 13: Final: Bulgaria def. USA, 3-1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-17, 29-27)

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Bodine Selected by Baltimore in First Round of MLB Draft

Story Links ATLANTA — Coastal Carolina University catcher Caden Bodine was selected by the Baltimore Orioles with the No. 30 overall pick in the first round of the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft. Bodine, one of the elite catches in college baseball, won the Johnny Bench and Buster Posey Awards, was an […]

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43 minutes ago

July 14, 2025

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ATLANTA — Coastal Carolina University catcher Caden Bodine was selected by the Baltimore Orioles with the No. 30 overall pick in the first round of the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft.

Bodine, one of the elite catches in college baseball, won the Johnny Bench and Buster Posey Awards, was an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner at catcher and was a four-time All-American, earning spots on teams from the College Baseball Foundation (First), D1Baseball (First), Perfect Game (second) and NCBWA (third).

His selection marks 29 straight seasons with a Chanticleer being selected in the MLB draft, dating back to 1997. Bodine is only the second first-round choice in school history, joining Eric Brown in 2022 to the Milwaukee Brewers (No. 27 overall).

Coastal Carolina had a nation-leading and school record 56 wins, a Sun Belt Conference Championship, Sun Belt Tournament Championship, Conway Regional Championship, Auburn Super Regional Championship and a 3-0 run in Omaha to the Men’s College World Series Championship Final. Over the last quarter of the season, Coastal posted a 26-game winning streak, the fourth-longest winning streak in DI in the last five years.

Bodine turned in an outstanding all-around campaign in 2025. The First-Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection started 67 games for the Chanticleers — 66 behind the dish, one at DH — guiding a pitching staff that ranked No. 2 nationally in both ERA and WHIP. Offensively, he hit .318 with a team-best .454 on-base percentage, drawing 47 walks and being hit by 17 pitches. He added 24 extra-base hits, drove in 42 runs and slugged .461, serving as a consistent presence atop the lineup.

Behind the plate, Bodine was a defensive anchor. He threw out 19 would-be base stealers on 44 attempts — tied CCU’s career record with 46 runners caught stealing — and finished with a .998 fielding percentage. His leadership helped elevate Coastal to the Sun Belt Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championship, where he was named the Most Outstanding Player and also earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. He followed that up with All-Tournament honors in the NCAA Conway Regional as the Chants advanced to the Super Regionals and Men’s College World Series for the first time since 2016.

2026 SEASON TICKET DEPOSITS
Missed the action at Springs Brooks Stadium this season? Fans can make a $25 deposit to secure season tickets for the 2026 Coastal Carolina baseball season. Reserve your seats today online!

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Stingers Defend Victory Against Italy

The Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers have continued their winning run at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships with a four goal victory over Italy. After matching up against them only days ago in the Tri Nations Test Match Series in Perth, the Stingers took some extra confidence in the game having claimed the earlier win on […]

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49 minutes ago

July 14, 2025

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The Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers have continued their winning run at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships with a four goal victory over Italy.

After matching up against them only days ago in the Tri Nations Test Match Series in Perth, the Stingers took some extra confidence in the game having claimed the earlier win on home soil.

Team captain and New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Bronte Halligan led from the front, scoring the first goal of the game to set up an early lead for the Stingers. It was a lead they managed to hold on to from start to finish, with fellow NSWIS athlete Hayley Ballesty scoring the last goal of the game to close it out, 19-15.

With five goals of her own, Abby Andrews was named Player of the Match.

“We’ve matched up a lot with Italy this year, and we know they’ve got really great shooters as well as a strong centre forward,” Andrews said. “They got some great shots, but I think we stamped the pressure really early on in the game and we were able to consistently build off that momentum.

“They came back a little bit but I think we held them out well in the end – we had great assists, great passing and some good execution,” she said.

The team includes multiple NSWIS scholarship holders such as Hayley Ballesty, Sienna Green, Bronte Halligan, Sienna Hearn, Dani Jackovich, Tilly Kearns, Alexie Lambert, Gen Longman, and Olivia Mitchell, as well as NSWIS staff – Senior Sports Physiotherapist Bernie Petzel and Sport Performance Analyst Joshua Dipple.

The Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers will now play trans tasman rivals New Zealand in their final pool match on Tuesday 15 July at 7:35pm AEST. Watch LIVE and FREE on 9Now.

Water Polo Australia

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Community remembers through volleyball – Gazette News

Published

1 hour ago

July 14, 2025

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ROAMING SHORES – Jason Scribben and his friends loved volleyball and spending time on the lake in Roaming Shores.
After Scribben, 18, died in a Fourth of July accident on the lake in 1998, his friends took it upon themselves to try and keep their favorite holiday as positive as possible in creating the Jason Scribben Memorial Volleyball Tournament at the Roaming Shores Main Clubhouse.
“I started this in 1999,” Maureen O’Keefe, a friend of Jason Scribben, said. “Jason died in 1998 and he loved playing volleyball. He would show up at the clubhouse. He’d be sitting there with the ball, wanting somebody to play. We just knew the Fourth of July would be hard for all of us, so in ’99 we started this.
The tournament, held on July 5, is hosted on the Jason Scribben Memorial Court.
“As a group of kids who were growing up with Jason and coming here, all we did was play volleyball all the time,” O’Keefe continued. “We hung out on the lake. That’s what we loved to do, and so the Fourth of July was our favorite holiday just to come and hang out. (The holiday) is going to be scarred every year. It’s hard to put it in words, but it’s cool to see that after all these years, it’s still going. It was my senior year when everything happened, and then I was in college when I started this, but then I moved away. It’s just cool to come back and see that it’s still going and now my 16-year-old son is playing in it.”
Josh Scribben was just 13 years old when his brother passed away. The volleyball court was built near the pavilion and dedicated to Jason Scribben and a large rock with a plaque also serves as a memorial.
“This is why we have the tournament,” Josh Scribben said. “He died just right out here. He got killed on the lake. I came all the way from North Carolina to be here on my brother’s death anniversary.”
The tournament has been a good way to remember Jason Scribben.
“We used to have the volleyball court on the beach and there was a group of them that all played, and they ended up having a tournament for one of our anniversaries,” Rosemary Scribben, Jason’s mom, said. “They were volleyball all the time because we moved here when Jason was 2, so the kids were always on the volleyball court.”
The tournament serves as a reunion every bit as much as a memorial.
“For me, it’s the camaraderie,” Limestoll said. “John (Snyder, Josh Scribben’s brother-in-law) comes from North Carolina. Josh comes from North Carolina. There’s people who come from all over that I only get to see one time a year. I’ve been here, this is 26 straight years here. I’m actually the longest-tenured player here. This year was the first I’ve ever missed in 25 years. I’ve been a staple here. (I love) seeing everyone.”
There were 29 teams entered in the 2025 edition of the tournament.
“We used to have 10 or 11 teams,” Rosemary Scribben said. “There’s 29 teams here today. It’s awesome. My family supports all of this. We buy all the trophies through Fairway Plumbing and do everything, and we just love to have everybody come.”
The children of people who have participated in the tournament for years are now participating in it.
“(Jason’s) friends come back, now they’ve got their children, and there’s all these young people, I don’t even know half of these kids, and they’re here and they’re having fun, and it soothes me on this weekend,” Rosemary Scribben said. I know Jason, he would love this. He’s probably looking down at us right now and saying, ‘Awesome!’”

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New Tigard volleyball coach looks to hit summer running

Tigard’s Kara Gross bumps during a game at Cook Park, where the team recently finished out a three-week summer beach volleyball program. Adam Littman/Tigard Life – Advertisement – Summer means trips to the beach for plenty of people, and the Tigard volleyball program is no different. Shortly after the end of the school year, the […]

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1 hour ago

July 14, 2025

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Tigards-Kara-Gross-bumps-during-a-game-at-Cook-Park-where-the-team-recently-finished-out-a-three-week-summer-beach-volleyball-program — Tigard’s Kara Gross bumps during a game at Cook Park, where the team recently finished out a three-week summer beach volleyball program. Adam Littman/Tigard Life

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Summer means trips to the beach for plenty of people, and the Tigard volleyball program is no different.

Shortly after the end of the school year, the volleyball team held its summer beach program for three weeks, during which players could work on their skills while playing on sand courts at Cook Park.

“Beach is great for a lot of reasons,” said Tigard Head Coach Rainey Shriver. “You move a lot slower in the sand. It’s harder to jump because there is more holding you down. It can help players move quicker on their feet. A lot of people end up improving.”

The beach program was especially important this year, as Shriver is taking over as head coach of the program. It gave her a chance to see her new team up close and see how they work together.

Shriver came to Tigard from Lincoln High School, where she spent the last three years as the school’s assistant athletic director while also coaching in the school’s volleyball program. She served as a JV coach, JV2 coach, and assistant coach for the varsity team. Shriver also coaches club volleyball, and grew up in Central Oregon, graduating from Ridgeview High School in Redmond.

With Lincoln, Shriver saw Tigard twice last season, with the Tigers winning both matchups.

“What I remember from playing them was their effort,” she said. “You could see how hard they played, and how hard they played for each other. It felt like they really loved their teammates and were pushing each other to be the best they could.”

Shriver is confident that effort and passion will continue, especially since there is so much continuity on the coaching staff beyond herself, and with the roster.

“Having that group of coaches and players to ease the transition and know what’s important to them as players helped me know it was a good fit for me as coach,” she said. “When you interview, it’s about them finding out if it’s a good fit for them, but you also want to make sure it’s a good fit for you as a coach.

“Tigard was the one job I really wanted. The culture is so strong. Everyone supports everyone.”

Shriver saw that support from the players and their families as soon as she came on board as coach. She said the returning seniors let her know they’d like to do the summer beach season, so they made sure it happened.

A group of seniors – Hailey Gustafson, Addy Witt, Brooklynn Peer, Ainsley Snider, and Jacquelyn Godard – took home the summer beach season title. Shriver said they were all instrumental in getting the season set up, as well.

Shriver credited former Tigard Coach Jesse Abell for how involved the players are.

“He did a great job building the program and putting this kind of culture in place,” Shriver said.

Abell, who started the summer beach season eight years ago as an assistant coach, stepped down as coach but remains at the school as a teacher.

Shriver also said they had such a big turnout for beach season that they switched to quad teams to let more girls play.

While it’s still a couple of months from the start of the school year, Shriver anticipates a large turnout for the program’s summer programs and once the school year gets going. She said in July, they have open gym two days a week, and then there are positional camps and youth camps coming up. Then, once the school year starts, there are tryouts, and the season really kicks into gear.

“I’m very excited to see what we can do when we really put the work in at the gym,” she said

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New Tigard volleyball coach looks to hit summer running

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1 hour ago

July 14, 2025

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