Orzel resigns as Kalama head baseball coach
Wednesday, February 6, 2008 5:38 AM PST
By Ben Zimmerman
bzimmerman@tdn.com
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E-mail this articleAs it turns out, blood is thicker than basepath chalk for Dave Orzel.
On Monday, Orzel resigned as head coach of the Kalama baseball team. He needs more time to rollick with his 3-year-old son, Tyler, and to help his 16-year-old nephew, Jacob Welch of Mark Morris, on the football recruiting path.
The decision was agonizing for Orzel, 34, a self-proclaimed "baseball idiot."
When he succeeded his mentor, Brian Stowell, in 2002, Orzell said: "God put me on this planet to be part of baseball in some facet."
That was before Tyler arrived on the planet.
"Having a kid kind of changes your life," said Orzel, known in baseball circles for his intensity, loyalty and way with words. "I used to be that big Rottweiler. My son has made me into a little bit of a Golden Retriever puppy.
"It's time to take a little bit of a breather," he added. "Coaching is kind of a grind after a while."
It was a consuming grind for a Orzel, whose love of the game burns white-hot.
"I think I was born with a little bit of Babe Ruth's blood," said Orzel. "Baseball is as natural as the driven snow, the wind that blows through people's hair. Baseball is something I don't just sleep and eat. I breathe it. To live, you have to breathe, don't you?
"I have a really hectic work schedule, and knowing the time demands of baseball, I needed more time for family," he added.
"He was all about baseball," said Chris Rader, who played for Orzel before graduating in 2006. "He was in the game. He was never somewhere else."
News spread fast in the tight-knit Kalama baseball community. Junior Robby Sanders, an all-league outfielder, learned of Orzel's resignation after school on Monday.
"Mr. (Mark) Buchanan told me that the head baseball slot was open," said Sanders. "I thought he was joking."
Chinooks athletic director Nate Salisbury, a high school classmate of Orzel's, said he "didn't see this coming."
"Dave has had a great run. Kids love Dave. People love Dave," Salisbury said Monday. "I'm surprised and I know that people are already disappointed. I'm not sure how word got out, but all day kids were asking me if this was true, and they were upset. It's sad."
"I've played for a lot of coaches," added Spenser Gwynne, an '06 graduate and one of the best pitchers in school history. "None of them took coaching as serious as Dave. Every game was like life or death. I'm happy for him that he gets to spend more time with his kid, because he loves him to death. But this just blows me away."
Kalama School Board President Bruce Rader, whose sons Chris and Mike (Class of '05) played for Orzel, was "just floored" by the news.
"I know how much Dave loves baseball," he said. "For him to have to choose ... this is 'Crazy Dave' we're talking about. I was just really impressed that he said he had to take care of his family. We need more dads out there like that. It would make the world a lot better place for kids."
With baseball season approximately one month away, Salisbury said Kalama was scrambling to post the job opening. The next Chinooks skipper will inherit one of the state's most successful and feared Class 1A baseball programs.
Especially this spring.
"Oh my God," Orzel said. "We have a very, very special group of young men this year. The whole (pitching) rotation returns. Everybody is back on defense. Everybody is back, basically. Kalama is a good place to be right now."
On Orzel's five-year watch, Kalama was a great place to be. The Chinooks went 81-33 during his tenure, advancing to regionals in all five seasons. Kalama finished third at state in 2005 and lost in the championship game in '06, going 20-4.
"A great, great run," Salisbury said. "There is a program established here. Not just a high school team, but a program. Someone is going to have a great opportunity here."
Lasting memories
An eccentric wordsmith, dugout preacher, occasional bane to umpires and troubadour to the media, Orzel embraced baseball as a near-mythical universe populated by ghosts he respected and gods he addressed aloud, in a sport governed by sacred protocols.
"He's crazy, in a good way," said all-state senior shortstop Chris Pierce. "He's kind of mental, but you have to be to do baseball. He can seem crude to some, but to those that know him, he's a true professional. I love that guy."
Orzell's favorite baseball memory is attached to the most painful loss of his coaching life. In the '05 state semifinals, Kalama had a 2-0 lead heading into the last inning against an undefeated Newport team.
Gwynne was throwing a no-hitter.
But an error, walk, hit batsman, suicide squeeze bunt and seeing-eye grounder up the middle - Newport's only hit of the game - produced a 3-2 loss.
And though Gwynne and Kalama would bounce back and beat Newport in the '06 semifinals, Orzel never forgot a whimsical-yet-sinister detail from that stunning loss.
"There was a hot-dog wrapper floating around in the infield, near Dustin Thomas' head," he said. "If I'd had a butterfly net, I would have caught that wrapper."
The scene was and will always be a perfect metaphor for Orzel's philosophy of baseball, a sport of fickle-but-tangible magic, whose inner workings remains elusive - and out of a coach's grasp.
The following season, after the title-game loss to Brewster, Orzel and Gwynne sat together in the dugout.
"We just sat there and cried," Gwynne said. "Then we looked at each other and we both started smiling. Then we started laughing."
"He told us that he didn't care that we lost," Chris Rader remembered. "He said he wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world than right there, right then, with us."
A tough goodbye
Orzel graduated from Kalama High School in 1991 and was an all-state pitcher for Stowell. As a freshman at Lower Columbia College in 1992, he pitched and won the championship game of the NWAACC Tournament for the Red Devils. He eventually transferred to Linfield College, then played semi-pro ball in Longview, Portland and Newcastle, Australia.
He was an assistant to Stowell for three seasons, and coached local Senior Babe Ruth and American Legion from 1999 to the present.
Orzel said he was eternally grateful to Stowell, Rob Sanders, Bruce Rader and the Kalama administration.
"Without Rob Sanders' support, I would not be the coach I am," said Orzel. "He has done countless things for Kalama that people don't appreciate. When they see him, they should shake his hand and slap his back. The guy's a stud. Bruce Rader, too."
Robby Sanders said it will be strange without Orzel in the dugout.
"He's tough on you, but he wants nothing but the best for you and he is always there for you," he said. "He knows how to have fun, but when it's time to play, he'll get you ready. He's a character. I love him. I'll miss him."
The feeling is mutual.
"I can't stress the importance of all the kids over the years," Orzel said. "They've been with me through good and bad, and they always made me smile. Every one has been a son."
Thanks for the memories wrote on Feb 6, 2008 11:17 AM:
Thanks again Dave! "
Bill wrote on Feb 6, 2008 11:40 AM:
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