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Hartgraves helps to inspire Comets By Greg Stiles KEIZER � There have been some very good baseball players at Crater High that never got a shot at the state championship. One of them, who owns a World Series ring, dropped by to visit the Crater Comets Saturday before their Class 4A state title game against Southern Oregon Conference rival North Medford. Dean Hartgraves, who played several season in the major leagues, including a stint with the Atlanta Braves in 1995, shared some words of wisdom with the Comets that pitcher Casey Campbell and others took to heart. "He talked to us about mental preparation and physical preparation," said Campbell, who capped off a four-year varsity career the best way any senior could ask. "He said �Let your ability, the things you practice, take over,�" Campbell said. "When I found myself trying to throw too hard, I just remembered not to throw too hard. The idea was to stay within myself and stay within the game plan." In so many ways, Saturday�s 5-2 victory was one for a lot of Crater players that might have been able to cart off a championship trophy if the ball had bounced the right way a time or two. The Comets have been ranked No. 1 a time or two, as they were in the middle of this spring. But where the others came up short, this veteran team finished off in fine fashion. "Brent (Foster) and Casey have played four years of varsity baseball and P.J. (Pardee) has played three," Crater coach Chuck Dominiak said in between handshakes at a Salem pizzeria after the game "Those three are the kind of players you win with, and they�re surrounded with some pretty good players. Midway through last year, I thought we could be awful, awful good (this) year. "I�m a firm believer in senior leadership if you�re going to be successful. As hard as these guys have worked, they were going to be successful." Dominiak said the town�s people could see it in this team and told him, matter-of-factly, the Comets would win. "It wasn�t cheap talk," said Dominiak, who knows the difference between false hopes and the real deal. As the Comets� victory pile rolled in his direction, Dominiak grinned widely, perhaps remembering all those other times that his season ended with a defeat. "We teach them to enjoy the moment, not to look ahead or look behind," said Dominiak, who has coached the Comets since 1983, with the exception of one year, when he chose to watch his daughter play softball. "They�ve been that way through the playoffs. We knew how well they could play and they just went out and did it. "We were down to Forest Grove in the quarterfinals, Lakeridge in the semifinals and today. All three games, there was no panic." Dominiak practiced what he preaches, enduring the obligatory ice-bucket shower. But he could also put victory in perspective after heartbreaking defeats in previous seasons. "We�ve had some awful tough losses," he said. "But today, we made it over the hill. For every kid that comes in, as long as I�m coaching, he�ll know if he works hard there�ll be a chance to win like today. "Sometimes you have to get to a certain point for a program to blossom. The system works pretty good." One of those kids, who benefited from the system was second baseman Jeremiah Toews. "Jeremiah Toews was a real concern at the beginning of the year," Dominiak said. "We didn�t know if he�d be able to handle second base. But he didn�t make an error in the playoffs." And just to show he could handle the glare of attention, Toews put the finishing touches on a championship season, fielding Kenny Halpin�s grounder and flipping the ball to first baseman K.J. Chubb for the final out. "The last inning, I had major goose bumps," Toews admitted. But there was no doubt about that last pickup. "It took a candy hop that made it an easy play," said Toews. Foster, a teammate of several North Medford players, during recent American Legion summer baseball campaigns, said he felt bad for the Tornado � but not too bad. "I�m a little selfish," Foster said. "I wish every team could do what we did. But only one team could go out a winner and I�m thankful it was us." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA