In 1923 Estacada High School formed it first official competitive baseball team. However, it was far from competitive. According to the 1924 year
book, 23 male students came out for the team… not one of them had ever played competitive baseball before. The team was coached by Principal K.E. Eiharson. He was quoted saying “we need to teach from A to Z about baseball.” It didn’t take long for baseball to become successful. In 1924, Eiharson hired Math Teacher  Charles Wilson to coach the team. That season (24’), the Rangers defeated
Gresham 9-0 to earn their first Baseball League Championship in Estacada High
School History.

In 2011 Estacada Baseball Coach Ryan Carpenter teamed up with Molalla High School Head Coach Dan Deleon to create a best of three game
series titled The Battle of Two Rivers Rivalry. For decades Estacada High School and Molalla High School have been competitive rivals in every sport. Since both baseball teams play each other three times a year, it seems only fitting to raise the stakes of the series. Each year the teams play for a large cup with each year’s winner engraved on the pedestal. The series was named after the rivers that flow through both towns. The Molalla River travels through the town of Molalla. The Clackamas River spans the entire town of Estacada. The first winner of the Two River Rivalry was the Estacada Rangers.

In the 1960s the Estacada School District built a brand new high school facility. During this wonderful upgrade sports teams took to their newly built fields. However, the Ranger baseball program was not playing on a level baseball field. The location selected for the baseball field was wedged between the track and an ancient oak tree. The ground had a drastic downward grade and sloped down the left field playing area. In fact, after measuring, where the left fielder traditionally positioned himself was 5 feet and 4 inches below home plate. The running joke is if a high school freshman were standing in left field than the crowd could not see him. Hence, "Where is the left fielder?"

This sloping field remained a trademark of the Estacada Baseball Program for 48 years. In the summer of 2010, under the direction of George Youngberg, Brian Woodruff, Jim Weston, Paul Runyon and other key community members and alumni, the field was finally leveled. Over 8,000 cubic yards of dirt was hauled in to eliminate the slope. A custom snorkel system was built to provide proper breathing and ventilation for the protected oak tree. As the construction began many other pieces of the field was also upgraded. A state-of-the-art irrigation system was installed. Now the Estacada baseball field will remain green and playable all year long. A brand new ply-wood homerun fence was also erected to give the field a solid backdrop. The fence has also provided revenue for the baseball program as local businesses have placed advertisement along the wall. The fence has also added to the character of the baseball fielding giving it a "minor league" feel. Thanks to the dedication and generosity of such great community contributors the Rangers are officially playing on a level field and everybody can see the left fielder.

One of Estacada’s best baseball players was a kid named Steve Pearse. His strong arm led the Estacada Rangers to their two best baseball seasons in school history. In 1975, Pearse led Estacada to a 12 win and 10 loss season. During Pearse’s senior year, His arm propelled the Rangers to a 14 – 9 overall record and Estacada finished 2nd in league play. Steve Pearse was known around the state for his fastballs and in 1976 he was drafted right out of high
  school by the San Francisco Giants. During his first year in the minor leagues, Steve called Head Coach Larry Grey to tell him that he could now throw 90 miles per hour. Coach Grey asked “are they strikes?” to which Steve replied “Yes.”  Steve was also a standout football and basketball player. He was also recruited to play college football at Wyoming and Arizona State. The most amazing thing about Steve was that he was able to accomplish all of these honors without the ability to hear. He was partially def.

Estacada has been fortunate to see some good coaches come through its ranks. In fact two of Estacada’s former baseball coaches are currently coaching at the college level. Rob Vance (1991-1996) left Estacada to take the head baseball job at Concordia University Located in Portland. Coached Vance hired on former Ranger coach Larry Grey (1969-1990) as his Pitching coach. They both currently coach baseball together at Concordia. To make the connection even deeper, Current Estacada Baseball Coach Ryan Carpenter served as a graduate assistant coach at Concordia University for Coach Vance and Grey.

Each summer the Estacada Baseball Program hosts a baseball tournament in the summer. During the 3rd weekend in June, high school baseball teams from around the state travel to Estacada to compete in a double elimination style tournament. This tournament started in 2011 and runs in correlation with the Estacada Ultimate Frisbee tournament and Estacada's high school graduation ceremonies. The Estacada Summer Baseball Festival serves as a "kick off" to summer in Estacada. It is hoped that the summer tournament will become a main stay in this community as it brings in great business and enthusiasm for baseball. During the first year of hosting, The Estacada Rangers won the tournament beating Molalla 6-2 in front of slightly over 100 people in attendance.

Former Head baseball Coach Vern Marshall (1957 – 1961) also served Estacada as the football coach and social studies teacher. After his retirement, Coach Marshall became a referee in the NFL.

Robin Cody was born in St. Helen’s Oregon. When he was five, his family moved to Estacada, Oregon when his father was hired as the grade school principal there.  The Codys remained in Estacada for nearly 50 years. Robin Cody graduated from Estacada High School in 1962. During his time in high school he was a major contributor to the baseball program. He was voted twice as a first team all-league player (1960, 1962). In 1962, he was also selected to play in the Oregon High School All Star Baseball Series. After Estacada, Cody attended and graduated from Yale University, Taught in the American School of Paris, France, and was the Dean of Admissions for Reed College. In 1984 he became a writer with The Oregonian. And one of his stories won the Western Writers of America’s Silver Spur Award for short non-fiction in 1986. Cody joined the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) as a freelance writer for a time. It was during an assignment for the BPA that he was inspired to canoe the Columbia River from its source to its mouth. The 82-day
trip gave birth to his book, Voyage of a Summer Sun, Which won the Oregon Book Award in 1995. He teaches seminars and workshops around Portland mostly about nature writing.

 Ricochet River, Cody’s second book, was first published in 1992. The book deals with the lives of three high school students in a fictional small town in Oregon in the 1960s. The town in the book was based on Oregon. Ricochet River was one of one hundred works chosen by the Oregon Cultural Heritage
Commission for “as exemplifying Oregon’s rich literary heritage for the years 1800 to 2000. Ricochet River was made into a 1998 film starring Kate Hudson.

There has been a surprising connection between the Estacada Football Program and the Baseball Program. In fact, In Estacada’s Baseball History, there have been a total of 17 coaches. Of the 17, ten have served on the football coaching staff. Seven head baseball coaches have also served as the head football coach (Robert Manning, Harold Reegle, Jesse Deetz, Champ Vaughan, Vern Marshall, Lowell Pearse, and Rob Vance). Currently head football coach Brigham Baker serves on the Ranger Baseball staff as the head pitching coach. While head baseball coach Ryan Carpenter serves the football program as the defensive coordinator.

During the first 30 years of Estacada’s History the school district hired one person to coach all sports. This man was known as the director of athletics. In Estacada’s rich history, there have been four of these directors, all of whom coached the baseball team. Robert Manning (1926 – 1929), Harold Reegle (1930 -1931), Jesse Deetz (1937), and Champ Vaughan (1939 – 1942). 

Coached the Estacada baseball program from 1939 to 1943. Vaughan was a Graduate of Notre Dame and received his master’s degree at Oregon State University. He taught Geometry, physical education, and pre-aeronautics. Vaughan also served as the director of athletics coaching football, basketball, and baseball. After four years of teaching and coaching at Estacada, Champ left to become a math teacher at the college level. During Coach Vaughan’s time as the head baseball coach, his 1939 team won the Willamette Valley League Championship and has one of only three league championships in Estacada baseball history.

When longtime Estacada resident and Ranger Baseball Alumni Jim Weston heard  about an opportunity selling cars in Oregon City in 1959, he decided to take a chance and leave behind his job as a paper route coordinator for The Oregon Journal. Weston was a natural fit for the job and sold hundreds of
cars in his first eight years in the business. He rose through the ranks at Bowman Pontiac GMC in Oregon City and was eventually promoted to general
manager. Then, in 1975, he took another life-changing risk and established his own dealership: Jim Weston Pontiac in Gresham.

 “We’re very fortunate that he took the risk that he took,”  said Jan Weston, Jim’s son, who now runs Weston Buick GMC Kia with his brother
Jay. “In the beginning he worked very hard. He used to work 100 hours a week. A lot of times he would be at work longer that he would be at home. That was just part of the price he had to pay to make it work.”

Weston’s leadership to establish a successful auto dealership goes beyond the decades of effort he invested in the business. He’s also invested in the community in which he grew up and raised a family of his own.  “We have a big investment in this community,” Jan said.  “We’ve supported the schools as much as possible and always looked for ways that we could make a difference. My dad has been available to a lot of people and
enjoys helping out. He’s been a good mentor to a lot of people, and he learned some of that from my grandmother. My grandmother, Esther Weston, will be 95 years old in May, and lives at Grace House. She’s done a lot to raise funds for the community to get the Estacada Senior Center built and other
things.”

Story from The Portland Tribune  (http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story_2nd.php?story_id=129599764659289600)       

 Dan Harding has been a community member sewn into the fabric of Estacada High School for many decades. Not just a major contributor to athletics, Dan seemed to be involved in all extra curricular aspects of Estacada. Dan worked tirelessly for the Estacada School Board, Booster Club, and established a PTA (Parent Teacher Association) for the high school. Dan was very supportive of all levels of student life at Estacada High School. However, it seemed baseball was his passion. He had two sons come through the Estacada Baseball program. In 2006 at age 59, Dan Harding lost his bout with pancreatic cancer and that year the school district deemed it only appropriate to name the varsity baseball field in his honor. Therefore, Estacada’s Varsity baseball field is now known as Dan Harding Field.

The spring in 1948 was extremely wet. In fact, during the baseball months Estacada collected 33 inches of rain. According to the 48’ yearbook, the baseball field was so soft and muddy they didn’t have one single practice on it. The team also had to play all of their games away. The weather was so wet that the 1948 team only played 7 games, finishing with 2 wins and 5 losses.

There has been many hours spent researching the History of Estacada Baseball. Newspapers, Yearbooks, the school newspaper, and interviews
were conducted to put this collection together. Despite all of this effort, one mystery still remains… Who was the coach of the 1944 and 1945 Ranger Baseball teams? There are no pictures and no mention of who coached this team. Coach Champ Vaughan left Estacada in 1943 and Truman Osburn arrived in 1946. This means that someone else had to have been in charge for that two year span. So until we can find a “living”alumni of this class, this will remain a mystery in Estacada Baseball. “Who coached the 1944 team?