ARBUCKLE, CA (MPG) – As the summer winds down and high school teams prepare to take the field in their respective sports, so too does the View from the Seats series.
Done in part to revive memories and provide a different perspective on certain athletic events, the series also serves to recognize the dedication that individuals in the community have shown toward the schools and student athletes they continue to support.
Ellen Voorhees’ View from the Seats installment.
Having previously focused on Maxwell, Williams and Colusa, View from the Seats concludes in Arbuckle with Ellen Voorhees, a former teacher and current prevention and intervention counselor at Johnson Jr. High whose connection to Pierce High School is multigenerational given that she and her three children are proud alumni as were her parents.
With each of her kids playing at least two sports a year, Voorhees, who also coached junior high and rec basketball for years, has without question spent a significant amount of time at sporting events.
Yet, her reason for her continued involvement with Pierce High School athletics is simple as she explained, “Sports provide optimism and hope for people. I love that every generation has an investment in student athletes. There are commonalities that come with playing a sport that create a platform for not only parents, but the for community to engage with and understand the younger generation. There is also so much to gain from hard work and being a good teammate.”
and head coach Cecil Felkins (far right)
So, while Voorhees has seen hundreds of games over the years, her choice as the most memorable was fairly easy – the 2015 Northern Section Division IV Championship baseball game against Winters, in which the Bears fell by a score of 3-4.
Pierce, under the direction of Cecil Felkins, had suffered two blowout losses to the Warriors in the Sacramento Valley League season series some three weeks prior to the title game, but came alive in the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.
To punch their ticket to the final round, the Bears upended No. 3 Mt. Shasta and No. 2 Durham in respective games on the road.
“Pierce baseball had its struggles, so the fact that we got there was huge, especially since we beat Durham, which was such a big thing,” recalled Voorhees, who also added that it was particularly satisfying not to have to listen to the song “Happy Trails” that the Trojans played on their home field after every win.
Taking a renewed confidence into the championship game, the Bears jumped out to an early 3-0 lead over the Warriors, scoring one in the first and putting two more on the board in the top of the fourth.
Unfortunately for Pierce though, Winters drew to within one in the bottom of the frame, then preceded to score the tying run in the fifth and the go-ahead in the sixth.
Still in spite of the loss, Voorhees, whose son Jake was one of five seniors on a squad that had nine sophomores and no juniors, felt that the experience was a just reward for that group of soon to be graduates.
“We were never supposed to be there,” said Voorhees. “But Cecil believed they could do it and took those guys as far as they could go. It was such fun game to watch. Jake, Dalton Sachs and some of the other seniors had played together since Little League, and they finally got there. It was a great effort and left me with the feeling that all their hard work had paid off.”
Nonetheless, the game holds significance for other reasons as well including the fact that it was the last time Voorhees’ father, Raymond Charter, who had rarely missed a game, watched his grandson play.
Another sentimental connection to this particular game is the fact that Felkins, who Voorhees had helped coach the PHS girls’ basketball team in 2013-2014 and lost his battle with cancer in 2024, was the coach.
Voorhees’ recollections of the game and the special people that are linked to it are indicative of the intertwined network that is generated through athletics.
While a team will not win every time out, the friendships and memories that are forged over the years will outlast the length of any contest and is precisely the basis behind the View from the Seats series.