LACEY — As the inaugural River Ridge baseball alumni game concluded Tuesday evening at the high school’s baseball field, the field’s namesake and longtime former Hawks head coach Chad Arko called for a huddle with the alumni team.
“One, two, three, Hawks!”
Turns out his former players were a bit rusty in their memory of Arko’s coaching style, as the proper break to the huddle was supposed to be, “Two, three, Hawks!” Arko, who coached River Ridge from 2001 to 2022, jokingly corrected his players as they dispersed from the field.
That was the only show of rust from the 20 former players who returned to River Ridge for the alumni game against the Hawks’ summer ball squad. Athletes who graduated as far back as 2004 and as recently as 2025 took part in an event that has been discussed within the athletic department for quite some time.
Arko led River Ridge to three district championships in three years from 2008 to 2010, and shortly after, the idea for an alumni game was spawned. But, at the time, former players weren’t interested.
“A lot of my kids didn’t want to. I ended up having 42 kids in 21 years go play college ball,” Arko said. “They didn’t want to stick around and play. Finally, in 2019, they said, ‘Let’s do it.’ Then COVID happened, and then I resigned to coach my daughter in fastpitch at Black Hills and just forgot about it.”
Current Hawks head coach Ben Rood said his senior group in 2026 brought the idea for an alumni game back to life, and Arko sent a series of texts to former players to set up a game during summer ball. The event was a success, bringing together old classmates and teammates and showcasing the past, present, and future of River Ridge baseball.
“I miss baseball. Baseball’s still my baby. I had a lot of great relationships. We didn’t even advertise this,” Arko said. “This just started with like 10 texts, and all of a sudden we had guys. A lot of these guys stay in touch. This is why we do it. This is why we coach.”
The alumni game even presented some familial head-to-head matchups. Jack Von Rueden, a 2024 graduate, faced his younger brother Cole, who will soon be a senior at River Ridge. And in one of the game’s most exciting moments, Jake Pierpoint, a 2009 graduate, stepped up to the plate against his 13-year-old Brady, who joined the Hawks summer team, and got his father to ground out.
“It was almost surreal. We play backyard baseball and stuff, but to actually get out on the bump with the team behind you was pretty special,” Jake Pierpoint said. “It’s been a rivalry in the house since we’ve known about this game. We’ve been excited about this. I wanted to hit it as far as I could against him, and then of course I rolled it over. That’s always what happens whenever you try to hit it far and hard.”
Pierpoint’s father Dusty and grandfather Bill were in attendance to watch the special moment at Chad Arko Field. Bill helped River Ridge raise money for the scoreboard at the baseball field in 2008 and still attends every home game.
“It was amazing because they’ve been there for me my whole life,” Jake Pierpoint said of his father and grandfather. “My son is experiencing the same. I’m blessed to have that.”
Other alumni at the ballpark were 2022 graduate Chanz Doughty, who recently completed his senior season at Stony Brook University in New York, where he hit 10 homers and drove in 37 RBIs. He started the alumni game with a bang, pulverizing a homer to the hill in center field.
Former Carolina University outfielder Alex Noll, a 2019 River Ridge graduate, as well as Evergreen State College head coach Greg Ford Jr. competed in the contest. Brad Wallace, a 2013 graduate and former Eastern Washington football player and Western Washington basketball player, also picked up the bat after a legendary three-sport career at River Ridge.
The game also allowed Rood to watch how his young team would fare against legends of the program and high-caliber college players.
“It’s fun for them to see that if they stick around and stick to it, they build a community,” Rood said. “I think they liked it. They played some Division I players today, and some guys that haven’t played in 20 years. It was fun.”
Arko said the alumni game will likely return next year as an alumni versus alumni matchup, and he hopes the event can honor Brandon Johnson and Ben Turner, two former student athletes who passed away at a young age. Johnson, who passed away at age 15 in 2003, has his number 8 retired by the Hawks baseball program, while Turner, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 18, has his number 34 retired. School awards at River Ridge are named after them.
“We’re thinking about how to try to get those families involved. We want to bring back some former people that didn’t make it all the way but are still part of River Ridge baseball,” Arko said. “I want to try to make it as personal as we can make it.”
