14
------------------ Sp^ts___
May
Baseball team's dreams of attaining State title comes to grinding halt
u J on H elmkamp _____________
of the four went down as
earned runs. Their offense was
carried primarily on the bat of
Joseph Offer, senior, who went
3-4 with 3 runs batted in.
"We thought we had a
co-Editor-in-Chief
good shot. We knew we were
This year was supposed
going to face good pitching
to be the year. With the
and were going to have to be
immensely talented group of
productive with runners in
seniors on the Varsity
scoring position, but we
Baseball Team that
felt good," Mike Lord,
has fallen short of the
Varsity Baseball Coach,
State title each of the
said.
last three years, many
However, this game
thought that this year
proved not to be the
would end with a State
walk in the park that
Championship trophy.
was expected. With one
Abruptly, the dream
swing of the bat which
ended against Tigard
was gripped by Tigard's
on May 20.
number nine hitter, the
West Linn ended
Lions were eliminated
the year strong, going
from the playoffs. The
14-1 since April 7 and
game was tied 1-1 going
finished the season
into the final inning, a
by outscoring their
Kyle Kraus, senior, winds up to deliver a pitch game highlighted by
opponents 52-11 in
against South Medford on May 16. Kraus gave up outstanding defense and
their last four games.
only five hits and three earned runs while striking solid pitching from both
out 12 batters.
Photo by Jon Helmkamp teams.
They took that
momentum with them
"They threw their
going into the first round of
After their win against
number one guy at us. We only
the State playoffs, and kept it
South Medford, West Linn
struck out four times, but we
going after their victory.
aimed to square off on the road didn't hit the ball hard. Both
In the first round game
with the Tigard Tigers, a team
teams played great defense,
against the South Medford
that seemed to pose no threat.
there was only one error in the
Panthers, the Lions won 7-4
West Linn was 15-3 in the
game," Lord said. The only
behind the arm of Kyle Kraus,
Three Rivers League during
error in the game came on
senior, and his complete game
the regular season. Tigard was
behalf of Tigard.
bid, giving up only three hits
8-7 in the Pacific League. Many
Reed Nicholson, senior,
and striking out 12 Panther
thought that this game was
pitched a complete game,
hitters. All four runs were
only going to be a speed bump
allowing one run through
charged to him, but only three
in West Linn's road to glory.
the first six innings, keeping
his team in the game. In the
seventh inning, with a runner
on first after being walked on
four pitches, the batter took
Nicholson's fastball and hit a
high fly ball over the right field
fence.
"Reed threw him a good
fastball, and he hit a good
pitch. He was pretty bummed.
I told him not to let one pitch
get in the way of how he did.
He pitched a heck of a game,"
Lord said.
"I was disappointed, you
hate to lose like that. But you
have to tip your hat to them,
they played a good game and
executed when they had to,"
Lord said.
A group of seniors on the
team have been together
during high school and some
of them were Little League
teammates. Justin Monahan,
Kraus, Nicholson, Offer,
Spencer Flores and Max
Cathcart, seniors, and Ryan
Barnes, junior, were a part
of the 12 year-old All Star
team in 2002 that went to the
Little League World Series in
Williamsport, VA. They went
all the way to a third place
finish in the United States
division.
After the game that ended
their high school careers,
Lord's focus wasn't on the
game. "We didn't talk about ^
the game, we talked about our
themes for the year: facing
adversity, dealing with things
when things get tough, and
hard work ethic. The older
guys were truly disappointed
with the loss, but they have
nothing to be ashamed of,"
Lord said.
That one swing of the bat
that brought the Lions' season
to a close was the end of much
more than just a season. That
swing marked the end of an
era where this group of seniors
became more than teammates,
but became friends. This
group played together, grew
together, and created a strong
family-like bond. They were a
team that played together as
one. After this season, there
is a good chance that they
will never get to take the field
together again.
"These seniors have had as
good a four year run as any
class in the state of Oregon.
They went 10-4 in playoffs
the last four years. That's
something to be very proud
of," Lord said.
Historic Yankee Stadium to be tom down Boys1 Tennis wins league,
u
original roof and the copper
new stadium will keep the
girls make league history
J on H elmkamp _____________
co-Editor-in-Chief
The shrine of Major League
Baseball, home to more hall of
famers than any other ballpark,
will be no more than a cloud
of dust and debris this fall,
when after 85 years, it is tom
to the ground. Yankee Stadium
opened the 1923 season for
the New York Yankees with a
young slugger named George
Herman "Babe" Ruth hitting a
monster home run deep into
the bleacher seats leading a 4-1
against the Boston Red Sox.
Yankee Stadium has become
the most historic site in Major
League Baseball. In its opening
season it hosted the World
Series, which the Yankees won
over the New York Giants in
six games. This was the first
of 26 World Series titles that
the Yankees won and the first
of 37 World Series at Yankee
Stadium.
After the 1973 season, the
stadium was almost tom to the
ground during renovation. The
»
facade that lined the rim of
the stadium were lost, with
only a small part of the copper
reclaimed and installed along
the top of the scoreboard. In
the new Yankee Stadium that
will be in commission next
season, a replica of the old
copper facade will be featured
at the top of the stadium.
Yankee Stadium, which
has been deemed "the
house that Ruth built," has
been host to more than just
baseball games. It's hosted
everything from college and
pro football, soccer, political
assemblies and religious
conventions. It's played host
to concerts, the circus, 33
boxing championships, the
1923 Army-Navy game, and
was also the site of the Nov. 12,
1928 Notre Dame-Army game
where Knute Rockne made
his famous "win one for the
Gipper" pep talk. The Fighting
Irish went out and beat the
Cadets, 12-6 after a deadlocked
0-0 score at the half.
Oh yeah, it's also been a
pit stop for several popes. On
Oct. 4,1965, with the Yankees
out of the World Series for
only the third time in 17 years,
the Stadium hosted an event
of worldwide significance.
During his first visit to North
America, Pope Paul VI
celebrated mass before a crowd
in excess of 80,000. Fourteen
years later, Pope John Paul II
also made Yankee Stadium a
stop on his tour of the United
States.
After this season, Yankee
Stadium will be demolished
and baseball's most celebrated
team will move into a new
home across the street. The
same field dimensions — 318'
to left field, 408' to center,
and 314' to right. It will also
preserve Monument Park, a
park dedicated to past Yankee
greats.
"This new home preserves
our tradition and restores
some of the lost treasures from
the 1923 stadium: the great
cathedral windows, the frieze
on the roof, the old auxiliary
scoreboards in the outfield,
along with a host of other
things. It maintains the playing
field as it is today, relocates
Monument Park and keeps all
the great features fans have
come to love of the present
stadium," Randy Levine,
Yankees President, said.
"This new stadium will
provide new comforts and
features and will be state of
the art in every way. It will
have comfortable seating, great
service and new entertainment
venues," Levine said. "It will
be the most spectacular, fan-
friendly stadium ever built. As
the boss insists, it will cater to
the needs of our fans."
Despite the new Yankee
Stadium being an amazing
venue and a great tribute to
the Yankee tradition, it is still
not the Yankee Stadium. It will
not be "the house that Ruth
built," the place where legends
of the game played, the site
where 26 World Series were
clinched, nor will it be the
field where Lou Gherig gave
his teary-eyed goodbye. Major
League Baseball will be losing
a significant part of baseball's
history, and the United States
will forever lose one of the
most treasured icons of this
country.
K elsey
S chrader
____
_________
_______ -..
Staff Reporter
After suffering a loss in its
opening league match of the
season, it looked unlikely that
the Boys' Tennis Team would
finish this year atop of the Three
Rivers League standings. How
ever, powered by a ten match
win streak, the Lions finished
the season 12-1, (9-1), with their
lone loss against Lakeridge
coming at the beginning of
league play.
Top doubles team com
prised of juniors Miles Rifkin
and Christopher Erbin won
the TRL title for the third
consecutive year. At Districts
they defeated Lake Oswego's
top team 6-3, 6-2. The team
only dropped seven games in
four matches prior to reaching
the championship match. They
opened their State campaignby
ousting McKay 6-1,6-0 before
taking down a difficult team
from Sprague in the quarterfi
nals, 6-4,7-6(3).
"The match against Sprague
was really important for the
guys," Ward Lewis, coach,
said. "Sprague was very good,
probably a team that should
have been seeded, but our guys
responded well and played a
fantastic match."
In the sem ifinals, Erbin
and Rifkin routed Jesuit's top
doubles team 6-3,6-1 to reach
the State Championship for the
second consecutive year. The
finals was a rematch of the 2007
Championship match, when
North Medford topped West
Linn fairly easily 6-3,6-2.
The 2008 final started in simi
lar fashion, as the team from
Medford jumped out to a 6-4,
3-0 lead. Rifkin and Erbin re
sponded however, winning six
of the next seven games to take
the match into a decisive third
set. In the decider, West Linn
came within one point of win
ning the title before Medford
stormed back to claim their
second consecutive Champi
onship 6-4,4-6,7-5. Rifkin and
Erbin earned fifth place in State
for West Linn as a team.
"I have seen a lot of ter
rific matches in all my years of
coaching," Lewis said.
The girls also made a strong
State rim, as everyone who
competed won a match. The
doubles team of Alix Smith,
senior, and Kellie Kawasaki,
junior, competed well all tour
nament before falling to the
eventual State Champs from
Lake Oswego. The team's most
noteworthy performance came
against a tough team from
Sprague, who then defeated 6-
3,6-1. The girls also gave Lake
Oswego its toughest match of
the tournament, prior to the
finals, losing 6-3,6-3.
In singles, Danika Tonning,
junior, drew a tough draw at
State for the second consecu
tive year. She fell in a tough
first match to the eventual third
place finisher, then went onto
win her first match in consola
tion, losing just one game. She
then lost a close match to a Bea
verton opponent in a rematch
of their opening meeting of the
year.
In addition, the team earned
a share of TRL title by beating
Lake Oswego who, in the 28
year history of the TRL, had
never lost a dual match.