Wednesday,
May 7, 1997
Cougars struggle towards playoffs
JOHN THORBURN
Assistant Sports Editor
»
JOHN THORBURN / Clackamas Print
Clackamas squared off against the Lane Titans
yesterday. Game information was not available
at press time.
The Clackamas baseball team is in a
tight race for playoff spots.
In a virtual deadlock for playoff spots
with Linn-Benton and Mt. Hood, all the
games remaining count.
"We're in a tight spot right now," said
Head Coach Robin Robinson. "We
pretty much have to win everything now.
If we lose one or two games, we'll be out
of the playoff picture."
On Monday, the Cougars faced off
against Linn-Benton in a single nine in
ning make-up game.
Right-hander Dylan Givens started
against the Albany community college.
Givens pitched four and one-third in
nings, striking out four.
In the top of the fifth inning,
Clackamas held a 2-0 lead behind Seth
McCracken's two run home run to left
field. Linn-Benton loaded the bases,
however, and began to dig into the Cou
gars' lead. Givens gave up a leadoff
Playing for another title
BRENDON NEAL
Sports Editor
The Cougars are 19-6 and are in first
place in the Southern Division.
One of the Cougars’ strengths and
weaknesses this year is streak hitting.
Last week Clackain’as had three innings
of fiveor more runs, -but, only scored
eight runs in four games against South
western Oregon Community College.
“We haven’t al ways been that kind of
team [in past years]'” said Head Coach
PaulFiskum. .
“We’don’t turn it on until One player
starts going off,” said Second Baseman
Kriss Demos on why the :team scores
runs in bunches.
Clackamas' bats struggled in four
games against Southwestern Oregon
Community College, but the Cougars
were only outscored 8-5 overall.
On Tuesday, SWOCC beat Clackamas
4-3 and 1-0.
Danielle
Soldani was
the only
Cougar with
multiple hits in
a 4-0 victory
over Green
River. Soldani
went two for .
three and had
a run to get
Clackamas
going in the,
second inning.
In the first game, Clackamas had no
errors and gave up only five hits. Robin
Viol went 2-4 and had a run in the first
inning. Laurie Nielson added a run on a
single.
Kelly Comstock pitched a near shut
out giving up only three hits in 16 at bats.
"It was a well-played game. Both
teams had good pitching, and they
JS WOCC] didn't hit the ball hard at all,"
said Fiskum.
The bâts heated up on Thursday as
Clackamas blew by South Puget Sound
11-1 in five innings.
"We had a good, long hitting practice
on Wednesday. We knew we needed to
get our bâts going again," said Fiskum.
Three Cougars had two more runs and
five had RBIs.
... "Making out the line up card is harder
than it has ever been since I have been
here. We don't have a set starting unit,"
said Fiskum. "We have good sticks on
the bench if we need a pinch hit."
AFTER
single to the 'Runners and then walked
the next two batters before getting the
first out of the inning.
Linn-Benton managed to score one
run on their next hitter's single into left
field. On the next play, the Linn-Benton
batter lined a hit back up the middle, hit
ting Givens on the shin. The ball bounced
off of the 6'3" pitcher and into right field
allowing two runs to score. Givens then
limped off of the field and Donal
McGavran replaced him.
Clackamas escaped the inning soon af
ter but found itself down 3-2.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the
Cougars took advantage of two Linn-
Benton errors to score four runs and re
claim the lead 6-3.
Clackamas went on to win the game
13-7.
On Thursday, the Mt Hood Saints found
themselves down 2-0 against Clackamas
before scoring six runs in the fifth inning.
Mt. Hood won the game 8-6.
"That's the way it has been all year for
us," said Coach Robinson. "We start off
good, get a few runs, and then we give
YOU
CAN
up one big inning where opponents score
a bunch."
Catcher Jeremy Hubbard, playing
with a sore left hand, hit three for four
while Brad Taylor batted two for three.
Left-handed Ryan Mann [2-2] took the
loss for Clackamas.
On Sunday, the Cougars traveled to
Albany to face Linn-Benton in a double
header.
In the opening game of the afternoon,
Linn-Benton shut down Clackamas —
only allowing the Cougars to five hits.
The 'Runners won the game 3-0. Jeremy
Mann went two for four at the plate while
Erick Johnson took the loss on the
mound.
In the second game, Clackamas took
advantage of three Roadrunner errors
and scored five runs on five hits to claim
a 5-1 victory. Corey Rooper scored the
bulk of the Cougars' runs by hitting one
for two and walking twice. Rooper
scored three runs. Right-handed pitcher
Chris Bentley [4-2] shut down the Linn-
Benton offense —allowing one run on
six hits.
SEE
EVERYTHING
SEE
AND
THE
YOU
THOUSANDTH
P O S S I B L. E
ACTION
YOU
See Softball, page 8
IS
COURSE
THE
OF
O N E
CHOOSE
AND
YOU
C OR R E C T
ARE
A G A I N
uflg
w ' ara
B E
A
BREEZE
EARN U P TO $30,000 FOR COLLEGE AND GO THERE WITH THE SMARTS
Í:
SELF-DISCIPLINE AND REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE THAT ONLY COME FROM BEING A MARINE,
felVIARINE CORPS COLLEGE FUND
.INFORMATION SUBJECT TO. CHANCE.
JOHN THORBURN / Clackamas Print
[Wednesday, May 7, 1997
Volume XXX, Issue24^^