Clackamas Comnnmity Cdlleye
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Wednesday. May 22. 2002
Issue 23. Volume XXXV
Softball brings it
FRANK JORDAN
News Editor
The Clackamas softball team
capped a great weekend of play at
the
Northwest
Athletic
Association of Community
Colleges (NWAACC) Softball
Championships with a second
place trophy, winning three of
five games over the weekend.
“The girls had a great weekend
of play; we played our tails off,
on every pitch, on every play,”
said Head Coach Paul Fiskum.
“This team is as good as we have
ever had here at Clackamas, as
good or even better than some of
the NWAACC championship
teams of years past We just ran
into a literal buzz saw of a team
from Lower Columbia College,
this year’s champs.”
After a first-round bye, CCC
opened tournament play against
Edmonds Community College
Friday afternoon. A scoreless
game through four innings quick
ly turned into a rout. In the fifth,
doubles by Lindsay VanBramer
and Kelsey Bisbing opened the
scoring. Then Brooke Comstock
lined a single to left field, but
Bisbing was called out at the
plate by a questionable call from
the home plate umpire.
In the sixth, the Cougars broke
the game open. Nikki Staley sin
gled, Morgan Huffstetter singled
up the middle, Lindsey Burke
singled to drive in Staley, Erin
Murphy singled to drive in
Huffstetter and VanBramer sin
gled to center to knock in Burke
and Murphy to put the Cougars
up 5-0.
Miranda Gillaspie took a perfect
game into the fifth and a no-hitter
into the seventh, before Edmonds
made it interesting. A string of
two-out base hits brought
Vanessa Holm into the game to
replace Gillaspie. Holm pitched
out of a bases-loaded, two-out
jam, with the tying run on third
base, by striking out the final bat
ter of the game in the Cougars’ 5-
4 victory.
After the win, the Cougars faced
Spokane Community College.
Gillaspie tossed a gem of a game,
striking out four hitters, allowing
only two hits, while walking only
two.
VanBramer doubled in a run in
the first, and Murphy continued
her torrid hitting as of late, hitting
a long home run in the second,
helping CCC to a 4-0 lead,
enroute to a 6-0 win over
Spokane.
Staley was 2-3, Huffstetter was
2-4 with 2 runs batted in and
Murphy was 2-4 on the game.
Sunday morning, the Cougars
took on the steamroller that is
Lower Columbia College. Lower
Columbia had just had the scare
of the entire NWAACC season,
rallying from two runs down in
the top of the seventh inning to
defeat Mt. Hood Community
College, when the LCC infielder
hit a two-run homer to put her
team ahead, then K’sandra Sims,
the outstanding sophomore and
tournament Most Valuable
Pitcher, shut down MHCC in the
bottom of the seventh to hold on
to the 4-3 win.
Against Clackamas, LCC scored
a gift run in the bottom of the
first, aided by two walks given up
by Gillaspie. Staley tied the
game up in the top of the fourth
with the first home run of her col
legiate career. Lower Columbia
broke open the game in the fifth,
scoring four runs on three hits
and two errors by the Cougar
defense enroute to the 5-1 victory.
“We played Lower Columbia
very tough, but that Sims in one
helluva pitcher,” said Fiskum.
“Our girls fought hard and played
them tough, but we didn’t have
enough, just one of those things.”
The Sunday afternoon semifinal
between Clackamas and Spokane
was a one-sided affair. The
Cougars started slow, only get
ting three hits through the first
five innings.
In the sixth, Staley singled to get
pn base, then Carla Lillis laid
down a sacrifice bunt to move
Staley to second, but the third
baseman threw wild to first,
allowing Lillis to move to second
and Staley to third. Huffstetter
laid down another bunt, allowing
Staley to make a hook slide at
home to score the game’s first
run. Murphy followed that play
with a single up the middle, driv
ing in Lillis to put the Cougars up
2-0.
The Cougars added another run
in the seventh on a Bisbing sin
gle, a Bisbing steal of second and
a Lillis single to give Clackamas
their final tally in a 3-0 victory.
“Casey Lapp probably threw the
best game of her career in the
Sunday Spokane game,” Fiskum
said. “We had not called upon
her to pitch either Friday or
Saturday, so to get off the bench
and throw a two-hit shutout
against one of the top hitting
teams in the whole conference
was just outstanding. I am so
very proud of Casey and her
effort, not only this game, but the
whole season.”
The NWAACC championship
game Sunday afternoon between
Lower Columbia and Clackamas
started ugly for the Cougars,
falling behind 3-0 after three
innings, but the Cougars put on a
rally in the fourth. Huffstetter
walked and Murphy singled,
placing runners at second and
third with only one out.
VanBramer laid down a perfect
squeeze bunt, scoring Huffstetter
and moving Murphy to third. But
the Cougars could not score again
in the fourth and trailed at that
point of the contest, 3-1. Lower
Columbia added to their
See Softball page 9
J.J. Pearson/The Clackamas Print
Clackamas’ Kelsey Bisbing reacts to the umpire after she is tagged out at home plate
during the fifth inning of the Cougars’ opening game with Edmonds CC at the NWAACC
softball tournament last weekend at Delta Park in Portland. The Cougars softball team
ended the weekend with the second place trophy, losing to Lower Columbia in the final.