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April27, 2005
Sport
Softball continues winning way
Frank Jordan
The Clackamas Print
Cory Price Clackamas Print
Clackamas ace Holly Marlow struck out 13 batters in one game last
week; Marlow also tossed three three-hitters in Cougar victories.
The Clackamas softball team
went 4-1 last week, sweeping South
Puget Sound CC, splitting two games
with defending NWAACC champion
Lower Columbia College and shut
ting out Mt Hood CC in a single
game on Friday.
April 19, the Cougars traveled
to Olympia, Wash, to take on South
Puget Sound and ended up taking
two from toe Clippers by scores of
8-1 and 14-2.
Holly Marlow continued her out
standing season on the mound, toss
ing a three-hitter in game one, strik
ing out 13 Clippers and walking only
two. She gave up an unearned run
in the first, and then mowed down
SPSCC the rest of the way.
Kelly Stratton went 3-4 at the
plate with an RBI to lead the Cougar
offense while Anna Alcala went 2-4
and Nikki Winkley went 1-3 with
two RBI.
Game two was more of the same
as the Cougars and the Clippers were
tied at two after the fifth inning before
the Cougars scored six runs in each of
the last two innings for the 14-2 win.
Casey Middagh supplied the
power, going 4-4 with two home
juns, a solo shot in the sixth and a
two-run blast in the seventh. Cijay
Koanui was the difference in the
game, however, with a grand slam in
the sixth to blow the game open.
> “We were having some problems
in the field in the first part of the
game* and after an error allowed
SPSCC to tie file game at two, we
called a time-out and talked about
it,” said Head Coach Paul Fiskum.
“The girls got their collective heads
together, shook off the lapses on
defense and came out inspired at the
plate in the sixth. After that, the ball
game was over.”
Last Wednesday, the Cougars took
on Lower Columbia in Longview,
Wash, and got another great perfor
mance from Marlow to defeat the
Lady Red Devils in game one by a
score of 3-1. Marlow threw another
three-hitter, walking three and strik
ing out seven.
The game was a real pitcher’s
duel through five innings, before
the Cougars came alive in the sixth.
Caitlin Ooley walked and Middagh
sacrificed Ooley to second. Ooley
went to third on a fielder’s choice
then Erin Snyder sent a shot to third
that the LCC third baseman mis
played, allowing Ooley to score the
tyingrun.
Clackamas took the lead in the
seventh as Christina Roberti dou
bled down the left-field line, Koanui
moved Roberti to third on a fielder’s
choice and Ooley singled Roberti
home for the 2-1 lead. Middagh gave
the Cougars insurance with a single
to score Ooley and the 3-1 lead.
Marlow mowed down the Red Devil
hitters in the bottom of the seventh
and the 3-1 Cougar victory.
Snyder led the offense with a 2-3
showing and an RBI while Ooley arid
Middagh each had a base hit and an
RBI with Ooley scoring twice;
Game two saw the Cougars not
quite as sharp but still very com
petitive, keeping the game close until
a Red Devil uprising in the sixth.
Lower Columbia scored four m
two hits and two CCC errors tot
6-1 lead and coasted to a 7-3 wj
Roberti went 2-3 in game
with an RBI, while Ooley wer
at toe plate. Chelsea Koch gai
six hits with three strikeouts an
walks. Unfortunately, Kocli coi
survive toe four errors beliindhe
took toe loss.
Last Friday, toe Cougars ws
Gresham to take on toe Lady $
from Mt. Hood CC and used a
run explosion in toe top of the fi
take a 7-0 victory.
After a Koanui groundout to
off toe game, toe Cougars got a $
from Ooley, a double by Midda
two-RBI double from LaneaHy
a single by Snyder and a tore
home run over toe right-cento
fence by Winkley for toe 5-0 lead
RBI single in toe fourth by H)
and an RBI double by Koanui j
fifth rounded out toe scoring.
Marlow tossed her third tor«
ter of thé week, striking out s
and walking three to pick up
victory. Hyland went 3-4 attoej
while Ooley and Middagh eaci
two hits. Kayce Ernst also coi
uted with two sacrifice bunts al
moments in toe game to aid
Cougar offense.
Game two with Mt. Hood
rained out and will be mad(
tomorrow in Gresham. Clacka
travels to Aberdeen, Wash.
Friday to play Grays Ha
College, before coming hom
take on Southwestern Oregon
on Saturday. Game one star
2 p.m. on toe Cougar softball
mond.
Race card being dealt in sports
. Michael McCormack
11
Sports Editor
Is race becoming an issue on how
America views the sports world? Is
being an African-American plaguing
players in the professional ranks? Cfr
is it just blind ignorance and an easy
scapegoat?
In some people’s, eyes, the color
of an athlete’s skin is an issue, and not
the way they play the game or handle
themselves outside the field of play.
Playing the “race card” has become
an excuse in the media and for athletes
as well
Earlier this month, Jermaine
O’NealofthelndianaPacers expressed
his thoughts on an age limit proposal
by NBA Commissioner David Stem.
The NBA is considering making the
minimum age a player can come into
the league 20 years old; right now, 18
is the limit
“As a black guy, you kind of think*
race is the reason why [this age limit
is] coming up, “O’Neal said. “If I can
go to the U.S. Army and fight the war
at 18, why can’t you play basketball
for 48 minutes and go home?”
After the interview, O’Neal saidhe
wasn’t playing the race card, and that
he was just talking about the facts and
how basketball gives kids an opportu
nity to excel in fife.
Then, Jermaine, why even bring
up that being black is the reason Stem
made the proposal? Could it be that
maybe Stem wants players to be more
mature once they get to the NBA?
Or maybe the commissioner
thinks a college education is
a great stepping stone for a
player’s future after bas
ketball.
I agree with
O’Neal, that he
had no intentions
of making race an
issue, but just by say
ing it made him look like the bad
guy. In the past decade players have
been coming out of high school and
going straight to the NBA in record
numbers, but not all of them make
an impact until their third or fourth
season in the league; O’Neal didn’t
become an All-star until his fifth sea
son in the league. I think the NBA is
trying to help players mature more as
human beings by going to college.
The only color that really matters
in this issue is green, and by green I
mean money.
Another person who has thrown
race into the mix of how athletes are
perceived is syndicated talk show host
Rush Limbaugh.
Two years ago, Limbaugh said that
die media was hyping up Philadelphia
Eagles quarterbackDonavanMcNabb
because they (the media) wanted
to see a black quarterback succeed.
What an ignorant statement; how can
someone so credible, make a state
ment so dumb? I think the reason
why McNabb is so highly touted by
the media is because he is one helluva
QB, not because he is black, Mr.
Limbaugh.
The race/ card was
played again Ibis past
football
season
when the Colts
Head Coach
Tony Dungy
.made a
state
ment about the Terrell Owens skit on
Monday Night Football. You know,
the one where Nicollette Sheridan
takes off her towel and tries to seduce
Owens into missing his game.
Dungy found this skit to be
“racially offensive,” and that it had
played into the black stereotype that
African-Americans lack fidelity with
in relationships.
What was Dungy high on when
he made this statement? Again, could
it be that ABC wanted one of the
NFL’s premier players for this spot,
and being that T.O. is such a flamboy
ant character he would fit the role
perfectly. I doubt when this skit was
being drawn up, the producer said,
“We should get a black man lusting
over a white woman.” Come on now
Tony, let’s be realistic here. Race is
not the issue.
Whether dr not O’Neal, Dungy
and Limbaugh meant to play a race
card is up to them, but by making
comments like these, they make
themselves look like the racist Race
isn’t an issue anymore in professional
sports. The players are where they are
because they are good players and
people just want to see them succeed
in fife and on the field of play. I hope
that in the future these men, and
others as well, will think before
they speak, because all their
comments do is make
them associated with
playing a “race
card.”
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