^Ovts
27>2005
______ _______ i
I
^LACKAMASPf^fif
ougar bats ‘offensive’ in losses
Michael McCormack
Sports Editor
Cory Pnce Clackamas Print
kougars’ Frank Paletta rips a shot in game one of the doubleheader versus the
I Titans last Thursday. With this hit, Paletta drove in two runs and tied up the
[eat four apiece. Clackamas eventually lost in the 10th inning 5-4.
'rack members compete with elite at invite
limi McDonnell
,
I Last
Saturday, . at
layward Field in Eugene,
lie Cougars took a selected
roup of track athletes to
[ompete at a rain-soaked
[regon Invitational against
first-rate competition.
[The meet was full of
division I schools such
k Oregon, Oregon State,
[ortland State, Boise State,
Washington, and Gonzaga;
Bl of which made for either
htnnidation or a reason to
Eep up their game.
I “The competition was
)ugh this weekend; there
fere a lot- < big-time uni-
ersities and a lot of hype
urrounding a couple guys
h particular from other
fchools,” Coach Jack Kegg
aid. “I think some of our
thletes felt the pressure to
erform,and I am not dis
appointed at how they did
tall.”
I This meet was freshman
Balen Rupp’s first race in
I Uni vers ity of Oregon uni
form, and the Oregonian
lad been hyping him up all
leek. Rupp ran the 1500-
peter this weekend and
Iccidentally fell halfway
prough it, but still managed
pull off the 15th-fastest
time in the nation this year.
So it is easy to see how
some of the Clackamas run
ners might have been a lit-
tie intimidated, but it didn’t
affect them much,
Troy Sexston finished
fourth in the elite 110-meter
hurdles with a time of 15.13
seconds, which beat out run-
ners from Washington and
Portland State.
Sean Jones competed in
the elite section for pole
vault, along with Sexston.
Both athletes recorded
strong heights. Sexston fin-
ished with a height of 15
feet, 11 inches, while Jones
recorded his best height of
the year with a vault of
16 feet, 1 inch, which is J
the highest in the NWAACC
this year.
“I thought .that our pole
vaulters ' really performed
‘ strongly and were probably
the highlight of the meet for
us,” Kegg said. “Both Sean
and Miranda finished with
season’s best. I realiy feel
they competed strongly for
the amount of pressure they
faced.”
Erin Shaffer and Miranda
Carter also stepped up to
u for
HI'
the challenge
the Cougar
women. Shaffer recorded a
vault of 11 feet, 1 inch,
while Carter had her season
best with a height of 10 feet,
8 inches. I
Jessica Harper ran the
1500-meter and recorded
her season best as well.
She finished with a time of
»53.
“I ’m really happy about
how Jessica ran the 1500-
meter. She really showed a
lot of guts,” Kegg said.
The men’s 4 x 400-meter
relay team finished with a
strong enough time to take
third, and en route turned
some heads. Chris Hoppie/
„ „
Trevor Snook, . and . Ryan
Richards ran the first three
;gs, while anchor man
legs
Ai dam Miller capped it off
with a split time of 50.7
seconds.
‘Tm really happy with
our men’s 4 x 400 relay,
they seem to be getting bet-
iter and better with every
meet, “Kegg said. “As a
matter a fact it seems like
our whole team does, so
watch out.”
The next Cougar track
event will be the Western
Oregon Twilight held at
Western Oregon University,
The entire Clackamas track
team will travel for this
one.
Editor’s note: In last
/sAHf
of The
Clackamas Print, a track
athlete's name . was mis-
spelled. The name should
have read John Butkey.
■ei'Ai
The Cougars had a rough one
last week; losing four games
in two doubleheaders versus
league rivals Mt. Hood and
Lane CC and by doing so, made
the remaining games must-wins
to earn a playoff spot.
“I think we can make the
playoffs without question, but
we need to win the games we
should be winning,” catcher
Mike McNally said.
On Thursday, Lane came
to town to play in a double
dip versus Clackamas. Chris
Derthick made the start for the
Cougs and spotted Lane one
run in the first inning. After the
first he was able to settle down,
and going into .the fifth inning
the Cougar offense had given
him a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the fifth Derthick
got into trouble, loading up the
bases with no outs and barely
holding onto that one run lead.
A fielder’s choice tied up the
game at two, and at that point
Jason Hart came in to relieve
the starter.
Hart gave up a sac fly scor
ing one run, and the following
batter hit a shot right back up
the middle giving Lane a 4-2
lead. Both runs scored on Hart
were charged to Derthick.
“I’ve been put in that posi
tion before, and I know what
I need to do. I’m in there to
throw strikes and get some
outs,” Hart said.
The Clackamas offense
struggled to get the base hits
they needed when runners were
on and failed to tie up the score
in the fifth, sixth and seventh.
Hart, on the other hand, pitched
himself out of numerous jams
and was able to keep the score
at 4-2 heading into the bottom
of the eighth.
Miles Johnson led off the
Cougars’ eighth with a single,
followed up by another single
by DJ Johnson. With two run
ners on, Josh Breslaw came to
the plate and grounded into a
fielder’s choice. After Breslaw
made it to first safely he suc
cessfully stole second base,
putting runners on second and
third for Frank Paletta. Paletta
hit a single and nodded the
score up at four.
After a scoreless ninth, the
teams went into extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Hart gave
up a solo shot to Lane’s Sean
Martin, which gave his team
a 5-4 lead. The Cougars were
unable to score in the bottom
half of the inning, and had lost
their third game of the week.
“We want to score runs, but
we just aren’t doing it right
now. We’re not hitting when
we have runners on and it is
killing us,” McNally said. “We
are swinging at bad pitches
and aren’t giving ourselves the
opportunity to succeed up at
the plate.”
In game two Hap Purden
took the mound for the Cougars
and got himself out of a couple
of jams in the early going, but
once again the Cougars’ offense
was no where to be found with
runners, on.
In the top of the third, the
first run of the game was put
up by Lane, thanks to two
Clackamas errors. With two
outs and a man on third, a Lane
batter hit a shot to Centerfield,
but Breslaw made a spectacular
diving catch to keep the score
at 1-0.
In the bottom half of the
inning, DJ Johnsoh was at sec
ond base with no outs, but
Clackamas was unable to bring
him in to tie up the score.
In the fifth, Purden got into
more trouble, walking the first
batter and that was followed by
a sac bunt, moving the Lane
runner to second. An error by
Tyler Liebelt in left allowed
Lane to score and give the
Titans a 2-0 lead.
Clackamas was unable to put
a run up on the board in their
final three at-bats and eventu
ally lost the game 2-0.
“You are going to fail in
baseball, but we just fail at the
wrong times. We get hits with
no one on and then follow those
up with nothing; we need to
reverse that,” Johnson said.
Earlier in the week the
Cougars traveled to Mt. Hood
CC and lost both games of the
doubleheader, 7-1. Clackamas
never gave themselves a chance
in winning the games, getting
only eight hits for the day and
coughing up eight errors.
Travis Galbraith and Brian
Goff were both awarded a loss
in the twin bill, but the lack of
hitting was the downfall for the
visiting Cougars.
Clackamas is at home this
Thursday and will be play
ing a doubleheader against
Chemeketa. The first game will
begin at 1 p.m.
Two-thirds of worldwide
M
V--
17
■
Photo courtesy of Keoni McHone
jssica Harper (far right) competed in the 1500-meter event last
Saturday at the Oregon Invitational and recorded her best time of the year with a run
of 4:53. Several other Cougars made the trip to compete with Division I schools as well.
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