Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2010)
4 the clackamas print Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Improving Cougars keep heads u A rough start to a promising baseball season does not sway the up-and- coming Cougars By Robert Morrison The Clackamas Print Brad Heineke Clackamas Print Cougars pitcher Cody Ching delivers a pitch as pitching coach Mick Eilet looks on. Ching has only pitched one inning so far. Baseball coach brings infield and team together By James Duncan The Clackamas Print Trevor Rooper, the infield coach for the Clackamas Community College baseball team, plans to help lead the team to a solid victory. Rooper played for CCC in the late ’90s about 13 years ago. “I played a little for Robbie and my little brother played for him in 96,” said Rooper. Head coach Robbie Robinson said, “He would have been one of the best.” Then in 2005 Rooper went on to be the head coach for a team in the Netherlands out side Amsterdam and later in his career coaching for anoth er team in Australia in the winter of 2007. Now Rooper has been the assistant coach for three years. “I think we’ve been getting better every year since I’ve been here ... we can go to the NWAACC tournament and win it,” said Rooper. “You have to get first or second in your league and then you go to the playoff tournament in Longview. We did that last year for the first time in 15 years, and I’m hoping to go back there and do the best I can.” NWAACC is the parent organization for 35 commu nity colleges in the states of Washington and Oregon. Clackamas currently has a .600 PCT according to the NWAACC Web site, putting it number two among teams in the southern region. “He’s a great guy; he’s a great coach; he knows the game really well. He loves the game, he loves coming out here all the time and show ing us different things,” said shortstop Isaiah Ferrer. “He taught me so much last year and what to do with fielding and throwing the ball that I had never learned before, and he’s probably one of the best coaches I had as an infielder.” Everyone has only positive things to say about Rooper. “He’s a great coach and he brings a lot of energy. He’s really fun. He knows what he’s talking about. Had a lot of good drills. Makes us work hard for sure,” said second baseman Johnny Wade. Robinson said, “He’s got great wisdom. He coaches a lot more like a player still. He hasn’t been out there as a head coach very much. He has been coaching in whatever capac ity. A great young man. We are trying to get him to go back to school ... to give himself another chance. He is a pay ers coach ... he talks to the players like they talk, is down to earth, he is the straight line to the kids ... the kids just love him. He has such an impact on players. They like to listen to him talk, he has got real good words to say.” Being runner up is never as good as winning and that is where Clackamas finished last year in the NWAACC South Region for baseball. The Cougars finished 10 games back of favorite Mt. Hood. Last year was the first time in nearly a decade that Clackamas made the NWAACC playoffs. This year, the team has high hopes to make it far into the NWAACC play offs and winning the South Region. David Greenstein, All Region sophomore outfielder and pitcher for Clackamas, said, “I think that we can go deep into the tournament and win the South Region.” Going into the April 20 game against Chemeketa, the Cougars have a record of 6-4 in the league and 11-12 for the season. The Cougars are sec ond in the South Region. “We started off the season good but fell off for a time and are gaining our form back,” said Isaiah Ferrer. The year has gone good so far in the players’ eyes, and they look forward to making even more improvements from last year. “Our teamwork is our big gest improvement from last year,” said Taylor Hill, a soph omore starting pitcher that made the switch from reliever this year. Hill is also an All- Regional, Gold Glove, and All-NWAACC player for his position.Greenstein and Ferrer both said that they thought that the biggest improvement was the hitting; every player in the lineup could hit the ball. Rayce Belmont, an out fielder for Clackamas, said, “I look forward to making a run and trying to make a little gap between us and the rest of the teams.” When asked about his per sonal improvement, Belmont said, “I think my biggest improvement is my patience at the plate and my confidence at the plate.” The Cougars have a number of players that received vari ous honors last year returning this year for another chance to prove that they have the stuff to win. This year’s team is a variety of both freshmen and sophomores. They hold a lot of experience in what has started off as another playoff run for the Cougars. There still are a number of games left to be played and accord ing to the players, the sky is the limit, The next game at Clackamas will be played on April 22, and like all games this sea son, it will be a double-head er. To see dates and times of future games, visit the Cougars Athletics link on the Clackamas Community College Web site. Cougars Baseball March 25-Game On Clackamas 5 Green River 9 April 8-Game One; Clackamas 4 SW Oregon 1 Game Two: Clackamas 4 SW Oregon 3 April 10-Game Onj Clackamas 3 Lane 5 Game Two: Clackamas 6 Lane 1 April 13-Game On Clackamas 7 Mt. Hood 2 Game Two: Clackamas 3 Mt. Hood 4 April 15-Game On Clackamas 13 Chemeketa 8 Game Two: Clackamas 3 Chemeketa 0 April 17-Game On Clackamas 1 SW Oregon 2 Game Two: Clackamas 3 SW Oregon 11
