6 The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
sportsed&.clackamas.edu
Cougars fail to finish strong
w
By John William Howard
Associate Sports Editor
Runs: 26
RBIs: 21
Zach Miller
An overcast sky blots out the sun and threatens
rain. A flock of geese honk their way over the newly
mown grass, but are drowned out by the excited yet
subdued murmur of the home crowd. Louder still are
the never ending jeers, cheers and cat-calls emanat
ing from the dugout. Throughout" all of these things,
one thing is steady and remains unbroken: the stare
between pitcher and batter. It’s the bottom of the
eighth inning, and the home team is down 6-5. The
bases are loaded with two outs.
The pitcher sends the ball rocketing toward home .
plate and the batter connects, launching the ball far
across the field, over the sprinting left-fielder and
past the outer wall. The normally calm fans erupt as
their team scores four runs, bringing the home team
to the lead and stunning the visitors. Once the inning
has finished, the team can finally react. Behind the
dugout, the head coach swears angrily and the pitcher
walks dazed towards the bullpen. None of the players
have much to say to one another except for the first
base coach muttering “That’s baseball” as he left, the
field. As they have all season, they’ve let another one
slip away.
Clackamas Community College’s ninth inning
rally fell short, and the Cougars ended up losing a
heartbreaking 9-7 to the Lane Community College
Titans. The road team lost the second game 5-4, and
the narrow sweep of the double header was tell-tale
for the year, a year in which they finished 19-23 and
missed the playoffs. There have been good moments,
but each one of them has been followed by a letdown,
something that teaches the players and coaches to
quickly learn from bad experiences and move on.
“Guys with serious talent that dwell on their mis
takes aren’t going to go very far,” said pitcher Roman
Lorenz, who watched his pitch sail far above his head
and over the fence. “Baseball is a game of failure. If
you fail 70 percent of the time, you’ll make it into the
hall of fame.”
While Lorenz’s words about moving past mistakes
ring true for any sport, no sport has more to do with
failure than baseball. Many games end with the teams
combining for less than 10 points, meaning that one
big hit can be enough to turn a game around. That
means that focus and determination are both key to
success in baseball.
“There’s a whole bunch of heartbreak because
we’re disappointed in how we have played,” said Head
Coach Robin Robinson, who told of several instances
where players fell asleep at their positions and ended
up burning the team for it. “It’s a little disappointing
to me because the sophomores didn’t perform all year.
To me, once you start your sophomore year, you’re
the veteran. You’re the guy who should be better than
everybody
else. You set
the tone.”
One sophomore
that has stepped
up to the plate, so to
speak, is Zach Miller.
Miller played sparingly
last season at second base, play
ing in only about 10 innings. At the begin
ning of this season, he made the switch to third
base, a move that sped up the game a lot for
him. The biggest change though was Miller’s
offensive performance.
“Offensively it has probably been my best
year that I’ve ever had throughout my entire
career,” said Miller, who mentioned that he
was hitting nearly .400 for the season. “I never
really expected to hit that well, but it just fell
into place ... (for the team) it’s been a rough
year. (I’m) disappointed in how we’ve turned
out.. I thought we were a lot better than what
we’ve showed and it’s kind of disappointing
that we didn’t make it to the playoffs.”
“As a team I felt that we underachieved,”
said right fielder Sergio Cruz. “I thought we
had enough talent to win first place and make it
to NWAACCs.”
Cruz has had success this year offensively,
batting over .300 and is the only returning player
to have made all-region last season, his first after
graduating from high school in Brooklyn, N.Y. He
also mentioned that a struggle for the team was cohe
siveness from the players not on the field.
“Every now and then, it’s been tough to find ener
gy from the dugout,” said Cruz. “A lot of the guys
seem like they’re not on the same page, energy
wise. Some guys are done on this side, and this
dude is out here all happy and celebrating. It’s
kind of weird.”
In a league with so much talent, even a slight
lack of energy can make all the difference. The
way that Robinson sees it, many of the games
are up for grabs, depending on who shows up
and does everything right.
“It doesn’t matter who we play, they’re
threatened by us. We’re a very good club,”,
said Robinson, who has seen his fair share
of baseball after 22 seasons at Clackamas. V
“We could go sweep anybody any day, but in
the same light somebody could sweep us any
day. It’s that level of ball.”
Another thing that can change the outcome of
a season is when players step up in the background
Sport
Batting: .38i
the te
perso]
glory. Two such pl
ers are backup catch
Cole Rise, a freshman fi
Aloha High School, I
Brett Fredrickson, who J
wrestled with the Clackal
NJCAA -title wrestling tel
Rise and Fredrickson I
responsible for warming I
pitchers up during games as v
as catching nearly 400 pita
on a given day during practid
“Those two guys are the o
that are working with the pi
ers every day. They do thé h
est part of this whole thing i
very little reward,” said Robin
of his pick for the most impad
player that wasn’t starting. “R
Abel catches in the game, but (I
and Fredrickson) are usually the a
that do all the catching in the I
pens, and the bullpens are where
pitchers get good.”
In the end, the season won’t]
all that great. The Cougars I
missed the playoffs and didn’t]
the best performances from mad
their players that they expects
come through. However, this!
a team full of freshman that]
be returning next year with pl
of playing experience. Come i
season, it will be those pla
that will be the veterans. This
may have ended in a gloc
overcast fashion, but the su
shining brightly on the bas]
team’s future.
EMBRY-RIDDLE
Aeronautical University
WORLDWIDE
Join the leaders in
AVIATION, TRANSPORTATION,
LOGISTICS and MORE!
Undergraduate and graduate programs
Learn in a NEARBY CLASSROOM
orfrom-YOURHOME!
Continuously seeking adjunct faculty
\
worldwide.erau.edu/lead
800.522.6787
,
Katie Aamatti Clackamit
Backup catcher Brett Fredrickson takes a swing during a h
game earlier this season. Fredrickson and teammate Coll
put countless hours into working with the pitchers.