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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 23, 2012)
8 The Clackamas Print Wednesday, May 23, 2012 sportsed@ clackam as.edu Efforts Softball punches ticket to cham pionship By John William Howard Sports Editor f By the time the fifth inning rolled around, it wasn’t even a game anymore. Clackamas Community College pitcher Noelle Wright - bobbled the softball in her hand, two outs remaining, The Mt. Hood Community College -bench had stopped their chanting. Even they knew that the game was over, as they trailed 20-6 and tiptoed the edge of elimi nation. As head coach Jessica Buel shouted to “finish this,” Wright threw the pitch. The batter connected, sending the ball directly into the glove of left fielder Caitlyn Ftasier, end ing the inning; The Clackamas play ers didn’t scream and shout, but calmly made their way to home plate for ‘post game pleasantries. Their dominant victory over Southern Region rival and three-time defend ing NWAACC champion Mt. Hood earned them something more important: a birth in the NWAACC title game for the first time since 2007. However easy the win over Mt. Hood might have seemed, it was the last piece in. a long road to the finals and the fifth elimination game in a row that Clackamas had to win. „ The tournament began on Friday, May 18 at Delta Park ih Portland, where Clackamas easily dispatched Shoreline. Community College in a five-- inning, 8-0 victory. In the sec ond round, just a few hours later, the Cougars struggled to, get their bats working against Mt. Hood in their first meet ing. They found themselves down 3-2 in the top of the seventh inning with two outs and runners on first and third. McKenzie Marshall’s grounder was picked up by the Saints pitcher and thrown to, first, handing Clackamas their first loss of the double elimination tournament and sending them to the loser’s bracket. Clackamas came back the next day, knowing that losing any one of the three games they had scheduled would eliminate them from the competition. Clackamas-started the next day . against Pierce College, and lea 6-2 after five innings.- Marshall, who started the game as pitcher, struck out.one bat ter for the first out of the fifth inning. On the next at bat with two runners on base, Ashley Bezdicek of Pierce knocked the first pitch out of the park for a three run homer, mak ing a game of things yet again. Marshall smiled and hirnded things off to Wright, who closed out the game and iced Clackamas players cheer together afterheating Bellevue 5 - 4 in the bottom o f the seventh inning. Tosha Silvius h it 0 w alk o ff single to drive K atie Aden home, ending the inning. the 6-5 victory for the Cougars. Treasure Valley Community College was next up for Clackamas, who kept things rolling with a 9-0 rout of the Chukars to advance to the final game of the day, where they would face the Douglas College Royals. Marshall pitched three innings for the Cougars, ■giv- ing up seven hits and three runs ¡fefcge being relieved by, Wright. Clackamas gave up just one more run in the final four innings and scored three more of- their own, getting the 6-4 victory. . If was the end of a long day for Wright, who started a Above left:, Sophomore M cKenzie M a rsh a ff pitches during the< game against Pierce College difSaturday,. M ay 1 9 :M arshall startedtw o games fo r Clackamas on Saturday an d two on Sunday. Middle: Noelle Wright looks to close out the game against M t. Hood. Clackamas won the game 20-6, knocking M t. H ood fro m the tournam ent an d advanc- in g to the N W A A C C championship game. Bottom right: Freshman Elis'e Breshears slides in to home plate during the game against Pierce on Saturday, M ay 19. Clackamas beat Pierce 6 -5 'in the fir s t o f fiv e consecutive eliminationgam es that: the Cougars won. Clackamas vs. Lower Columbia on Wednesday, May 23 at 2 p.m. at Delta Park, Portland. game of her own and closed out two others. Wright said she had a good day, and that she never lost confidence in her teammates even when the opposition made a rally. “We kne’w we 1 could hold em,” W dghfsaidf Despite the next day’s cooler weather, a heated battle raged Sunday morning between Clackarnas^ and Belleyye, College. Bellevue, who swept the league’s Northern Region with ease, jumped out to an early lead with fo'ur runs in the top of the first inning. Clackamas mounted their Comeback in the third, scoring a three run homer from Tasha Silvius to make it 4-3. Megan Malvick. scored on a double in the fifth inning to tie the game. The score held, and both teams found themselves tied and- fac ing elimination in the bottom of the seventh. Clackamas hit trouble ^get ting things going in the inning, and had just, Katie Aden on base with two outs. .'Then Silvius' sent a single to center field and Aden took off, round ing second and third before sliding home and bringing her teammates shouting from the dugout. The Cougars celebrated for a short time, blit soon turned their attention to the slug fest taking place next door between Mt. Hood, and Lower Columbia. LCG eventu ally won. 21-16, coming from behind and exhausting , each of Mt. Hood’s pitchers. That set up the game between Mt. Hood and Clackamas to* be a one sided blowout and making the way clear for Clackamas’ appearance in the NWAACC championship. Clackariias will face Lower Columbia for the NWAACC championship on Wednesday, May 23 at 2 p.nf. Because Lower Columbia has not lost yet in the tournament, Clackamas must win two games to claim a title.
