The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, May 30,, 2012
sportsed@clackamas.edu
Athletic department, NWAACC champions
college crippled by
lack of cohesiveness
By John William Howard
Sports Editor
In case you haven’t been pay
ing attention, last week onr
womens softball team won their
ninth NWAACC title, beating
out Lower Columbia College 6-5
and 7-6 in front o f a rowdy
bunch o f parents, friends and
staff members at Delta Park.
After several minutes o f wild
post-game celebration and the
presentation o f the awards,
Assistant Athletic Director Kayla
Steen finally allowed several of
the ecstatic fans to rush the field
and celebrate with th e softball
champions.
However, back at the college,
unless students were fans o f the
o r really in tu n e w ith th e a th
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john, William Howard The Clackámas Print
letic department, they had no
idea that such a huge game was
being played. In a brief survey
through the community center a
few hours before the first pitch,
few o f the students that knew
Clackamas had a softball team
knew that they were playing for a
championship.
The reason that this is a big
deal is that Clackamas has one o f
the best overall athletic depart
ments in the Northwest at the
two year college level, and hardly
anyone knows about it.
There are several reasons
behind this, not the least of
which being that. Clackamas is
a commuter college and a targe
portion o f the student body lives
a considerable distance from the
campus. Another j?> because o f
the proximity of Pcrdand, there
are bigger and more exciting
teams to follow, and it’s difficult
to draw attention away from the
rofessional sportsfranchises.
owever, there * are defi
nitely steps that other colleges
haye taken in order to buila a
thriving fan base. Colleges like
Clark College and Shoreline
C om m unity College are very,
very active on social media sites,
ami do an impressive job o f keep
ing their fans updated. Clark
has their own athletics website,
ClarkPenguins.com, which dif
fers from Clackamas’ approach
greatly. Clackamas’ athletics web
site is an offshoot o f the main
website, which makes it difficult 1
to find unless you’re looking for
it:
That, according to Director
o f Athletics Jim Martineau, is
something .that Clackamas may
change in the near future, as he
said that the department would
be taking a look at marketing
and prom otion in the coming
months. This is welcome news,
as it could be a big first step in
sweeping changes for the depart
ment as we move into an age
driven by marketing, not just by
success.
For now, we can only sit back,
look at eye candy from other
schools and offer up ideas for the
department to consider.
The biggest thing I would
like to -see is increased coop
eration between athletics and
the rest o f the .school. The fault
comes from both sides, but nei
ther ASG nor the college itself
seems to pay much attention to
the. athletic department. Its rare
that ASG promotes an athletic
event (even though they m ak e.
money off o f concessions), and
just as unusual when the college’s
Facebook or Twitter account talk
about important games coming
«.mp i.», .,»Aaea'gdiwg,' _ e pw|"Swwew<M
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media coordinator at
CGG, the public affairs office
simply didn’t know that the soft
ball championship, was happen
ing until shortly before it hap
pened.
“I haven’t been contacted by
athletics since I started the posi
tion here because they have their
own hired publicist and web
presence,” stated Tam via the
college’s Facebook. “We. gener
ally promote events that are'sent
to Public Affairs or when other,
dept’s request us to do, so but we
haven't been notified about th e’
championships.”
Part o f that falls on the ath
letic department’s failure to get
the information out, but part
o f th at also falls on the col
lege itself. Athletics being one of
the proudest programs offered at
Clackamas, the eyes of the public
affairs office should at least be
aware o f what’s going on over in
Randall Hall.
The disjointed communica
tion is just one o f many hurdles
to jum p before Clackamas steps
into the elite in fan support.
Walla Walla Comm unity College
does TV broadcasts o f many o f
their -basketball gam es.. Lower
Columbia Community College
and Lane Comm unity College
both have . radio broadcasts.
Columbia Basin College sells jer
seys. The list goes on, full o f goals
and dreams for what Clackamas
could be given the effort Let’s,
keep out eyes peeled for change.
Top: M cKenzie Marshall pitches as the championship game winds down on Wednesday,
M ay 23., A home run in the title game gave Marshall her 5 2 n d R B I this season, which p u t
her in a tie fo r the most single-season RBIs in Clackamas history.
Secondfrom top: BailieFoxworthy bunts during thefirst game o f the championship series, Fox-
worthy scored two runs in the contest, which Clackamas won 6-5 to force the second game.
For the full recap of Clackamas softball’s journey -through the
NWAACC Championships, visit www.TheClackamasPrint.com
Second from bottom: Megan M alvick runs fo r second base in the fir st game o f the series.
M alvick scored two runs an d had one R B I in the game.
Bottom: Ashley Bacon (left), Katie Aden (center) a n d Briana Brace celebrate after Bacon
made the game w inning catch in the top o f the seventh inning to'clinch the title.