Still fall short of return to NWAC playoffs
in single by Parker, a RBI double by sophomore outfielder
Grant Horwitz and a two-run RBI double by sophomore first
baseman Jacob Kaady.
Sophomore second
basem an Berry H unt
made his ninth
for Clackamas,
appearance as a pitcher
su rren d ered
Hunt struckout three,
10 hits and five runs,
b ut recorded
season.
his fifth w in o f the
The Cougars added ||
five m ore runs
their nine-game
and would snaf
with a 9-5 win.
losing streak. j j
p i t c h e r
S o p h o m o re I ff
Fenwick would
G rays o n
the season.
earn his fifth save of
C h e m e k e ta
T r a ilin g
. f i n a l :
8 -2 in th e
season,
gam e
of
th e
refused to quit "•
Clackamas m h
help of back-to-back
w ith the
the
by Parker and H orw itz
H R
, Cougars o ffe n se outscored
Chemeketa 5-0 but fell short of the
complete comeback, losing 7-8.
“ It was a rough way to go out/’ Horwitz s a id .“ Up
until [Friday] we had a shot to make the playoffs and
once you make it there, anything can happen. We battled,,
everybody had us crossed off from the beginning, but we
still battled until the last day A
The goal from day one this season was to make the
playoffs to end the streak. Clackam as had a group of
sophomores who felt like the program’ s culture needed
to be turned around, so they focused on m aking this
year’s freshmen class feel welcomed, something they as
freshmen felt was lacking.
“ It felt like last year the sophomores gave us the cold
0**^
Left: Renner Stecki pitching in game three of
the series versus Chemeketa.
shoulder,” sojphomore catcher Brayden Bafaro said. “ This
year we took the freshmen in and treated them like our
brothers; we wanted it to be one team not freshmen
and sophomores.”
Although the chemistry the Cougars worked on this
season didn’t result in the necessary wins for a playoff
berth, Head Coach Jim Hoppe! liked what he saw from
this group.
“ The sophom ore guys changed the w ays from last
year,” Hoppel said. “ They didn’t want to see it happen
again so they made sure the freshm en were involved
with everything, felt like they were part Of the team and
everyone worked together.”
Hoppel believes the chemistry the sophomores were
able to build will help the program in years to come.
“ I think [the chemistry] is going to be big [for the
Freshman shortstop Kyle Nowoj slides into third base.
future],” Hoppel said. “ I think these freshmen Will be
the same way as sophomores nexta
year helping the team be one b i g _________________
clique and let the incoming guYs
know this is how we piay the game j j
here, not the old way.”
Clackam as ended the seasonj
11-19 in league and w ill have
lot to replace this offseason wi
talen ted players 1
lead in g H R h itte
Parker (nine HRs)
and H orw itz (six
H Rs), as w ell as
pitchers Hunt (five
w ins), Anderson
(three wins) and
Stecki (two wins).
“ I t ’ s g o in g
to be hard t
re p la c e th o s e
[sophomores],”
said. “ We need to
some freshm en guys
to come in , get a lot of
innings under their belts and
hopefully be winners and do
that the year after that
the next year after and
hopefully keep doing that.
outfielder
Horwitz sprints
aroud the base path.
The Cougars in the dugout
Hay IS , 2018