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i| Clackamas Community College added Softball in 1986.
g Since their inception, the program has only missed the
| playoffs three times. This year’ s Clackamas squad was
re the 29Xh team in program history to make the NWAC
playoffs, but failed to bring home any hardware.
“ It was a great learning experience for our
| freshmen,” Head Coach Jessica Buel said. “ They
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■'? finally understand what the tournament is
all about.”
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Dropping gam e one of the playoffs to
| E i | Bellevue Community College (34-15 overall,
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20-13 in league), 17-8, the Cougars
dropped to the one-loss bracket where
they faced Treasure Valley Community
College in a w in-or-go-hom e game.
a walk-off home run hit by sophomore
E E i catcher Jordan H enley that gave
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last time the Cougars had faced
g E B Treasure Valley (19-29, 18-14), the
|E|jl Chukars won in dramatic fashion with
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Treasure Valley an 8-6 victory.
Freshm an pitcher Bailey Eaton
B E « graced the halo for Clackamas in the
■EE
EEs elimination game Saturday and she was
dominant early, holding Treasure Valley
EE r to four hits and one run through the first
7
| f l g | j lour innings.
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The Cougars were able to jump out with
^^E the lead in the second inning with freshman
outfielder Renel Koker and freshm an pitcher
Miranda Jensen crossing the plate, giving Clackamas
a 2-0 lead.
Eaton continued to dominate as she gave up three hits
and uoTuns in the next three innings.
Clackamas added more runs on a run batted in flyout
| by freshm an catcher Natalie Munson and freshm an
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6-1 victory of the Chukars.
In the third gam e, Clackam as met up with Lower
Columbia College (41-13, 23-5). Lower Columbia was
the champions of the South Region (the region
Clackamas plays in) and in the four times Lower
Columbia played Clackamas, the Red Devils
won three, outscoring the Cougars 26-16.
Jensen started the game in the halo
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for the Cougars, but didn’t pitch for
long. After surrendering two runs on
two hits in the first inning, Jensen
gave up a two-run HR to Lower
Columbia’s freshman infielder
Sarah Potwin in the top of the
second inning. With Clackamas
■ ■ I
trailing 4-1 she was subbed out
for Eaton..
“ We had errors at the wrong
tim es to help them score,”
Jensen said. “We left runners
on base quite a few times and
their pitcher was really good. ”
Clackamas’ offense was held
scoreless in the second and third
innings, but was sparked by RBI
singles from freshman outfielder
Ashia Ensley and Hays in the fourth
inning closing the gap to 5-3, but it
was all the Cougars had left in the tank.
“ The weekend didn’t go as we would have
liked,” Buel said. “ But the girls fought until
the very last pitch.”
Eaton held the Red Devils scoreless in the fourth
and fifth innings, but Lower Columbia scored one run in
the sixth and seventh innings and Clackamas was unable
to answer. Falling 7-3, the Cougars’ postseason is over.