Section
SANDY, OREGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1979
The Sonify Post
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Hain, rain, go away...
E ve ry day Sandy High baseball coach Glen Smith looks w is tfu lly
out the window of the athletic office and every day the results are the
same Hain
, Sm ith and the Pioneers were scheduled to play makeup games the
firs t days possible but so fa r the Oregon weather has been less than
kind.
And when the Pioneers were able to slip in a couple of games in the
m iddle of last week, the results w eren’t p a rtic u la rly satisfying
Sandy could never mount a serious threat Wednesday and Forest
fie ld 6 t0° k advanlage as K
the Pioneers 7-1 on the Sandy High
The following day, the Pioneers played some of th e ir finest
baseball of the season for six innings but succumbed to the fifth
ranked Lions of St. Helens, 6-0.
The Pioneers problem against Forest Grove was that they
couldn’t seem to get the firs t few batters on base, according to
Sm ith.
“We got six hits which isn’t too bad,” he said, ‘ ‘ but a ll our threats
started w ith two outs.
”We had trouble getting our lea doff m an on,”
The Vikings bunched five hits in the th ird inning to score three
runs. That was all they needed.
The lone Sandy run came in the fifth when Rick M a rtin doubled in
1 ed Copher who had singled. Copher led the Pioneers w ith two hits,
including a double.
The Pioneers battled St. Helens on nea rly even terms for the better
part of the game Thursday, but the Sandy batters had trouble
mounting a ra lly against the Lions’ prize pitcher, Shorty Ames.
.
1 .1 ."
Ames, pitching before several m a jo r league scouts in the San<
bleachers checked the Pioneers on three hits w hile collecting fo
h im s e lf A performance like that probably d id n ’t harm his chanc
for getting selected in the d ra ft, but Sm ith said he felt Ames had
less than perfect day.
“ I re a lly d id n ’t think he was throw ing his best,” Sm ith said “ B
he got m l tough in the th ird when we loaded the bases w ith one out
innine
g . ^ m n h S <Pr0C‘ ° r ) a" d “ * (M a rtin ) and g° '
o J ii W^ S the first tim e the Pioneer* have been shut out this seasoi
S till, they were in the game u n til the final inning when St Heler
exploded fo r four runs to ice the game. The Pioneers com m itted tu
e rro rs which helped the Lions’ ra lly and blew a couple of oi
portunities to stop the threat. But a bobble here and a m ental erre
there allowed St. Helens to pick up its fours runs — a ll a fte r Sand
had re tire d the firs t two batters.
M ike M artin , Rick M a rtin and Tom Coutts collected the only h it
off Ames, whose fastball was clocked by one of the scouts at a bris
oo mpn.
The Pioneers w ill return home Saturday when they host Estacadi
for a double header. Sandy travels to Sweet Home this afternoon an<
w ill play a t home Monday against M olalla
FORESTGROVE
SANDY
ST. HELENS
SANDY
002
000
000
000
BASEBALL G A M ES in Sandy have been ra re of iate but when the Pioneer* do
get a game in there * usually plenty of action. Ted Copher <lop) ha* been one of
the leading h itte r* for the Pioneer* this season, sporting a .3M batting average.
Royal Proctor has been in a slump at the plate but the senior haa shown great
intensity on the basepath* (above left) and at catcher (le ft). The Pioneers have
faced some tough pitcher* this season, including a St. Helens hurler who drew
several m ajor league scout* to the Sandy bleacher*. I sing a jugs gun (above)
this scout clocked Lion pitcher Shorty Ames at SS mph
p h o to s b y M ark F lo y d