since July 21, 2004."Tell me we didn't accomplish something remarkable!"
Once again, Evergreen's club baseball team faced tough competition - the Central Oregon Community College Bobcats - and the team suffered its final series of losses: 14-3, 20-1 and 12-0. But, as always, it was not without a noble effort.
"It's not like we never gave any sort of opposition to the other teams," head coach/pitcher Sean Presley said. "We actually compete very well in about half. The losses were in most part due to the youth of the program, the inexperience of the coach and players, and established competition."
Last Saturday found the Geoducks in sunny Bend, Oregon, at Vince Genna Stadium. In the first game of the doubleheader, the team led off. After catcher Ross Trainor walked, he advanced to second base on a base hit by infielder Will Tubman, who has been "on fire at the plate" with five hits and two doubles in the last 13 at bats. Though Trainor was picked off at second, Tubman advanced to second when Presley singled. The Bobcats scored one at the bottom of the first, but the Geoducks would answer back.
With one out at the top of the second, outfielder Jeramy Villianos singled and then advanced to second on a Bobcat error. After infielder John Each's pop to right field, outfielder Whalen Dillon hit his first double of the season, bringing Villianos home for the Geoducks' first run. Then outfielder Jeremy Harrison-Smith walked and Trainor singled to load the bases, though Tubman would get the third out at the plate. The Bobcats responded with another run.
In the third, Presley hit a lead-off single and advanced to third, thanks to infielder Tucker Waugh's hit. Villianos' ground ball brought Presley in for an RBI, though Villianos was called out at first on a questionable call by the field umpire.
The Bobcats were held to four runs till the fifth, when the Geoducks scored their final run. Tubman led off with a single, followed by a Presley single. Then Tubman advanced to third on a wild pitch and was brought home by a Waugh single.
After that, the Bobcats put it in the bag, which, according to Presley, was the result of pitching: "My fastballs were missing their mark, and my curves started to hang over the strike zone." In addition, Presley acknowledged that the games wasn't just given away and summed it up as such: "The Evergreen offense fizzled out, and Evergreen was once again defeated, but not after giving COCC a run for their money and, I bet, a little bit of a scare."
In the second game, Presley handed over the glove to third base coach/infielder Justin Porter. The Bobcats hit more consistently each inning, their lead pulling further away. The notable Geoducks' offensive moment was when Presley led off the second with a single, then, with a steal jump start, killed the double play option when Porter grounded to short. That was followed by the team's only run of the game, when Waugh hit a double to the opposite field. Though the score at the end of the inning was only 4-1, the Geoducks managed only one more hit, by Villianos, in the fifth. Tubman pitched a two strike out in the fourth, relieving Porter, and Villianos pitched the long, hit-filled fifth inning.
The game should have ended after the top of the fifth, with the mercy rule, but "neither team wanted to waste a night of playing under the lights, so the game continued, much to the kindness of spectators who thanked the team graciously for staying in and playing, even though we were getting killed," as Presley put it.
Sunday's game featured Tubman on the mound, though the game was shortened because of the mercy rule. The only Geoduck hit was "a long one" by Harrison-Smith in the third, over the right fielder's and all the way to the 350-foot wall in center field. Harrison-Smith made it to third but the inning abruptly ended with a strikeout.
Though the Geoducks' season is officially over, there are some future non-league games in the works, possibly with the University of Montana Grizzlies and the University of Idaho Vandals, against whom the team played very well.
Looking back on the team, Presley's sentiments are heartfelt and honestly depict the team's unity: "Although the Geoducks went winless in regular season play, I would rather have lost every ball game with these guys than win every game with anyone else."
And there's always next year, new players, (possibly) new opponents, and a clean start. "We will definitely be a force to be reckoned with next year," Presley said.
Remarkable, indeed.
(Much, albeit belated, thanks to Sean Presley for his assistance with this article especially as well as everything else throughout the season.)
Copyright © 2004, Talia M. Wilson
published in Cooper Point Journal, May 6, 2004
since July 21, 2004.