Kennedy clinched its fourth consecutive OSAA Cup on May 31, a memorable day in Trojans history when the baseball and softball teams both competed for state title.
Many fans, parents and students attended both events. Kennedy lost both games, but with both squads going undefeated in league play and finishing 50-8 overall, well, it’s hard to view this season as anything other than a raging success for the teams and veteran coaches Kevin Moffatt (baseball) and Walt Simmons (softball).
The OSAA Cup is awarded to the best overall athletic program in the association’s six classes. The points system includes academics and sportsmanship in addition to sports success.
Couple the baseball and softball with an earlier state championship in football, strong seasons in cross country and track and field and final site participation in volleyball, girls basketball and boys basketball and you wind up with reporters asking Moffatt, also the athletic director, how he accounts for all of this success.
“We have good athletes and good youth programs,” Moffatt said. “We’ve got a lot of parents helping out and community involvement. Our kids do a good job academically and out in the community. Even if we didn’t have pretty good teams it still would be fun to coach these kids.”
Baseball: KEIZER – The Trojans lost 10-5 in nine innings to Umpqua Valley Christian/Melrose Christian at Volcanoes Stadium, but staged a stirring comeback to force extra innings.
The Monarchs jumped out to a 3-0 lead and led 5-1 going to the bottom of the 5th. But Kennedy kept chipping away.
A two-out rally in the bottom of the inning produced a pair of runs on Demetre Marseille’s triple and Bruce Beyer’s single.
The Trojans took advantage of a pair of Monarchs errors and Marseille’s double to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh.
Umpqua Valley, however, tacked on five runs in the top of the ninth to victory.
“That was a tough one,” Moffatt said. “We didn’t start off like we had hoped. I’m proud of the way they battled, though.”
Shortstop Sam Grosjacques scored 3 times for the Trojans, while Beyer, who was named player of the game for Kennedy, finished 3 for 4.
And all three Trojans pitchers, sophomores Dylan Kleinschmit and Brady Traeger and junior Beyer, will be back next season.
Kennedy dominated the Special District 2 all-star squad. Moffatt was named coach of the year, although he said he would have preferred to have scored another run in the seventh inning against UVC.
Grosjacques was named player of the year, with pitcher Kleinschmit, second baseman Angel De La Rosa and outfielders Beyer and Traeger joining him on the first team.
First baseman Rocco Carley, third baseman Marseille and outfielder Cole Boen were second-teamers, while utility player Josh Valladares and designated hitter Cameron Biegel received honorable mention.
Grosjacques and Beyer repeated their first team nods on the all-Class 2A team. Traeger was a second-teamer, with Kleinschmit and De La Rosa on the third team.
Softball: EUGENE – The defending Class 2A-1A champion Trojans, meanwhile, ran into a buzzsaw of a North Douglas team that Kennedy had dispatched in the quarterfinals a year ago.
The game started at 5:30 and the score was 7-0 before most of the baseball participants had filed into impressive Jane Sanders Stadium, and Warriors junior right-hander Nicki Derrick was on her way to a 16-strikeout performance in the 15-6 win.
But the Trojans kept battling, scoring two runs apiece in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, including a booming triple to center field by Ellie Cantu. Leadoff hitter Lydia Berning was named player of the game for Kennedy after going 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs and a walk.
“We’d seen her before,” said Kennedy coach Walt Simmons of Derrick, “and we knew it was going to be tough getting hits off of her. Defensively we didn’t respond very well and didn’t finish enough plays.”
This was the first loss of the season for Kennedy to a Class 2A team. Three of the losses came against Dayton or Clatskanie, the two teams that wound up playing for the Class 3A title.
Simmons sent out five sophomores, three juniors and a freshman, Berning, and made it back to the state title game.
Simmons was named district coach of the year, catcher Emily Cuff player of the year and junior right-hander Grace Schaecher was pitcher of the year.
Also on the first team were infielder Kelsey Kleinschmit and outfielders Berning, Cantu and Rylie Newton. Infielders Hailey Arritola and Elise Suing were placed on the second team, while first baseman Sophia Carley received honorable mention.
Shooting: The Silverton trap shooting program is in its second year as a club sport, and the Foxes have almost tripled their roster, from ten shooters to 27.
Silverton will send its entire squad to the state competition June 22 in Hillsboro.
The top shooter so far this season is senior Cameron Phillips, who is averaging 23.2 out of 25 targets. Phillips, who participated in nationals a year ago will be part of a full squad of five Foxes shooting at nationals this season.
Ten Foxes have earned varsity letters, which requires an average of 19 targets out of 25 or better.
The team is coached by Kevin Palmer, Jamie Phillips, Doug Garrett, Fred Zurbrugg, Chris Barrett, James Reed and Kelly Buckley.
Hoops camp: The Silverton girls basketball program is hosting its 34th youth camp for players entering third through ninth grades in the fall.
The camp runs June 18-20 from 9 a.m. to noon, with Foxes coach Tal Wold and his players conducting the drills and training.
The camp costs $50 per player and a T-shirt is included in the camp fee. For more information contact Wold at
[email protected].
Running: More than 150 runners participated June 1 in the Silver Falls Challenge trail runs at Silver Falls State Park. Josh Zielinski, 36, of Salem won the 6-mile in 38:45.6. Sophia Patterson, 23, of Salem ran 45:16.3 to finish sixth overall and tops among women. Bruce Hamilton, 54, of Sherwood was the 3.5-mile winner in 25:27.9. Bozeman, Montana runner Linda Kneeland ran 33:55.6 to finish first among females. She was fifth overall.
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