Friday, May. 02, 2008

CBC baseball team to play tripleheader

By Mark McKenna, Herald staff writer

Let's play three!

That's the scenario Saturday when the Columbia Basin College baseball team plays host to Walla Walla for a doubleheader and then some.

The Warriors and Hawks will take the field at 11:30 a.m. to complete the second game of their April 12 doubleheader that was called because of darkness with the game tied at 4 after 11 innings.

Then it's the regularly scheduled pair.

All three games are crucial in a tight East Region race.

The Hawks (29-12, 13-8) are in fourth place, one game behind the Warriors (26-13, 14-7).

Wenatchee Valley (30-5, 18-4) leads the way with Treasure Valley (27-15, 15-7) in second.

The East regular-season champion earns an automatic berth to the NWAACC tournament and also will play host to the regional tournament.

The remaining three teams will compete in the tournament for the second berth to the NWAACCs.

-- The CBC softball team dropped four games last weekend, effectively taking the Hawks out of the East Region playoff race.

CBC enters today's doubleheader against Big Bend (2 p.m., Pasco) with a record of 13-25, 8-14.

With only six league games remaining, the Hawks sit in sixth place, five games behind fourth-place Blue Mountain for the East's final playoff berth.

"We broke or came close to a lot of the school's offensive records, and up to a couple weeks ago, I thought we could hit our way to the tournament," said CBC coach Eric Weisgerber. "But we just couldn't overcome our pitching. The kids we sent out there gave it a great effort, but basically we just had trouble keeping runs off the board."

Weisgerber, a former coach at Southridge in his first season at CBC, is optimistic about the program's future.

The Hawks will lose two big bats with the departures of sophomores Brittany Cherry and Jennie Harp, but Weisgerber believes a solid freshman class and several promising recruits will have CBC back in the postseason next spring.

The Hawks will return shortstop Amy Woodland and catcher Daisy Cardenas.

The newcomers will include shortstop Sandra Brummett of Pasco, shortstop/outfielder Jasmine Reyes of Southridge and shortstop/third baseman Ashley Morcom of Vale, Ore.

"I think we'll be extremely deep and talented," Weisgerber said. "Our philosophy will be the same. We'll put pressure on teams with our offense. But we'll have a stronger pitching staff."

-- First-year golf coach Dan Clifford, the head professional at Horn Rapids Golf Course in Richland, has both the Hawks men's and women's teams in good shape at the midway point of the season.

The CBC men (4-2) are in a three-way tie for first place in the East Region with Spokane at Walla Walla.

The CBC women also are 4-2, which puts them in second place behind Spokane (6-0).

Sophomore Mandi Villanueva has had a stellar season for the Hawks.

The Umatilla product tied for second at the season-opening Olympic College Invite, placed fourth at the Spokane Bigfoot Invitational and finished in a second-place tie with teammate Rachel Murphy of Yakima at last week's Douglas College Invitational in Richmond, British Columbia.

Both the men and women compete at the CBC Invitational this weekend at Horn Rapids.