The spring sports season is rolling along, and student-athletes playing baseball and softball at St. Helens and Clatskanie are competing to be the best in their respective leagues.
Let’s catch up with how St. Helens High School (SHHS) and Clatskanie Middle/High School (CMHS) have been plotting the base paths, and how their seasons have been going so far.
St. Helens High School
With more than ten games played for both the baseball and softball teams, the Lions have started well this season. St. Helens baseball has a record of 10-6, and St. Helens softball has been exceptional, going 14-3 to start the season.
Softball Head Coach Miranda Little’s team started 12-0, and though they lost two games in a row to break the streak, the Lions are back to their winning ways, winning two of their last three games. Up and down the roster, Little has been impressed with her team’s performance.
“The team has done an excellent job at working as a team and really coming together at every age level no matter what,” Little said. “We have all four grades on the varsity squad or swinging, and it’s been awesome watching them just blend right in together.”
Amid the team’s success, Little said the leaders of the program have shifted as the season has gone along. Little said that the people who have stepped up in league play are different than the standouts in preseason. Little has only needed to make slight tweaks to her batting lineup while only making bigger adjustments depending on the pitchers they are facing.
One of the challenges Little said the team had faced this year in the early season was generating energy from the dugout while on defense and while at bat. However, Little recently said the team has “flipped the switch,” and the energy has been “electric.”
St. Helens played back-to-back games against Scappoose recently, and split the results. The Lions beat Scappoose 2-1 on Apr. 18, and lost 6-10 on Apr. 23.
With a 14-3 record, St. Helens is ranked 8th of the 31 4A teams in OSAA’s rankings. St. Helens sits second in the Cowapa League behind Astoria.
One of the highlights for Little this year has been the community presence at their games, both home and away.
“Not only do we have an amazing group of community supporters that watch our games at home, the parents of our athletes are top notch too. Bus rides home are pretty quiet as many athletes parents are at the away games,” Little said. “We also stream our games online and people can watch from there! Our games against Scappoose always bring big crowds because of the 7-mile distance between the towns and it doesn’t matter if it is home or away.”
St. Helens baseball is looking to bounce back after back-to-back defeats against Scappoose on Apr. 18 and 22. With a 10-6 record overall, the Lions are 13th of the 31 teams in OSAA’s 4A ranking. The Lions are 3-3 since the start of league play, and are second in the Cowapa League behind Scappoose, who have gone 6-0 through the start of the season.
The Lions will next play against Tillamook on Apr. 26.
Clatskanie Middle/High School
CMHS baseball have been flying high, winning 8 of their last nine games after losing its first game of league play.
The Tigers boast a record of 11-2 overall, going 8-2 through league play. The result of the Tigers’ Tuesday game against St. Paul was a tough loss at the hands of St. Paul, by a score of 9-15.
CMHS Head Coach Ryan Tompkins said that his team’s success this year has come down to doing the small things right.
“We’ve got an experienced group this year, that has played a lot of baseball together. We’ve been able to do a lot of the little things right: throw strikes, make the routine plays on defense and run the bases,” Tompkins said. “This has been a big part of how we have won a few games.”
A key ingredient to the team’s success is some of the team’s longest-tenured players: the seniors. Tompkins said that the team’s four seniors, Topher McDonnell, Jack Bergman, Chris Knaus, and Ayden Boursaw, are a big part of the leadership of his team.
“Each provides a little something different for our team. Ayden Boursaw is our ace pitcher, Topher McDonnell is our catcher/coach on the field, Jack Bergman is our team first guy and Chris Knaus is 100% effort all the time,” Tompkins said.
Clatskanie has shown out in league play, sweeping three-game series against Willamina and Portland Christian and winning two of three games against Nestucca. Clatskanie is second in the 2A/1A-SD1 Special District 1 behind only Knappa who has a 9-0 record in the league.
Tompkins knows the toughest is yet to come.
“We expect to be in close games with the good teams in our league. Our focus in practice has been on the little details that can get an out or get a run,” Tompkins said. “We are excited to see some quality teams down the stretch and know it will be tough competition.”
CMHS softball has had a good start to league play as well, going 7-2 in its first nine games. The Tigers swept both Nestucca and Perrydale, beating each opponent three times.
The Tiger’s lone league losses came against Willamina, and both by razor-thin margins. The two losses to Willamina were by a score of 7-8, and both games were played on Apr. 12.
Despite the tough doubleheader, the Tigers are on a four-game win streak after winning their matchup against St. Paul 20-10 on Apr. 23.
In the 2A/1A-SD1 Special District, Clatskanie trails St. Paul, Willamina, and Knappa. It’s a close race, however, as Clatskanie has the same record as Knappa and St. Paul and sits just one game behind Willamina.
The remaining two games against St. Paul promise to have playoff implications between two of the top teams in their league.
Tompkins, who is also the Athletic Director at CMHS, was quick to give credit to the community support, and the booster club for the school.
“Our community is very supportive of our baseball/softball teams. Our booster club has one of the best snack shacks around, and it’s a great social gathering,” Tompkins said. “My own kids come to the games, but typically are more interested in running around with their friends looking for lizards and bugs.”
So whether you want to come out for the community and the team or look at the lizards and bugs, the CMHS softball and baseball fields are the place to be.
Follow high school sports at osaa.org.
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