(¥ Women's basketball gets a new head coach
( High intensity interval training: Hype or hearsay?
(¥ Women's soccer recruitment class of 2016

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Photo by Davie Wong

> April Fools? Guess not

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

t has not been a pleasant month

for the Royals baseball team.
What started off as a slow start to
the season has now snowballed
into a complete free-fall. The
team is leaving April having lost
their last six conference games,
a list of problems that gets more
and more complicated as time
goes on.

The team has had difficulty
batting within the conference
this season, with only one player
hitting over .300. Only five
players are batting over .250. The
team has totalled 110 strikeouts in
16 games. They’ve also lacked the
power at bat, having failed to hit
a single homerun in conference
play. The results speak for
themselves on the scoreboard:
the team has been shutout in four
of their conference games so far.

The team has also been quite

error prone. They’ve accumulated
a total of 46 errors in 16 games,
which equates to nearly 3 errors

a game.

In the pitching department,
things have been quite touch and
go. Cole Russell and Liam Kano-
McGregor have made themselves
known to the baseball world,
leading the team with a 3.92 and
3.60 ERA respectively. However,
the rest of the pitchers have fallen
short of expectations, with only
four active players with an ERA

Softball midseason update

> Finishing April strong

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

he opening month of the

softball season started off a bit
slow for the reigning conference
champions. The team split the
first three series of April, entering
the crossover tournament at 3-3.
They ended up sweeping that
tournament, going 4-0 against
some of the best competition the
league could throw at them.

Head coach Michelle Peters

says she responded to her team’s
slow start by rallying them around
their losses. “We have a very
different team from last season.
I have a very talented group
and with talent sometimes the
athletes take things for granted
or assume things will work the
way they want. They need to
understand you can’t hope for
success because you believe you
are talented. Each one of them
needs each other’s support, and
need to make the extra effort
to be better individually and as
a team. Our losses have been
monumental to our successful
outcomes this year so far. Our
girls have had to learn how to
play as a team, and they all can
tell you that means win as a team

and lose as a team.” The team
has responded well to those
lessons. With every loss, the team
bounces back with a big win.

The team is currently on
an eight-game win streak and
second place in their conference,
only behind the strongly
performing Bellevue. Much of
this has to be credited to efforts
at bat. The team has been huge
when it comes to batting, and
has not been shut out this season
so far. They have also eclipsed
the 10-run mark a total of three
times. Coach Peters was not shy
about her enthusiasm regarding
her batting core. “By far our
hitting has been our biggest
factor this year. These girls can
hit very well with tons of high
level experience for most of them,
and almost all the way through
the lineup they can hit for power,
easily changing the outcome of
any game with a swing of the bat.”
Leading the way for her team is
Taylor Woodward, batting with
an incredible average of .519,
which is good enough to be third
best in the NWAC league. Their
batting may be on point, but that
does not mean their pitching has
been ignored.

The team’s pitching has been

 

stellar at points, and lacking at
others. But for the most part, the
team has gotten good outings
from their pitching team. “We
have certainly had our ups and
downs on the mound, but every
game the pitchers have been
getting better. | expect them to
continue to grow and improve
going forward, leading the way to
Oregon for championships.” The
team is led by Carolyn Thoveson
with an ERA of 2.54, and Keeley
Ainge with an ERA of 2.80, who
sit as the conference’s fourth and
seventh best ERA leaders.

They are not without their
competition, however. The team

lower than 5.00. They bring the
team’s cumulative ERA to 6.64.
But all is not lost in the
world of baseball. The team is
still young. The experience and
patience of last year’s team is
obviously missing, but since the
end of last year’s run brought a
lot of turnover, but this year may
just happen to be a growth year,
where the squad learns from their
losses and turns up next year
as real conference competitors,
and that’s okay. Every team goes

Image via www.douglascollegeroyals.ca

plays in the ultra-competitive
NWAC conference, which Peters
is no stranger to. “I truly believe
in the NWAC the top 10 are
always very tough, with some
incredibly talented athletes. |
have always believed from day
one with the program, that any
of the top 10 could be in the final
circle raising the trophy. We are
currently seeded 5th, and to me
it doesn’t matter. What matters
is Oregon. Who gets hot, who
shows up, and who wants it more,
and with some luck, of course.”
However, she also believes
that her team could be the one to
win it all. “I always believe that

through rebuilding years, where
their team spends the majority of
the season hugging the bottom of
the standings. But those are the
teams that are usually the most
dangerous the following year.
That’s just how it might
have to be. As it stands, the
Royals’ chances of getting into
the playoffs are slim to none.
They need to win the rest of their
games this season, and need the
fourth place to lose their
next eight.

we can take it all the way. With
this team this year, if we get hot,
watch out. Our bats can cause
some serious damage. There’s
no doubt in my mind we can
complete our goal.”

As successful as Peters has
been at the helm of the team, she
credits a lot of her success to her
coaching staff. “I have been lucky
to have an amazing staff that
has remained the same for three
years now since I have been with
Douglas. I have three assistant
coaches, Jennifer McKellar, Rob
Warburton, and Steve Mcbeth.

I have to say they truly balance
me out and keep me in check.
This program would not have had
such success without them. Every
single game I ask them for their
advice on players, lineups, ideas,
etc. They run practices when I
can't make it, they keep things
organized and moving and truly
know what I want, look for, and
expect from my student athletes,
and all three could lead this team
to success as well if they were in
charge.” Together, the staff will be
looking for a big showing in May,
as the team marches towards
playoffs. They finish April with a
conference record of 7-3, and two
games behind Bellevue.