SWOCC softball, baseball teams see season end

The Southwestern Oregon Community College softball team was unable to repeat as NWAC champions, though the Lakers nearly worked their way into contention after an early loss in the tournament.

SWOCC, the No. 3 seed, beat Chemeketa 10-2 to open the tournament, but fell to Wenatchee Valley 8-4 in its second game.

That put the Lakers into must-win mode, and SWOCC did that for most of the second day, edging Douglas 6-5 in 10 innings and Edmonds 2-1 before losing to Lower Columbia 16-8.

Lower Columbia was eliminated Saturday by North Idaho.

The Lakers finished the season 37-13.

BASEBALL

SWOCC won its first game in the Edmonds super regional, but wasn’t able to beat the host squad in the best-of-three series to advance to the final eight.

The Lakers had a dramatic ninth-inning rally to top Wenatchee Valley 4-3, the winning run coming on an RBI single by Taizo Nagaki.

But the Lakers lost the first game of the series with Edmonds 5-2 and on Saturday Edmonds eliminated SWOCC with a 7-6 win, getting an RBI walk-off double by Michael Snyder with one out in the ninth inning.

The Lakers finished the season 27-26 overall, but finished 20-16 in the tough NWAC South Region to finish third.