MEET YOUR CANDIDATESTHERE’S A NEW PRESIDENT ON THE RISE

BUT WHO? YOUR VOTE DECIDES!MICHAELA GOVERNMENT THATSERVES YOU

PETERLEADING MHCC TO

ITS GREATEST POTENTIAL

KELLYEMPOWERING & IMPLEMENTINGSTUDENTS’ INPUT

CARISSAUNITED AS ONE

PAGE 4

SAINTS ANNIHILATE PENGUINSPAGE 8

A TEST OF COURAGEPAGE 5

FORENSICS BRINGS HOME CHAMPIONSHIPPAGE 4

“An exercise in futility, year in and year out”-Exorcising Demons, PAGE 7

advocateVolume 51 Issue 26

April

29,

201

6 Independent Student Voice of MHCCthe

Free your soul: spread your wings and grindPAGEPAGEA p r i l 1 5 , 2 0 1 6 2

Editor-in-ChiefAdam Elwell

Associate EditorHayden Hunter

Arts+Entertainment EditorIvy Davis

News Editor Gloria Saepharn

Sports Editor Clay Vitale

Graphic Designers Cody HolcombeAyla Buckner

Photo Editor Nick Pelster

Opinion Editor Adam Elwell

Public Relations Manager Emily Wintringham

Video Editor Chuck Masi

Video Team Members

Kristina Strickland

Ad ManagerJoseph Frantz

Assistant Ad ManagerLondon Howell-Farley

Copy Editor Greg Leonov

Staff WritersNicole Kaadi

Glenn DyerJon Fuccillo

Web EditorMatana McIntire

AdvisersHoward BuckDan Ernst

The Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by letters to the editor and guest columns for publication.

All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not

be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission. Letters to the editor should not

exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board. The Advocate reserves the right to edit

for style, punctuation, grammar and length. Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by

5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print. Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not

necessarily reflect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

the advocate

E-mail: advocatt@mhcc.eduPhone: 503-491-7250www.advocate-online.net#mhccadvocate Mt. Hood Community College 26000 SE Stark Street Gresham, Oregon 97030

OPINIONPAGE a d v o c a t e - o n l i n e . n e t2

Editorial

Primaries leave sour taste

Letter to the Editor

Nick Pelsterthe advocate

I just don’t understand how people can go through life without a passion. Something that burns in-side of them, something that they can’t get off of their mind. I believe to get through this game we call life that you need something that con-sumes you. For me that passion is skateboarding. Skateboarding has been in my life since I was 6 years old when I got my first skateboard. It was a Brent Atchley Element

pro model. I remember that board so much. I used to ride around my driveway on it because that’s pretty much all I could even do. Over the years after getting that first skate-board I got more and more as I went through them. I had found a passion, something that I just loved so much that I couldn’t get it off of my mind. Fast forward to 2016 and here I am still skateboarding with the same guys that I have since 6th grade. Our skate crew consists of about 10 guys that we skate with all the time. We have become life long friends

through something as simple as riding a piece of wood with wheels. When we aren’t laughing during a session, we are filming for our next YouTube video.

Skateboarding in my mind is good for the soul and can change peoples lives. I have seen skate-boarding raise money for charity’s, get people motivated for life and even help people stop using drugs. When you have a passion like skate-boarding it consumes you. Every skateboard shares a common bond. When you walk past someone with

shoe with holes in it you just know that they skate. Skateboarders know the battles that you have to go through to get your trick. How it can take hours on end just to land a single trick on film. Being a skate-boarder is a life style.

Without skateboarding I don’t know where I would be today. I could be into drugs and have noth-ing to do with my time. I think skateboarding has steered my life in a good direction and helped me cre-ate life long friends that I will never lose. Skateboarding is my passion.

upcoming active shooter drillMHCC Campus | AC 3308A or AC 3334E | EOU - GreshamCollege of Education or College of Business | 503.491.7000

EOU Advising Center | Gresham 503.491.7248

Complete your Bachelor’s degree in Business and Education here at MHCC!

Stop by the EOU Gresham offices in AC 3308A or call 503.491.7248 or 503.491.7000!

EASTERN OREGONUNIVERSITY– Gresham –

To read the letter from

public safety officer

Wayne Feagle on an up-

coming drill May 5 visitadvocate-online.net

“I have seen skateboarding raise money for charities, get people motivated for life and even help people stop using drugs.”

At the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, during the first edito-rial meeting the Advocate had, we discussed Donald Trump. At the time we decided to table the top-ic, to avoid giving The Donald the media attention that was helping to create a media-mogul-monster.

Well, we were wrong. Whether it started as a publicity stunt or not is irrelevant, as all signs now point to go for a general election in No-vember with Donald Trump lead-ing the Republican Party ticket.

At this point, the stage for the presidential showdown is set: Clin-ton vs. Trump. Yet somehow the majority of the nation very clearly wants neither of these candidates.

Every four years it seems like America is forced to choose be-tween the lesser of two evils, and the reason is this: The two-party

system has become so large and pervasive that voters’ logic be-comes “Well, this isn’t the can-didate that I really want, but the person I would elect doesn’t have a shot at winning, so I might as well vote for someone where my vote will mean something.”

But that logic is what keeps us from getting the elected officials we actually want. Our current system would work if everyone voted how they truly felt, instead of abiding by party lines. If so, the problem would solve itself – but that’s a tall order, one easier said than done.

There’s a quicker way to fix it within our system: change how we vote! If voters had second and third options for candidates, they no longer have reason not to vote for whoever they truly want. Let’s say a voter does pick a candidate

highly unlikely to win: He or she fills the ballot out, and casts their first vote for our well-meaning, small-time, civic activist, who then loses the race. Then, the vot-er’s second vote counts for anoth-er candidate, until they’re elimi-nated, and so on.

It’s called Instant runoff vot-ing, and while it’s been tried in other countries it’s never caught on in the U.S.

If there’s one thing that Trump and Hillary have shown us through-out this slew of state primary con-tests, it’s that there is a growing an-ti-establishment sentiment among Americans. And a good start to sat-ing that frustration would be a vot-ing system in which people aren’t forced to choose who they hate less.

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Greg Leonovthe advocate

Four students who are running for the office of Mt. Hood’s ASG (Associated Student Government) vice president met in the Main Mall of the Gresham campus Wednesday to talk about their positions and platforms.

Cayman Linson (running with presidential candidate Peter Camacho); Jada Salmon (Carrissa Baer’s running mate); Michael Potts (Michael Tippery’s partner); and Santiago M. Velasco Lopez (running with Kelly Bernardino) answered questions asked by Basil Hawley from Mt. Hood’s forensics team. The audience on hand was then encouraged to write down questions on note cards, that were then addressed by the VP candidates.

Linson said he believes that seminars are the answer to various struggles students have. A seminar class for new students coming to Mt. Hood should be offered; this class would help students understand basic college tasks such as how to print, and to know what happens on campus on a weekly basis, he said.

Seminar classes with “specific cultures and religions in them” was another proposal from Linson. This would be intended to help international students looking for a support system and to “feel comfortable in this new environment,” he said.

Linson also mentioned that class material should be available for students who sometimes are unable to make it to class: He said lectures should be recorded as podcasts, so they are accessible to students.

Santiago Lopez said he believes that students should be made aware of various resources available for them to succeed, and in empowering them, in part, by letting them decide on which issues to focus.

One resource that students struggle with is the cost of textbooks. Lopez said he would

work to help Mt. Hood instructors get grants so that they could write their own textbooks, so that they can get paid while possibly making the books cheaper for students.

Michael Potts said that his ASG administration would make an effort to directly reach out to students to get them more involved in ASG activities. He said he wants to make ASG as transparent as possible, and wants electronic reader boards on campus to inform students of activities and general information.

“Campus culture” was a mantra that Potts used more often than other candidates. He said that being involved in MHCC’s Theater program, he knows what it’s like to face mostly empty seats in the theater. He wants to work on getting bigger crowds at campus events such as theater and music performances and sporting events, he said.

Potts also said that Lancer, the contracted company that supplies food at Mt. Hood’s dining areas, needs competition, so he would work to make that happen.

Jada Salmon started off by saying that her administration would work to split up events throughout the day, so that students who take evening classes would have the opportunity to attend. She also said the Vista dining area should remain open past 3 p.m.

Salmon is a big user of Mt. Hood’s Student Life app, and said she would work to get more students to download it. She also believes in canvassing (as Potts also said) to get students involved and to keep them aware of campus events and activities, she said.

The vice presidential debates lasted for about an hour, and other issues were addressed.

Anyone wishing to get more information on the candidates should contact ASG.elections@mhcc.edu.

Voting opens on Monday and will go on until May 6. More information is available on the Student Life app, or MHCC.edu/asg.

NEWSPAGE a d v o c a t e - o n l i n e . n e t4ASG VP candidates discuss platforms and hopes

Gloria Saepharnthe advocate

Mt. Hood’s Forensics team took the championship at the Northwest Forensics Conference Regional Championship, held in Longview, Washington, last weekend.

The group earned the Overall Sweepstakes and Oregon Sweepstakes honors, and brought the Regional Championship back to MHCC.

Lea Bauley-Gabriel won the gold medal contest for the team, against the College of Southern Idaho and was named Top Speaker of the tournament.

“I know that Lea was very nervous going into the gold medal round, but her victory, I think, was a real boost to her confidence as a debater and that Top Speaker award was just icing on the cake,” said Shannon Valdivia, MHCC director of forensics and team coach.

Valdivia said she’s very proud of the team and joked that the novices, such as Bauley-Gabriel, are giving its veterans “a run for their money.” That said, “the veterans showed their leadership by stepping up these past few weeks to work with the novices to prepare them for this tournament,” she said.

She also applauded Peter Camacho, who advanced in his first tournament with the team and was named second best speaker in the tournament.

The tournament was the last of the competitive season, but team members will attend the 2016 Political Science Conference hosted today by MHCC instructor/dean Janet Campbell (in Stevenson, Washington), and are assisting the MHCC Safety Committee.

“Meanwhile, we will be preparing to defend our regional title next year,” read an email sent by Valdivia and assistant coaches Chris Josi and Phil LePoivden.

Forensics team brings home regional championship

The Mt. Hood Community College community showed how much it cares about the students at the 2016 MHCC Foundation Golden Anniversary Gala on Saturday, April 23. The auction raised $285,000 for scholarships for students and classroom support. Alumni from 50 years ago showed up, as well as the first year’s staff. The auction raised $60,000 more than last year and $100,000 more than in 2014.

Photo by Gloria Saepharn

Carrissa Baer (president) and Jada Salmon (vice president)

Meet the 4 finalists in presidential raceand check out their candidate platforms

• Bathroom updates• Longer Vista Dining hours• Better Wi-Fi• More campus awareness for clubs,

trade programs, and activities

• Onesie and Pajama Day

Michael Tippery (president) and Michael Potts (vice president)• Involvement (reach out to students,

create transparency in ASG, use office hours to canvass the campus to meet students directly)

• Integrity (be an administration of open-door policy making, canvass the campus and use media sources to keep students informed on how

elected officials and the budget are working for them)

• Image (reach out and provide value to area around (MHCC), put more art around the campus, and find ways to attract audiences to performing art and athletic events)

Kelly Bernardino (president) and Santiago M. Velasco Lopez (vice president)

• Emphasize Open Educational Resources

• Encourage faculty to participate in “safe space training”

• Create transparency between ASMHCC, students, and staff

• Organize financial literacy programs for students to have greater

understanding of financial aid• Provide resources for accessible

housing for students• Continue partnership with Wallace

Medical Center, and look for a more permanent health care center on campus, and possibly a Planned Parenthood presence

Peter Camacho (president) and Cayman Linson (vice president)

• Reduce costs of textbooks• Create better schedules for courses• Make on campus dining “less of

a hassle” (longer hours in Vista Dining, wider selection in St. Helens Bistro)

• Standing desks in classrooms for a break from sitting, and for taller students

• Unlock possibilities with Student Life app (integrate the portal, and make it more mobile friendly)

Foundation Gala

Carrissa Baer

Michael Tippery

Kelly Bernardino

Peter Camacho

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PAGEA p r i l 2 9 , 2 0 1 6 5Reclaiming embroideryThe ultimate food review

A test of courage and campus food

Matana McIntirethe advocate

You look at Cassandra Walters’ art and you feel intrigued. Perhaps you’ve never seen something of its sort before – embroidered medical illustrations. It’s most certainly not what you think of when you hear the word “embroidery.”

Walters is a graphic designer for Mt. Hood Community College, and for the next couple weeks you can see her art on display inside the Diversity Resource Center. Called “Women’s Work: Reclaiming Embroidery Through Medical Illustration,” Walters’ collection does just as the title says – each work is both a medical illustration and a message of feminine experience.

A lot of this is related to how the world views embroidery. In junior high, she noticed how in a crafts class only girls were allowed to learn embroidery, while the boys were diverted to learn origami. “I thought, ‘Huh, I’m missing out on origami.’ ” When she got home, she expressed her confusion to her father, who only offered the counsel that maybe she’d do origami after

embroidery.“I love him for not saying what

probably should have been really, super obvious in the late 1970s, which is ‘No, the boys are not going to be learning decorative sewing, that’s a girls’ thing,’ ” she said, chuckling as she explained.

Fast-forward some twenty-odd years, and Walters is now married with a child. She is doing graphic design, a career with some creativity, but had artistically otherwise “just stopped doing anything,” as she put it.

It was when a friend repeatedly invited her to a craft night that she picked art back up. “When I thought about the art that I was interested in doing in my twenties, it was 20-foot-long hanging mobiles,” she said. “And trying to alter billboards to be something else.” In other words, certainly not things fit for craft night. Instead, she chose embroidery.

That was about five years ago. Now, she has a full collection of embroidered and re-interpreted medical illustrations, most done in the past six months in preparation for her DRC show at Mt. Hood.

The display, open to all students, staff, or community members, will end at 5 p.m. today.

Glenn Dyerthe advocate

Are you hungry for some food on campus? Do you have a few bucks to spare? Then the Vista Dining center above the Student Union might just be the place for you.

I was recently adventurous enough to try out a selection of their foodstuffs from every section of the restaurant, which had a surprisingly high variety for such a small area. Since I am a vegetarian, I was unable to sample any of the meats that would normally go with some of these items. However, I was still able to easily find an option for me in each of the sections, which is more than some places offer.

Here is the full list of items in the order I got them, what I thought about their quality, and price.

Cheese Pizza slice | $2.55

The pizza low-grade, but technically edible. It reminds me of the pizza that was served in my high school cafeteria.

Wheat Bagel | $2:50

Very doughy, and not in a good way. It tasted incredibly cheap. Build your own sandwich | $4.95

Untoasted wheat bread with spinach, avocado, tomato, onions, ranch dressing, and American cheese. I wasn’t expecting much, but this turned out to be one of the highlights of the meal. All of the ingredients tasted fresh and delicious, always a good sign.

Build

your

own burrito

| $5.99

Plain tortilla with pinto beans, lettuce, tomato, Mexican cheese, white rice, salsa, sour cream. Another surprisingly good item. I usually can’t stand burritos because of how the beans taste and how the burrito itself seems destined to cause a huge mess, but this was so well-constructed that I actually found myself enjoying it.

Fries | $1.95 You can always tell a restaurant’s

quality by its fries. These ones looked amazing, and tasted adequate.

Mug Root Beer from the

fountain | $1.45 I thought I would check this out

to see if the fountain machine was calibrated properly, as sometimes the soda will not come out right in certain restaurants. This, however, tasted exactly like Mug Root Beer.

Overall, the food quality is above average. There were a few pitfalls with the pizza and the bagel, but they are more than made up for by the

quality of the sandwich

and burrito. My suggestion would be to only get the things that are made in front of your eyes, and try to avoid the stuff that was pre- made 20 years ago if you can.

As for the restaurant itself, I was blown away by the extremely pleasant staff and well -designed layout of the interior. The menus were clear and easy to read, making it a snap to find a meal that meets your dietary restrictions (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc.). As for prices, it’s a little more expensive than the local Dairy Queen, but the quality of the burrito and sandwich sections more than makes up for it.

Go check it out, if you’re interested. It could be fun. It could be dandy. It could be... great!

I give the food a 3 out of 5 on the Vista Dining room scale.

Photos by Kristina Strickland

TOP: Cassandra Walters standing in front of her collection, “Women’s Work: Reclaiming Embroidery Through Medical Illustration.” BOTTOM: A mixed media piece by Walters, titled “Enjoy Every Minute” of the life stage “New Parenthood.”

MHCC graphic designer reimagines the art formTOP: Glenn Dyer with the food he tried for the

review. BOTTOM: Snapshots from the video, available to be watched on YouTube and on

our website.

3/5 on the Vista Dining room scale.

To watch a video of this review, visit our channel or our website:youtube.com/mhccadvocateadvocate-online.net

Photos by Kristina Strickland

PAGE a d v o c a t e - o n l i n e . n e t6 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Rising up from ashes: Joanne Merrick

Campus is alive with music,collage proves inspirational

Growing greens at Mt. Hood

Ivy Davisthe advocate

How many students of MHCC know what Project YESS, or the SquareRoots Program, are?

More often than not, students don’t know much about programs they’re not involved in at Mt. Hood. So, here’s a look at both of these.

Project YESS serves young adults, ages 16-24, as they prepare for a GED, establish career goals, and gain work skills and life skills.

“Our whole program is situated to be a youth development program and we work with low-income and disadvantaged youth,” said Michael Oliver, the Youth Conservation Corps Program coordinator for Project YESS. In order to be eligible for the program, students must be 16-24 years old, legal to work in the U.S., live in Multnomah County, and meet family income guidelines and/or other qualification measures.

SquareRoots Farm and Nursery

is “a program that came out of what we already do,” said Oliver. Though the program has been going on for four-to-five years, the plant sale to date is the second official sale.

“The Project YESS conservation program has been around probably 15, 16 years, and we’ve expanded slowly,” said Oliver. Students go out and do trail work, basic species removal, and outdoor natural resources jobs in Project YESS, and SquareRoots is an extension of that.

Back in the day, MHCC had many horticulture classes. Though the program formally ended, the greenhouse that was used still stood. SquareRoots has taken over the greenhouse to grow plants from seed to sell at the plant sale, while they keep a few potted plants to later harvest produce from.

Students switch off between being on campus taking care of the greenhouse plants, and going off-campus to work with the US. Forest Service or other partners.

“The students grow plants for the plant sale, the program’s own space, community partners, other nonprofits, along with community garden folks,” explained Oliver. In July, the program will host another sale for all the fresh produce they will have grown.

The program is 100 percent grant-funded, meaning no student tuition goes toward it. All the proceeds from SquareRoots goes back into the program to help pay for the students’ wages, along with the supplies for the next season.

Project YESS students have been working hard all season growing these plants. The plants help teach these students life and gardening skills, while the program also helps them with income.

The plant sale will be from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. today (Friday) at the Gresham campus, in front of the MHCC Bookstore.

Emily Wintringhamthe advocate

I’m going to tell you a story of the time I went to the Spring Collage and my gloomy attitude towards under-standing music turned to appreciation for the MHCC’s music department.

Before I go into that tale, I will get the dirty details out. This year’s Spring Collage mixed in a lot of new blood to the musicians’ normal playlist. I appreciated the program directors’ acknowledgment of the need to rep-resent more composers than just “old white men,” as stated by Grant Lin-sell, MHCC music program director, during the performance.

This is a crucial aspect of how traditional aspects of education are changing in order to pique interest by students and to reflect their culture. This in itself deserves some notoriety.

“It is so important to me to expose our community to composers and performers of traditionally under-rep-resented groups and living composers. This is, in my opinion, how we find ways for everyone to find emotional expression through classical music,” said Linsell.

Young people are starting to no-tice. “The music program is growing. All of the ensembles are increasing in both size and quality,” Linsell said. “This allows us to both provide more exciting and engaging public concerts and to explore more important and challenging literature.”

This underscores the importance to take one of the college’s most flour-ishing programs seriously.

Without further ado, I present to you “Once a jerk, now a blossoming musical connoisseur”:

So, last week I was asked to go “review the Spring Collage.” In typical manic-journalist fashion, I grabbed my pencil, notepad and phone so I can take basic Instagram photos. I just re-cently fell in love, so I guess you could say I was ill-prepared.

First off, I was thinking that this Spring Collage thingamajig was a montage of the arts. I was anticipating portraits, ceramics, music, dancing, skits, the whole nine yards.

Come to find out, the Spring Collage was in the main College Theater. And it was actually all music. Now, I wasn’t exactly sure what to think when I walked in, because you know, the romantic ballad played by the orchestra isn’t going to make me judge how well they can play this piece. I mean, it’s pretty good. I really don’t know, though. I’ve never played a viola in my life. I can’t even look at wooden objects over $1,000 without them breaking by sheer clumsiness.

Do you want me to like bull-crap this and Google fancy musical terms? I can’t really do that right now, I’m kind of too high with oxytocin flooding my system. So what about the jazz perfor-mance? My answer:

They were pretty good. I mean, to me it just sounded like jazz. I don’t know what else to say, really. It made me happy? I guess that’s all that matters, right?

ABOVE LEFT: The old horticulture green houses being used by Project YESS and their program SquareRoots. RIGHT: Seedlings being grown by students of SquareRoots to be sold in Friday’s plant sale.

LEFT: One of Merrick’s scultpures that she was able to save from the “purge” by having it in her car.

Photos by Ivy Davis

Ivy Davisthe advocate

Life isn’t always easy. The key is “plugging through and going forward and finding those bright spots of life to start over again and take the experience you already have and develop it and keep going,” said MHCC artist Joanne Merrick.

Merrick is a returning student at MHCC. “I came here in 1968, and there were wonderful teachers here,” she said. When she was attending Mt. Hood the first time, she took art classes from Howard Neufeld, an instructor who influenced her deeply. “He just encouraged me and was wonderful.” Merrick believes MHCC needs instructors like Neufeld who will inspire and promote students.

Recently meeting with Neufeld, Merrick learned he had a terrible car crash in which he had his (dominant) art hand paralyzed.

This touched Merrick as she, too, has been through great hardships.

Throughout life she has been overseas, back East, to California, and New York.

She left an abusive marriage in New York, having to move from a safe house back to Oregon. On her “way out” Merrick lost her mother and experienced the betrayal of close ones. “My so-called friend decided to get rid of all my belongings,” she explained. Her ex-friend enlisted the help of Merrick’s own daughter when the “purge” happened, she said.

“I kept telling them ‘This is like you’re cutting

my life away piece by piece,’ ” said the artist.

T w e n t y - t h o u s a n d dollars of merchandise was

given away during the purge, along with many of Merrick’s personal artworks and family

heirlooms. “It was d o n e

very cruel(ly), and I was in a very depressive state, so I thought my best bet to get refocused was to go back to school,” she explained.

Coming back to school, Merrick started with sculpture, having lost most of her previous sculptures. “I was hoping to find new life, beginning, and joy,” she said. Instead, her enthusiastic effort “was met with a lot of negativity and a lot of telling me I couldn’t do things I knew I could do.”

Though she had troubles in her sculpting course she also received help from Jen Fuller. Merrick credited Fuller in having tuly helped her finish one of her sculptures.

Merrick would take two terms of sculpture class simply to exploit her passion for the art, which she said she enjoys most of all the mediums.

Silk painting, silk screening, airbrushing, stone sculpting, glass working, watercolors, and oils are some of the other mediums she has used. When she was using oils it was “years ago when the turpentines were really potent.” So much so, she had “just about killed (myself) painting with oils in a small cottage,” she recalled with a laugh.

Now, as it was then, Merrick still “keeps plugging through” and stays positive. She hopes to be a part of the upcoming Mt. Hood student art show, set to begin May 9.

In the future, she wants once again have a studio where she can busy herself with sculpture, among other mediums.

To read the full story, visit our website:

advocate-online.net

Photo by Ivy Davis

Project YESS and SquareRoots team up

SPORTS PAGEA p r i l 2 9 , 2 0 1 6 7

To view the full unabridged story, visit:advocate-online.net

Saints sophomore outfielder Isaac Benard squares up against Linn-Benton Road-runners pitching on April 9. Benard is hitting .328 with 15 runs, 11 RBI and 9 walks to just 6 punchouts in 58 at bats this season. Since splitting the doubleheader, Mt. Hood has gone 7-1 in NWAC Regional play.

Jon Fuccillothe advocate

Mt. Hood Saints baseball head coach Bryan Donohue called it.

Just last week, he said his team would take over first place in the South Region of the NWAC. And with four victories over the Clackamas Cougars this past weekend and Tuesday, the Saints took the lead in the South standings. They did it with simple ease, outscoring their opponent, 40-8.

“It’s not something that surprises me,” said Donohue on taking over first place in the South after the first half of the regular season. “The one thing about this year. We have seen ‘the best teams’ in the preseason. The only teams I hadn’t seen were in our own league. It just took a little while for the guys to understand what we needed to do. We are now playing the game right and playing clean. And when we play games clean thing can get simple for this group. We have three more series left. It’s go time. We just need to play our baseball. Our guys are having a lot of fun right now.”

The first three games were played at Sandy High School’s artificial turf diamond, due to poor weather conditions at both teams’ home fields The Saints then made up a game in Oregon City Tuesday afternoon due to an earlier rain out from the weekend.

With the four wins, the Saints improved to 9-3 in South action and 17-14 overall, while the Cougars (3-14 South, 5-21overall) continued to struggle, dropping their ninth contest in a row.

“That series was a challenge for us coming into it,” said Donohue. “Sometimes it can be tough playing a team (Clackamas) who have been struggling this year. But in the end it’s baseball and it has nothing to

do with the team you’re playing. They had a lot to play for as well. It’s not like football. If the University of Oregon plays Western Oregon University 100 times, they beat them every time. But in baseball anything can happen.”

During the series with the Cougars, Saints sophomore University of Utah transfer catcher Bowen Ogata went 7-for-13 at the dish, to go along with eight RBI and two walks. He’s now batting .330 on the season, which is good for second on the team behind sophomore outfielder Taylor Travess, who’s batting .360.

With the outstanding four-game series with the Cougars, Ogata was named the NWAC offensive player of the week. “It feels pretty good,” said the modest designated hitter. “I’ve been seeing it well lately and just worked hard in practice and stuck to the same routine I have all year. It makes it a lot easier to hit when the whole team has been making big strides these past few weeks.”

Ogata was excited on winning the Clackamas series. “We did a good job of stringing hits together in clutch situations. And our pitchers did a good job of working quickly and getting a lot of ground ball outs. Everything came together and we are finally getting some wins.”

Ogata has been filling in as the DH since he’s battled pain in his throwing arm. He said it’s due to a recurring injury that he never really got answers for. But he’s starting to rehab soon, and feels good at the plate.

“I was really struggling for the last couple of weeks,” said Ogata. “But I got some good pitches to hit. It feels really great to get back on track.”

Mississippi Blues: exorcising demons, to hell with history

Clay Vitalethe advocate

My city boasts local secrets and national treasures - toasted ravioli and Nelly, provel cheese and Budweiser. It’s beautiful in nature, and in architecture, and I’m not just talking about the Gateway Arch. Two of my favorite things about St. Louis, though, are the only two sports that matter: baseball and hockey.

The Cardinals have provided my town with an embarrassment of riches since their inaugural season in 1892. They’ve won 11 World Championships, second among all Major League Baseball teams, and have been a model franchise (for the most part) that many other clubs have tried to emulate. (A little fun fact: The Cardinals namesake did not originate from the native red bird, but from a newspaper columnist for the St. Louis Republic who reportedly heard a woman refer to the team’s red stockings as a “lovely shade of Cardinal.”)

My St. Louis Blues, on the other hand, have showcased an exercise in futility, year in and year out. Even while reaching the postseason in 25 consecutive seasons from 1980 through 2004, they have come up empty-handed in every appearance. Even the one season, in 1996, they paired HOF legends Brett Hull and Wayne Gretzky on the top line, they still got bounced by the Detroit Red Wings.

(Another fun fact: The Blues were named after “Father of the Blues” musician W.C. Handy’s song, appropriately titled, “St. Louis Blues,” when the expansion team was born in 1967.)

There wasn’t a team more disliked in St. Louis than the Chicago Blackhawks, save for maybe the Detroit Red Wings of the 90s and 2000s; we even added a joke holiday to the mix, calling it “Punch a Red Wings Fan in the Face Day” whenever Detroit came to town. Since then, the Wings left the Central Division and Western Conference altogether when the NHL realigned the league, so that rivalry is all but squashed – leaving the Hawks as public enemy No. 1.

A new hope

This being their 49th year in the NHL, the only professional hockey team in the “Show Me State” has shown their fans a glimmer of hope. Right out of the script of the original Mighty Ducks movie, the first round of this year’s playoff bracket pitted the Blues against their bitter rival and neighbor, those same Chicago Blackhawks.

In an epic showdown between the Midwest foes, the Blues were given the No. 2 seed in the West, securing home ice advantage in the first round (somehow, they had a better record on the road this season than at home). They had played the Hawks tough all year, edging them in head-to-head match-ups, three games to two, but the defending Stanley Cup Champions had title repeat aspirations.

After the seven-game series shifted to Chicago, tied at one game apiece, St. Louis swept the two road games to gain a daunting 3-1 series lead and stirring up some excitement within the fan base. The Blackhawks, of course, rallied back

the next two games to tie the series at 3-3, forcing a deciding Game 7 back in St. Louis on Monday night.

I was finishing up class when the puck dropped, so I raced over to Skyland Pub to root them on, hoping my Blues could finally put it all together under pressure. It just so happened to be on during the Blazers-Clippers NBA playoff game, so I was the lone weirdo watching hockey amongst a bar full of Portland fans.

Good as gold

At any rate, St. Louis jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first period and things were looking up... until they fell flat in the second, giving up the tying tally to Andrew fucking Shaw. Blues netminder Brian Elliott, affectionately nicknamed “Moose” in St. Louis, still looked solid, but come the third period, I was a nervous wreck.

In the offseason, the Blues had traded fan favorite T.J. Oshie to Washington for Troy Brouwer, specifically for his playoff expertise, and especially his do-or-die game experience: He’s played in seven Game 7s, accounting for half of the entire teams’ (personal) total of 14, and a far cry from Chicago’s 62 career Game 7s. This move turned to gold for St. Louis at 8:31 into the third, as Hawk goalie Corey fucking Crawford (who’s batshit crazy by the way, straight up attacking Blues’ rookie Robby Fabbri earlier in the season... but I digress) slid across the crease only to leave Brouwer open to slam home the go-ahead goal, albeit after a few flailing attempts.

Don’t forget to breathe

The home crowd went nuts, then I went nuts and proceeded to hyperventilate over the remaining 11 plus minutes. Every time the puck entered the St. Louis zone, I screamed at the TV, willing the stellar defense to clear it. Time whittled down, Moose stood on his head, but then, in skated Brent fucking Seabrook with a wrister past Elliott. However, the hockey gods were St. Louis fans that night, and the puck clanked off both posts before being cleared out of harm’s way.

The Old Courthouse in St. Louis features a fountain out front dyed blue for the home team. But you wouldn’t know that because this page is in black and white.

Saints rock and rolltheir way to the top

Web Photo

Photo by Nick Pelster

-See Baseball on page 8

Clay Vitalethe advocate

Mt. Hood’s surging softball team played host to Clark College on Tuesday, continuing the string of games within the South Region of the NWAC.

The Saints entered on a torrid pace, while the Penguins were 1-7 entering the doubleheader – Mt. Hood taking five straight behind road victories over tough opponents Lower Columbia and Southwestern Oregon.

Starting Saints pitcher Kayla Byers took the circle in the first game, and limited Clark to just a pair of runs over seven strong innings, recording five strikeouts in the process.

Sophomore shortstop Rachel Rutledge did the most damage for Mt. Hood, drilling a two-run double off the right field fence to put the Saints up. 2-1, in the third inning. The score remained the same into the sixth, until Clark tied it up on a solo homer. Mt. Hood seized its counter opportunity in the bottom half of the sixth, forcing action on the basepaths. With Megan Marcy on third base, Maddy Newkirk took off for second base, and the Penguin’s catcher took the bait, firing across the diamond attempting to nab Newkirk, only to have Marcy take off for home on the throw.

Marcy safely slid in at the plate, the throw back home a little too late, and the Saints went up,m 3-2. Byers allowed a base hit in the top of the seventh, but otherwise shut the door

and sealed the win for Mt. Hood.While looking strong on the

rubber, Byers wasn’t as pleased at the plate, going 0-for-3. “I felt good, but my hitting just... No”, she said, shaking her head. She would bounce back in the second game, though, blasting a solo shot off of Clark pitcher Madison Plummer.

The rest of game two would go the Saints’ way in just about every facet, starting with pitcher Kendal Cox twirling a one-run gem, covering all seven innings. Cox is now 5-2 on the year, with a 3.33 ERA, 9.7 K/9 ratio and 3.47 K/BB ratio. Rutledge drove in three runs and Darian Lindsey, who caught both games, had two hits, two walks and scored three times on the day. Lindsey is hitting a robust .485 on the year, good for sixth in the NWAC.

Mt. Hood’s winning streak stands at seven, with the Saints set to welcome Chemeketa to Gresham on Saturday. The doubleheader begins at noon.

PAGE a d v o c a t e - o n l i n e . n e t8 SPORTS

Photos by Clay Vitale

“Rock with the whiteand roll with the red!”

To view the full unabridged story, visit:advocate-online.net

Saints softball exemplifies unity by amping up the energy with chants of encouragement from the dugout

TOP: The Saints’ coaching staff addresses the team between home victories.ABOVE: Darian Lindsey takes reps in the cage before starting the second game.

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Baseballcontinued from page 7

He hit a three-run double in the top of the sixth inning in the third game that got the Mt. Hood team pumped up, himself included. “It was awesome. It was really nice to see that happen. I just had a lot of confidence,” he said.

In game one on Saturday, Saints sophomore hurler Seth Rayburn (3-2, 2.54 ERA) went the distance on the bump and beat the Cougars, 9-2. Rayburn pitched all nine innings, scattering five hits while walking only one and strik-ing out one batter.

In the nightcap, the Saints won, 8-2, behind the pitching arms of sophomore Riley Moore (3-3, 3.97 ERA) and freshman Connor Ste-venson (0-2, 2.67 ERA).

Not only was Donohue proud of his offensive outburst, he also gave due credit to his pitching staff. “Our pitching has really im-proved,” said the skip. “But you get to a point in the season where you know where you’re going to have a run at an NWAC title. And at the beginning of the season our pitch-

ing wasn’t going to win anything. The numbers at the beginning of the season are what they are.”

To add insult to injury, the Saints took on the Cougars on Sunday and won in a football-like fashion, 14-0.

Sophomore Nate Hunter (3-3, 5.62 ERA) picked up his second consecutive victory and tossed six innings and struck out five batters. The Saints offense got off to a hot start and Mt. Hood was up, 6-0, through three innings. In the sixth inning, the team tackled on eight more runs.

Then in game four, the Saints continued to pounce the Cou-gars, winning 9-4. Freshman Cobi Johnson (3-1, 2.36 ERA) picked up the victory on the bump.

The Saints travel today to Clark College (9-5, 12-16) in Vancouver to square off with the Penguins in a doubleheader slated for 2 p.m.

On Saturday the Saints host the Penguins in another doubleheader. The games are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

Photos by Nick Pelster

Saints infielder Jay Becker bunts his way on during a game against the Linn-Benton Roadrunners on April 9. Mt. Hood has won 8 of the last 10 games.

To view more action of the softball games go online to the advocate-online.net.