By Ron Ford,
The SFCC baseball team is going to the championships for the first time since 2007.
Bobby Lee, the team’s head coach, spoke to the Communicator regarding the teams’ standing as it approached the end of the 2014-2015 season.
“We are in the last week of the season,” Lee said on May 4. “Currently we are in fourth place with a 14 win, 10 loss record in Eastern Region play, and our overall record is 25 wins, 12 losses.”
Lee spoke about the final league game, scheduled for May 6:
“The playoffs start next weekend, and if we take care of business this week we will be in the playoff hunt.”
Subsequently, the team won its place in the championships in a double header with Wenatchee Valley on May 6. SFCC lost the first game, 3-2, and won the second, 5-2.
Outfielder Sheldon Liikala, an SFCC sophomore in his second year on the team, is excited about being part of the champion playoffs.
“It’s awesome,” Liikala said. “Last year we missed it by one game, it was actually kind of heart breaking. Just doing it for each other, for our teammates and especially for coach Lee, to get back in the playoffs, it’s just an awesome feeling.”
Pitcher Adam Paulson, on the team for his first year, echoed the sentiment.
“We haven’t been there since 2007,” Paulson said. “It’s awesome for Coach Lee for us to be going, because I know it’s a hump he’s been trying to get over.”
The team is preparing for the battles to come with anticipation, but not with complacency.
“We’re happy with what we’ve accomplished but were not satisfied,” Liikala said. “We’re hungry for the championship. Anything less would be disappointing. But I think we have the team this year we can pull it off. It’s all about getting hot late and playing some good baseball at the right time of the year.”
Coach Lee agreed that this year’s team is a winning one, on and off the diamond.
“We have a quality team with a mix of returning players and new guys that have created a competitive culture both on the field and in the classroom,” Lee said. “The playoffs are like the lottery – you have to be in it to win it.”