I just want to say a huge thank you to Jeff Halstead, Head Coach at Puget Sound, for taking the time to get this info to me. Most of the coaches that are getting info to me have never met me but they see what is happening and they are getting behind it. The baseball community in the NW is AMAZING and I love being here to cover it and hopefully in 2022 I get to see all the teams I cover in person.
1. Who was the season MVP?
Our season MVP was probably Dylan Joyce. Dylan was 1st Team All-NWC at DH and was also our closer. He is a Sophomore out of Marin Catholic in the Bay Area.
2. Who was your team Cy Young?
Jr. Owen Shellhammer was our Cy Young. He was our #1 starter and was named 1st Team All-NWC as well. He is out of Corvallis, Or.
3. Freshman and/or sophomores that stepped up to contribute this year.
Dylan Joyce-So. 1st Team All-NWC DH Hit .311, 8 2B, 12 HR, 38 RBI’s and had 4 Saves
Jonas Kim-S0. OF- out of Puyallup HS and Taylor Baseball. Was our #3 Hitter all year-Hit .313, 9 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR-
Jack McCullar-So. C- (Got Injured part way in but was off to a great start)- Hit .296 with 8 2B’s in only 18 games and 54 AB’s-
Makana Murashige-Fr.-out of Punahou School in Hawaii -3B- had to fill in for an injured Sr and did a great job- Hit .388 with 2 2B’s in 49 AB’s.
One to keep your eye on is Gio Parascondola-Fr.- He hit .381 with 1 2B, 2 HR’s in only 21 AB’s and got to start our last weekend vs. Whitman and was the NWC Hitter of the week.
4. Juniors and/or seniors who stepped into leadership roles and had an impact on the team.
Kyle Strash-Sr (will be back next year though) Skyline HS, Boys of Summer- Has been a 3 year team captain- and 3 time All-NWC player. Hit .358, 9 2B’s for us out of the leadoff spot. When done next year will be top 5 in pretty much every hitting category we have except HR’s at Puget Sound.
Owen Shellhammer – Jr. P- mentioned above- was named a team captain this past season and really led the pitching staff to making some major improvements.
Andrew Matsueda-Sr. P- Punahou School-Hawaii- could not throw the first part of the season because of a finger issue but once we got him back he went 3-3 with 2 CG’s and a 2.70 ERA- was a huge addition and also our most fierce competitor- brought a lot of intensity to the team- also played some 3B.
Davis Miller- Jr. P/1B- Willow Glenn HS, San Jose- Davis was in our rotation and played 1B. Hit .310 for us and on the mound started 10 games winning 3 with a 4.56 era. He was also in his second season as a team captain.
Jesse Awa-Sr. OF- Kamehameha-Hawaii- Jesse had never played much for us but had an All-NWC senior year for us in the OF- Hit. .311 with 4 2B’s and 4 HR’s and was named to the Hon. Mention team-
5. What were some key moments in the season for you and the team?
Started the season off with a 3 game sweep of Whitworth in Non-Conference play- was big because we were starting a lot of new faces from the previous season
About 2/3 of the way into the season we were swept at home by PLU losing a few close games- we rebounded the last 3 NWC series going 9-4 down the stretch and barely missing the NWC tourney- was proud of the response of the team and them showing we could put 3 consecutive weeks of good baseball together.
6. Your biggest take away from the 2021 season.
The team learned that they can compete with anybody in the NWC and how small that gap is between teams. We lost 5 extra inning games and several other 1 run games. Had 2 outs in the 9th up 1 vs. Pacific (NWC Champs) and gave up a BB and a 2B to let them tie it and end up losing in 12 innings. We went onto win game 2 that day, so we were 1 out from sweeping the day for example. The team learned the hard lessons of what it takes to win those close games and hopefully we can carry those into the 2022 season and improve in those situations.
7. The outlook for the 2022 season.
The outlook for 2022 is exciting- we will return 8 starters in the field and numerous others that started at different times during the season along with ¾ of our starting rotation and top bullpen arms so we will have the experience. If we can make the necessary improvements and growth through the summer and Fall and show we learned the lessons from both our failures and successes in 2021 I think we could have a very successful 2022 spring, that being said all the teams in the NWC are talented and will be working hard so we will have to earn anything we hope to accomplish. We are also adding great group of new players to the mix that looks to be one of the more talented recruiting classes we have.