The Hattenhauer Distributing Columbia Gorge Hustlers American Legion triple A Hustlers were forced to cancel the remaining four games of their schedule because circumstances left Coach Chad Smith’s squad shorthanded and unable to compete without enough players.
“The kids just have some other things going on right now and they were all pretty disappointed that we couldn’t finish playing the remaining games on our schedule,” said Smith. “We’ve been riddled with some injuries and guys with sore arms and we just didn’t have enough pitchers available for our team. Some of them were unable to continue competing because of family vacations, and that’s very important, too.
“It was kind of sad, because the kids pay to play on the Hustlers, the sponsors put money into the organization and the coaches set time aside and dedicate their resources to the team, too.”
Smith’s son, Carson, played in the Single A Hustler home game on July 13, which marked the final game of his career with the team. The Hustlers’ last game July 7 at Hillsboro also marked the final game of the American Legion baseball career of 2022 Dufur High grad Gabe Petroff and 2022 Hood River Valley grad Hunter Hough. All three have been on the Hustlers for the past five years.
Petroff, a sophomore at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, will continue his baseball career while playing on the Storm men’s baseball team. Hough, a sophomore at Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) in Klamath Falls, will continue his career, as well, playing for the Owl men’s baseball team. Smith has plans to hopefully continue his career one more year at Centralia Community College and play on the Trailblazers’ men’s baseball squad next year.
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