Hood River Valley softball set to kickoff season

“I decided not to do that this year being my first year and make it a little easier,” said new head coach Ryan Munn. “So, we’re doing one a little closer to home this time. Over the years we’ve gone to the beach and we’ve gone to Medford. There’s a tournament every spring break. It’s a way for high school teams to play each other.”

The HRV girls will face Madison, Oregon City, Clackamas, and David Douglas high schools. Two of those teams will be a challenge, Munn said.

“Clackamas has a first baseman who’s a pretty good player. When she was a sophomore, she was player of the year in the 6A level and she’s committed to play at Stanford for a few years,” Munn said. “Oregon City is usually a good program. They’re one of the bigger schools in the state and they got a lot of good girls. They usually have a pretty strong team.”

Seniors who’ll play an important part in the season are Makenzie Chambers, Kaitlyn McNerney and Aunika Yasui, who made first-team all-state last year.

“We’ve got a lot of good younger players that are going to help us out,” Munn said. “We have a couple juniors that played a lot of softball already. Morgan Baker has been on the varsity squad since she was a freshman. She’s played the middle infield. This year it’s going to be a little different for her because she’s going to play third base. She’s played a lot of softball so she’s going to help us in a lot of ways. Molly Routson has also played a lot of softball for the varsity program. She’s going to play in the outfield so she’s going to help us a lot. There’s also a bunch of younger girls who are hungry and want to earn their spot and share what they can do.”

Munn said he’s excited, the team is excited and have been working hard every day.

“It’s good energy and I want them to be fearless,” Munn said. “If they play fearlessly we’re going to be alright.”