By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– It wasn’t the season that they wanted, but man did the Chemeketa Community College end it in style on Saturday afternoon.
They closed out the 2026 campaign with a dominant 11-1, five inning victory over Clackamas Community College. The victory came off the heels of their tough 5-4 defeat to the Cougars to open the Sophomore Day doubleheader in NWAC South Region play.
And from how the game began, it looked as if Clackamas was going to walk away with the spoils of the day as they jumped on Max Eaton (Regis) in the first inning and got a run off the sophomore in his final start with the Storm. But the sophomore settled down. He, and the Chemeketa defense didn’t allow another run across and limited the Cougars to six total hits over the next four innings of play.
“It was a moment of refocusing and zeroing in. There was a reset in the dugout after I came off the mound there. Some of my stuff was getting hit more than it usually does and so it was a moment of refocus and trust my stuff, keep throwing it in the zone and know that it’s going to work,” said Eaton, who finished the year 5-2 with 23 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.08 in 12 games.
The bats. They came alive there from the start in response and lived up to that old saying that hitting is contagious.
It was small initially. Isaiah Sanchez (Central) drew a walk by a hit batter that tied the game up at one in the bottom half of the third to tie the game. But it was in the bottom half of the third inning in which they really tore the game open.
Three runs in the third gave Chemeketa a 4-1 lead. Then a five-run inning followed in the fourth to push the Storm’s lead to 9-1 before they pushed across the final two runs of the game in the bottom half of the season to end the contest 11-1.
Joe Vaccaro (Mountain View) led the Chemeketa offense with 3RBI’s and two hits, Nick Crawfored (Spanish Springs, Nevada) contributed another two hits with a RBI as Chemeketa finished the season 11-35 on the year and 10-26 in NWAC South Region play.
“To have our guy Max on the mound is the utmost confidence, he pitches hard out there. So for the offense, we just want to go out there and do our best for him. It’s all momentum. A couple of guys got it going. From there. we just rallied,” said Vaccaro. “It was good to get one where we ten-run a team. We haven’t put up that for a while, it was a nice one to finish on.”
Vaccaro was one of the 13 sophomores on the roster this season, he spoke towards the bittersweet of the moment and knowing his time at Chemeketa has come to a close.
“It was a couple of different years. Last year, to win that playoff game was so awesome and this year, it was a bit of struggle but to end it like this, it feels nice. To be on this field finally, turfed and everything like that, it’s sweet. This program has meant so much to me and I learned so much here, it feels bittersweet for sure to leave this place,” said Vaccaro, who played in 75 games at Chemeketa.
Eaton, coming from a 2A program like Regis, to contribute as he did was huge. Going from reliever last season as a freshman to more of a starting role this year, Eaton finished his career with the Storm 7-2 with a save with an ERA of 3.03 in 25 career games with three Complete Games to his name.
“It’s definitely important that we ended it on a high-note and I think that’s something that every single one of these guys will take with them into the offseason and into the Summer and the returners into next year,” said Eaton. “I’m just really grateful for the opportunities that Chemeketa has given me and the friendships that I made and the networking through baseball that Chemeketa has allowed me to have.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
