By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– 52 athlete’s came out to Post 58 Crusher try-outs on Sunday afternoon at Regis High School.
The Crushers are coming off an American Legion Triple-AAA Playoff appearance, where they went 1-2 under former Head Coach Kyle Baker. Casey Lulay enters his first-year with the program, tasked with continuing what Baker established during his tenure running the program.
Of those returning includes Stayton’s Liam Brown and Kennedy’s Brody Panuke. Both played for the Single-A and Triple-A squads respectively last Summer.
“It’s a lot of games, a lot of reps last year really helped and that really helped contribute into our (school) season, second round and got pretty deep into playoffs. The competition that you play over Summer Ball, it’s a lot of kids from other schools merging into teams, a lot of best kids from best teams smashed into one. It’s a lot of good competition,” said Brown. “I think it helps a lot.”
Panuke, who’s still playing with his Trojan team who are in the 2A/1A State Semi-Final round, spoke towards learning from the older kids that he played with last Summer.
“I learned a lot from them, they were good mentors for me,” said Panuke. “They told me to stay within myself and stay in control. I can’t control everything that happens and stay calm and do what you can.”
The two-month season starts in the coming days that culminates with the American Legion Triple-A State Playoffs the last week of July down in Medford.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
