MHCC CLAIMS EIGHTH NWAC TITLE

The MHCC Saints softball team won its eighth all-time NWAC championship Monday in a nail-biter that closed the series over Lower Columbia. Not only were the final games of the series a back-and-forth affair, but the Saints clawed their way back to the top of the bracket after an early-round loss to the returning champions, Lower Columbia.

After the 5-4 loss against LCC, MHCC rallied and defeated Clackamas 14-4, following that up with a pair of 11-3 and 6-5 wins against LCC to close the tournament. It was the Saints’ third championship in five seasons.

MHCC pitcher Gracie Huston was named MVP of the tournament. LCC, the other softball powerhouse in the South Region, was sitting at 9-2 when The Advocate sat down with sophomore Keilani Crichton-Tunai earlier this season. Crichton-Tunai said she was “most excited” for the matchup at LCC on April 3, calling it a “pretty big confrontation.”

Not only did the Saints close out the season with a win over their neighboring perennial powerhouse; they did so with dominant stats. The team batting average for the season sits at .424, and they hit 87 home runs over 55 games. Freshman Sadie Guyette broke the MHCC record for RBIs in a season.

The best may be yet to come: The team was composed of 17 freshmen and four sophomores this year. Softball assistant coach Taylor Gould echoed this sentiment.

“Historically at Mt. Hood, I think softball has always been one of the more dominant sports,” Gould said. “A lot of recruitment went into the process. We had to fill vacancies from our 2024 team that won, so we needed impact players to come in right away as freshmen.”