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Knights youth clinic Comments

The Knights give the lowdown.
Corvallis Knights coverage Saturday begins with their annual free youth clinic. The reason for my attendance is because my son Hunter, 7.5, participated.

This was the first time it was done in Goss Stadium, instead of going to a high school field. Team president Dan Segel said the feedback from the community was that it would be nice to do the clinic in Goss.

Nearly 200 children from Linn and Benton Counties participated, which was a good turnout. There was some concern that it could get too big, but it was at about the right number.

“It was a lot of fun,” Knights infielder Richie Jimenez said. “The kids were running around and having fun.”
The warmup.

The goal is to foster community relations, and it’s a good idea. It wasn’t an intense learning workout in three-plus hours, but a way for children to have fun on a special field.

An experience like this keeps them interested in the game for years to come. Plus a pack of Big League Chew (the best tasting gum in the world) was a good reward.

“It was all fun,” Hunter said. “There was nothing bad.”
The clinic in full swing.

Most of the clinic involved hitting with plastic bats. There was some soft toss with metal bats, fielding and attempts at rundown procedure.

My favorite stations were the dugout games to kill time in case of a rain delay. That’s Northwest baseball for you. I’ve worked a few of these camps/clinics in Southern California and that’s never part of the schedule.

“Actually, that was the best part of the day,” Hunter said. “You throw the ball at the steps for points. And I won.”
That's the rundown going on.

For your regularly scheduled Knights coverage of their Saturday night victory over Lake Moses, read about in Sunday’s GT here. It will was interesting to see if these guys are worn out from dealing with the children all afternoon.

“We talked about that before the game,” Jimenez said. “We just always have to play hard. You never know when it’s your last game.”

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