If you are looking for a shining example of a successful community college athletic program, and we are blessed with several here at Mt. Hood, one really need look no further than our Saints baseball team.

They recently captured their twelfth Division Championship and will attempt to grab their third NWAACC championship next weekend.

Sophomore right-hander Zach Bird threw a no-hitter last Friday, the sixth no-hitter in MHCC baseball history. The stellar performance also put Bird past Timber Mead’s three shutouts in a season, a record set in 1985.

Each year they send young men onward and upward in baseball, and in life.

All of this and they are a complete class act on the field. In the dozens of games I’ve seen here and on the road in the last two years I have never once seen a Saints player disrespect the other team. They are behind each other, and vocal about it, but you’ll never see mockery or ego-driven antics in their celebrations.

They also never, and I mean ever, disrespect an umpire. There are no glares, stares or even lingering glances no matter what the call. If there is an argument to be made, they know their coach Gabe Sandy will be all over it. And that is as it should be. Players know that they can just walk away from a call and Sandy will have their back. I’d be willing to bet umpires around the league appreciate this attitude from the players.

Sandy arguing a call is great. He is fire and brimstone in classic Lou Pinella style, minus the flying bases of course.

Ask Sandy why they do things the way they do in terms of attitude and he takes no credit. He says that it’s how he was taught to play when he played here. This style is a tradition of the Mt. Hood Community College baseball program.

So while the team deserves a big pat on the back for winning, I think I’ll give them kudos for the way they go about it.