PORT ANGELES — The Olympic Crosscutters will hold tryouts this weekend for the 2016 season.
The second-year baseball program will have two squads this season, a 19U showcase team and a 17U American Legion team.
The two-day tryouts are at Civic Field, Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Players participating in high school state tournaments this weekend should attend Sunday’s tryouts for a light workout with no throwing.
The showcase team will be geared toward college recruitment and exposure. The 17U team is a development program that will focus on preparing players to play college baseball. Both teams will play many games and tournaments throughout the summer.
The showcase roster will have 12 players and the 17U team will have 18.
“Six athletes from the 17U [roster] will be allowed to swing between both teams in order to push the threshold of the ‘serious’ younger athlete, ultimately preparing them for college early,” Crosscutters head coach John Qualls said in a news release.
Both teams’ rosters will be made up of players from throughout the North Olympic Peninsula, from the West End to Hood Canal.
The coaching staff also comes from various Peninsula locales.
Qualls returns as head coach. He graduated from Port Angeles High School and also served as an assistant baseball coach at Sequim.
Darrin Dotson returns for his second season a Crosscutters assistant coach.
Dotson also is the head coach at Quilcene. In two seasons at the helm, he has guided the Rangers to two SeaTac League championships. This year, they also won the district title and are headed to the Class 1B state playoffs.
Former Forks player and coach Wayne Daman will serve as pitching coach. Daman pitched at Washington State and in the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization. He served as Forks’ coach from 2013 until last month.
Andrew Neisenger of Port Angeles will join Daman as a pitching coach. Neisinger played at Bothell High School and then collegiately at Southwestern Oregon Community College and Saint Martin’s University.
Port Angeles High School graduate and current Forks resident Cameron Leduke rounds out the coaching staff as the hitting instructor.
The cost to play for the Crosscutters is $500 per player.
“Our sponsors keep the cost down for the players and families,” Qualls said, “although we are sensitive in understanding that there are families who cannot afford to pay for their son. Therefore, we will not turn away any athlete do to financial hardships.”
Qualls said the players will spend time meeting with college coaches at many of the Crosscutters’ tournaments this summer.
The current tournament schedule, which is subject to change: Edmonds Community College, June 1-5; Skagit Valley College, June 9-12; Anacortes Tourney June 17-19; Bankers Invite, June 24-26; Big Bend Community College, July 2-3; College Showcase Tourney in Centralia, July 6-11; and the district tournament in Port Angeles, July 15-17.
The league schedule has not yet been finalized.
For more information about the Crosscutters, email john@olympiccrosscutters.com or phone 360-775-2384.
