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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2015)
2B COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 8, 2015 B ASEBALL Continued from 1B photo by Matt Hollander Cottage Grove's Zach Thomason didn't have his best day against the Warriors, but he delivered several critical outs along the way. Speedway's season gets off to a hot start, continues Friday Kofoid, Williamson, Towns and Maricle pick up wins on opening night BY BEN DEATHERAGE For the Sentinel T he Cottage Grove Speedway’s 2015 season offi cially began on Saturday, April 4. With a full crowd on hand, the his- toric 1/4-mile clay oval hosted 360 Sprints, IMCA Modifi eds, Late Models and the Hor- nets. In the 360 Sprint main event, California’s Micheal Kofoid took the lead from the start and maintained his lead through several re- starts to win in his fi rst ever trip to CGS. Garen Linder from Central Point was second place, and Vern Wheeler fi nished in third. Seth Nunes of Medford and Springfi eld’s Allison Journey fi nished fourth and fi fth, re- spectively. Twenty-four entrants lined up for the start of the IMCA Modifi eds. Coburg’s Jesse Wil- liamson overtook Cottage Grove’s Curtis Towns on lap eight en route to victory. Jesse Bailey from Central Point, William- son and Towns each won heat races, and Springfi eld’s Jake Mayden managed to pick up the victory in the consolation feature. Rob Mayea of Bend led the Late Model race early before spinning out on lap 10 due to contact. Towns later overcame LaPine’s Trent El- liott for fi rst place. Veneta driver Kevin Ropchan managed to fi nish in second followed by Rob Campos of Scio. Mayea fi nished fourth, ahead of Bend’s Darren Coffell in fi fth. In the last event of the evening, 21 drivers started in the Hornets race. Joe Maricle of Veneta took care of busi- ness after starting on the front row of the main event. A competitive battle for second place saw Dexter’s Taunton Swain beat out Cottage Grove’s Chris Pierce. The balance of the top fi ve consisted of James Donaldson from Dexter and Kasey Johnson, in fourth and fi fth place, respec- tively. In addition to racing a special Easter Egg activity took place where drivers handed out eggs to kids in the crowd. The Speedway has its fi rst Kage Kart race scheduled for Friday, April 10, with its next race for the 1/4-mile clay oval scheduled for Saturday — also Retro T-Shirt Night. Classes on the card include the Extreme Sprints, IMCA Modifi eds, Street Stocks and Pro-4s. Those seeking more information can visit www.cottagegrovespeedway.com. wasn’t his best start, Thoma- son and the Lions were able to manufacture outs at opportune moments. The Warriors got solo home runs from Austin Gerbing and Croy in the fi fth and seventh in- nings, respectively. Croy’s shot gave Philomath its 4-2 lead. Thomason, however, wasn’t rattled. “I’ve given up home runs be- fore. I’ve learned to just let it go, keep pitching my game and have confi dence that we can get it done at the plate,” he said. Geiszler said he considered taking Thomason out in the fi fth inning but trusted that his senior could get the job done. “When you give up home runs, you hope they’re solo home runs because that’s still just two runs, which can only hurt you so much. It was the walks that could have really hurt us — par- ticularly those in the bottom of the order. He struggled but he found ways to get outs on a day in which he didn’t have his best stuff,” he said. Wednesday’s game against Philomath was rescheduled from Tuesday due to rain. And although afternoon showers threatened to delay the game once again, the skies cleared by game time and mostly stayed that way until the sixth inning. Besides pregame fi eld prepara- tions, neither coaches nor play- ers thought that the weather played a signifi cant factor in the game. “The rain wasn’t really an is- sue,” said Thomason. “I just got into my own head and really had to focus and move around on the mound in order to bring my pitching back together.” Geiszler admitted that the rain might have impacted McGary’s ability to fi eld Bellamy’s hit in the seventh inning. But in the end — no matter the weather, or how many runners were left on base — their resiliency struck a chord of déjà vu for Geiszler. “The determination at the end to get it done says a lot about our guys. It was very reminiscent of last year’s Pleasant Hill game, only this was a better team,” he said. The Lions wrapped up their nonconference slate with a 7-5 win over Siuslaw at home on Saturday. Stock went 2-for-2 and drove in two runs and Lucas Ward also had two RBIs to lead Cottage Grove (8-2) to the vic- tory over the Vikings. The No. 5 Lions were sched- uled to open Sky-Em play at Elmira on Monday and host defending league champion Sis- ters today at 4:30. “We’re out to a faster start than last year. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing,” said Stock. League, to play their old Sky- Em rival. The loss to Pleasant Hill was Cottage Grove’s second-straight by 10 or more runs, and the team spent some time afterward in a soul-searching meeting. “We’re struggling mentally right now,” said Frieze. “ We sensed it before spring break and the vacation only made it worse. We’re really trying to recover by going back to the drawing board.” In looking ahead to their fi - nal nonconference game Sat- urday against South Umpqua, Frieze said that regardless of the outcome, she wanted to see the team execute in the fi eld, be confi dent at the plate and be ag- gressive on the bases. Cottage Grove (3-5) lost to the Lancers, 6-4, but showed marked improvement. K’alea Galbreath went 2-for- 4; Katie Lyons went 2-for-3 and Kamryn Ortloff and Clarke each went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Say- les had three strikeouts with one walk and allowed eight hits. The road back to winning, however, did not get any eas- ier for the Lions, as they were scheduled to open league play against defending champion Elmira on Monday. Frieze said that the Falcons would pose a particularly strong challenge because the Lions won’t have had any time to practice following their game at South Umpqua. “It’s defi nitely a tough lead- off for the league season, but I know the girls are capable if, mentally, we can wrap our heads around it,” she said. South Valley Athletics 4/5/6 Grade Basket- ball Tourney, March 14 Boys Champions Front row left to right: Logan Marek, Justin White, Drew Thomas and Tristan Kane. Back row left to right: Assistant coach Brian Kane, James Smith, Drew Chapman, Malakai Crane, Trevor Reeder, Joey Carpen- ter and coach Willie Reeder. Girls Champions Left to right:Coach Craig DeGarlais, Gracie Anold, Abigail Akin, Emma Hitt, Ken- nedy Sturman-Royse, Peyton Baird, Avree Block, Halle DeGar- lais, Haylee Sowa, and Coach Mike Arnold. S OFTBALL Continued from 1B to fi nd a good rhythm to the season, but in this particular game it was challenging for her to rest and refocus without much of a break between innings. The Lions only had 19 at-bats for the entire game. Many of the balls that they put in play ended up in the glove of Skelton, who made or assisted on six put-outs. The Billies went the entire game without an error. “You never know how these things are going to go,” said Pleasant Hill coach Steve Smith. “But once we got going, we re- ally got going, and that made it hard for them. We also played really well in the fi eld, and that was the key.” Smith added that it’s always fun for the Billies, who now play in the 3A Mountain Valley photo by Matt Hollander Cottage Grove coach Cheryl Frieze (second from right) had more than one meet- ing with her infi elders during last Thursday's 16-2 loss to Pleasant Hill — the team's fourth in a row. Frieze said that the team has struggled to regain its focus post spring break. The Lions were scheduled to open Sky-Em League play at defending champion Elmira on Monday.
