2B
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 22, 2015
Salute to Melvin Walker
highlights CGS races
BY BEN DEATHERAGE
The Cottage Grove Speedway hosted Extreme
Sprints, Late Models, IMCA Sport Mods, Street
Stocks and Hornets on Saturday. The Hornets
events included a special tribute to Melvin Walk-
er, one of the division’s most important fi gures.
The Extreme Sprints put on a great display of
racing. Dave Hibbard from Medford took full
advantage of his front-row starting position to
get out in front of the fi eld on the opening start.
Hibbard set a rapid pace, but when lapped traffi c
came into play he had his hands full with Cottage
Grove’s Patrick Dills. However, a caution on lap
11 would allow Hibbard to restart with some open
track.
Hibbard had a good restart and would have no
issues getting around lapped traffi c. He fi nished
the race in Victory Lane.
A fantastic battle for second was waged in the
last few laps. Cottage Grove native Colby Carter
fi nished ahead of Roseburg’s Orion Redmond.
Dills was fourth, followed by Michael Kofoid in
fi fth.
Kevin Ropchan of Veneta was the car to beat
in the Late Model main event for the majority of
the race. Ropchan set a wicked pace but his large
lead was cut down due to a lap-11 caution. On
the restart, he kept all challengers in check until
lapped traffi c became a factor.
Ropchan, with just laps to go, had his hands
full with Cottage Grove’s Curtis Towns. Towns
fi nally fi nd a way around Ropchan in traffi c on
lap 21. Towns led the rest of the way, despite a
late race caution, to visit Victory Lane. It was the
second straight win for Towns.
Ropchan was a respectable runner-up, while
Blaine Taylor, of Pleasant Hill, was third. The rest
of the top fi ve consisted of Lebanon’s Josh Sim in
fourth and Tom Lawson from Veneta in fi fth.
In the 2015 IMCA Sport Mod debut, Gene Ash-
ley of Jasper was the car to beat all night. Howev-
er, Cottage Grove’s Jimmy Owen put up a valiant
effort in the main event.
On lap eleven, Ashley seized the lead and began
to pull away from Owen for the victory. Owen
fi nished second, while Jayson Nelson, from
Springfi eld, was third.
The Street Stocks had a strong debut to 2015.
Eugene’s Chris Sine took an early race lead on
the fi rst lap. But Steve Dubisar from Coquille
took over on lap 12 and stayed in front the rest
of the way. Evan Britton of Cottage Grove was
second, and Sine was third.
Last but not least, the Hornets brought a total of
30 entries. The main event was a “Salute To Mel-
vin Walker,” who was in attendance watching the
races with several of his family members racing
throughout the night.
In the main event Junction City’s Marcel Forte
was the early leader before yielding to Dexter’s
Mike Swaim. Swaim went on to have a good
battle with Josh Corley from Westfi r for the top
spot.
Unfortunately for Swaim and Corely, they got
tangled around lap four, leaving both out of con-
tention for the win.
Chris Pierce from Cottage Grove took advan-
tage of the open front, but it wasn’t long before
he lost the lead to Veneta’s Joe Maricle. Unfortu-
nately, those two got together and crashed on the
front stretch with heavy damage to both entries
on lap 12.
Eventually, Dan Jenkinson of Marcola took the
lead on lap 13 and stayed out in front the rest of
the distance.
Forte ended the night in second, while Marc-
ola’s Dale Jenkinson was third. The balance of
the top fi ve consisted of Maricle in fourth, who
recovered from the early incident, and Pleasant
Hill’s Justin Austin in fi fth.
Cottage Grove Speedway will be in action on
Friday and Saturday for the Spring Showdown.
Both evenings will feature the Western Sprint
Tour, which is the premier touring 360 Sprint se-
ries in the Pacifi c Northwest region.
360 Sprints will be on tap for both nights. Late
Models and Street Stocks will be the support class
on Friday, while the IMCA Modifi eds and Hor-
nets will take over that role on Saturday.
B ASEBALL
Sky-Em Baseball
Team
Sisters
Cottage Grove
Elmira
Sweet Home
Junction City
Sutherlin
Wednesday's Results
Sisters 10, Junction City 3
Elmira 21, Sutherlin 10
Sweet Home 3, Cottage Grove 2
Thursday's Results
Sweet Home 17, Sutherlin 7
League: Dynamic Trios
Date: April 14
Friday's Results
Elmira 10, Cottage Grove 5
Sisters 19, Sutherlin 2
Sweet Home 13, Junction City 1
Team
Swearengin Design
H. Selective Log.
Grandma's Rule
H's Rowdy Bunch
Advanced Eyecare
Golding Enterprises
Cottage Bowlerettes
New Creations
K. Family Merc.
R's Beauty Salon
Friday's Games
Elmira at Sweet Home 4:30pm
Junction City at Sutherlin 4:30pm
Cottage Grove at Sisters 4:30pm
Sky-Em Softball
Team
Elmira
Sweet Home
Cottage Grove
Junction City
Sutherlin
Sisters
W
5
5
2
2
2
0
L
0
1
3
3
4
5
Wednesday's Results
Elmira 8, Sutherlin 1
Junction City 10, Sisters 3
Sweet Home 9, Cottage Grove 0
Thursday's Results
Sweet Home 19, Sutherlin 6
Friday's Results
Sweet Home 19, Junction City 3
Elmira 7, Cottage Grove 4
Sutherlin 11, Sisters 5
Friday's Games
Elmira at Sweet Home 4:30pm
Junction City at Sutherlin 4:30pm
Cottage Grove at Sisters 4:30pm
COTTAGE BOWL
League: 5 O'Clock Shadows
Date: April 12
photo by Matt Hollander
Cottage Grove's T.J. Bellamy hit a solo homerun in the sixth inning to tie the game 2-
2. The Lions struggled offensively against the Huskies, going 6-for-31 at the plate.
innings, he struck out seven
and walked one.
“Zach looked really good to-
day,” Geiszler said. “In the past
two games he’s really found his
curve ball, and that’s tough to
hit. It’s just unfortunate because
he threw a lot of pitches to lose
a game.”
In the sixth inning, Sweet
Home’s Desmond Ely got on
base with a single to center
fi eld. It was just their second
hit of the game, but the Huskies
capitalized. Ely stole second
base and later scored on a Cot-
tage Grove error to tie the game.
Catcher Brett Blachly then hit
L
1
2
2
2
5
6
an RBI single up the middle to
score Tow.
T.J. Bellamy responded for
the Lions in the bottom half of
the inning with a solo home run,
which tied the game at two runs
apiece.
Cottage Grove had its best
chance to win in the eighth in-
ning. After a single by Hunter
Harris, Ashcroft walked Thoma-
son to give the Lions two men on
base with one out. But Ashcroft
struck out the next batter, Bella-
my, and gathered in a grounder
by Elias Stock to make the third
out at fi rst base.
For Sweet Home, Hunter Jutte
started the game 0-for-3 but
went 2-for-2 with a double and
the game-winning RBI in the
extra innings; Ely went 3-for-4,
stole three bases and scored the
winning run.
“He struggled early and
stayed with it,” Huskies’ coach
Dan Tow said of Jutte. “It was
just a battle. Runs were hard
to come by, and we were try-
ing whatever we could to move
guys around the bases.”
Sweet Home came into the
game 5-5, but Geiszler said
their record was deceiving, and
that the Lions knew they were
going up against a quality team.
He also said that while the team
hadn’t felt pressure since upset-
ting perennial league power Sis-
ters the week before, they have
13
10
8.5
High Game
Men: Derik Hand 254
Women: Cherry Bascue 217
Men Three-high Series
1. Derik Hand 625
2. Johnny Saldana 608
3. Aaron Ames 602
Ron Bascue 602
Women Three-high Series
1. Cherry Bascue 521
2. Jan McTaggart 520
3. Jo Fitzgerald 472
Team
4 U Simple Book.
Mid State
Book Mine
Amigos Quatro
C.G. Vac & Sew
Ames to be True
V. Richenstein MD
Ace's High
Continued from 1B
W
5
4
4
4
1
0
All In the Family
Jim's Tire Factory
Jenni & the Jets 2
W
24
23
22
19
19
18
17.5
13
L
8
9
10
13
13
14
14.5
19
now become a target.
“We’ve seen everyone’s num-
ber-one [pitcher] the fi rst time
through the league. So, obvi-
ously teams know they need to
beat us, and I think that’s a good
thing,” he said.
Cottage Grove and Sweet
Home will play two more times
this year. The Lions will travel
on May 12 and host the Huskies
in the regular season fi nale on
May 15.
The Lions lost their second
consecutive game Friday, 10-5
to Elmira.
The Falcons scored fi ve runs
in the second inning, two in the
third and one more in the fourth
on their way to an 8-0 lead.
With the bases loaded in the
fourth inning, Stock hit a three-
run double. And in the fi fth in-
ning, after an RBI single by
Tristan Mihan, Stock drove in
another run to bring the Lions
within three. But that was as
close as they would come.
The loss knocked Cottage
Grove (12-4, 4-2) down into a
three-way tie for second place
in the league.
W
32
28
28
27
27
23.5
18.5
16
11
9
19
22
23.5
League: Ball and Chain
Date: April 17
Team
More Beer
Bowl Dozers
Roman Numerals
Joe's Diner
Party Patrol
Senior Funsters
Thunder Boltz
Cracker Jacks
Pin Pushers
Ally Oops
L
12
16
16
17
17
20.5
25.5
28
33
35
High Game: Margot Gotcher 201
Three-high Series
1. June Harvey 559
2. Debbie Saldana 527
3. Deanna Worley 491
League: Meri Rollers
Date: April 14
Team
Simand Chiro.
Blue Sunshine
Emerald Valley
Charlie's Angels
Treasure Chest
Mom's Girls
Team Reliv
Three Amigos
Ron's Girls
Lucky Ladies
Addi's Diner
W
27
26
26
26
25
25
23
21.5
21
19.5
19.5
L
14
14
19
18
18
18
17
11
20
22
24
League: Cottage Mixers
Date: April 8
W
55
37
33
32
30
29
29
29
24
17
High Game
Men: Ernie Owen 288
Women: Mary Whetstone 193
W
25
24
22
18
17
17
17
14
14
8
L
11
12
14
18
19
19
19
22
22
28
High Game
Men: Chad Renfro 278
Women: Koleen Kelly 257
Men Three-high Series
1. Jim Chenoweth 656
2. Chad Renfro 645
3. Del Bosch 641
Women Three-high Series
1. Koleen Kelly 639
2. Robin Kwandt 530
3. Brenda Chenoweth 717
MIDDLEFIELD MENS GOLF
Date: April 13
Game: 2 Points
1, Helms, Tooker, Lee, Eyman
94. 2, England, Hamilton, Morris
Culp 91. 3, Arney, Cooney, Emery,
Waterman 89.
Low Gross: 1, Sparks 72. 2, Helms
73. 3, Emery 76.
Low Net: 1, Morris 62. 2, Lee 63.
3T, Avery 65. 3T, Ingram 65. 3T,
Winters 65.
Closest to the Pin: No. 5, Singer.
No. 7, Ingram. No. 14, Lee.
Longest Putt: No. 14, Cox.
Date: April 16
Game: 2 Best Ball
1T, Eyman, Miller, Pennington,
Sparks (-21). 1T, Gates, Hamilton,
Hayes, Ingram (-21). 3T, Ackerman,
Bryce, Doleman, Rickard (-18). 3T,
Helms, Bodine, Pearson, Wile (-18).
Low Gross: 1T, Helms 72. 1T,
Pearson 72. 3, Doleman 73.
Low Net: 1, Ingram 61. 2, Avery
63. 3T, Culp 65. 3T, Hanly 65.
Closest to the Pin: No. 5, Cooney.
No. 7, Hoover. No. 14, Eyman.
Longest Putt: No. 15, Rhodes.
High Game: Wendy McNeil,
Shelly O'Reilly, Allie Simmons
— 215
Three-high Series:
1. Shelly O'Reilly 575
2. Mary Whetstone 556
3. Allie Simons 556
Team
Commonwealth F.
C.G. Speedway
Covered Bridge U.
Bowling Stones
Funseekers
Kelly's Trailer R.
Jerry Brown Co.
Cottage Bowl
Swearengin Design
Taylor's Towing
High Series
Men: Ernie Owen 702
Women: Mary Whetstone 546
L
8
26
30
31
33
34
34
34
39
46
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