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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 2015)
B S PORTS Section B Wednesday, , August 12, 2015 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Coed soccer championship ends in close shootout After a 2-2 tie in regulation, Dragon Ocean outscores Rally 3-2 in a shootout BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel F ollowing a brutal 5-0 shut- out match for third place, the South Valley Athletics Sum- mer Coed Outdoor Recreational Soccer (SCORES) champion- ship match was a much tighter game, as Dragon Ocean kicked off against Rally Wednesday evening. The sun went down and the lights came on as Rally started off strong with an early goal by No. 7 Nick Markham to take a quick lead, but Dragon Ocean refused to roll over. Their star forward, No. 23 Timothy Eck- stine, tied the game up with a beautiful strike into the top- right corner of the goal. Ecks- tine wasn’t fi nished, however, as he scored one more time late in the fi rst half to put Dragon Ocean in the lead as the game reached halftime. The two teams struggled to get close to the goal for the en- tire second half. Several soccer balls were thoroughly ejected from the match via powerful Phoo by Sam Wright Both the Rally and Dragon Ocean teams fought to fi nd the goal in the championship game, but it would be after regulation play, during a thrilling shootout, that Dragon Ocean would emerge victorious. strikes unable to reach their intended target, and it seemed that Dragon Ocean would walk away with the win. But an eager Kirby Bull- inger managed to elude Dragon Ocean defenders and score with less than fi ve minutes left in the game, tying it up at 2-2. Soon after, the referee blew the whis- tle to end regulation, and the game went into a shootout that refl ected the tightness of the en- tire match. Trevor Smith and Kyle Finnerty kicked it off with easy goals for Rally and Dragon Ocean respectively, but Rally’s Kalli Ramsey was thwarted by Dragon Ocean’s goalie, giving Dragon Ocean the edge until the same goalie missed his op- portunity right after Ramsey. It was not until Markham missed his goal and Dragon Ocean’s star of the night, Eckstine, kicked the fi nal goal of the shootout that earned Dragon Ocean the victory. Both teams graciously congratulated each other, then eagerly went home, as the shootout kept spectators and participants on the fi eld past 10:30 p.m. N ICE FORM ! Athlete of the Week Timothy Eckstine At the South Valley Athletics’s Summer Coed Outdoor Soccer (SCORES) champion- ship match, Timothy Eckstine led his team, Dragon Ocean, to victory over their oppo- nent, Rally, with two stunning goals in regu- lation and the winning goal in the shootout. A look back, just before moving on BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel T uesday nights, when each week’s issue is delivered from our printing press on the coast, are my favorite times to be in the Sentinel offi ce. On most of those evenings, I will hear a steady stream of people drive up to the curb at 116 North Sixth Street, walk up to the vending machine and drop in three quar- ters to get their paper. Though I’ve been thanked many times over the past year by people I’ve written about, it’s the aforementioned Tuesday night ritual with read- ers that provided some of the most meaning to my work; it let me know that some people actually read the news we had worked so hard over the previous week to gather, and it’s something I will miss dearly as I move on from the Sentinel. This paper has been a launching pad for many tal- ented journalists; Adam Jude, who went on to cover sports for the Register Guard, Oregonian and now Seattle Times, comes to mind. I wish I could tell you all that I was moving on to the New York Times, but I’m not. Truthfully, when I applied for this position, I viewed it as an opportunity to become a better writer, rather than a step toward a life-long career in newspapers. There have been times over the past year, however, when I reconsidered that plan. It wasn’t long before I realized the thrill of a byline. I also developed stronger working relationships in a short period of time than in any previous jobs. And the weekly production al- lowed for some very attractive fl exibility with my work schedule, as well as the time to digest a story and get it right. The pressure of Monday deadlines was everything I hoped for but sometimes more than I bargained for. I worked from week to week with a certain level of anxi- ety about not having enough content to fi ll the page. Along the way I became better at planning ahead and using a few tricks of the trade to fi ll out a lighter week, but it was a rare Monday when all loose ends were tied Please see HOLLANDER , Page 2B photo by Jon Stinnett Tennis instructor Bob Reed awaits a volley from Halle Violette during the fi rst day of South Valley Athletics tennis camp Monday. The fi rst-year camp drew an impressive 26 participants. Since the advent of pickleball on the Coiner Park courts, the need to share space between tennis and pickleball players has become evident. Common ground at Coiner Park Pickleball and tennis players attempt to share court space BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel T he Cottage Grove City Council is rarely the forum for discussions of community sports and recreation. However, at the July 27 meeting, representa- tives of the pickleball and tennis communities asked city offi cials to weigh in on a difference of opinion over the Coiner Park ten- nis courts. Since originally installed over a decade ago, the three public tennis courts have been enjoyed exclu- sively by the tennis community. Earlier this summer, however, a group organized by Ken Welker sought to bring pickleball to Cot- tage Grove. With support from City Manager Richard Meyers, the group purchased a community set of pickleball equipment and outlined two yellow pickleball courts — one in paint and the oth- er in tape — on the most westerly tennis court. Clarence Dean, who spoke on behalf of the tennis community, said he is not opposed to other activities that get more use of the Coiner Park courts, but he became concerned when he was told that all three courts would be adapted for pickleball play. “We’re hoping that the city only marks one court for pickleball,” he said. “From our point of view, it’s invasive when you’re play- ing tennis. When you’re trying to determine if a ball is in or out, it doesn’t matter if the lines are yel- low or white.” Coincidentally it seems, the pickleball group also saw the July 27 City Council meeting as an op- portunity to present its case. “We see this as a collaborative opportunity,” said Welker. “We are not trying to convert all of the tennis courts. We have tentatively agreed with the city to paint one more tennis court (for a total of four pickleball courts) until the need for more arises.” As each pickleball court can accommodate up to four players, Please see RACQUETS , Page 2B No races this weekend. See you next weekend enjoy the fair!
