B
S PORTS
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions still on top after eight-game
winning streak ends against Sisters
After Cottage Grove handed Sisters its fi rst loss at home in eight years, the Outlaws
struck back and ended the Lions' winning streak
Athlete of
the Week
Boys' track
dominates
at Sweet
Home
Despite sluggish
starts and slower
Presley hits 1.000 to times, the boys' track
boost Lions to the top team looks top notch
against 4A competition
of the Sky-Em
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Photo by Gary Ordway
Wyatt Sayles swings against Elmira where the Lions took home a 7-5 victory and a top spot in the Sky-Em League.
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Through its fi rst six games,
the Cottage Grove baseball team
was sitting at a 2-4 record after
a few tough losses against dif-
fi cult 5A and 6A opponents at
the Volcanoes Tournament. At
that pace, the Lions looked like
they could be sitting on a 5-10
record, but they now sit on 10-5
and are the top-ranked team in
the Sky-Em League. The record
did not come without struggle,
and the struggle did not come
without triumphant moments.
At the beginning of last week,
the Lions were on a six-game
winning streak after devouring
the Junction City Tigers, 12-2.
At the time, Elmira held the top
of the Sky-Em and both the Fal-
cons and Lions had one game in
between before the Lions were
able to challenge Elmira for the
top seed in the league.
Before that game, the Lions
had already shown their poten-
tial to be the Sky-Em champi-
ons by handing Sisters its fi rst
loss at home in eight years.
A common case that the Li-
ons have seen in many of their
victories is a lower batting aver-
age than their losing opponent.
In their 6-2 win over Sisters,
Cottage Grove had a .290 aver-
age, while the Outlaws fi nished
with a .333 average. But the
statistics (and results) show that
the Lions’ heavy focus on base
running is a more effective strat-
egy.
Cottage Grove had fi ve stolen
bases compared to Sisters’ two.
The play-calling has been im-
mensely potent for Head Coach
Brad Geiszler, who describes
their base running strategy as
“very aggressive.” But the Lions
have 68 total stolen bases that
more than double the national
average in high school base-
ball. Cottage Grove has only
been caught stealing a base four
times, giving them a 94 per-
cent success rate. On most wild
pitches, Geiszler sends his base
runners in a sprint to the next
base. A lot of times, that base
happens to be home plate, and
the panic that the runners induce
renders errors, and the Lions
end up making their opponents
pay dearly for their mistakes.
The big win picked up mo-
mentum for Cottage Grove as
they won three more against
Sutherlin, Junction City and
Sweet Home. Elmira then trav-
eled to Cottage Grove on April
13, where both teams were 4-0
in league play, but the Falcons
held the top spot with the better
overall record.
The Lions were able to rally
No. 8 Payton Pres-
ley was crucial in his
team's victory over
Elmira. The senior
batted perfect game
against the Falcons
and to sum it up, hit a
two-run home run in
extra innings to win the
game and put his time
at the top of the Sky-Em
League.
Please see Baseball, Page 3B
Redmond, Hanson, Braaten and
Corley collect CGS victories
BY BEN DEATHERAGE
For the Sentinel
Another great turnout of race
fans was in attendance for the
Saturday, April 16 races at Cot-
tage Grove Speedway. The pits
would see a wonderful turnout
of competitors with teams trav-
eling from all over the state of
Oregon as well as Washington
and California. Classes in ac-
tion included the Clark Printing
Extreme Sprints, IMCA Modi-
fi eds, IMCA Sport Mods and
Quality RV Repair Hornets.
The Clark Printing Extreme
Sprints would be on hand for
their fi rst race of 2016. Rose-
burg driver Don Waddell and
Medford’s Bailey Hibbard
would share the front row. Hib-
bard would take the lead only
to have a caution occur in the
opening start. On the second
attempt, Dusty Redmond, from
Roseburg, would put his No. 57
Rocket out in front.
Redmond would be chal-
lenged on several occasions
but kept all potential threats in
check. A late race restart with
seven laps to go gave second
on back a chance to challenge,
but Redmond would get the job
done in the end. With the vic-
tory it marked the fi rst career tri-
umph for Redmond after com-
ing so close over the years.
Eugene pilot Raquel Ivie was
second, followed by Dave Hib-
bard of Medford in third. The
rest of the top fi ve would be
made up of Thurston’s Ricky
Ashley in fourth and fi fth fi nish-
ing Chelsea Blevins in fi fth.
Fast time of the night was
Up until Tuesday, April 12,
the Cottage Grove track and
fi eld team had been facing 5A
and 6A opponents at every meet.
Because of that, the teams have
struggled against the depth of
larger schools, and while a few
individual fi rst places are won,
the teams never had a chance
to earn a top spot overall. Tues-
day’s meet changed that, at least
for the boys’ squad.
Cottage Grove fi nished fi rst,
beating out Sisters and Sweet
Home, and it was the Lions’
house for the entire meet. When
all the points were racked up,
Cottage Grove’s score exactly
doubled that of second place
Sweet Home (184 against 92).
The boys won 11 out of the 17
events and were still fi ghting
for positions in the top three in
events they did not win.
The meet saw a little change
in arrangements as Michael
Tharpe participated in the 100-
meter dash and won with a time
of 11.63 seconds.
“He’s too good of an athlete
to just have in three events,”
head coach Ricky Knutson said
of Tharpe. But Knutson has
been cautious about Tharpe due
to some hamstring issues in the
beginning of the season.
Connor Howard took home
fi rst place in the 200-meters
with a time of 23.45 seconds,
and he won the 400-meter dash
in 51.75 seconds.
The 800-meter run was also
taken by Cottage Grove. Fresh-
man Erick Vallejo Giffen ran the
race in 2:19.36.
The 1500 meters did not see
a Cottage Grove winner, how-
Please see Track and Field, Page 3B
Personal bests
achieved at
golfers' fi rst
tournament
win
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Courtesy photo
Dusty Redmond celebrates his victory with his family.
Cottage Grove native Patrick
Dills. Blevins was victorious in
the Dot’s Trophy Shop Trophy
Dashes, while Dills and Ivie
won heat races.
The IMCA Modifi eds would
have a caution-fi lled main event.
Springfi eld’s Steven Sturdevant
would put up an impressive ef-
fort. Sturdevant would battle
fi ercely for the coveted top po-
sition with Jasper’s Eric Ashley.
Sturdevant would secure the
lead on lap 11 for much of the
race, though constant pressure
continued to build. With the
quantity of the caution fl ags, it
would eliminate the possibil-
ity of lapped traffi c and wipe
away all of the progress Stur-
devant had made on building up
a decent-sized lead. Sturdevant
would lose the top spot on lap
21 to Craig Hanson of Albany.
Hanson would build some mo-
mentum via the high side of
the race track to make the pass
coming out of turn four. Hanson
would show the fi eld the rest of
the way to win his fi rst race of
the year.
Steve Sturdevant would fi n-
ish a respectable second, while
third was Nick Trenchard from
Klamath Falls, driving for car
owners Rich and Nicky Biehn.
Redmond’s
Mark
Carrell
crossed the line fourth, while
Kyle Casson was fi fth.
Monte Bischoff of Medford
would be fast time of the night.
Nick Trenchard would pick up
the victory in the Dot’s Tro-
phy Shop Trophy Dash, while
heat races would be won by
Craig Hanson, Brad Martin and
Bischoff.
A good crop of IMCA Sport
Mods was in attendance for
their fi rst race of the campaign.
Six different drivers would lead
at the start-fi nish line and it was
great to see some new faces in
the division. One of those new
faces was Springfi eld driver
Shawn Hand taking the lead
early. Hand would lead the fi rst
lap but was passed on lap two
by Mike Medel from Medford.
Medel would lose the top spot
to Hand on the next lap.
Shortly after a lap three re-
Please see Speedway, Page 3B
Friday marked the fi rst tour-
nament win for Kent Russo and
his Lions golf team. The varsity
team shot a season-low of 363
at Agate Beach in Newport.
Among the team score, several
personal bests were achieved.
Nick Russo (80), Jeramy Hall
(92) and Jessy Thomason (93)
were the three of fi ve players
that shot personal bests. Dylan
Wooten and Trey Husko were
the remaining who still shot a
solid 98 and 102, respectively.
Head Coach Russo says that
the Lions will have to keep up
this type of play if they wish to
remain in the hunt for a league
title. It is the fi rst time in several
seasons that Cottage Grove is
not favored to win. Russo also
says that Sutherlin and Junction
City will be the teams to beat
this season.
“Our goal is to fi nish in the
top three at the district tourna-
ment to earn a trip to state,”
Russo said.
There are four more tourna-
ments remaining before the dis-
trict tournament begins on May
9.
Join us April 23rd
Round 1 of the 360 Sprint Triple Crown
360 Sprints, Late Models,
IMCA Sportmods, Quality RV Hornets