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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2016)
B S PORTS Wednesday, June 1, 2016 Section B South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Despite round-two elimination, baseball sees best fi nish in 25 years The Lions lost to Astoria in round two, but the victory over Baker in round one marks the best fi nish the team has had in a quarter of a century Athletes of the Week BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel It’s not only track that is show- ing a stellar fi nish this spring; baseball has set milestones too. After a victory against Baker, the Lions fi nally lost at home to Astoria in extra innings, but it’s the best fi nish Cottage Grove has had in 25 years. The fi rst playoff match came Wednesday when the Baker City team came to town. This is the third different sport where Cot- tage Grove has faced off against Baker in the postseason, and last week’s game put Cottage Grove up 2-1 in games against the Bulldogs. Baker came into the game ranked at number 13 in the state ,while the Lions were ranked fourth. The 13-13 Bulldogs faced a stronger 19-7 Cottage Grove squad, but they weren’t counted out. The Lions went up early with four runs that included a triple by Payton Presley. The Sky-Em Player of the Year managed three hits and three RBIs throughout the game. The Bulldogs responded in the next inning with just one Strength in numbers Photo by Sam Wright Lucas Ward slides to third attempting to avoid being tagged out against Baker on Wednesday. year, but you never know who run that was mostly due to an Dan Geiszler said. Geiszler is still proud of the will step up and become lead- undeniably questionable call off of a stolen base. But the Lions team and where they got, as ers,” he added. There are only held a 4-1 lead until the top of the Lions didn’t make it past the three returning seniors (cur- the fourth inning, where Baker fi rst round of the playoffs last rently juniors) for next year, so there will be a lot more room for managed to bring in two more year. The team will lose an elite younger players to step up. runs, putting them just one run The Lions fi nished with an crop of seniors next year, but away from a tie. Both teams’ defenses were there is plenty of potential for overall batting average of .293 steadfast and not a single run younger players to step up, in- and a 40.2 on base percentage, was scored for the remaining cluding Brett Ollivant, who won both slightly above the national 2.5 innings, and Cottage Grove the Sky-Em Pitcher of the Year average for prep baseball. Their 90.8 fi elding percentage also award. came away with a 4-3 victory. “It’s sad that they have to ranks slightly higher than the The Lions suffered through more of a struggle with Astoria. leave, not only because they’re national average. After a Sky-Em Champion- After a long, low-scoring battle, great players but because they’re the Fisherman pulled away with a really great group of people,” ship season, Cottage Grove fi n- two runs in the ninth inning, and Geiszler said of his seniors. But ished with a 20-8 overall record. Cottage Grove succumbed, 4-2. there is still excitement to see Those returning to the team “We played really good de- who will be the next leaders of next year will begin the summer league on Friday. fense in both games but just the team. “You’ll always know the type couldn’t get the hits we needed against Astoria,” Head Coach of talent that will return next Golf season meets expectations; potential improvements to come next year Placing third at districts and qualifying for the state tournament were among Kent Russo's goals BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel The Cottage Grove High School golf team had certain goals set by head coach Kent Russo. Although these goals were met, there is still room for improvement for next year. Russo said that the Lions’ original goal for the district tournament was to place third and make it to state. This dis- plays the realistic perception Russo has on his team and that he understands that many play- ers are still working their way to a higher skill level. “We weren’t going to threaten for fi rst or second this year,” he said. And they didn’t, but Cot- tage Grove met its goal and put themselves in a comfortable third place and qualifi ed for the state tournament. Junction City walked away with the district title, and Sutherlin followed in second place. On day one, Jessy Thomason achieved a career best, shoot- ing 92 in the fi rst round, while senior and team leader Nick Russo shot a solid score of 86. These two performances helped put Cottage Grove in a 20-stroke lead over North Marion. On the next day Russo shot 89 and kept pace with the top players of the tournament and eventually took third place individually. Jeramy Hall shot a solid 95 on day two, which Russo says is a good score for the course. “The greens were extremely fast, which made pitches, chips and putts very diffi cult,” he said. Russo also noted the potential of Trey Husko, who shot 99 on Cottage Grove baseball made a statement this year by taking the Sky-Em League and snagging a playoff win over a tough Baker team. Although the Lions lost to Astoria in round two, the team fi nished its season bet- ter than any pervious team in the past 25 years. Head Coach Dan Geiszler's team has rejuvenated the program and will look to keep improving the team despite the loss of four seniors. Top Right to Left: Jaydin Osbin, Lucas Ward, Coach Gei- zler, Sr. Coach Gardner, Coach Hutchins, Head Coach Geizler, Ryan East, Hunter Harris Middle Row Bottom Right to Left: Payton Frieze, Emry Foster, Wyatt Sayles, Mason Cox Bottom Right to Left: Jacce Cross, Brett Ollivant, Bryce Allen, Payton Presley, TJ Bellamy Roger Crockett wins night one of Memorial Grove Classic BY BEN DEATHERAGE For the Sentinel Photo by Sam Wright Kent Russo tees off at Middlefi eld Golf Course for an end-of-the-season game last Wednesday. day two, breaking 100 for the fi rst time. He shot 42 on the front nine but shot 57 the rest of the way. “He will improve dramati- cally over the next couple of seasons,” Russo said. Cottage Grove took its fi ve varsity players to state the next week. Aside from Russo, Thom- ason, Hall and Husko, senior Dylan Wooten was also part of the varsity squad. Thomason led the board ,shooting 96 on both rounds for a total of 192, while Russo was just behind him after shooting 102 in the fi rst round and 95 in the second round (197 total). Hall came out with the best indi- vidual round of the team with a score of 94 in the fi rst round but shot 110 in the second round. Wooten broke 100 in round one (99), but totaled 206 after a 107 score in round two. Husko capped them off with 96 and 112 for a total of 208. Although the team placed last, it wasn’t a disappointing performance. While improve- ments can defi nitely be made and scores will need to be low- ered in order for more success against the state competition, there will be a return of players such as Husko, Hall and Thom- ason who can possibly strive 541-942-7561 for a higher place in the district tournament. In the meantime, Russo urges players to keep playing golf in the offseason. “They can play for free; even once a month would be good,” he said. Russo says he also has verbal confi rmation that Kory Parent and Blake Sentman will participate in golf next spring. “They will defi nitely be nice to have on the team,” Russo said. But before that happens, there may be more frequent sightings of younger faces at Middlefi eld Golf Course. Saturday, May 28 was the opening leg of the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic. An impressive 38 360 Sprint Cars traveled from Oregon, Wash- ington, California, as well as the Canadian provinces of Brit- ish Columbia and Alberta. For the IMCA Modifi eds 20 entries were in the house. Defending race winner Jason Solwold of Burlington, Wash- ington led the opening lap of the 360 Sprint race. Solwold got passed on lap two by Roger Crockett. Crockett, from Med- ford, built a decent lead, but just as lapped traffi c was coming into the picture, a caution oc- curred. A few more cautions came out, and it was right about when traffi c was beginning to become a factor. Crockett was very good on the restarts and really had no issues the rest of the way. It was the second win of the 2016 sea- son at CGS for Roger and the No. 11 KPC. Solwold ended the night sec- ond, followed by Paradise, Cali- fornia’s Kyle Hirst in third. The balance of the top fi ve consisted of Henry Van Dam of Enum- claw, Washington, while Cen- tral Point native Garen Linder was fi fth. The top four fi nishers of Crockett, Solwold, Hirst, and Henry Van Dam were locked into the Sunday night feature. With so many cars in atten- dance the fi eld was split in half with two groups of qualifi ers. Solwold was fastest in the fi rst wave, while Hirst was on top of the second group. Justyn Cox of Clarksburg, California, Roger Crockett, Central Point chauf- feur Chadd Noland and Alba- ny’s Bricen James were the four heat race winners. Kyle Miller, from Eugene, was the winner of the Dot’s Trophy Shop Trophy Dash. Despite a number of cautions in the main event, the IMCA Modifi eds put on quite an enter- taining race. Coquille’s Ryan Baker got into the lead on lap one. Curtis Towns, of Cottage Grove, was able to get around Baker to take over the top place position. Towns built a decent lead but kept having it cut down due to cautions. Kreg Britton, also out of Cottage Grove, tracked down Towns and made the pass un- derneath for the lead on lap ten only to lose it the following lap. Curtis Towns was able to hold on for the rest of the distance to win his fi rst race of the season at Cottage Grove. Albany’s Craig Hanson got second, while Kreg Britton crossed the line third. Pulling off double duty Bricen James was fourth, followed by Eugene’s Jesse Williamson in fi fth. Steven Sturdevant of Spring- fi eld was fast time of the night. Picking up heat race wins were Sturdevant, Springfi eld’s Jake Mayden and Curtis Towns. Craig Hanson would be victo- rious in the Dot’s Trophy Shop Trophy Dash. Join us June 4th for KIDS NIGHT - KIDS 12 AND UNDER FREE Clark Printing Extreme Sprints, IMCA Modifi eds, IMCA SportMods, Quality RV Repair Hornets www.cottagegrovespeedway.com All kids 12 and under will be entered in a drawing for bicycles
