B
S PORTS
Section B
North
Douglas
wins one
in series
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 541-942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Luzier's no-hitter guides Elkton to win
Warriors go 1-2
against Oakridge,
are second place in
league
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
In a battle of the Warriors,
it was Oakridge that came
out on top over North Doug-
las. The two baseball team’s
that use the same mascot had
their three-game weeklong
series last week that saw
Oakridge (7-2, 5-1) take the
series 2-1 over North Doug-
las (5-4, 4-2).
In the fi rst meeting, last
Tuesday, it was Oakridge
walking away with an 8-6
come from behind victory in
Drain.
In the fi rst inning, North
Douglas had the bases
loaded with one out when
Oakridge’s catcher put his
arm on display and threw out
a runner who had taken time
getting back to the base after
the pitch.
With two outs, the home
team rallied when the catcher
tried to throw Caleb Parks out
at third but an over thrown
ball resulted in Parks scor-
ing a run for North Douglas.
Wyatt Beckham’s single then
scored Kondan Freize and
Carson Burris from second
and third and the warriors
carried a 3-0 lead to the sec-
ond inning.
The bats stayed hot for
North Douglas as Koldan
Frieze’s double, his fi rst of
two on the game, scored
Parks. Austin Frieize, Parks
and Koldan Frieze all record-
ed hits in the third inning.
Defensively, North Douglas
was holding it down as pitch-
er Carson Burris struck out
fi ve batters in the fi rst three
innings.
The tides began to turn in
the fourth inning as Oakridge
started to get on base. A
walk, a single and a hit batter
mixed with stolen bases and
passed balls saw the visiting
team score three runs in the
inning all with two outs. It
was more of the same for
Oakridge in the fi fth inning
as two hits coupled with
three batters getting walked
resulted in another three runs
and their fi rst lead of the
game at 6-4.
“All those clichés you hear
are so true about playing
not to lose and rather than
to win and you can just feel
that. I went out and talked to
the kids and said you know,
if this was a 0-0 game right
now you guys would be han-
dling this totally different,”
said North Douglas head
coach Jeff Davis.
“I told them it’s exactly the
same. We’re tied right now.
It’s a league game, we’re
tied, what are we going to
do? It’s part of it’s a process,
some of it is personality and
some of it is high school ath-
letics, you know how it ebbs
and fl ows.”
A pair of runs in the sev-
enth inning for Oakridge
extended their lead before
North Douglas scored one
last run in the bottom of the
inning.
“It would have been nice
to keep this at 6-5 and for
us to come in and tie it up or
win one coming from behind
like they did. They’ll get a lot
of that, not because it was us
but because they came from
behind 4-0,” said Davis.
“Their kids are the kids
we’ve known for years
and… they are very talented
and are an upperclassman
ND Baseball continued on B2
PHOTOS BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Austin Luzier is locked in as he delivers a pitch on Saturday. Luzier struck out 14 batters and gave up no hits in the win.
The Elks sweep Lowell
to get back to .500 on the
season
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
At the start of the season, Elkton’s
Austin Luzier preferred not to pitch.
“I like catching and shortstop, I don’t
like getting on the mound very much,”
said Luzier in early March.
He might like pitching now.
Luzier was able to enjoy his time on
the mound last Saturday as he threw a
no-hitter and struck out 14 batters as the
Elks beat Lowell 11-0 in fi ve innings.
“It’s a good feeling. It wasn’t the best
game, there were a few errors but we did
pretty good as a team I think,” said Lu-
zier.
While there were no hits, it was not a
perfect game as he walked a pair batters,
including the fi rst at-bat of the game, and
a fi elding error in the third saw a run-
ner get on base. Regardless, Luzier was
seemingly untouchable on the mound as
his strikeouts accounted for every out
after the fi rst inning. Additionally, in the
second and fi fth innings he struck out
each batter he faced.
“Well, Will Shaw, (Coach Bill) Shaw’s
grandson came down and helped me with
pitching. And ever since, my fast ball has
been getting higher and my curveball has
been breaking more,” said Luzier. “And
everything has been getting better and
my defense has been picking me up be-
hind me.”
More than individual success, Elkton/
Yoncalla (4-4, 3-3) was able to walk
away with a pair of wins over a winless
Lowell team (0-6, 0-9) to move back to
.500 on the season and in league-play.
“I think you saw today, I think we’re
getting better. I still worry sometimes.
Like we get a guy on base and we’ve
done some shaky things in the past not
backing up our pitcher. But today of
course Austin did a pretty good job tak-
ing care of himself,” said head coach Bill
Shaw.
Offensively, it was Luzier leading
the way as he came up with three of the
team’s fi ve hits with a double and a pair
of singles. Where they lacked in hits,
they made up in fi nding ways to get on
base. The Elks were walked 10 times,
with Spencer Moore being walked three
times, to go along with nine defensive er-
rors from Lowell. The Elks scored their
runs in bunches coming away with fi ve
in the third inning and four in the fi fth
inning.
“Last night we had a pretty good round
of batting practice with some of my guys
who haven’t hit real well. And then to-
day they had good at bats. They didn’t
necessarily all get great hits but they
had way better at bats,” said Shaw. “You
know whether we fouled off pitchers or
we found a way to get on base and that
makes me feel better when I see us start
to get a hold of it better.”
In the second game of the double-head-
er day on Saturday, it was Brad Doudna
fi nding success for the Elks as he struck
out 14 batters in six innings of play on
the way to a 10-0 win. Luzier, again, led
the team with three of their fi ve hits as he
recorded three singles.
Last Tuesday, in the fi rst game of the
series, the Elks won 13-0. In the win
Doudna threw eight strikeouts while Lu-
zier added three.
The Elks are now two games back
from fi rst place in league and now have a
series this week against winless Mohawk
(0-6, 0-10) before heading into three se-
ries against the top three teams in the
league over the next month.
“Really the battle is to try and work
our way into the league tournament.
And so for us that means win this series
against Lowell, win the series next week
against Mohawk and then fi nd some way
to win one of the series with Oakridge,
North Douglas or Monroe,” said Shaw.
Elkton's Cooper Peters dives back to fi rst as Lowell pitcher Mason Wendt attempts to pick him
off.
Cottage Grove hosts league golf match
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Cottage Grove's AJ Boitz tees off on Friday at Middlefi eld Golf
Course.
Athlete of
the Week
Last Friday the Cottage Grove boys golf team host-
ed the teams of Special District 2 at Middlefi eld Golf
Course for a league match.
The league that features familiar Sky-Em foes (Sis-
ters, Junction City, Sutherlin and Sweet Home) also
includes Cascade, Newport, North Marion and Stayton
and is one of four districts at the 4A level. As the rain
stayed off the course, the teams were able to get in a
full round that saw Cascade take fi rst place as a team
with 329 strokes. Stayton placed second at 335 strokes.
“Cascade and Stayton are usually – they’re the two
teams that are fi ghting it out to see who is going to
win our league,” said Cottage Grove head coach Kent
Russo.
“That’s good representation, though. If they can fi n-
ish in the middle of the pack (at state) that would be
just fi ne.”
For Cottage Grove, the team took fi fth place of the
fi ve full teams that competed. Dawson Husko shot a
team best 99 on the day. The other scorers for the Li-
ons were Johnny Bench at 101 strokes, Kaden Eriksen
with 10 and an impressive 43 on the front nine, and AJ
Boitz at 111.
“Yeah, I’ve got to tell you I have none for my team,”
said Russo when asked about the expectations for his
team. “They’re just not golfers yet.”
While Russo is certain of how his team will fare the
rest of this season, he is thinking of how his team, that
features a pair of freshman and a sophomore, will be
able to compete in the future.
“The future looks like it’s going to be okay. We’re
not going to be good right away but by the time those
kids are juniors and seniors, I think they’ll be reason-
able again,” said Russo. “And we can go out and actu-
ally play a round of golf and think we’re going to be in
the middle of everything.”
Especially notable in that group is the play of fresh-
men Kaden Eriksen.
“His swing is a little jacked, we’re working on it, but
he drives the ball pretty darn well and he’s got a little
bit of an idea of how to play this game so he’s going to
improve quickly. More quickly than the others,” said
Russo.
“And he’s got a really good friend, Thane Parsons
(who played JV today). That’s what it takes. I think I
probably told you that earlier in the year, the guys that
are friends that go out and play golf together otherwise
they won’t go out. So I think those two being ninth
graders, and they’re absolutely loving the golf thing,
so I expect them to get better over the next couple of
years. A lot better. I’m hoping that works out.”
This week’s athlete of the week is
Hunter Hall. Hall, a member of
the Cottage Grove track and fi eld
team, won the shot put, javelin and
discus competition at Thursday’s
track meet at Sisters.
PHOTO BY CGHS
PHOTORAPHY