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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 25, 2018)
B S PORTS Section B Farewell to Hayward Field Wednesday, April 25, 2018 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Lions and Bulldogs split a pair of games With the new facility being built, what is being lost along the way? By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com When I was seven-years- old, I ran at Hayward Field for the fi rst time. Proudly wearing my Joey Harrington jersey, I com- peted in an all-comers meet where I was the fastest (and only) kid my age to run the 1500. Since then, Hayward has been the setting for some of my favorite memories. I spent my 13th birthday at the Prefontaine Classic where future gold medalist and all-around great human Sanya Richards (not yet Richards-Ross) wished me a happy birthday. In 2008 my dad and I watched Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating and Christian Smith complete an Oregon sweep of the 800 to advance to the Olympics in what is one of the greatest races I have ever seen and each re-watch since, still fi lls me with emotions. Every year, on the fi rst day of the OSAA Track and Field Championships, I was allowed to skip school. That Friday was not a day for learning in a classroom but sitting at the start line of the 200 with seemingly half of my high school as we cheered on teammates, Or- egon legends (see: Thomas Tyner) and future Olympians (see: Ryan Crouser). (Would like to put on the record that watching high school Thom- as Tyner and Aloha’s state record breaking 4x100 team was unreal.) Gifted with tickets for the fi nal day of the 2012 Olym- pic Trials, I sat 15 rows up from the fi nish line as Or- egon’s favorite son Ashton Eaton set the world record in the decathlon. Everyone in the stands screamed, cried or a combination of the two as we reveled in the realization that our hero was the greatest athlete in the world. I was late to prom my ju- nior year in high school be- cause I had to watch De’An- thony Thomas compete in his fi rst 100 as an Oregon Duck. I was at the 2016 Trials on the day of the 110 hurdle fi - nals to then have Devon Al- len jump into my section as he punched his ticket to Rio. I’ve seen countless sub-4:00 minute miles, critiqued pole vault form, been locked in for all 25 laps of the 10,000 and refused to bat an eye on shot put throws under 70 feet. When I walk into Hayward it is less like walking into a sporting event and more like walking into grandma’s house. There is a comforting smell that greets you at the door; it’s a place fi lled with memories of your own and from those before you; you know each and every corner of it. It’s a place you revere and under no circumstances could be replicated. Seeing the images of what the new Hayward Field will look like deeply, and unex- pectedly, pained me. Plans for the new stadium – that is scheduled to be ready in the spring of 2020 – have been in motion for quite some time but there was something about actually seeing what this futuristic-feeling facility will look like that felt like a betrayal. This upgrade feels HAYWARD continued on B3 PHOTOS BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL Cottage Grove's Wyatt Sayles celebrates as fi rst basemen Jacob Dunn comes up with the fi nal out of the fi rst game of the day. Cottage Grove baseball team wins one, loses one in double-header By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com In an especially close Sky-Em league race, it was Cottage Grove and Sutherlin splitting ever-important league games last Friday in a double-header. In league play, the Lions and Bulldogs both remained at 4-4 and tied for fourth place while sitting just a game and a half back from league leaders Junction City and Sweet Home. “Steal a few wins, a few teams lose, maybe to a team they shouldn’t, and we’re right in it,” said Cottage Grove head coach Dan Geiszler on the league race that guarantees the top three teams a spot in the playoffs. On Friday, it was Cottage Grove start- ing off the day with a 6-3 victory. While the team has scored the least runs in the league this season, it was the bats that got things started for the Lions. Lead- off hitter Payton Frieze got things going right away with a homerun blast in the bottom of the fi rst inning. “Payton leading off the game with a homerun sets a great tone. Kind of sets a, ‘hey we can do this.’ Hitting is conta- gious and once you see, oh, he can do it, I can do it,” said Geiszler. “You want to be a part of it. And we hit.” An additional pair of runs from Hunter Sharkey and Wyatt Sayles in the inning got the Lions started off on the right foot. The game changed in the third inning when the Bulldogs were able to tie the score at three apiece after a Cottage Grove balk, that was contested by Geisz- ler over the nature of the rule, and a deep shot to center that scored a runner from third. The Lions stole back momentum in the fourth inning with another three-run in- ning that began with bases loaded and no outs. An Emry Foster grounder to short scored Matt Zumwalt from third but not before it had been ruled the Bulldogs came away with a double-play. The call was then changed after it was deemed the fi rst basemen had pulled his foot. A Frieze hit to right fi eld scored Jacob Dunn from third and a Sayles fl y to left brought in Foster. With runners on fi rst and second, the inning was ended as Sutherlin’s cen- ter fi elder Tanner Lierman sprinted to- wards the outfi eld fence to make an out- stretched, over the shoulder catch on a deep ball from Jaace Cross. “Geez Jaace hit the heck out of one and the kid makes a great catch for what would have been two more runs,” said Geiszler. Defensively, the rest of the game was controlled by Cottage Grove pitcher Wy- att Sayles. Sayles pitched a complete game and struck out four batters. Making sure they got a win on the day, it was Sutherlin coming out fi ring in the second game as four of their fi rst fi ve bat- ters found their way on base in the fi rst inning on the way to three runs in the in- ning. The damage was not yet done as the Bulldogs were at it again in the sec- ond inning as they hung six more runs on the scoreboard. The team fi nished with 12 hits in the 10-0, fi ve-inning game. “They just hit the heck out of the ball for one inning,” said Geiszler. Sutherlin’s pitcher Cade Meisner, who also pitched two innings in the fi rst game, handled the Lions as he recorded fi ve strikeouts in four innings of duty in the second game. Sutherlin’s Riley Westbrooks closed the game in the fi fth inning and had two strikeouts. Cottage Grove had four hits in the game. “They have three good arms. As deep as anybody in our league. And it’s not al- ways about the success, I thought we re- ally swung the bat okay. We did a much better job swinging the bat then we have even though we didn’t score the second game,” said Geiszler. “It’s hard to say that when you lose you’re happy but the way we competed was fi ne. There was not a lack of effort, there wasn’t a lack of competing. Some- times the other team just does a better job. And that was the second game and that just happens.” This Friday, Cottage Grove travels to face Junction City in a double-header. Cottage Grove's Noah Spink safely dives back to fi rst base last Friday. Cyclists prepare Row River Trail Cottage Grove announcer calls last game By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL Members of the Cottage Grove Bicycle Club work on painting parts of the Row River Trail to show areas where there are bumps, roots and rocks. Looking out for the safety of the riders, the group painted needed areas along the 16 miles of the trail. The group will hold their next meeting on May 10 at 7 p.m. at the Healing Matrix. Athletes of the Week This week’s athletes of the week are the Cottage Grove boys relay teams. At the Elmira Relays last Saturday, the Lions won six of the eight different relay events on the track coming away with wins in the 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 800, 4 x Mile, the distance medley relay and the 4 x 120 yard shuttle hurdles. For the last fi ve years, Evan McClendon has been living out his dream as a sportscaster. “I was born to do it,” he said. Having called Cottage Grove High School football, basketball and baseball games, McClendon, at least temporarily, made his fi nal call last Friday at Cottage Grove baseball’s double-header. A 2011 CGHS graduate, McClendon works in a mill full-time and has been presented with a new opportunity that features trav- elling, full-benefi ts and a higher pay-grade. “I would love to sit here and do this for the rest of my life but you know, I’ve got my own life to worry about and you get an opportunity like this and you just have to take it,” he said. The lifelong self-described sports fanatic fi rst got into calling local games after him and his brother, Aaron, were listening to a CGHS football game and he thought, oh, I could do that. During ANNOUNCER continued on B2 Cottage Grove's Jacob Woods receives the baton from teammate Juice Clafl in in the 4x100 on Saturday. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/ CG SENTINEL
