B
S PORTS
Section B
Dragons
sweep
Warriors
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Remembering Alisa Whitford
North Douglas
softball keeps it
close but falls to
Monroe
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
In a battle of top 2A/1A
teams in the state, it was
Monroe walking away with a
sweep last week over North
Douglas. The seventh-ranked
Dragons and ninth-ranked
Warriors squared off three
times with Monroe winning
5-0, 3-2 and 3-1.
“Well, the conversation I
had after this game was how
much better (we played),”
said North Douglas head
coach Jesse Rice after Fri-
day’s fi nal game.
“We went there Tuesday
and… we weren’t hitting the
ball. We weren’t seeing the
ball. Today, we hit the ball,
saw the ball. We just couldn’t
get that clutch hit when we
needed it.”
Tuesday on the road, the
team fi nished with three hits.
Hosting a double-header
on Friday, the Warriors were
ready for another crack at the
top team in league and were
inches away from, at the very
least, forcing extra innings.
Aided by back-to-back
homeruns from Ashley Sut-
ton and Tyler Warden in the
third inning, the Dragons
went into the bottom of the
seventh ahead 3-2.
Joanna Alcantar hit an in-
fi eld single for the Warriors
and represented the tying
run. After lead-off batter
Payton Black was walked,
the Warriors had a runner
in scoring position with just
one out.
A pop out on the next at
bat brought North Doug-
las to their fi nal out. After
throwing a strike, a routine
throw from the catcher to
the pitcher went awry as the
ball ended up getting past
the second basemen and into
the outfi eld grass. Alcantar,
on second, sprinted to third
and headed home. As she ran
home, the ball was thrown in
to the catcher and was placed
perfectly in Alcantar’s path
and she was tagged out at the
plate to fi nish the game.
The Warriors fi nished with
six hits.
In the second game of the
day, the Dragons started off
quick after their lead-off hit-
ter, Peyton Greene, was hit
by a pitch and scored two
batters later.
In the third inning, the
Warriors were dealt a blow
after a Monroe runner ran
into second basemen Riley
Black as she was fi elding a
ground ball.
“She’s got a great big fat
lip,” said Rice. “Well, actu-
ally the girl had a facemask
on and the facemask hit her
right in the mouth. Course it
was just that one rail on the
facemask and it just split her
lip wide open.”
Black’s temporary ab-
sence was felt in the fourth
inning. With runners on fi rst
and second with one out, a
grounder was hit to second
in what could-have been a
routine double-play but re-
sulted in a fi elding error that
scored a run. Monroe scored
two runs in the inning. Black
returned to the lineup later in
the game.
In the following inning,
Lilly Downie recorded a sin-
gle and scored the lone run of
the day for the Warriors off
of a dropped ball in left fi eld.
North Douglas fi nished the
game with eight hits.
“We let a lot of fi rst strikes
go by. We stood in and
N. DOUGLAS continued on B2
PHOTOS BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
A group of community members look at a bulletin board of pictures and newspaper clippings remembering Yoncalla's Alisa Whitford on Sunday.
Yoncalla's softball fi eld
named after pitcher who won
state in 1996 and passed
away in 2009
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
It was a day of remembering.
On Sunday May 6, a group of nearly
50 friends, family and teammates gath-
ered at the Yoncalla High School softball
fi eld to rename it after Eagles legend,
both on the fi eld and off, Alisa Whitford.
The event was equal parts family re-
union and celebration of life and cen-
tered around the unveiling of two signs
to honor Alisa: one in the outfi eld and
one on the back of the scoreboard to
greet people when they enter letting
them know they are at Alisa Whitford
Memorial Field.
“It’s bittersweet. I try not to cry. I was
nervous about coming but I’m proud,”
said Whitford’s mother, Kyra Whitford.
“It’s a beautiful sign, we worked on hav-
ing the sign made so that it feels good to
see it up. I’m proud. I’m proud that they
wanted to name the fi eld after her.”
Alisa Whitford graduated from Yon-
calla High School in 1996. It was a busy
day for Whitford and her teammates as
they began the day by winning the state
softball title in Portland and then attend-
ing graduation in the afternoon.
“We had to delay graduation because
those girls were up playing,” said former
athletic director Cheryl Simons. “They
came back…and there’s Alisa standing
at the podium in her cleats giving her sa-
lutatorian speech.”
Whitford was a three-sport athlete
(softball, volleyball and basketball) and
received all-league honors in addition to
league scholar athlete in each sport. But
it wasn’t just sports for Whitford who
was also the recipient of the outstanding
service award for her class, started the
yearbook at Yoncalla and was a member
of the National Honor Society.
After high school, she attended the
University of Oregon and graduated with
a bachelor of arts in exercise movement
science in 2001. After college, she trav-
elled the world and met her husband,
Trent Williamson, in New Zealand be-
fore she returned to Oregon. The couple
moved back to New Zealand where they
started a fi tness business.
Whitford passed away in 2009 from
colon cancer that was discovered after
she gave birth to her son Chase who cur-
rently lives in New Zealand with Wil-
liamson.
“I don’t know exactly what point, if
I said something (at her memorial) or
when, but I had decided that I was going
to try and get this fi eld named after her,”
said Simons. “And then life happened.
And then all of a sudden it was going to
be my last year, so it was like, ‘okay, we
better get after this.’”
WHITFORD continued on B2
The Alisa Whitford Memorial Field sign that is in the outfi eld was unveiled on Sunday.
Cottage Grove rallies for win over Sisters
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Cottage Grove Gwenyth Fisk sprints to third during Tuesday's
win over Sisters.
Athletes of
the Week
It was a day of celebration for the Cottage Grove
softball team.
On Tuesday, May 2, the Lions came away with a
dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Sisters in
their fi rst home win since May 4, 2015.
“It couldn’t have gone any better,” said head coach
Cheryl Frieze as her players began to walk off the fi eld
after having just fi nished taking pictures to celebrate
the occasion.
Down a run in the bottom of the seventh inning,
Chelsea Davis came to the plate with two outs and the
bases loaded for Cottage Grove. With two strikes on
her, Davis hit a line drive through the right side of the
fi eld, bringing two runners home as her walk-off single
carried the team to a 5-4 victory.
In the pivotal fi nal inning, the Lions came away with
three of their six hits on the day. After Gwenyth Fisk
was walked, Kate Johns dropped a shot to center fol-
lowed by a Kailey Cox hit through the infi eld that load-
ed the bases for Davis’s game-winning shot to right.
“(Hitting), that’s something, too, that we’ve been
working on. A lot of tee work, a lot of hitting at prac-
tice. Focusing on, looking for contact and not swinging
for the fence. That mentality we’ve really been trying
This week’s athletes
of the week are the
league champion
Lady Ostriches of
the Cottage Grove
Women’s Volleyball
Association.
to push and that seems to be helping,” said Frieze.
“That if they’re not swinging for the fence they’re re-
alizing that just making contact and the ball is going a
lot farther.”
The Lions were able to make contact throughout
the game and also found success in the third inning
when they scored a pair of runs. After Emma Fain was
walked to start the inning, she stole second and got to
third off of a Johns pop out to right fi eld.
After Cox was walked and stole second, Samantha
Ostrander advanced Fain home on a fi elder’s choice
before Davis scored Johns with a hit through the in-
fi eld.
Defensively, the Lions were able to hold the Outlaws
in check, allowing four hits on the day to go with four
runs. Cottage Grove’s Chloe Malmstedt struck out four
batters on the day.
The Lions have given an up an average of 14 runs
per game this season; the Outlaws give up 18 runs per
game – the highest mark in 4A.
For Frieze, the win was just as much a result of the
work on the fi eld as it was the mental side of the game.
Throughout the season the team has been taking part in
“Thursday Thoughts” to build mental toughness.
“We’ve been digging in and really trying to dig on
that mental piece and to never give up and keep fi ght-
CG SOFTBALL continued on B2
Back row (from
left): Brooke
Hand, Courtney
McGowen,
Alexis Gaethle
Front row: Lia
Davey, Shawna
Burdett, Shan-
non Davey