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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2018)
Sports & recreation Cottage Grove Sentinel South Lane County Sports and Recreation Cox, James, Braaten, Vitale and Corley nab July 4 wins Section B Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Wednesday, July 11, 2018 Lions wrap-up summer season By Ben Deatherage CG Speedway Cottage Grove, Or- egon- Cottage Grove Speedway would cele- brate Independence Day in a big way on Wednes- day, July 4th. Five full divisions were in attendance throughout the night at the histor- ic ¼-mile clay oval: the Todd’s Auto Body Sprints, Mohawk Metal IMCA Modifi eds, IMCA Sport Mods, Late Models and Quality RV Repair Hor- nets — all capped by fi re- works aft er a whole night of racing with a won- derful display honoring America. Kinzer Cox took the initial race lead in the Todd’s Auto Body Sprints. Th e Cottage Grove driver was passed on the third lap by Raquel Ivie, of Eu- gene. Ivie wasn’t be able to develop a huge lead due to several cautions tak- ing place. However, with each and every restart she managed to pull away from the challengers. On lap 21, Ivie was caught in lapped traffi c and passed back by Cox. Cox went on to capture the victory for his second win of the season. Shane Forte, out of Junction City, beat Ivie to the stripe for second, leaving Ivie in third. Meanwhile, Cottage Grove’s Hedge Carter was fourth and Steven Snawder, of Roseburg, placed fi ft h. Cottage Grove teenag- er Evan Britton got to the front early in the Mohawk Metal IMCA Modifi ed main. Grey Ferrando, of Stayton, made a move around Britton to get to the front, but Ferrando remained there until the seventh circuit — when Albany’s Bricen James made it to the fi rst-place position. James blazed the trail the rest of the distance to win his fourth race of 2018 at CGS. Jake Mayden, of Spring-fi eld, was a close second while Grey Ferrando ended his night in third. Albany native Dustin Cady placed fourth and Jeremy Richey, from Phoenix, completed the top fi ve. Jorddon Braaten would put forth a dominating eff ort in the IMCA Sport Mods. Th e Central Point chauff eur led every sin- gle lap and won his third main event of the season at Cottage Grove. Fellow Central Point driver Rich McCoy got second, while Art Hiatt, of Eugene, fi n- ished third. Winston’s Buddy McHargue was fourth. Crossing the wire in fi ft h was Travis Pruitt, out of Molalla. In the Late Models di- vision, Preston Luckman looked to be the driver to beat early on, but the Coos Bay driver would battle hard with Casey Vi- tale — with Vitale making it past Luckman on lap 12. Vitale, of Lebanon, cruised around the track CGS see B2 PHOTOS BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL A Cottage Grove pitcher delivers a pitch - of his own choosing - during the last day of the summer season. Cottage Grove baseball puts emphasis on being aggressive and learning the game during summer ball By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com T here were missed cut-off throws, thwarted steal attempts and mis- placed pitches. And that was just in fi rst inning. It was fi nal day of summer league baseball last Saturday for CGHS. It was not the more polished product of the regular season but instead the free- wheeling brand of baseball set aside for the summer. Th e focus is on being aggressive in all phases of the game which will help the players better learn the game. Th is comes with freedom as head coach Dan Geiszler doesn’t tell players when to steal or what pitch to throw but lets them make those decisions and then deal with the results. “We’re not giving them much, we’re ule varied with one week featur- ing as many as nine games while another saw just four. Unlike some years in the past, the Lions opt- ed not to be in a league and oper- ate on their own. “We’ve always fallen in between of where being in a league with Cottage Grove's third baseman gets in position to try and (bigger) teams is tag a Junction City runner that stole third. borderline going and just getting letting them succeed or fail and then we talk about it. Th at’s kind of what the killed a lot of the time. It doesn’t real- summer is about,” said Geiszler. “Where ly help. We’ve also found, we were in in the season, that’s not the case. I mean, a league with Drain and Oakland and stuff like that and we would kill them. we don’t have the opportunity.” Th e abridged season played from May So that didn’t help, either,” said Geiszler. “We’ve found just going independent to July featured 26 players on two teams, D1 and D2, ranging from soon-to-be and just making our own schedule, play- seventh graders all the way to seniors ing when we want to play, being done come fall. Th e teams played a combined when we want to be done as opposed to, 35 games against various opponents they’re in a league and they have to play around the area and state. Th eir sched- two league games a week and you have to play everybody twice and they’re not done until the middle of July. We just found this easier.” With this current roster, Geiszler has been impressed with the level of dedica- tion from the team as they continue to work on their game. “Th ese kids are in it and they want to get better and they’re excited about it. Th ey’re coming on their own and doing stuff and that to me has been the exciting part,” he said. “We never once had to worry about are we going to have enough guys to play, what are we doing. It’s always been, oh crap, I hope a few guys don’t show up because we can’t get everyone in the game when there’s 20 kids. So it’s been great.” All-in-all, Geiszler sees the summer season not about wins but about getting better and setting the tone for the next high school season. “Th ese guys are what we’re going to have next year and what are we going to have for leadership, who’s going to step up. Who’s going to play where, getting kids diff erent positions and stuff like that. It’s been great,” said Geiszler. A journey down the Row River Trail By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com A tunnel of trees provide shade along a stretch of the Row River Trail. Athlete of the Week Mayor Jeff Gowing asked me a pret- ty simple question: have you biked the whole trail? Th e answer was no; I had not biked all of the Row River Trail. Or more accu- rately, not yet. Th is gem of a trail sat completely un- touched to me until earlier this month I found the time to go for a ride. A new- ly-minted and proud bike owner, for the second time in my life I am experienc- ing the thrill of riding a bike for the fi rst time. Th e fi rst time young me hopped on a bike sans training wheels, it was (prob- ably) a rush. I don’t really remember it except for a picture of me looking fairly scared and thrilled. But once I could ride a bike, all I wanted to do was ride that bike. Th at’s all that mattered. Th e second time I re-fell in love with biking was about three months ago and Th is week’s athlete of the week is Cottage Grove’s Jim Harrison who is currently biking across Europe. According to his latest blog post (his blog is titled “Alps On the Way” and can be found at crazyguyonabike.com) he has recently biked from France into Switzerland. it is more of the same emotions just with less fear now that I (not to brag) have mastered balancing on two wheels and because I’m not a literal child. Th is childlike enthusiasm to keep riding has manifested in trying new trails which led me to the Row River Trail. And instead of going alone, I turned to Row River ex- pert Don Strahan. It is not an exaggeration to say that Strahan knows every single part of the Row River Trail. Aft er getting in a bike accident on the trail that led to an injured hand and three broken ribs, Strahan be- came an advocate for bike safety. In his retirement, he began making sure the trail was kept in good shape. Th is start- ed with buying his own equipment to help take care of overgrown bushes and trees to soon having a working relation- ship with the city and the Bureau of Land Management in order to keep the trail in good shape. BIKING see B2 A view of Switzerland along Jim's ride. PHOTO C/O JIM HARRISON