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