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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2018)
4B COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL OCTOBER 24, 2018 told me to lift my leg and I would look at it and I’d be like, I’m try- ing to. It’s just not moving,” said Derrick. An athlete as soon as she could walk, Derrick was now without part of her identity. She had suf- fered through injuries before – a broken foot, nerve damage, a minor knee injury – but this was different. This was touching on all parts of her life. “A lot of my relationships hap- pen through sports and so I strug- gled with having relationships Nicki Derrick back in the lineup with her teammates against with people without sports. And so Yoncalla. that took me awhile to be like, we since second grade. So to see them play without don’t have the sports relationship, me, I was happy for them but I wished I could be I’m going to have to find a way to connect with out there with them.” them in a different way and it took me a couple She attended practices and games and did what months to realize that,” she reflected. she could to help the team. Her and Rice would After pulling herself away from reading story af- discuss strategy from the bench and she would ter story online about various ACL injuries – both give tips about particular players she had played the inspiring and frightening – she made progress against growing up in ASA. She offered advice both physically and mentally. And once back at to teammates going through hitting slumps and school, things started to feel almost normal again. even called pitches for one game when the North “When I came back with crutches everyone was Douglas pitching coach, her dad, was unable to like, what can I do to help you? And it was just attend the game. But while her teammates got to something that, I was just so part of everything focus all their energy on the season at-hand, Der- that it didn’t really make me feel like I was injured rick was focused on the rehab process. because people went out of their way to make sure “Going from month-to-month I would get ex- I was included,” said Derrick. “So honestly, just cited about stuff like walking and if it was just a the people I had around me got me through this. normal year I would get excited about softball Because if I was alone, I can tell you, I would not wins. It was a really hard adjustment and as an have made it through.” athlete you feel so defeated and I was not used to it at all,” said Derrick. fter a summer of gaining back strength, it After suffering the injury in February, Derrick was time for volleyball season. Now a ju- had surgery in March. Between the time she was nior, Derrick started the season by being able to injured and the procedure, she had been moving run but was unable to participate in scrimmage or somewhat-fine and had convinced herself sur- drills that forced her to move side-to-side. gery was no longer necessary. Her doctor knew “I would go to physical therapy once a week, so otherwise and provided an ultimatum: if she did every single week I would come back with some- not undergo the surgery, she would never be able thing new I could do and something exciting to to play sports again. After undergoing surgery, tell the team,” said Derrick. “And that would just things didn’t get better right away; it was intense make my day so much better. To see the excite- pain for the first week and discomfort for the next ment in their faces when I tell them, it was like month. okay, they care about me. They are waiting for me “You lose so much muscle in the span of two to come back. So I really loved that.” weeks after surgery. So my first day of rehab was Not only waiting, but excited for her to come probably the hardest days of my life because they back to the starting lineup. ND from B1 J esse Rice had to see for himself if the rumors were true. Was Nicki Derrick really that good of a softball pitcher? Rice, the head softball coach at North Douglas, decided to stick around after practice when Derrick’s eighth grade team came to play. “I watched her pitch that first time,” said Rice reflecting on seeing a player who would soon turn this consistently good softball team in to a great softball team “and said, ‘Wow, she really is as good as they say.’ She really was.” Growing up, Derrick didn’t meet a sport she didn’t love. First there was gymnastics then a brief soccer stint but by second grade it was all the same sports she plays today: volleyball, basketball and softball. “I would start volleyball and be, ‘Oh, this is my favorite sport.’ Then I would get into basketball, ‘Oh, love this.’ And then softball and it’d be, ‘Oh, by far favorite sport,’” she said. Regardless of favorite, Derrick especially excels in softball. In her freshman year she was named starter and Rice’s only concern was that she was, well, a freshman. “She was only 14-years-old. I was thinking, she’s got all this talent but I was concerned about her maturity level. You know, being young. Freshmen are freshmen and you expect them to make mis- takes,” he said. Rice soon found with Derrick, it was not an issue at all. Determination to win met with an often-un- hittable fastball – while also being the team leader in homeruns – was a combination that helped the Warriors win a league and then, ultimately, a state title. The team’s playoff-run saw Derrick throw a no-hitter followed by 10 strikeouts in the state championship to help give the school its first-ever softball title. Derrick was named to the 1A first- team in addition to being named pitcher of the year and player of the year. But last season, sidelined by injury, she was forced to watch from the dugout. “That was the (season) I was most excited for and because it hadn’t fully hit me, it wasn’t as hard on me as I thought it was going to be,” said Derrick. “When they started games, it was like, I cannot wait to be recovered. It was hard for me mentally to watch them. Especially the (other sophomores at the time) because we’ve been playing together A Imagine The Difference You Can Make EARTHLINK INTERNET DONATE YOUR CAR HIGH SPEED INTERNET Out-of-market games only. Selec 1-844-533-9173 t int’l games excluded. FREE TOWING TAX DEDUCTIBLE Enjov big-time Internet speeds without spending big bucks! Get Connected for as low as Get Connected for as low as 14.95/mo. Ask me how to Bundle and save. CALL TODAY! Iv Support Holdings “She’s got a great work ethic and she wanted to come back as soon as possible,” said head coach Anne Campbell. “But one thing that she had to be was patient which I am sure was frustrating for her and also for us because we just knew that get- ting her back would change our game.” With Derrick out as setter, North Douglas’s Abby Whipple and Arianna Helgren, a pair of le- thal outside hitters, spent the summer learning to be setters for the first time. All season they took up the new position in order to help the team. The addition of Derrick back into the team would not only relieve them of this new position but would open up the team’s offense. After being cleared for games, she came back to practice at the start of this month. “It was (nerve wracking),” said Campbell. Af- ter a first practice where she thought Nicki might have been favoring her knee. The next practice featured a guest-coach who was ready to, literally, dive right in. “Right off the bat we had a guest coach come in and work with the girls and she started having them do these lateral movements and I was like biting my nails as Nicki was shuffling side to side,” said Campbell. “Then (Nicki) just started diving and she was running all over the place and she was just Nicki again so I could tell that she was com- fortable.” Derrick played in her first game on October 4 and is working her way back to full strength as the fourth-ranked Warriors now prepare for a playoff run. “I forget how much I love volleyball because it is my least favorite sport. But...it’s fun being out there with the girls,” Derrick said after North Douglas defeated Yoncalla on October 9. “Volley- ball has a different energy than sports like basket- ball and softball: you get to celebrate every single point with your team. That environment is just really neat to be back. I love it.” Volleyball will turn into basketball season which will then bring the start of softball. A re- turning cycle that for Derrick, was incomplete over the last year. But now she’s back and ready for everything that is coming her way. “I love sports and these last six months made me realize it and I want to be doing this for as long as possible,” said Derrick. “It’s just not something that I’m ready to give up yet.” 1-855-502-2578 $ 49.99/mo. For the first 3 months (Offers varv bv speed & location) first 12 months HyperLinkh Satellite Internet High-Speed Internet Connection speeds up to 75 Mbps* What you get with HughesNet Satellite Internet: ! 50X faster than DSL!!** ! High speed with fiber optic technology ! Fast speeds up to 25 Mbps ! Available everywhere ! Fast download time for streaming videos, music and more! ! 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The TIE-BREAKER game is the Sunday night game. Guess the total points of this game. In the event of a tie-breaker tie, the winner will be determined by a drawing. Entries must be received by Friday, 5 pm at the Cottage Grove Sentinel, 116 N. 6th Street, (P.O. Box 35), Cottage Grove, Oregon 97424. Mailed entries must be postmarked by Friday. Employees of the Cottage Grove Sentinel and their families are not eligible to win. In the event of multiple winners, final weekly winner will be drawn at random from preliminary winners. ATTENTION: Tiebreaking Process - the designated tie-breaker game will be judged on total points ONLY. Please estimate the total points for the tie-breaker game. One entry per family. FOREST & GARDEN EQUIPMENT 79132 Hwy. 99 North Cottage Grove LARRY This Week Stats: 6-7 Season Stats: 59-32 n eW O rleanS HORNERS INC. 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