Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Lions face
slow start
to season
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Pool remodel moving right along
Facing some of
the top teams in
4A, Cottage Grove
baseball out to 2-5
start
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
In the fi rst week of the
season it was Cottage
Grove baseball (2-5) fac-
ing both the second and
eighth ranked teams in
state. In the second week of
the season, the task at hand
was not easier as the Lions
faced a 4-1 Mazama team
and number fi ve-ranked
Phoenix.
“We’ve played good
teams in this preseason,
we’ve played a lot of good
teams,” said Cottage Grove
head coach Dan Geiszler
aft er last Th ursday’s 11-2
loss against Phoenix. “[Th e
team] just has to under-
stand that this is a process
and we’re working towards
the league and getting bet-
ter.”
It was the visiting Pirates
(4-2) jumping out to an
early lead – capitalizing on
walks and miscues – with
three runs in the fi rst in-
ning and a pair in the sec-
ond to give the team an ear-
ly advantage last week.
“We have so many kids
that are so nervous. We get
so uptight and nervous over
things and we’ve just got to
relax and play,” said Geisz-
ler. Geiszler noted that in
addition to playing some of
the top teams in 4A, the Li-
ons were also dealing with
an injury and some issues
with grades that meant ad-
justments throughout the
lineup. “Th e kids are work-
ing hard, they’re trying.
We’ve just got to keep get-
ting better and improving.”
Phoenix continued to
put the pressure on Cottage
Grove in the fi ft h inning as
it batted around its lineup
and scored four runs.
“Just putting the ball in
play and play hard. Th at’s
what our focus was today,
just make good contact,”
said Phoenix head coach
Bill Hutchinson. “We got
15 guys in today and all 15
guys contributed in some
way. You don’t see that very
oft en. I’m happy for them.”
Cottage Grove’s pitching
trio of Noah Spink – who
got the start and pitched
three innings – Hunter
Sharkey and Jaxon Sim-
mons gave up 11 hits on
the day and recorded three
strike outs. Off ensively,
Sharkey recorded two of
the team’s six hits on the
day and scored a run.
Earlier in the week the
Lions split a double-header
with Mazama winning the
fi rst game of the day 8-7.
In the victory, Wyatt Sayles
pitched six innings and re-
corded seven strikeouts.
Cottage Grove fi nished the
game with six hits as a team
including two from Sim-
mons. Sayles had a hit on
the day to along with three
RBIs. In the second game of
the day, Cottage Grove lost
9-4.
“Aft er last game, I think
my message was you better
get better or this is going to
be a long season. You better
fi gure it out.” Geiszler said
of the loss to Mazama. “To-
day was kind of on the oth-
er end of, ‘Hey, we’re just
going to keep working.' As
BASEBALL
see B3
Renovation to facility
on pace to be open in
September
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Th e Warren H. Daugherty
Aquatic Center remodel is com-
ing along, well, swimmingly.
“It’s a far cry from what it used
to look like,” said South Lane
School District Maintenance
and Facilities supervisor Matt
Allen on a tour of the facility last
week. While Allen was directly
talking about the new women’s
locker room that features six
toilets opposed to the two that
occupied the space before, his
comment seemed to apply to the
area as a whole.
Th e current construction is
barely recognizable from the
pool that occupied the space
since 1955. Where the one pool
sat previously now sits the new
tank that is 25 yards long and
will have eight lanes that will al-
low competitions to take place.
Next to the pool sits the warm
water recreational and therapy
pool.
“We like to call it that because,
yes, we want it to be available for
therapy but we also know that
there is going to be young fam-
ilies and pre-school and kinder-
gartners that are going to learn
to swim in this pool,” said SLSD
Communications Director Gar-
rett Bridgens.
While $6.2 million from 2016
bond funds was allocated for
the pool, the additional therapy
pool pushed the project about
$524,000 over budget. Between
donations both received and
committed, the district has so
far raised over $450,000 with
the goal of raising $550,000.
In addition to the new tanks,
work is being done across the
building to update the locker
rooms, electrical work, outside
paneling and entrance area.
“One of my favorite things
that got included in this pool
with this remodel, they’re put-
ting these windows back in.
We’re standing here, you can see
the light that’s coming in right
now,” said Bridgens of windows
that illuminate the building
from the side. “Natural light is
coming in. I’m so excited about
the fact that we were able to in-
clude the windows.”
Top: A look from the back corner of the aquatic center shows the pool in its current state of the
remodel process. The pool is 25 yards long, will have eight lanes and be able to host swimming
competitions. Bottom: The warm water recreational and therapy pool, complete with easy access
steps, sits next to the larger pool at the facility.
In addition to the windows,
the remodeled facility will also
feature up-facing lights. Th e
lights face up to ensure there is
no glare on the water and will
be bouncing off a white ceiling
to provide as much light as pos-
sible to the previously dim and
dank building.
Another addition that the
district was excited for was the
newly added family bathroom
that includes a bench area and
an ADA compliant shower.
“In terms of the design pro-
cess, this was one of those things
that the committee felt and ev-
eryone wanted and it was like
were we going to be able to get
it in the building,” said Bridgens.
Construction on the remod-
el began last October. Th e re-
cent snow storm moved the
timetable on the remodel from
ahead of schedule to on sched-
ule which means the pool is still
planned to open in September.
Local racer soars in California
By Ben Deatherage
Cottage Grove eight-year-old Keegan Bounds takes home a
trophy from the West Coast Nationals earlier this month.
Athletes
of the
Week
Eight-year-old Kage Kart sen-
sation Keegan Bounds made the
trip south to Red Bluff , Califor-
nia for the prestigious West Coast
Nationals and would claim the
coveted eagle trophy in the Box
Stock division. Th e event draws
Kage Karts from all over the
country and is one of the tough-
est races to win. Th e third-gen-
eration Cottage Grove chauff eur
had spent the previous three
weekends to get some important
Th is week’s athletes of the week
are those competing in spring
sports this season. Between the
four local high schools there are
over 250 athletes participating
in baseball, soft ball, golf and
track and fi eld. To read about
the players, teams and coaches,
make sure to check out this
week’s Spring 2019 Sports
Preview in this week’s paper. To
see additional pictures, see B2.
track experience underneath his
belt. Despite a rough start to the
weekend the reward in the end
would make it that much sweeter.
“We’ve struggled when we’ve
came down here because our car
has been too tight,” commented
Josh Bounds, Keegan’s father and
crew chief, “but this weekend
with so many cars running the
track fi nally came to us.”
Friday, March 15th, witnessed
Bounds post 16th in qualifying
which set him up for his heat rac-
es the next day
Running two sets of heat rac-
es the results didn’t refl ect the
speed the team showed. Keegan
was sixth in heat one and fourth
in heat two. Unfortunately, he
didn’t manage to tabulate enough
points to get locked into the
main event so he would have to
come out of the consolation fea-
ture that Sunday.
“Keegan was really fast in his
heats and our car was hooked up
with the setup we put in it. But
every time we’d get up towards
RACER see B3
Cottage
Grove’s
Wyatt Sayles
on the cover
of this year’s
spring sports
preview.
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/
CG SENTINEL