Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Rain delays
Speedway
start (again)
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WEDNESDAY | APRIL 24, 2019
•
B1
CONTACT SPORTS EDITOR ZACH SILVA AT
942-3325 OR ZSILVA@CGSENTINEL.COM
Lions use extras to best Spartans
For the fi ft h
consecutive
weekend, Speedway
kept off the track
because of weather
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
It was a sunny week
that featured clear skies
and multiple days the
temperature exceeded 70
degrees. But on Friday
night the rain rolled in,
stuck around until Satur-
day morning, and caused
the Cottage Grove Speed-
way to cancel races for the
fi ft h weekend in a row.
“We were so excited
because we’d already had
four rainouts and we were
ready to go. We’ve been
working so hard down
here and everything was
all set, we thought for sure
it was going to happen,”
said Speedway general
manager Heather Boyce.
“But it just rained so hard
and with all of the hor-
rible weather we’ve had
all winter, the ground is
already so saturated that
little bit of rain couldn’t
soak in and go away. It
just puddled up and made
a mess.”
In addition to a wet
track, the pit area that
holds the various haul-
ers remained too wet to
be open which led to the
dreaded cancellation on
Saturday morning.
“It was defi nitely a som-
ber morning around here.
We did not want to have
to cancel and the fans
were so excited, the driv-
ers were so excited,” said
Boyce. “We were so sure
we were going to get that
one in.”
For Boyce, who is in
her seventh year in vari-
ous capacities at the track,
it is setting up for the lat-
est opening to a season
since she has been on the
scene. She remains opti-
mistic that this upcom-
ing weekend – aft er what
appears to be a sun-fi lled
week – will fi nally see the
track come to life for the
fi rst time this year.
“I think it’s going to be
probably one of the best
openers we’ve had in a few
years. We did have a phe-
nomenal opener I think
the fi rst year I had leased
the track. I had over 100
cars and the grandstand
was packed and I kind of
expect it to be the same
way,” said Boyce. “And
this weekend is looking
good and it’s already a
bigger special event show.
So I think when you com-
bine the fact that it’s go-
ing to open with that big
show, we’re likely to have
some pretty big turnouts.”
If all things go to plan,
this weekend features
races on Friday and Sat-
urday night including 360
Springs, IMCA Modi-
fi eds, IMCA SportsMods
and on Saturday night,
Hornets.
“We’ve got a lot of guys
coming to town driving
-wise and there are still
a lot of tracks that aren’t
open yet and that will
attract a lot of drivers
from out of the area that
we maybe don’t see on a
weekly basis,” said Boyce.
“And we love our local
drivers but it’s always fun
to see those guys you only
get to see once or twice a
year. We’re pumped.”
Cottage Grove’s Ezra Senters puts down a sacrifi ce bunt in the ninth inning to score teammate Gavin Sowa. The Lions went on to defeat Marist in 10
innings last Thursday on the road. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Cottage Grove rallies
to defeat Marist
in second game of
double-header
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Th e Cottage Grove base-
ball team was on the brink of
losing to Marist at every turn
of last week’s contest. But
when the pressure increased
and the game was one the
line, it was the Lions refusing
to fold as they fought their
way to a dramatic extra in-
ning victory.
In a road double-header at
Marist last Th ursday, it was
Cottage Grove (6-8, 3-2 Sky-
Em) losing the fi rst game to
Marist (8-6, 4-2) 13-3 before
they were able to put togeth-
er a 5-4 10-inning team vic-
tory to close out the week.
“Just the perseverance –
everyone played a pretty big
role in that. Just the mentality
to come back from 13-3 – it’s
80 degrees outside, it’s very
easy to go, ‘Oh crap, here we
go again.’ Fold it up. But they
didn’t,” said Cottage Grove
baseball coach Dan Geiszler.
“I’m proud of them for doing
that for sure.”
Trailing by two runs early,
the rest of the game was a
sequence of Cottage Grove
scoring, Marist threatening
to score a host of runs but
the Lions fi nding a way – in-
cluding with two key dou-
ble-plays in late innings – to
get out of the inning.
Marist runs in the fi rst
and second inning gave the
Spartans a lead that could
have easily been greater. Th e
team left four runners on
base in the fi rst two innings
and appeared to score in the
third inning but instead of
another run on the board, a
base-running error aft er the
Marist runner didn’t touch
third base, resulted in an out
for the Lions. Th e score was
then evened up at two runs
apiece in the fourth inning
thanks to a shot to left fi eld
from junior Iverson Bascue
that scored teammates se-
nior Wyatt Sayles and junior
Gavin Sowa.
On an unusually warm
79-degree April day, the ac-
tion continued to heat up in
the sixth inning when the
Lions took the lead off of a
dribbler hit to fi rst base from
Sowa which scored junior
Hunter Sharkey.
As the Lions looked to
close the game out in the
seventh, the Spartans had
other ideas as they tied the
game on a bunt and had
then had the bases load-
ed with one out. Searching
for the winning run, Marist
runners raced forward as a
bunt was popped up in the
air, caught by Cottage Grove
catcher Walker Humphrey
who threw the ball to third
to complete a double play to
send the game to extra in-
nings.
“Th at play that Walker
made – what is he, on his
12th inning of catching at
that point? And he comes
out, makes a great play and
throws him out at third,” said
Geiszler. “It seems like we
just stick with it and did what
we needed to do to keep our-
selves in the game.”
For Marist head coach
Noah Breslaw, it was a cal-
culated play that just didn’t
work out.
“If you run a squeeze,
that’s the gamble you go
with. If that ball is down,
that game is over and sev-
en and you’re talking about
how we squeezed in the win-
ning-run. Instead it goes up.
I made a calculated decision
and honestly, the worst case
scenario is he bunts the ball
up,” he said. “Even if he miss-
es it, we’ve got second and
third. Bases aren’t loaded but
we can live with that. Th e
only thing that can’t happen
is a ball up in the air.”
In a scoreless eighth inning
LIONS
see B3
Cottage Grove junior Walker Humphrey races out from be-
hind home plate to catch a popped up squeeze bunt and
record a double play in the bottom of the seventh inning
against Marist. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Derrick’s no-hitter guides Warriors to win
Th e junior ace
throws 20 strikeouts
on the way to 1-0
North Douglas win
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
North Douglas pitcher Nicki Derrick was in control against
Oakland on Monday night as she gave up no hits and
struck out 20 batters. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Athlete of
the Week
On Monday night, Nicki
Derrick was unhittable.
In a playoff -esque road
game against 15th ranked
Oakland (9-2, 5-1 Special
District 3), Derrick led the
third-ranked Warriors (15-
1, 8-0 Special District 3) to a
1-0 victory as she struck out
20 batters on her way to a
no-hitter.
“I was really excited for this
game. It was the fi rst game
Th is week’s athlete of
the week is Cottage
Grove’s Gavin Sowa. In
a win against Marist on
Th ursday, Sowa recorded
four hits, scored two
runs and tracked down
a fl y ball in centerfi eld
to record the fi nal out of
the game.
that I really, really got up to.
Honestly, it was like a playoff
mentality going into it and I
think that was the same for
the whole team,” said the ju-
nior Derrick who is back in
the pitching circle aft er being
sidelined by an ACL injury
last season. As a freshman,
Derrick helped lead the War-
riors to a state title and was
named 1A/2A state soft ball
player of the year. “When
you have that mentality go-
ing into the game, it’s a lot
easier to get up and kind of
clear your head.”
Only slowed down by a
few illegal pitches that led to
a pair of walks, Derrick was
in control the entire game.
Th e fi rst time the Oakers put
the ball in play was a ground-
er to fi rst base in the bottom
of the seventh inning.
“Nicki did good. Th e best
part about it was she strug-
gled with staying in the lane
there in the very beginning
and didn’t let it get in her
head and stayed focused,”
said North Douglas head
coach Jesse Rice. “And man,
she was throwing the ball
hard.”
Oakland head coach Jo-
hanna Held was also im-
pressed with Derrick’s stand-
out performance.
“Give her all the credit in
the world. She’s been work-
WARRIORS
see B4
Head coach
Dan Geiszler
and Sowa
talk strategy
on the base
paths while
the Marist
team met on
the mound.
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/
CG SENTINEL