Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Pirates roll
past Lions for
pair of wins
•
WEDNESDAY | MAY 1, 2019
•
B1
CONTACT SPORTS EDITOR ZACH SILVA AT
942-3325 OR ZSILVA@CGSENTINEL.COM
Ready, set, race: Speedway starts season
Cottage Grove
soft ball seeks small
victories in most
recent losses
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
While Cottage Grove
soft ball team’s quest for
their fi rst win of the sea-
son will continue into
next week, the Lions were
focused on other versions
of success last Friday
against Marshfi eld.
“Really trying to keep
our energy up and not
getting down,” said Cot-
tage Grove head soft ball
coach Cheryl Frieze aft er
the team’s double-head-
er loss. “And then focus
more on the little things
and the individual things
like win that at-bat. In the
fi eld, make the play. Or
if you mess up, make the
next play. Just really over-
come those downfalls so
that way they can pick it
up and recover and keep
moving through.”
Against Marshfi eld at
home last Friday, it was
the Pirates (7-10, 4-5)
taking victories of 25-12
and 21-3* against the Li-
ons (0-15, 0-9). In the fi rst
game, it was the Lions
refusing to be 10-runned
as they were able to string
enough runs together
each inning to stay with-
in striking distance before
Marshfi eld poured on
seven runs in the seventh
inning to cement their
victory.
In game two, Cottage
Grove hung around early
and trailed 1-0 aft er the
fi rst inning of play. But
in the second inning, the
fl ood gates opened and
Marshfi eld put 13 runs
on the board as 17 bat-
ters batted in the inning.
While Cottage Grove was
unable to match the same
off ensive
production,
their bats stayed active.
“If we’re putting the ball
in play and they’re mak-
ing the plays, great. But
you’re putting the ball in
play and you can’t do any-
thing unless you do that.
Th at was kind of the goal
and I think we were real-
ly successful as far as that
goes,” said Frieze. “We put
the ball in play a lot and
they made plays. Or we
hit it right to them. But
that’s part of building that
confi dence, hey, you’re
making good contact
so let’s keep rolling with
that and roll into the next
games.”
For the Pirates, the key
to a double-header in
which they twice score at
least 20 runs was staying
locked in.
“Just trying to keep the
focus when the game gets
a little slow because we do
play Marist on Tuesday.
It’s like, ok, we’ve got to
get refocused for Tues-
day,” said Marshfi eld head
coach Brooke Toy.
Th roughout the season,
the Pirates have been a
team stuck in the middle
of the Sky-Em league.
Marshfi eld has been
10-runned by Marist, El-
mira and Junction City
while promptly defeat-
ing Siuslaw and Cottage
Grove.
“We’ve been like a half a
*OSAA’s website has the score
as 20-4, but the Cottage Grove
offi cial scorebook, which Th e
Sentinel trusts, has the score
listed as 21-3.
LIONS
see B3
IMCA Modifi eds race at the Cottage Grove Speedway on Friday night. After fi ve weeks of cancelled races, the weather held up and allowed fans to
fl ock to the Speedway over the weekend to watch the Spring Fling. To read more about the races, turn to B2. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Cottage Grove prepares for playoff push
Cottage Grove’s Jaxon Simmons rounds third and heads home during a loss against Junc-
tion City last week. Simmons recorded three hits against the Tigers. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Lions get pair of
‘must-win’ games as
they enter the fi nal
two weeks of the
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
With two weeks to go in
the regular season, Cottage
Grove is right where they
want to be. But not where
they expected to be.
“If at the beginning of the
year if we would have said,
‘Hey, with seven games left
we’re going to be right in
the mix.’ I would have said,
yeah, I’ll take it right now,”
said head coach Dan Geisz-
ler earlier this week. While
the Lions stumbled out of the
gate with a 1-5 start, the team
Oakers
top Elks,
Elkton
searching
for wins
has since rebounded and are
right in the mix near the top
of the Sky-Em standings.
Junction City and Marist
(not factoring in games
played on Tuesday April 30
which come aft er Th e Senti-
nel’s print deadline) are cur-
rently at the top of the league
standings at 7-2 while Elmi-
ra and Cottage Grove are a
game and a half back at 5-3.
Aft er falling to Oakland,
the Elkton baseball team
is looking to turn things
around in fi nal weeks of
season
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Multiple weather delays from
Mother Nature – including a snow
storm and fl ooding – paired with a
new league that features top teams
and an inexperienced team has cre-
ated a tough start to the league sea-
son for the Elkton baseball team.
Aft er diving into league play with
Athletes of
the Week
“We haven’t really talk-
ed about a league champi-
onship, it’s defi nitely in the
cards because we play Marist
and we play Junction City
two more times. And we
play Elmira. Th e three teams
we’re tied with or ahead of
us so it’s really in our hands,”
said Geiszler. “But that being
said, I don’t know if we have
the fi repower to go out and
win fi ve games against those
three teams. Th at would be
incredibly diffi cult. Doable,
but incredibly diffi cult.”
Th e top two teams out
of the Sky-Em league re-
ceive automatic spots in the
state playoff while the next
eight teams receive at-large
bids. Th e Lions are current-
ly ranked 20th but Geiszler
would like to see his team
move into the 17 to 18 range
by the fi nal rankings to en-
sure a spot in the postseason.
Th e Lions (8-9, 5-3 Sky-
Em) began last week with an
11-8 home loss to Junction
City (13-4, 7-2).
Th rough the fi rst fi ve in-
nings, the game was lining up
for Cottage Grove to pull off
an upset of the sixth ranked
Tigers. Ace Wyatt Sayles
back-to-back series’ against number
one ranked Umpqua Valley Chris-
tian (19-1, 12-0 Special District 4)
and 12th ranked Glide (10-6, 9-3),
the Elks (2-9, 0-9) faced off with
Oakland (5-11-1, 3-9) last week. Just
as it was against UVC and Glide, Elk-
ton lost all three games.
“Well, you know, we recognize
that we are in a diff erent league this
year. And so, boy, in this league ev-
ery team is tough,” said Elkton head
coach Bill Shaw. “I hear stories about
Riddle and young players that are re-
ally good and I even here that Glen-
dale is much improved. So, I don’t
know – this is a tough league sched-
Th is week’s athletes
of the week are the
members of the
Cottage Grove varsity
girls’ bowling team.
Last week the team
was honored at a
City Council meeting
for their successful
season.
was on the mound and the
team began fi nding runs in
the second inning. Cottage
Grove got on the board af-
ter drawing four consecutive
walks setting up senior Jaxon
Simmons for a hit down the
right fi eld line that scored
three.
Simmons’ work wasn’t
done on the day as he brought
in another in the fi ft h inning
with a single to right that
gave the Lions an 8-3 advan-
tage. Simmons recorded a
team-high three hits.
While the Lions carried a
fi ve-run lead into the sixth
inning, the Tigers then
sprang to life.
“I think we needed some-
thing to spark us and you
know, baseball is funny and
when you get a hit it’s conta-
gious and that’s kind of what
happened for us,” said Junc-
tion City head coach Tony
Stavros. “Sometimes you
can’t explain things, you just
try to go up and have good
at bats and put good swings
on it. Th at’s pretty much what
happened. We were able to
get some big knocks and bat-
tle.”
COTTAGE GROVE see B3
ule.”
Th e Oakers – a team that entered
the series on a nine-game losing
streak of their own (with losses to
Glide, UVC and 15th-ranked North
Douglas) – were able to win by a
score of 11-4 on Tuesday and 9-3
and 17-0 in a double-header on Fri-
day.
In the fi rst game on Friday, it was
an early outpouring of Oakland runs,
picking up four in the fi rst and two
in the second, getting things started.
“It allows you to take a deep breath
but, unfortunately, I think our kids
weren’t mature enough and they
ELKS see B2
The CGHS
bowling
team with
Cottage
Grove mayor
Jeff Gowing.
PHOTO C/O NATALIE
CARDOZA