Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Cottage Grove
continues to
get big wins
•
WEDNESDAY | MAY 8, 2019
•
B1
CONTACT SPORTS EDITOR ZACH SILVA AT
942-3325 OR ZSILVA@CGSENTINEL.COM
North Douglas dominant in pair of wins
Cottage Grove
baseball team goes
3-1 on week as they
look for a playoff
spot
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Aft er starting Tuesday
with a home loss to El-
mira, Dan Geiszler had a
message for the Cottage
Grove baseball team.
“Our season is on the
line. We’ve got to win
this second game. I’m not
going to fi ll you full of
anything that’s false infor-
mation because we have
to,” he recalled telling
his team between games
during a double-header at
home.
It was the second week
in a row the team has
been in a must-win situ-
ation and, yet again, the
Lions responded. Aft er
falling to the Falcons (12-
6, 6-4 Sky-Em) in the fi rst
game of the day 4-3, it was
Cottage Grove (11-10,
8-4) storming back for
a 6-3 win to end the day.
Th is key victory added
to a pair of wins against
Siuslaw on Friday, keeps
Cottage Grove’s postsea-
son hopes alive.
“If you would have told
me in the beginning of
the season we were in this
position, I wouldn’t have
bought it,” Geiszler said of
his team that is now tied
for second in league en-
tering a pivotal fi nal week
of the season. “We keep
getting better every day.
We really have gotten bet-
ter every single day and
every game. It’s exciting.”
Relying on three under-
classmen pitchers, it was
the Falcons squeaking
out a one-run game one
victory. Elmira took an
early lead and the Lions
were unable to get timely
hits as they left nine run-
ners on base throughout
the game. Cottage Grove
senior Wyatt Sayles got
the start but came off the
mound with an injury
during the third inning.
Ezra Centers pitched the
rest of the game for the
Lions.
In the second game of
the day, the Lions were,
again, looking for a time-
ly hit. Th e team had bas-
es loaded in the second
inning with one out and
runners on third in both
the third and fourth but
had no runs to show for
it. Instead, a fi ft h inning
that saw three Elmira bat-
ters hit by pitches helped
the visiting side build-up
a 3-0 lead.
“It felt like, geez, we’re
going to break through.
It’s never for a lack of ef-
fort,” said Geiszler. “But
I know our kids, they’re
going to battle and they’re
not going to give in, that’s
for sure.”
And in the sixth inning,
the Lions fi nally broke
through. It began with se-
nior Koltin Britton getting
walked to start the inning
followed by an Elmira
error that turned what
could have been a routine
double play into runners
on fi rst and second. A
single from Kellen Ben-
nett loaded the bases for
Noah Spink who blasted a
grounder through the left
side of the infi eld to score
a pair of runs.
Aft er senior Jayden
LIONS
see B2
North Douglas junior Nicki Derrick delivers a pitch against Central Linn on Friday. Derrick threw a no-hitter in game one and struck out a total of 27
batters on the day. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Th e Warriors 10-run
Central Linn twice in
matchup between top
1A teams
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
On paper, it looked like it
was an evenly matched game.
It was Central Linn, the
highest scoring team in 1A
that averages 17 runs per
game, against North Doug-
las, a team that has given up
21 runs all season. Th e two
top-fi ve ranked teams met
in Drain for a double-header
on Friday looking to make a
statement.
Th e games were anything
but close on Friday as the
Warriors (22-1, 15-0 SD3)
dominated – including a
no-hitter in game one and
walk-off homer in game two
– on the way to a pair of 10-0
wins over the visiting Cobras
(21-4, 14-3).
“Man, the girls hit really,
really well. And Nicki was
just really on her game today.
Man, she pitched well,” said
North Douglas head coach
Jesse Rice.
As it has all season, North
Douglas’ success started in
the pitching circle with ju-
nior Nicki Derrick. Derrick,
who threw a perfect game
last Tuesday against a strug-
gling Yoncalla (2-18, 0-15)
side, showed she can also
take on the best off ense in 1A
as she struck out 16 of 18 bat-
ters on the way to a no-hitter
in game one.
“She is such a competitor
and the more the competi-
tion, the better she gets. In
fact, against some of these
teams in our league, kind of
hard to keep her focused but
boy you put her in a big game
situation like today and she
knuckles down and throws
everything she has,” said Rice
of his junior ace who missed
last season with a torn ACL.
Despite having scored 78
runs in the four games they
had played throughout the
week, the Cobras were not
ready for Derrick.
“My frustration in the
fi rst game was we had kids
swinging for the fences and
(we were) telling them every
single inning, ‘We’re not go-
ing to do that. We scored 24
runs yesterday, it’s not going
to happen today,’” said Cen-
tral Linn head coach Marcus
Campbell. “We couldn’t get
bunts down. We wanted to
make them do something be-
sides Nicki terrorizing us.”
And while the North
Douglas defense was hold-
ing back Central Linn, then
it was time for the bats to get
going. A run in the second
and third innings gave the
Warriors a small advantage
but then in the sixth inning
the team went to work scor-
ing eight runs on their way to
10-running the Cobras.
A single from Derrick
started off the inning and she
scored off of a grounder from
junior Natalie Draeger. Af-
ter fi elding errors and some
made plays by the infi eld, it
was bases loaded with two
outs. And then the Warriors
capitalized.
Riley Black was walked to
bring in a run, Halli Vaughn’s
hit to right dropped in out of
reach to score two. Derrick
singled again which set up a
Hope Ward single that scored
two. Th en it was Draeger with
another hit in the inning to
bring in the 10th run of the
game and fi ft h with two outs
to fi nish the contest.
“One of the things that we
focused on was if you hit it
hard on the ground, punch
it through that infi eld, we’re
going to start scoring runs.
And they did it. Th ey did real
well. Kept it on the ground,”
said Rice.
Game two picked up where
the fi rst game ended as North
Douglas tallied four runs
in the fi rst inning with hits,
again, from, Black, Vaughn,
Derrick, Ward and Draeger.
Two more runs in the second
and the Warriors held a 6-0
lead.
Derrick stayed dominant
in the pitching circle as she
gave up two hits and struck
out 11.
Th e Warriors were slowed
on the bats in the middle in-
nings as Central Linn tried to
hold off anymore big innings.
“Honestly, if this one
would have ended 6-0, I
WARRIORS
see B3
Strength in (small) numbers
Elkton track and
fi eld team gets big
results from small
team
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
A
Elkton’s Margaret Byle (top) and Sadie Olson (bottom)
compete at last year’s state track meet. The duo are look-
ing to make it back to state this season. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Athlete of
the Week
s the school bell ush-
ers in the end of the
day, there is a fl urry of activi-
ty in the parking lot at Elkton
High School. Newly minted
drivers hop into their trucks
and whip through the lot
while half-full busses jour-
ney out to their next stop.
In an instant, the parking
lot is once again calm and,
more importantly, empty. A
group of four students – Sadie
Olson, Margaret Byle, Kassie
Yeaney and Lance Corvinus
– who had been waiting at a
table under the awning, head
to the center of the parking
lot to begin practice. Th e cars
are cleared out and the group
begins their warmups, com-
plete their drills and work on
Th is week’s athlete of the week
is Cottage Grove distance
runner Jimmy Talley. Talley
recorded the second fastest
4A 3000 time in a second-
place fi nish at Friday’s Wally
Ciochetti Invitational. To
read more about Talley
and Cottage Grove track as
the team prepares for this
weekend’s district meet, turn
to B3.
being state-caliber track and
fi eld athletes.
“Th ese streets and hills are
our track,” said head coach
Ken Maxwell as his team
of four athletes begin going
through their routine. With
the closest track facilities
about 30 miles away (north-
east in Cottage Grove, west
in Reedsport and south in
Oakland), the Elks use what
they have.
And what they have is
working. For the second year
in a row, Elkton has two ath-
letes, sophomore Margaret
Byle in sprints and junior Sa-
die Olson in throws, among
the top competitors in their
events in all of 1A. Not bad
for a team of four people.
“When these guys go out,
they dazzle people,” said
Maxwell. “Training and
sheer determination. I think
it all boils down to that. I’ve
got some tough cookies.”
n the spring, there are
two options for sports at
I
Elkton: soft ball or track and
fi eld (or, for boys, baseball or
track and fi eld). Since soft ball
would mean having to get in
a van and go to Yoncalla ev-
ery day since the teams co-
opt, in her freshman year Sa-
die Olson decided she would
do track and fi eld. Th at sea-
son Olson was one of three
people on the team.
“People like to do soft ball
and baseball because it’s a
team sport. But track is kind
of a team sport, like I still get
to hang out with the team, I
just compete as an individu-
al,” said Olson theorizing on
why track and fi eld isn’t pop-
ular at Elkton. “I think they
might like to do those other
spring sports and maybe , I
don’t know, since it’s starting
to get warmer maybe they
want to do their own thing
and have their own fun in-
stead of go to practice and
run all the time.”
In that fi rst season, Olson
ELKS see B4
Cottage
Grove junior
Jimmy Talley
races out to
a fast start
earlier this
season.
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/
CG SENTINEL