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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2019)
Cottage Grove Sentinel Sports & Recreation SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION South Valley All-Stars prepare for big stage • WEDNESDAY | JULY 10, 2019 • B1 CONTACT SPORTS EDITOR ZACH SILVA AT 942-3325 OR ZSILVA@CGSENTINEL.COM THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT Little League soft ball team is ready for state By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Aft er a successful reg- ular season, a group of soft ball players in Cot- tage Grove aren’t done yet. A group of nine, 10-and 11-year-old girls make up the District 7 Little League All-Star team that will be com- peting at this weekend’s state tournament in Portland. “Th ey’re all excited and ready to go. Th ey’re all working their butts off out here, it’s crazy,” said head coach Nicole Rook. “I’ve seen more eff ort out of some of the girls now then I saw all season long and it was like, where did you come from? It’s been great. Th ey’re totally stoked.” Rook coached one of the South Valley Little League AAA (ages nine to 12) soft ball teams this past season. One of two soft ball teams in this di- vision in Cottage Grove, the team also played against the three East Lane teams. Rook’s team took second in the fi ve- team league. Aft er the season con- cluded, the two Cot- tage Grove AAA teams paired with the local majors team (ages ten and up) to create an all- star team. While Rook wishes there were more girls playing, the small numbers made for an easy selection process. “Honestly, most of the girls that showed up for tryouts made the team,” she said. “Had we had more than 14 girls that came out, I’m only al- lowed to roster 14, we would have had to, un- fortunately, make some cuts. It was nice, I didn’t have to pick anyone.” With her team intact, the South Valley squad had a three-game series against the East Lane all-stars for a spot at the state tournament. “It was kind of bit- tersweet to me and my coaches and my team because we had actually lost to that coach and that team in the cham- pionship game so then we came back and we kicked their butt the fi rst three games and ended up taking it,” said Rook. In a tournament that stretches from Th ursday to Sunday, the team will be one of fi ve teams bat- tling for a state title. While the number of teams playing is small, Rook hopes that as her team continues to fi nd success that they can grow the game of soft - ball in town. “It defi nitely would be nice to see more girls come out and get more interest in it. It is grow- ing, I think the more that we win and they see it,” she said. “It brings more interest and fun to it. So, I mean, and most of the girls come back for nu- merous years. Once they play they keep coming.” For pictures of the team, turn to B10 A painted lady butterfl y rests on a leaf in the butterfl y pavilion at Elkton Community Education Center earlier this week. This butterfl y was one of about a dozen painted ladies fl ying around the facility. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL Center in Elkton off ers more than just butterfl ies to those who stop by By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com T here really isn’t much in Elkton. Driving down the Umpqua Hwy., it’s easy to blink and miss the town of almost 200. Th ere’s a few restaurants, a cou- ple wineries, the high school and then you’re out of town in either direction. But tucked just past the middle school, there is a sign. More accurately, there are a handful of signs. Th ere is a sign for the butter- fl y pavilion, one advertising the na- tive plant nursery and others with butterfl ies on them. All who drive by have been tempted by what this group, Elk- ton Community Education Cen- ter (ECEC), has to off er. Th e sign of this local nonprofi t that simply states “Park Entrance” and features a butterfl y has brought in scores of individuals passing by for the past two decades. And around 5,000 visitors last year. Th at is certainly no accident as the unoffi cial slogan for ECEC seems to be simple: come for the butterfl ies, stay for the community. Th e curious travelers who have wandered to ECEC’s 30-acres of land are also supporting the local employment opportunities that the group provides. And the tour- ism this organization brings across the town – all while receiving a fi rst-class education on the fl ora across Oregon, the history of Fort Umpqua and, of course, the chance to see, and learn about, butterfl ies. ft er Carol Beckley was diagnosed with cancer about 30 years ago, she was told by her doctor that she wasn’t going to live. Aft er a year of chemotherapy, the doctors said the cancer would return. So Beck- ley decided it was time to get out of Elkton. “Everybody looked at me sad and I couldn’t take that any longer. And so I bought an RV that looked most like our farm truck and I left town,” said an enthusiastic 84-year- old Beckley earlier this summer. Having taught in Elkton for 17 years, and having lived in town since she was four, the diagnosis made her ready for some change. With her partner Jim at her side, the two drove around the country – stopping at each butterfl y pavil- ion that they passed – for about four years going wherever the wind took them. But throughout the long trips and in all the stops along the way, something was missing. “I said, ‘I can’t make a life like this. We have to do something A meaningful,’” Beckley remembers telling Jim. So they packed up and made their way back to Elkton, ready to start fresh. Th e fi rst step in this process was looking at a piece of property that had just gone up for sale: 30 acres of sheep pasture right along the Umpqua Hwy. Th e man selling the property was looking for $350,000 for the land but, in a rush to get to his next property, ended up cutting his asking price by over 40 percent and sold the land to Beckley for $200,000. At the time of the purchase, the fi rst item of business for Beckley was establishing a preschool on the property to fi ll the need of the community. Aft er that, she knew she wanted to do something with plants. And maybe fulfi ll a lifelong dream of hers. “I always had this dream of hav- ing all this representative fl ora of Oregon on our ranch. I was going to have it and then I thought well, no one will ever see it anyhow,” said Beckley. With this new property she had visions of having a plant park and began working – with the help of student volunteers – on fl ower beds. Like seemingly all of Beckley’s ideas, it came to fruition. Th e plants came in and have been continuing to grow for two decades now. But BUTTERFLY see B2 A sign outside ECEC tells motorists that the organization has milkweed – an important plant for monarch butterfl ies. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL Winebarger keeps winning at Speedway Local celebrations set to celebrate the holiday By Ben Deatherage Cottage Grove Speedway Collen Winebarger and his family celebrate after his fourth victory at the Speedway this season. PHOTO C/0 STEPHANIE Th e third and fi nal night of the 2019 Hoppes Con- struction Freedom Cup took place on Saturday, July 6. Th e three same divisions that had raced all Indepen- dence Day weekend long including the IMCA Sport Mods, Mohawk Metal IMCA Modifi eds and the Todd’s Auto Body Sprints. Around 80 total cars would make the trip representing Oregon, Washington, Cal- ifornia, North Dakota and Colorado. Meridian, California’s Jason Ferguson got out the early race lead in the IMCA Sport Mod race. Travis Pruitt, from Molalla, was the car to beat for much of the race. Constructing a sizable lead over the rest of the fi eld he would see it evaporated due to a lap twenty stoppage. Braedon Hand made the decisive pass on Pruitt on the 23 trip past the fl ag stand. Hand, of Cottage Grove, won the race to sweep the entire Hoppes Construction Free- dom Cup weekend and win the point fund title. In the Mohawk Metal IMCA Modifi eds, Corbett’s Collen Winebarger took the lead on lap nine and never looked back. Winebarger led the rest of the distance for his fi rst win of the week- end and enough points to win the 2019 Hoppes Con- struction Freedom Cup. It is his fourth total win at CGS this season. To read more about the weekend of races, go to cot- tagegrovespeedway.com. DEATHERAGE Athletes of the Week Th is week’s athletes of the week are the golfers of Cottage Grove. Th e Middlefi eld Women’s Club teamed up with the CGHS team last week to raise almost $1,000 dollars for equipment for the high school program last week in a scramble event. The mem- bers of the Middlefi eld Women’s Club and CGHS golf team take a picture before last week’s event. PHOTO C/O LINDA FRANKLIN
