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