Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Leisure
B1
THURSDAY | APRIL 29, 2021
Leaps and Bounds
Note: Game times and
dates are subject to change
April 29
• ND/Yonc baseball
at Sutherlin JV
4:30 pm
• Elkton track & field
at Rogue River
4 pm
• Yonc. track & field
at Rogue River
4 pm
April 30
• CG baseball at
Siuslaw 3/5 pm
• CG Softball at
Siuslaw 3/5 pm
• Elkton baseball
hosts Oakland
2 and 4:30 pm
• Elkton softball
hosts Oakland
2 and 4:30 pm
• N. Doug. softball
hosts Days Creek
Noon and 2 pm
• Yoncalla softball
at Monroe
2 and 4:30 pm
• CG Track & Field at
Siuslaw Showcase
4 pm
PHOTOS BY ZEAHNA YOUNG/FOR THE SENTINEL
T
he Yoncalla track and field team was on the road at
Mapleton High School April 21, where the Eagles’
boys team won in team scoring with 109 points, fol-
lowed by Triangle Lake (89), Mapleton (60), Crow (52)
and Mohawk (34). In the girls’ division, Yoncalla placed
second with 74 points. Triangle Lake won the team title
(127). Mapleton was third (67), followed by Crow (32),
Siletz Valley (26) and Mohawk (22).
Cottage Grove sinks Pirates, unable to land Falcons
By Jon Stinnett
for The Sentinel
May 1
• ND/Yonc baseball
at North Bend JV
1 and 3 pm
• N. Doug. softball
hosts Bonanza
Noon and 2 pm
• Elkton softball
hosts Monroe
4:30 pm
May 4
• CG Baseball at
Marist 5 pm
• CG Softball at
Marist 5 pm
• Elkton baseball
hosts Glendale
4:30 pm
• ND/Yonc baseball
at Ump. V. Chr. JV
4:30 pm
• N. Doug. softball
hosts Lowell
Noon and 2 pm
• Yoncalla softball
hosts Days Creek
4:30 pm
Sometimes progress happens
in fits and starts, and it doesn’t al-
ways show up on the scoreboard.
Despite a tough afternoon for the
Lion baseball team on Tuesday,
Manager James Berry still found
a lot to like about Cottage Grove’s
improvement thus far in this
short season.
The Elmira Falcons came to
town, and while the final score
showed a lopsided loss for the
Lions, Cottage Grove was able
to load the bases in the final two
frames, threatening to make it a
much closer ball game.
“In general, I like the direction
we’re headed,” Berry said after the
game, highlighting a gutsy pitch-
ing effort by junior Logan Lowrey
and the fact that the Lions showed
life on offense.
Lowrey pitched well early,
walking none and notching two
strikeouts in the first. Elmira plat-
ed two runs in the second, three
in the third and two more in the
fourth.
Cottage Grove got its offense
going in the bottom of the fourth
as Christian Spear hit a hard
grounder up the middle. The
throw from the Elmira shortstop
pulled their first baseman off the
bag, allowing Spear to wind up at
second. He’d later score on a field-
er’s choice on a ball hit by fresh-
man Deegan Hutchins.
Elmira responded with two
runs in the top of the fifth to lead
9-1, but the Lions didn’t give up.
Freshman Peyton Glenn stroked a
single to right-center field. Glenn
later scored after a dropped third
strike allowed Carter Parsons to
reach base. Two errors by Elmira
helped the Lions load the bases,
See BASEBALL 3A
Lady Lions bring out big bats against Pirates
By Jon Stinnett
for The Sentinel
Midway through this six-week
season, the Lions know what
they’ve got to offer on the softball
field and what they need to do
to be competitive in the Sky-Em
League. On Tuesday afternoon,
they did almost enough to fend
off the visiting Elmira Falcons.
Elmira jumped out to a 1-0 lead
in the top of the first inning, but
the Lions answered with two runs
of their own in the bottom of the
frame. Cottage Grove blanked the
Falcons in the second inning, and
senior Kiley Woodard smacked a
single to start a Lion rally in the
bottom of the second. Next, Ol-
ivia Joseph reached on an error.
Woodard later scored on an RBI
sacrifice by Emma Hitt to put the
Lions up 3-1.
Cottage Grove stretched its lead
to 4-1 on a moonshot homerun to
left field by Kayla Challburg. A
pair of overthrows to first base
by the Lions kept an Elmira rally
alive in the fifth, however, and the
Falcons scored 5 runs in that in-
ning to take a four-run lead. The
Lions rallied to tie the score in the
top of the sixth, but Elmira plated
two more runs to win, 8-6.
Senior Kailey Cox pitched an
admirable complete game for the
Lions. Despite three errors on
Athlete of
the Week
the afternoon, Coach Danielle
Challburg said that she and her
partner, Coach Kris Challburg, let
the Lions know that they’d played
their best softball to date against
Elmira.
“We’re just trying to compete,
and we’re peaking at the right
time,” Challburg said. She said
that the Lions will focus on tak-
ing care of the ball going forward,
knowing that the hits will come
— Cottage Grove had scored 30
runs in its three games prior to
Tuesday night.
“We know what our players are
doing; now we just need to refine
it,” she said. “We’re focusing in
because we’ve got Marist coming
This week’s athlete of the
week is Jayce Clevenger
of the Elkton baseball
team, who helped lead
the Elks to victory on the
road at Creswell
up, and we know what we’ve got
to do.”
The Lions had traveled to the
coast for a wild doubleheader
against the Marshfield Pirates on
Friday. The first game found Cot-
tage Grove rattling off 14 straight
runs to win, 19-14. The second
game, though, featured develop-
ments that Challburg called a “de-
bacle” that certainly rubbed the
Lions the wrong way.
Leading the game in the second
inning, Challburg said Cottage
Grove was informed by the um-
pire that the game would be called
in the fifth inning due to
See SOFTBALL 3A
Elks senior
pitcher Jayce
Clevenger
pitched 4
1/3 innings,
striking
out seven
Bulldogs last
week in a
18-10 win at
Creswell.