Baseball
Cottage Grove Lions: The Lions went 0-2 in week one, losing to No. 11 Cascade 10-1 and No. 8 Sisters 14-3. Christian Spear led the way against Cascade with 4 innings-pitched, 5 strikeouts, and also had a hit. Isaiah Cushman got the start against Sisters, pitching for 4 innings and striking out 5 batters. Cushman, Spear, and Trevor Simons all scored for the Lions.
Creswell Bulldogs: Creswell started the season 0-3, falling to No. 12 Bandon 12-0, Douglas 12-8, and No. 4 Sutherlin 9-8. Junior Cam Leonard led the way for the Bulldogs with 2 hits against Bandon, a hit and a run against Douglas, and 3 hits, 1 run and 1 RBI against Sutherlin. Evan Jenkins led the way on the mound with 3 strikeouts against Bandon and 2 strikeouts against Sutherlin.
Pleasant Hill Billies: The Billies started the season 2-1, beating Springfield 12-2 and Santiam Christian 5-1 before falling to Class 4A No. 5 Henley 17-4. Caden Richardson and Brasen Holliday led the way against Springfield. Richardson finished with 4 hits, 3 runs and 2 RBI, while Holliday had 3 hits, 2 runs and 1 RBI. Alejandro Ziolkowski had the pitching start and struckout 3. Pleasant Hill took down Santiam with a 4-run 8th inning, spearheaded by Garett Foglio’s 3-run triple. Richardson pitched the whole game, allowing only 4 hits and striking out 8.
Springfield Millers: The Millers went 0-2 in week one, falling to Pleasant Hill 12-2 and South Albany 13-2. Against Pleasant Hill, Alex King had a hit and a run, while Gabriel Laird and Noah Roemen both had a hit. In the South Albany loss Tim James scored on a Corban Hein single. Sophomore Dylan Leas excelled on the mound for the Millers, striking out 4 in relief duty against PH and 5 as the starter against South Albany.
Thurston Colts: Thurston started its season 1-1, beating Class 6A Sheldon 9-1 at PK Park before falling 1-0 to No. 3 Summit on Monday. Eli Crist came up big against Sheldon with two different 3-run doubles, while Connor Molony started on the mound and struckout 8. In the Summit loss it was a pitching battle, with Maddox Molony pitching the entire game for Thurston, striking out 13 and only giving up 2 hits. Summit’s Oliver Richards ultimately got the win, striking out 4 in 6 innings.
Softball
Cottage Grove Lions: Cottage Grove had a great start to the season, going 2-1. The Lions beat 9-4 last week thanks to a 6-run 7th inning. Josie Hitt, Jordan Thielman, Jayda Bruner, Kylee Cordin, and Valeria Aura all had RBI’s in the final inning. Emily Pacheco pitched the whole game, striking out 11. The Lions also beat Sisters 11-10 on a walkout steal in the 8th-inning by Lilly Waidtlow. Bruner led the way offensively with 2 hits and 2 runs. In Cottage Grove’s 8-0 loss to No. 1 Cascade Pacheco struckout 13.
Creswell Bulldogs: Creswell got their season underway with a 2-1 week, beating Bandon 20-1 and Douglas 10-9 before falling to No. 1 Sutherlin 15-10. Junior Emmalee Stevens had 7 RBI’s on 2 home-runs against Bandon while Hope Ukolov struckout 6 on the mound. Against Douglas Dakota Carson led the way offensively with 2 hits and 2 runs, while Ukolov struckout 5. In the Sutherlin loss, Creswell led for much of the game before giving up 6 runs in the 6th inning. Ashelyn Sharkey had 3 hits, 3 RBI’s and 1 run in the game, while Lauren Bailey had 3 hits and 3 runs.
Pleasant Hill Billies: Pleasant Hill started the season a perfect 3-0. First the Billies beat Springfield 16-0 in a 3-inning mercy-rule thanks to 3 hits and 2 RBI’s from Shyanne Fenley, as well as 3 runs from Kiley Campos and Chelsea McAllister. Pleasant Hill then took down No. 11 Santiam Christian 12-4 behind a 9-run 6th inning. Campos finished with 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 RBI’s, and an inside-the-park home run. On Saturday the Billies took down Class 4A No. 14 Henley 14-13 thanks to Raigan Obie’s 4 runs and Campos’ 3 runs.
Springfield Millers: The Millers had only one game last week, a 16-0 loss in 3 innings against Class 3A No. 7 Pleasant Hill. Junior Holly Arendt had two hits to lead Springfield while also starting on the mound.
Thurston Colts: Thurston softball started the season with two tough losses, 14-0 against Class 6A No. 3 Sheldon and 13-3 at No. 6 West Albany. The Colts bounced back well on Monday though, taking down Summit 8-0. Kasey Ogan got the start at pitcher in the win, striking out 11 and allowing only 2 hits. Offensively, Emily Spain had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s, Celia Thompson had 2 hits and Kendall Miller scored twice.
Golf
Thurston’s boys golf season got underway last week at the Florence Golf Links tournament hosted by Siuslaw. The Colts finished with a score of 332, good for third place behind Sheldon (317) and McNary (327). Junior Trison Hedges led the way with a 6-over 78. Hedges was followed by junior Peyton Wiedenmann and senior Kodi Wardlaw with 84’s, and a final counting score by freshman Lincoln Wiedenmann at 86.
