March 24 - The Cottage Grove baseball team couldn’t find much offense in their opener against Cascade on March 16. The Cougars topped the Lions 10-1, but the Lions were right back at it the next day when they hosted the Sisters Outlaws. Cottage Grove’s offense found more of a rhythm but what plagued the Lions was their inability to get batters out. The Outlaws grabbed an early lead and never relented as the visitors went on to win 14-3.   

Isaiah Cushman got the start on the hill for the Lions and went four innings recording four punchouts. Micah Spear came in for an inning of relief work and added a strikeout of his own. Offensively three guys led the way for the Lions with Spear, Cushman, and Anthony Eubanks accounting for all five Cottage Grove hits.  

The Outlaws got out ahead with four runs in the top of the third inning. Cottage Grove’s first run came in their half of the same inning as Trevor Simons came across home plate from an error on the Sisters catcher. Sisters added two more runs in the fourth inning behind a Brody Duey triple and Lions wild pitch. The Outlaws then exploded for eight runs in fifth behind five hits and aided by four walks.  

The Lions got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth inning as Christian Spear crossed home plate following a Cushman groundout to shortstop. Cottage Grove’s last run came when Cushman crossed the plate, but Wyatt Teague was caught trying to advance to score. The Lions two runs trimmed down the lead, but the home side couldn’t get closer than that as Sisters won 14-3.  

The Lions will be back on the field when they travel to Toledo on Friday, March 24 with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m.