PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 24, 2015
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Boys suffer fi rst loss
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
An 11-3 loss to South Sa-
lem High School means the
McNary varsity baseball team
is tied for fi rst place in the
Greater Valley Conference.
The Saxons had a 2-0 lead
when McNary went ahead
3-2 in the fourth inning. But
an eight-run fi fth inning for
South sealed McNary’s fate.
Until that game Tuesday,
April 21, the Celts were still
undefeated in the GVC after
a win over Forest Grove High
School Friday, April 17.
Head Coach Larry Keeker
attributed the team’s recent
successes to rededication in
game preparation.
“Early in the season, we
were going through the mo-
tions of preparing,” he said.
“Now, it’s really good. We
learned our lesson and we
can’t show up, walk around
and play well. We do well
when we get ourselves pre-
pared on fundamentals and
hold each other account-
able.”
McNary took a lead early
in the game, and managed
to avoid the middle-game
drought that was becoming
characteristic of the team.
Pitcher Mickey Walker gave
the team a good start with
nine strikeouts.
“We spread out the runs
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Joyce Lim rounds a corner en route to winning the 800 meter
race in the South Salem meet Wednesday, April 15.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary’s Kyle Ismay tags out a runner trying to steal second base in the Forest Grove game.
and had a good game offen-
sively,” Keeker said.
After edging the McKay
Royal Scots on Monday,
April 20, the Celtics still had
a big week ahead with games
on tap against McMinnville
and Sprague high schools.
While Keeker is trying
to keep the focus on one
game at a time, he expected
the Grizzlies to be the game
of the week. They were one
game behind McNary at
press time.
“Sprague is certainly a ca-
pable team, but McMinnville
is toughest in term of talent
and record,” he said.
By keeping the team fo-
cused on preparing for each
game, Keeker said they won’t
have any regrets.
“There will be no one
looking back and saying, ‘Boy,
I wish we’d gotten ready to
play,” he said.
Celts beat Saxons
on track and fi eld
The McNary High School
girls and boys varsity track and
fi eld team were both victori-
ous in a meet with South Sa-
lem High School Wednesday,
April 15.
The boys won 87-56 and
the girls won 85-60. Along
the way, McNary picked up
numerous event wins.
For the girls, event win-
ners were Danielle Duran in
the 200 meter in 27.13; Kailey
Doutt won the 400 meter in
1:03.29; Joyce Lim took fi rst
in the 800 meter in 2:44.87;
Annabel
Guptill
topped
the podium in the 3,000 in
11:54.59; River Harri won
the 300 meter hurdles with a
time of 51.67; Sydney Hunter,
Please see TRACK, Page A9
Lady
Celts
get big
wins in
tennis
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Lady Celt Emma Kinler was all smiles rounding third base after sending a home run over the center fi eld fence in the game with McKay High School.
Softball team struggles with errors
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
McNary High School’s
girls varsity softball team
couldn’t overcome errors in
the early going of a game with
Forest Grove High School
Friday, April 17.
“We came out fl at. It may
have been having a whole
week off but, in the fi rst three
innings, we kicked the ball
around and went down 6-0,”
said Kevin Wise, McNary
head coach. “If we played like
we did in the last part of the
game, it might have been a
different story.”
The Keizer team left eight
runners on base in the 6-3
loss.
McNary put one run across
the plate in the fourth inning
and two in the seventh, but it
was too little too late.
Kelsi Christenson had
the best day at the dish go-
ing 2-for-3. Kimi Ito, Madi-
son Oliver and Hannah Carr
notched the RBIs.
The Lady Celts bounced
back the next day to win 14-0
over the McKay Royal Scots.
“We were still off after the
loss, but they came back and
had a better approach at the
plate being aggressive,” Wise
said. “Their pitcher – to her
credit – did a good job, but
we were patient at the plate.”
Despite the loss, the Royal
Scot team was showing much
improvement over past sea-
sons on defense.
Lady Celt Emma Kin-
ler sent a shot over the cen-
terfi eld fence to kick off the
second inning for McNary.
Carr and Kiana Villarreal had
doubles.
Wise said the team needs
to get out of the mindset that
they can”turn it on and turn
it off.”
“They need to focus from
the fi rst pitch to the last. We
need it this week because it’s
a busy week with no down-
time.”
The Celtics had games in
the works against South Sa-
lem, McMinnville, both past
press time, and Sprague High
School Friday, April 24. The
fi rst pitch is slated for Mc-
Nary at 5 p.m.
“One of the advantages we
have is that everybody in the
conference has at least one
loss so no one is unbeatable,”
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
McNary High School’s
girls varsity tennis team lost
a match with McMinnville
High School 6-2, but the two
matches the team won were
important ones.
In No. 1 singles, Celtic
freshman Hannah Childress
took down Grizzly senior
Caitlan Baker, one of the bet-
ter players in the league, in
three sets.
“I kind of changed up my
game when she became more
consistent. When she did that I
started to come up to the net
and volley,” Childress said.
Childress, making her sec-
ond appearance in varsity sin-
gles, lost the fi rst set 1-6, came
back to win the second set 6-4
and took the third set 7-5.
“She was scared to death
after the fi rst set, but then
she went out and executed,”
said Lisa Reid, McNary head
coach.
At No. 1 doubles, Ariana
Neads and Sami Trowbridge
pulled off a similar feat against
a top-ranked opponent. They
beat McMinnville’s Samantha
Purdy and Shay Bristow with
Please see TENNIS, Page A9