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PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 8, 2016 KEIZERTIMES.COM WMS coach wins contest, $5K By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Scott Coburn fi gured the odds were against him, but he was going to enjoy the time anyway. Coburn, volleyball and track coach at Whiteaker Middle School, was one of the three fi nalists for a Com- cast SportsNet All-Star Coach Program award. As such, Co- burn and his family got to en- joy the Portland Trail Blazers game on April 2. A diehard basketball fan, enjoying free tickets to a game with his family? How much better could it get? Well, winning the $5,000 prize would be one way to make the evening perfect. That’s just what happened for Coburn. Three Oregon coaches were up for the award, with three Washington coaches up for a similar award. Coburn was up against two track and fi eld coaches from Portland high schools. “I was surprised to win, since the other two were from Portland,” Coburn said. “But you can’t underestimate the people of Keizer. It’s such a wonderful place.” Once fi nalists were an- nounced, citizens were en- couraged to vote for their favorite coach. Coburn emerged with the most votes. Keizer City Councilor Ro- land Herrera invited Coburn to Monday’s council meeting to be recognized. “This one is defi nitely a highlight of the 38 years.” — Scott Coburn “I’m really glad he was chosen,” Herrera said. “Our community stepped up and recognized Mr. Coburn. He’s been teaching for 24 years at Whiteaker and has prepared many young athletes.” Coburn has been coaching for 38 years. Over the years he has taught basketball, track and fi eld, volleyball and football at fi ve high schools before com- ing to Whiteaker. He was an assistant boys basketball coach at McNary High School for 14 years and has been head girls volleyball coach at WMS since 1993, racking up a 316- 64 record during that time, in- cluding 14 undefeated teams. He’s also been head coach for track and fi eld at Whiteaker since 2004. “It’s an honor to repre- sent this city,” said Coburn, who was joined at the coun- cil meeting by wife Laurie. “I came to Keizer 24 years ago and found a home I wanted to stay in. It’s been fun. When my vice principal nominated me for the award, the school got the word out on social media. People do things here. I thank them so much for the award and the support.” In that nomination, Co- burn was lauded for his integ- rity as a coach and teacher, for being a role model to students and fellow coaches alike, for encouraging good sportsman- ship and for inspiring students to never give up. Coburn also coordinates an annual fundraiser at WMS called Hoops For Heart, which raises about $5,000 a year for the American Heart Association while teaching students about heart health as KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy Whiteaker Middle School volleyball and track and fi eld coach Scott Coburn (second from right) was feted at Monday’s Keizer City Council meeting by (from left) mayor Cathy Clark, youth councilor and former WMS student Siri Scales and councilor Roland Herrera. Celts take charge, beat Newberg in baseball Hot bats can’t overcome Please see COBURN, Page A12 errors for the Lady Celts By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Putting up the big numbers hasn’t been a problem lately for the McNary High School varsity softball team. In three games last week, the Lady Celts scored 26 runs on a total of 45 hits. That in- cluded 13 runs and 21 hits against Cleveland on March 29, six runs and 12 hits against Sunset on March 30 and seven runs with 12 hits against Cen- tral Catholic on April 1. However, MHS came away with three losses to fall to 1-8 on the season. Not helping was the continued issue of errors. The Lady Celts notched fi ve against Cleveland, four against Sunset and three against Cen- tral Catholic. Things started off well enough against Cleveland. Nadia Witt singled and scored on a double by Madisen Oli- ver. Oliver later scored on a single by Emma Kinler to make it 2-0 in the fi rst inning. The Lady Celts added two more in the second frame to make it 4-0. After Cleveland closed to within 4-3 in the third inning, McNary stretched the lead back to 7-3 in the top of the fourth, only to have Cleveland close back to within 7-6 in the bottom of the frame. Cleveland took its fi rst lead with a six-run fi fth inning to make it 12-7, but the Lady Celts responded with six runs of their own in the top of the sixth to go back ahead 13- 12. The advantage was short- lived, however, as Cleveland scored fi ve more runs in the bottom of the frame for the 17-13 fi nal score. Leading the way for MHS was Witt, who was 5-for-5 from the plate with four runs and four RBIs. The next day, Sunset quick- ly jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fi rst inning. The Lady Celts responded with four runs in the second and another in the third to go ahead 5-3. After Sunset made KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy McNary’s Faith Danner fi res a pitch in varsity softball action against North Salem on Tuesday, April 5. it 5-4 in the fourth, MHS scored in the top of the fi fth to increase the gap to 6-4. Sunset tied the game in bottom of the frame, then scored the two winning runs in the bottom of the sixth for the 8-6 win. Kinsey McNaught went 3-for-5 with two RBIs for MHS, while Haley Ebner went 3-for-4 with a run. In addition to the errors, another problem for McNary was runners being left on base. MHS left 12 on base in the loss to Cleveland, 11 against Sunset and eight against Cen- tral Catholic. The Lady Celts spent much of the game versus Central Catholic playing catch up. After MHS went up 2-0 in the top of the fi rst, Central Catholic exploded with eight runs in the bottom of the frame. The home team added three more runs in the third to make it 11-2. McNary got three runs in the fi fth, one in the sixth in- ning and one more in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough in the 11-7 loss. Ebner once again had a hot bat at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Oliver and Nicole Duran added two RBIs each. By HERB SWETT For the Keizertimes McNary High School whipped Newberg 17-7 at home April 1 to reach a win- ning record for baseball pre- season play. The Celtics, who came in at 3-3-1, overcame eight er- rors to end the game after six innings because of the mercy rule. Matt Ismay was the win- ning pitcher in relief and cut the game short in the bottom of the sixth by hitting a bases- loaded triple. The visiting Tigers scored the fi rst two runs of the game in the fi rst two innings. Mi- chael Tarachkhyan led off the fi rst by reaching fi rst base on an error by third baseman Trevor Gilbert. Tarachkhyan advanced on a walk and a sto- len base and scored on a sacri- fi ce fl y by Jason Mauleon. In the top of the second, Mason Herring hit an in- fi eld single, stole second base, reached third on an error and scored as a balk was called on starting pitcher Collin Wen- tworth. Ismay replaced Wen- tworth with one out and re- tired the next two batters. McNary scored all the runs it needed in its half of the sec- ond. Gilbert and Collin Young walked and pulled a double steal after Trey Reohr, New- berg’s starter, struck out Trent Van Cleave. Daniel Johnson walked and Whitworth, who had moved to second base, walked to force Gilbert home. Tanner Gordon walked, forc- ing Young home. Marcus Dufour, who was to become the losing pitcher, replaced Reohr and made a wild pitch that advanced Van Cleave and Johnson. Both then scored as Matt Aguilar singled to center fi eld. Agui- lar stole second and scored on Brandon Frizelle’s double to center. A bad throw by catcher Dakota Hess moved Frizelle to third. Ismay drove Frizelle home with a single to center. Gilbert walked, and Ismay scored as an error by fi rst baseman Herring put Young on fi rst. Van Cleave fl ew out to left, and the inning ended with the Celtics leading 8-2. KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Top: Tanner Gordon runs the bases in recent McNary baseball action. Above: Collin Young makes a play at fi rst base. Newberg fought back in the third. Anthony Adams went from the batter’s box to second on a throwing error. Mauleon scored him with a single to center and went to third on another throwing er- ror. Reohr walked and stole second, Marcus Dufour struck out and Gilbert made a good fi elding play for the Celts by snaring a low line drive by Herring. Errors then scored Josh Butorac and Reohr, and a wild pitch scored Jacob Maiben. Herring was caught in a rundown, and the score was 8-7 in the middle of the third. The Celts responded with a run in their half of the third. Johnson and Whitworth walked and Derek Maiben came in to pitch. With one out, Aguilar singled to left center, scoring Johnson. “It wasn’t a very clean game,” McNary coach Lar- ry Keeker said. “We weren’t happy with our defense in the fi rst three innings, but we were with our offense.” Four more McNary runs came in the fourth. Gilbert and Young walked and An- thony Stigall took the mound. Van Cleave hit a bunt single to load the bases. Johnson walked, forcing Gilbert home. Josh Benson scored Young by grounding out. Gordon singled to center, driving in Young. Another single to cen- ter, by Gordon, drove in Van Cleave and Johnson. “I don’t think we’re having the season start we’re hoping for, but today we just came to play,” Gilbert said. In the Celtic sixth, Benson reached fi rst on a force out and went to third on a sin- gle to left by Gordon. Agui- lar singled and Frizelle drove Benson home with an infi eld single. With the bases loaded, Ismay hit his triple. In addition to his triple, Is- may noted he settled down on the mound. “I threw more breaking stuff, mixing it up,” he said.