APRIL 22, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
Submitted
Celt Brayden Ebbs at the USA Wrestling Folkstyle National
Tournament.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Celt catcher Haley Ebner checks a runner at second base after a late throw narrowly missed an out at home plate in the game
with Forest Grove High School Friday, April 15.
Lady Celts right ship with two wins
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The fi rst round robin of the
Greater Valley Conference soft-
ball season wraps up this week.
Barring major upsets, the
McNary High School Lady
Celts will travel to meet
Sprague High School for third
place in the conference Friday,
April 22.
“We have four games this
week, with Sprague being the
last of those. We have three
games in a row, and then a day
off before Sprague. Hopefully
that will give us a day to rest
and get rejuvenated before Fri-
day’s game. We just need to go
in and play our game, hit and
limit the errors, and we will be
just fi ne,” said Kevin Wise, Mc-
Nary head coach.
While the Celts survived the
buzzsaw of their early schedule,
the Olys also had to overcome
a game with second place West
Albany High School Wednes-
day past press time. The Bull-
dogs have only lost one game
so far this season.
The Celtics improved their
record to 3-2 in the GVC with
wins over Forest Grove and
McKay high schools.
On Friday, April 15, Mc-
Nary beat the Vikings 4-1 at
home. Forest Grove notched a
run in the top of the third, but
the Lady Celts tied the game
1-1 in the fourth on a RBI
by Nicole Duran. Nadia Witt
blasted a RBI-triple in the fi fth
inning to break the tie and the
Celts added two runs in the
sixth for the fi nal.
McNary fi nished a game
with McKay High School
Monday, April 18. The teams
only made it through an in-
ning and a half last week before
rain prompted the game to be
rescheduled for its conclusion.
The Celts entered into the re-
mainder of the game Monday
with a 12-0 lead and the Scots
mustered only one hit. Mc-
Nary took the win 24-0 in fi ve
innings.
Witt went 3-for-3 at the
plate with a home run, a triple
and a single.
Wise said the team is begin-
ning to adapt to new roles on
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary’s Kinsey McNaught fi elds a grounder that got past the
infi eld.
the fi eld after a wide-ranging
laundry list of injuries set the
team on its heels in the pre-
season.
“The thing that I like is we
have players who are unself-
ish and are willing to fi ll holes
where we need them,” he said.
“Haley Ebner has been key for
us at the catcher position. We
struggled there at the start of
the season, and since she has
taken this on, things have im-
proved greatly. Faith Danner
has been great on the mound,
and is very mature for a fresh-
man. Our hitting has been
great so far with Hannah Carr
and Nadia Witt leading the
team.”
With half the GVC season
still ahead, Wise still sees an op-
portunity for the team to fi nish
strong.
Ebbs earns All-
American honors
McNary High School
sophomore Brayden Ebbs
earned All-American honors
after competing at the USA
Wrestling Folkstyle National
Tournament in Cedar Falls,
Iowa, April 1 through 3.
There were more than
2,800 total participants at the
event and 31 in Ebbs’ weight
class. This was Ebbs third trip
to this tournament and it is
the fi rst time he was able to
place. Last year, he was one
match away from placing and
fi nished in the fi nal 10. This
year, he earned an eighth
place fi nish with a 4-3 record.
Eighth place earns him All-
American status in the cadet
age group (14- and 15-year-
old wrestlers). Earlier this year,
he won the cadet-aged State
Championship held in Salem.
In years past, Ebbs has re-
ceived All-American status
in freestyle (second and third
place fi nishes), and Greco
(with two third place fi nishes).
This is the fi rst time he was
able to stand on the podium in
the Folkstyle tournament.
Ebbs is the fi rst Celtic All-
American wrestler since Sean
Santana earned the honor in
2003.
Celt basketball plans
alumni tournament
The McNary High School
boys basketball team will be
hosting an Alumni Tourna-
ment May 14 and 15 for all
former Celtic varsity basketball
players.
“The program would like to
bring back and honor all for-
mer players and coaches for an
awesome weekend of basket-
ball,” said Ryan Kirch, McNary
boys basketball head coach.
Kirch is hoping to draw in
players from as far back as the
1970s and 1980s to play in the
tourney.
If you are interested in play-
ing, please contact the program
at mcnaryalumni@gmail.com
for more information.
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