PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 6, 2016
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Celtic baseball
wins 2 of 3, sets
up playoff push
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School
varsity baseball team’s rematch
with West Albany High
School Saturday, April 30,
turned out much better than
the fi rst time around.
The Celts won 1-0 after
losing to the same team 10-0
in the fi rst round robin of the
Greater Valley Conference.
“Losing to them twice was
going to make it diffi cult for
us to have a shot at the playoffs,
so that was an important
game for this team,” said Larry
Keeker, McNary head coach.
Some diffi culties executing
the small-ball game were the
only thing that kept the Celts
from running up the score
even higher, Keeker added.
McNary junior Matthew
Ismay handled starting duties
on the mound and went six-
and-a-third innings, allowing
only four hits.
“He did a really good job
of throwing a lot of strikes
and the defense played with
only one error behind him,”
Keeker said.
The game wasn’t settled
until the seventh inning. Celt
Trent Van Cleave took fi rst
after being hit by a pitch.
Josiah Gilbert reached fi rst
on an error by the second
baseman, but
McNary’s
next two batters struck out,
bringing up senior Matt
Aguilar.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Please see BASEBALL, Page A11
McNary’s Callista Srofe slides into fi rst base after getting caught off the bag in the game with West Salem High School Wednes-
day, April 27.
MHS alumni basketball
tourney kicks off May 14
Lady Celts deal Bulldogs
their fi rst GVC loss
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
For its fi rst time out, a
planned boys varsity basketball
tournament may not be as big
as its organizers would hope,
but they’re in it for the long
haul.
“One of the things
that we’ve tried to
do is honor the
tradition of the
program a little
more, this is one
way for us to do
that,” said Ryan
Kirch, head coach
of the program. “It
might be a little on the
small side this fi rst year, but we
have a program in a one-horse
town and I thought it would
be a great opportunity to bring
back guys to reconnect with
the program and players we
have now.”
The tournament is open to
any former McNary boys bas-
ketball player and is planned
for Saturday and Sunday, May
14 and 15. Exact times have yet
to be decided, but Kirch said
the plan is to play some round-
robin pick-up games on Satur-
day at McNary followed by a
barbecue and then host a tour-
nament based on the results
of the pick-up games
on Sunday.
Celt alums who
would like to
play are encour-
aged to email
Michael Miller at
mcnaryalumni@
gmail.com. Miller
is also reaching out
to former Celts via so-
cial media. Teams will likely be
formed based on the years the
athletes played for McNary.
While similar tournaments
at other schools serve as fun-
draisers for the basketball pro-
gram – with participants pay-
ing to play – Kirch said that
isn’t the case for this one.
Please see TOURNEY, Page A11
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
When the McNary High
School varsity softball team
met West Albany High School
Friday, April 29, the Bulldogs
were undefeated in the Greater
Valley Conference.
That wasn’t the case after the
game. The Lady Celts won 4-3.
“That was one of our best
defensive games of the season,”
said Madisen Oliver, a McNary
senior.
McNary piled up three
runs in the second inning with
Haley Ebner scoring Sabella
Alfaro on a single to left fi eld.
Oliver hit a triple to right fi eld
scoring Ebner and Nadia Witt.
West Albany scored on an
RBI-double in the bottom of
the frame.
The
Celts’
Kinsey
McNaught added the team’s
fi nal run with an RBI-single
scoring Nicole Duran.
West Albany scored two runs
on the Celtics’ only error of the
game in the bottom of the fi fth
for the 4-3 fi nal.
Freshman Faith Danner
pitched the complete game
with 17 fi rst-pitch strikes and
two strikeouts.
“We’ve had a lot of errors
this season, but we had a big
talk about making sure we’re
communicating and knowing
where the plays are,” said Duran.
Prior to the West Albany
game, McNary picked up a
16-0 win over North Salem
High School and lost to West
Salem High School 5-3.
While the loss means the
Titans have swept the Celtics
this season, it was a much
more contested battle this time
around. The fi rst time the teams
met, West Salem pounded out
an 11-5 win.
McNary was trailing 5-0
when it rallied for three runs in
the bottom of the fi fth. Duran
scored on an error, Callista
Srofe scored on a single by
Ebner and Alfaro scored on a
single by Witt.
The Titans picked up one
run on an error, but Kevin
Wise, McNary head coach,
said the team’s biggest growth
this season has been learning to
regroup after errors.
“The girls are getting
comfortable in their roles and
along with that they have a
new level of comfort with each
other. They’re starting to talk
a little better and part of that
is cutting down on errors,” he
said.
McNary started out its 16-0
rout of the Vikings swinging
for the fences, but it was only
after they focused on putting
the ball in play that the home
runs started piling up. The Lady
Celts had four in the game, two
by Oliver and one each for Witt
and Danner.
“The entire team did a good
job of stringing together hits
when we needed them and
coming in clutch,” said Duran.
Witt’s three-run homer
came in the second inning;
Danner’s solo shot arrived in
the third; Oliver had two-run
home runs in the fi fth and sixth
innings.
Oliver said her big week was
the result of putting in extra
time hitting after school each
day.
“I’ve been trying to hit at
least 100 balls every day and it’s
carried over to the games,” she
said.
Track and fi eld preps
for GVC district peak
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
After surgery, Celt Riley Hays is missing his junior season as a McNary baseball pitcher, but a
better-than-hoped-for recovery, and a big goal, might see him return to the mound this summer.
McNary’s rubber band man
Junior on the mend after surgery
threatened to cut short career
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
There’s some news we
don’t want to get, for Celt
Riley Hays some of his worst
news to date came on his 17th
birthday.
Riley, a junior at McNary
High School, had undergone
surgery for a stress fracture
in his elbow 10 days before
his birthday last year and was
back in the doctor’s offi ce for
a check-up.
“They took the staples out,
got the splint off and the phy-
sician’s assistant was taking a
look at it when I asked how
soon I would be able to throw
again,” Riley said.
Throwing again mattered.
When he was seven, Riley had
found a home on the mound
of a baseball diamond and has
been working to hone his
skills ever since. It was in no
small part thanks to the infl u-
ence of his dad, Kyle.
Please see HAYS, Page A13
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
With the Greater Valley
Conference championships a
scant week away, the McNary
High School varsity track and
fi eld teams are hoping to peak
when it matters most.
“We want the kids to get
healed up after pounding
them pretty hard. We want
them to have their best meet
at the conference meet. That’s
what we tailor our practices to,
but there are a lot of potential
– good and bad – surprises,”
said Frank Gauntz, McNary
head coach.
The conference meet will
be held Friday and Saturday,
May 12 and 13, at the Wort-
man Stadium in McMinnville.
The fi rst events next Friday
begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday’s
fi nals begin at 4 p.m.
On the girls’ side of things,
Gauntz is hoping for big
things from Alyssa Looney,
Dani Duran and Cambrian
Partridge.
“Alyssa is going up higher
and higher in the pole vault.
Dani has the top GVC time in
the 300 hurdles, and Cambri-
an had a great series of throws
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary’s Brycen Boucher narrowly misses a high jump during
the dual meet with McMinnville High School April 27.
at the Rob Allen Invite last
weekend,” Gauntz said.
Looney cleared nine feet in
the pole vault during a dual
meet with McMinnville High
School Wednesday, April 27. It
was a personal record for the
Lady Celt and put her in third
place in the GVC.
Please see TRACK, Page A11