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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 2017)
PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 24, 2017 KEIZERTIMES.COM Five-timers club KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley Jessica Grimmer scored a goal on Thursday, March 16 in a 12-5 loss at Crescent Valley to open the 2017 lacrosse season. Girls LAX enters second season KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary junior Chad Pinney scored fi ve goals in a 13-9 win over Hermiston on Friday, March 17. Pinney leads Celtics past Hermiston By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary lacrosse coach Ryan Bowlby needed only one word to describe Chad Pinney’s game after the Celtic junior scored fi ve goals in a 13-9 win over Hermiston on Friday, March 17. “Disgusting.” “Chad used to live back there so he knows a bunch of these boys,” Bowlby said. “He grew up with them. His old best friend is on the team so you knew what you’re go- ing against and he rose to the challenge, which is brilliant. He’s the one that kept us in it with the fi rst couple of goals.” McNary fell behind 3-0 in the fi rst fi ve minutes before battling back. “We defi nitely came out fl at to start the game, not be- ing ready and miscommuni- cations on defense,” Bowlby said. “They weren’t talking the fi rst quarter and by the end of the game they were yelling and everyone was talking. That was big since in lacrosse you have to com- municate to be successful on defense. If you don’t talk, you won’t win.” Pinney scored the Celtics fi rst goal midway through the fi rst quarter and added anoth- er with 3:37 remaining. Alex McGrath then tied the game 3-3 just 14 seconds into the second quarter. After Pinney scored again with 8:14 remaining in the fi rst half, Jonathan Williams, despite being fouled and mo- mentarily knocked out of the game, scored his fi rst of fi ve goals to give McNary a 5-3 lead and conclude a 5-0 run. The Celtics led 5-4 enter- ing halftime but Hermiston quickly tied the game and then took a 6-5 lead with 7:25 remaining in the third quarter. After Williams tied the contest back up at 6-6, Pinney again took over, scoring two more goals to give McNary a lead that would stick, 8-6 with 10:18 left to play. “We just worked as a team and just really moved the ball around, looked for the open shots and took them,” Pinney said. Hermiston twice got with- in one goal of the Celtics, 8-7 and 9-8, but McNary, play- ing two-men-up, scored four goals in the fi nal 2:39, one each by Tyler Anderson and Jack O’Connor and two by Williams, to put away the vis- iting Bulldogs. “They had a team win. That was the big thing, lots of guys scoring out there, Bowl- by said. “Defense, we were able to show a bunch of dif- ferent things. We had worked on a new defensive set on Wednesday and they were able to implement it tonight. That’s a big step for them.” Bowlby also acknowledged the play of goalie Marcus Mc- Coy. “He came up phenomenal like always, a great athlete go- ing after the ball, made some great saves out there to keep us in the game,” Bowlby said. The Celtics expect another close game on Friday, March 27 when Mountain View comes to Keizer. “It’s always a back-and- forth game,” Bowlby said. “One year we win. Next year they win. They won last time so it’s our turn.” By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary lost its fi rst game of the season 12-5 at Crescent Valley on Thursday, March 16. But head girls lacrosse coach Becca LaFramboise ex- pects the Lady Celts to make a giant leap forward in their second season ever and their fi rst playing a varsity schedule. “It being our fi rst ever var- sity game, we did amazing,” LaFramboise said. “We had great ball move- ment on offense and were able to correct some mistakes during the game. All that was holding us back was mul- tiple little things because we haven’t had the chance to go over them yet.” Last season, McNary didn’t have any girls who had played lacrosse before but the Lady Celts also had no seniors and have added Carly Levario, a transfer from Oregon City, who along with Jessica Grim- mer was voted a team captain this season. Levario and Katelyn Mar- tinez each scored two goals at Crescent Valley. Grimmer also had a goal. “We have a very strong team, especially compared to last year,” LaFramboise said. “We were able to build upon last year, which is much easier than starting from new, where they already know the basics, is amazing. It allows for us to have an actual offense. It al- lows for us to expand our de- fense.” LaFramboise has also been impressed by midfi elder Mad- eline Steele. McNary’s fi rst home game is Tuesday, April 11 against South Salem. “I’m expecting fi ght from these girls,” LaFramboise said. “I think we are a lot better and I expect that to be shown on the playing fi eld. With the amount of skill that they have now compared to last year, I expect our opponents to be shocked with how much progress we have made.” Lady Celts open season with 10-0 win KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary junior Nadia Witt went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored as the Lady Celts defeated Cleveland Thursday, March 16 to open the 2017 softball season. By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes Batting leadoff, Nadia Witt said she was just trying to get on base. The McNary center fi eld- er did more than that, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored as the Lady Celts shut out Cleveland 10-0 on Thursday, March 16 to open the 2017 softball season. “We played a lot better than I expected,” Witt said. “I wasn’t expecting us to play bad but we played really good and we all communicated well and just played as a team.” McNary sophomore Faith Danner pitched all fi ve in- nings, recording six strikeouts and no walks. She allowed sev- en hits but only four got out of the infi eld. “I was focused on hitting my spots, no matter what was behind me,” Danner said. “I was hitting the corners pretty good. I wasn’t throwing a lot down the middle.” Freshman outfi elder Alexa Cepeda, who hit second in the Lady Celts lineup, claimed she was nervous before her fi rst high school game. But it didn’t show as Cepeda went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBI. “My fi rst at bat, I was kind of shaking but I think I got them (nerves) out,” Cepeda said. “She was pitching outside so I tried to take it the other way.” Witt and Cepeda’s bats sparked McNary early. After Witt doubled to leadoff the bottom of the fi rst inning, Cepeda roped a double of her own down the third base line to knock in Witt for the Lady Celts fi rst run of the season. With two outs in the bot- tom of the second, Witt and Cepeda did the same and their back-to-back doubles gave McNary a 5-0 lead. “She gets on a lot and she has wheels, the kid can fl y,” McNary head coach Kevin Wise said of Witt. “And that’s what you want as a leadoff hitter. You want someone who is aggressive, who is going to push the issue. And then Alexa, I mean that kid for a fresh- men, she already hits like she’s an upperclassman. She can hit and she can slap so we’ve got the best of both worlds.” First baseman Haley Ebner singled to bring home Cepeda to give the Lady Celts a 6-0 lead after two innings. Mc- Nary added four more runs in the third. Danner was 2-for-2 with a walk while courtesy run- ner Sabello Alfaro scored two runs. Emma Kinler and Nicole Duran both had RBI singles. Freshmen Kendyl Jennings and Haley Bingenheimer both had a hit and scored a run in their fi rst game. “One thing I like about our lineup, all up and down, we don’t really have a weak spot this year,” Wise said. “We’ve got kids who can hit one through nine. Last year, we lost to this team 13-17 so to have us come out and play like this, especially when you look and we had one senior on third base and four fresh- men starting today. I’m really happy with this start. It’s good. I couldn’t be happier.”
