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.”