PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 31, 2017
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By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary varsity base-
ball team hasn’t been able to
practice on its fi eld, much less
play a game.
“We literally haven’t been
on our varsity fi eld one time,”
Celtics head coach Larry
Keeker said. “We’ve done
some on-fi eld batting prac-
tice but we’ve had to stay off
the dirt. It’s just way too soft.
It’s too muddy. Even the grass
area is super soft as well. We’ve
been able to get on the JV
fi eld a couple times.”
McNary was scheduled to
open its season on March 15
at home against Canby and
then host Tualatin on March
22 but both games were can-
celled.
“Obviously the weather has
dictated our schedule and we
certainly had to make some
adjustments in terms of when
we’re playing and where we’re
playing and the same thing
with practice,” Keeker said.
“It’s been a challenging spring
in terms of getting ready to
go because of the weather but
everyone is in the same boat.”
Thanks to the wettest Feb-
ruary on record, the Celt-
ics have mostly been forced
to practice in the gym or on
the turf fi eld. Making matters
worse, McNary put in new
dirt on its infi eld during the
offseason that has yet to dry
out.
The Celtics were able to
get in two away games—a
14-0 victory at Barlow on
Tuesday, March 21 and a 4-1
loss at Grant on Thursday,
March 23.
After missing all of last
season due to elbow surgery,
senior Riley Hays started on
the mound against Barlow, re-
cording three strikeouts and
allowing one hit but seven
walks over four and one-third
innings.
“He (Hays) typically has
very good command of his
pitches but considering the
weather and the way it was, he
really did a pretty good job,”
Keeker said. “He got ground
balls when we needed to and
they turned into four double
plays. The defense backed him
up.”
Jonah Geist got the fi -
nal fi ve outs to complete the
shutout.
“We pitched really well
considering the conditions,”
Keeker said. “We were liter-
ally playing in the rain. We
had a thunder and lightning
delay. We didn’t get home un-
til midnight. Considering the
conditions, I thought our de-
fense and our pitching did a
pretty good job.”
Please see CLOSED, Page 13
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary’s varsity baseball team has yet to be able to get on its fi eld due to the wettest February
on record combined with new dirt in the infi eld.
Van Voorhis, Partridge lead
young track and fi eld team
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
SALEM—Brendan
Van
Voorhis started his senior track
season on Wednesday, March
22 at McKay High School
tackling something he’d never
done—the 100, 200 and 400
all in the same meet.
“That’s really, really hard
to do,” McNary head coach
Frank Gauntz said. “It’s a lot
of sprinting to do in one day.
It was a tremendous job by
Brendan to do that and he did
really well.”
The toughest part is the
100-400 combination, which
are back-to-back events.
After fi nishing second in
the 100 in 11.36, Van Voorhis
had just the junior varsity and
varsity girls 400 and the junior
varsity boys 400 to rest in be-
tween.
“I have a video of the race
and I took off really slow,” said
Van Voorhis of the 400, which
he won in 52.77. “It looks re-
ally bad on the video and then
you can see I picked it up. I
just need to start that race with
a little more intensity and that
will drop my time a lot.”
Van Voorhis then took sec-
ond in the 200 in 23.41 in his
fi nal individual event of the
meet.
“For the fi rst meet and for
the fi rst time doing the 1-4
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Cambrian Partridge won the discus in 99-02 to
open the track and fi eld season.
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Brendan Van Voorhis, middle, fi nished second in the 100, fi rst in the 400 and
second in the 200 on Wednesday, March 22 at McKay High School.
combination, I didn’t think
they were too bad,” Van Voo-
rhis said. “They’re not really
close to my PRs. I kind of
wanted to be a little bit closer.”
Van Voorhis started the
meet running anchor in the
4x100 relay. Joined by Isaiah
Rhodes, Lucas Garvey and
Jacob Wyer, the Celtics placed
third out of three teams in
45.72.
Last season, McNary won
the Greater Valley Conference
in the 4x100 in 42.78.
“I’m the only returner on
the relay team this year,” Van
Voorhis said. “We’re just put-
ting it together. We’ve just got
some work to do on that.”
The boys 4x100 relay team
isn’t the only event with new
faces.
“We have a really young
team as far as fi rst-year track
kids, even the majority of our
juniors are fi rst-year track kids
and I thought they handled it
(fi rst meet) really, really good,”
Gauntz said. “There’s obvi-
ously some things we need to
clean up but as far as going out
and competing, I thought they
did a great job.”
But Van Voorhis isn’t the
only veteran on the McNary
track and fi eld team.
Senior Cambrian Partridge
won the discus in 99-02. Par-
tridge’s personal record is 110
feet and she hopes to qualify
for state and break the school
record of 124 by the end of
the season.
“The biggest thing is tech-
nique,” Partridge said. “You
don’t have to have a lot of
muscle to throw far. My big-
gest goal is to throw at a high-
er trajectory.”
Another senior, Alyssa
Looney, took fi rst in the long
jump in 15-07.5.
Two freshmen shined in
their fi rst meet. Haley Hughes
won the 400 in 1:06.98 and
Caitlyn Kiefi uk Yakes placed
fi rst in the 100 hurdles in
18.16.
McNary senior Alex Shar-
abarin cleared 11 feet to win
the boys pole vault, edging
teammate Jacob Cremer’s 10-
06.
Three juniors also won
their respective events. Mi-
chael Reyes fi nished the
3000 in 10:23.06, Casey Toavs
completed the 300 hurdles
in 44.67 and Lucas Garvey
cleared 5-06 in the high jump.
McNary’s next track and
fi eld meet is Wednesday, April
5 at home against West Salem.
Lady Celts fi nish 2-2 at Jesuit
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Nicole Duran drove in four runs in a come-from-
behind 6-5 win over Southridge on Tuesday, March 28.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
After two tough losses at
Jesuit, McNary (5-2) ended
the spring break softball tour-
nament in celebration.
With one out in the bot-
tom of the seventh inning,
Nicole Duran doubled on a
line drive to center fi eld to
bring home Faith Danner as
the Lady Celts came from be-
hind to defeat Southridge 6-5
on Tuesday, March 28.
“The girls worked hard and
played a really good game,”
McNary head coach Kevin
Wise said. “Girls were just fl at
in the fi rst inning and took a
while to get going.”
Duran fi nished the game
2-for-4 with two doubles and
four RBIs.
Danner was 3-for-4 with
an RBI and the game-win-
ning run. Alexa Cepeda also
had two hits and scored two
runs in the win.
McNary fell behind 4-2 in
the fi rst inning and trailed 5-2
going into the bottom of the
fi fth when Duran cleared the
bases with a double off the
fence to tie the game.
“She (Duran) really found
her groove that game,” Wise
said.
Danner pitched all seven
innings, allowing 10 hits and
fi ve runs.
McNary opened the tour-
nament on Monday, March
27 with a 11-2 win over Lak-
eridge.
The Lady Celts led 3-0 af-
ter four innings but did most
of their damage late, scoring
fi ve runs in the sixth and add-
ing three more in the seventh.
Nadia Witt was 3-for-5
with a double, run and two
RBIs. Emma Kinler was also
3-for-5 with a run and RBI.
Danner, Duran and Haley
Bingenheimer all had two
hits.
Danner pitched the fi rst
fi ve innings, allowing only
two hits and one run while
striking out three. Callie We-
ber got the fi nal six outs for
McNary.
Adjusting to a harder
throwing pitcher, the Lady
Celts suffered their fi rst loss of
the season on Monday after-
noon, falling to Tigard 3-0.
Led by Haley Ebner, who
was 3-for-3 at the plate,
McNary had seven hits but
couldn’t cash in.
“We hit the ball hard but
right at somebody,” Wise said.
“We didn’t play bad, hits just
didn’t fall that day.”
Danner again threw all sev-
en innings, allowing just four
hits and two earned runs.
Playing a Jesuit team full of
seniors and juniors on Tues-
day, the Lady Celts, starting
four freshmen, took an early
lead as Duran drew a bases
loaded walk in the top of the
second but ultimately fell to
the defending state champi-
ons 4-1.
“Their pitcher, once she
gets in a groove, you have to
get to her early or she settles
in,” Wise said.
Please see JESUIT, Page 13