Keizertimes., June 16, 2017, Page PAGE A12, Image 12

PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, JUNE 16, 2017
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Seattle’s Hit Queen
Bouska ends historic softball career
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Paige Bouska went to Seattle University just
wanting to get better at softball, season after
season.
But the 2013 McNary graduate is leaving
the program with more career hits than anyone
who has ever played for the Redhawks.
“It wasn’t really ever about setting records,”
Bouska said. “I had a goal every year to do bet-
ter than the year before. For me, it’s really cool
that I set it but I wasn’t really trying to, at all.”
Bouska said she didn’t think about the re-
cord until the start of her senior season once
she realized she only needed 48 hits to break it.
She made sure the historic hit, the 209 th of her
career, was one she wouldn’t forget.
With Seattle trailing 3-2 in the bottom of
the sixth inning, Bouska lashed a triple to left
fi eld to drive in two runs. The Redhawks went
on to defeat Santa Clara 5-3 on March 26.
“Before the game I knew I only had two hits
to break the record, one to tie it and then two
to break it,” Bouska said.
“That at bat in general I wasn’t thinking
about it at all. I just knew that we had people
on base and we were behind so I needed to
fi nd a way to score them or at least fi nd a way
to get on so I was just more focused on that.
It was super cool and exciting, just because I
scored the run to put us ahead and I also beat
the record and I hit a triple so there was just so
much excitement in that moment.”
Hitting a triple wasn’t uncommon for Bous-
ka, who also has the single season (7) and career
(14) records for triples at Seattle.
During her senior season, Bouska also broke
the single season hits record with 74 and led
the team with 37 runs scored. From March 11
to March 31, Bouska went on a 13-game hit-
ting streak. She also led the Redhawks with 23
multi-hit outings, including seven games with
three hits. She reached base in 24 straight con-
tests, including every game played in March.
Bouska said the key to her success was small
victories.
“Every game I had a goal to just get on
base,” she said. “I would rarely ever get shutout
in a game from getting on base so just having
that little goal for every game helped me to be
better.
“My job as a slapper is to just get on base so
that power hitters can hit me in. If I’m doing
my job other people can do their job to hit
me in.”
Bouska was also named to the All-Western
Athletic Conference First Team and voted
MVP at Seattle’s team banquet.
“That was amazing because it was my team
that voted me for that (MVP),” Bouska said.
“For them to think of me like that was really
cool. It was a nice feeling that my teammates
think I’m valuable in that way.”
Along with her individual success, Bouska
also helped the Redhawks reach new heights as
a team as Seattle played in the WAC Champi-
onship game for the fi rst time in school history.
Bouska drove in the tying run as the Red-
hawks upset top-seeded New Mexico State to
reach the fi nals.
“Just being in tournament play is so exciting
because the adrenaline is so high and everyone
wants to do so good,” Bouska said. “Everyone’s
behind each other’s back so much and cheering
each other on. Everyone is so loud and pumped
up all of the time. It’s an amazing atmosphere to
be in. I’ll miss that for sure.”
However, the Aggies came back through the
loser’s bracket to beat Seattle twice to win the
championship.
Regardless, Bouska, who fi nished with 235
career hits, left the program stronger than she
found it.
“The team has defi nitely improved so much
in my four years,” Bouska said. “We’ve grown
so much. Coach (Geoff) Hirai has really made
the program incredible and I’m excited to see
where they go now.
“Coming in, my class, that was something
that we talked about. We wanted to not only
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY/Brian Vale
Paige Bouska fi nished her career with 235 hits, the most of anyone in the Seattle University
softball program.
leave softball better but the culture of the team
and how we treat each other. We wanted ev-
eryone to be more like a family and like each
other more. Everyone treats each other better
and that helps on the fi eld, too. I’m glad the
softball is obviously better but the team culture
is also way better.”
Bouska graduated from Seattle University
on Sunday, June 11 with a bachelor’s degree in
criminal justice. She is back in Keizer to fi gure
out her next move. Her dream job is to work
for the FBI.
Richards looks back on
career as McNary AD
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Matthew Ismay, a First Team all-league selection in both basketball and baseball has chosen to
play basketball in college at Linn-Benton.
Ismay to dual enroll at
Linn-Benton, Oregon St.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Matthew Ismay, three-time
Greater Valley Conference De-
fensive Player of the Year, will
be terrorizing a whole new
group of opponents over the
next two basketball seasons.
The 2017 McNary graduate
has decided to play at Linn-
Benton Community College
in Albany.
Before Ismay chose Linn-
Benton, he fi rst had to decide
which sport he would play in
college.
Playing third base and hit-
ting in the heart of the Celtics
lineup this season, Ismay was
unanimously voted to the All-
GVC First Team by the league’s
coaches after hitting .425 with
two home runs, 11 doubles, 20
RBI and 22 runs scored.
But Ismay’s mind was al-
ready made up before the base-
ball season even started.
“I probably had a choice
to play either (basketball or
baseball) but I’ve always just
enjoyed basketball a little bit
more,” Ismay said. “I think it’s
a little more exciting, a little
more vigorous, and that’s why
I like it. Even though I knew I
was probably better at baseball,
my goal was always to play bas-
ketball.”
While Ismay also looked at
Southern Oregon and Oregon
Institute of Technology, he ul-
timately chose Linn-Benton
for more playing time on the
basketball court and a dual en-
rollment program at Oregon
State, where he plans to major
in engineering.
Please see ISMAY, Page 14
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Three things were on Ron
Richards’ mind as he counted
down his fi nal days as McNary
High School’s athletic direc-
tor.
“The community of Keizer
is outstanding in its support
for academics and athletics,”
Richards said looking back at
the last seven years.
“The staff at McNary High
School is all about kids, very
student centered and a pretty
cohesive staff and the student
athletes here are outstanding.”
Richards moved to Oregon
in 2001 when he retired from
coaching college football at
the University of Montana.
After nine years as the athletic
director at McKay, Richards
took the same position at Mc-
Nary in 2010.
“McNary was so similar to
the high school that I began
at,” Richards said.
“I began at a high school
in Butte, Mont. of about
2,000 students at that time
and a single high school in
a single town, great athletic
success, great academic suc-
cess. A friend of mine (Mike
Maghan) retired and I thought
that would be a great place to
end my career in a place simi-
lar to the one that I started.”
Richards strived to be the
kind of athletic director that
he would want as a coach.
“Basically that’s a person
that works hard to meet all
of the needs for each of the
sports but pretty much stays
off of day-to-day activities in
any sport,” Richards said.
“My model has been I hire
great head coaches, the expec-
tation is they hire great assis-
tants and I monitor through
the head coach.”
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Ron Richards is retiring after seven years as the athletic direc-
tor at McNary High School.
One of Richards’ fi rst ac-
tions was forming a booster
club.
“I put a call out that we
needed one. The community
stepped up and it’s been really
supportive of McNary athlet-
ics since that time,” Richards
said.
While the McNary Ath-
letic Booster Club wanted to
immediately tackle the turf
fi eld, Richards had a different
project at the top of his wish
list.
“The project in my mind
was too big so I asked the
booster club, we had a train-
ing room that was stuck down
in the weight room, we were
trying to treat our athletes and
we were doing it in a cubby
hole in the middle of the
weight room,” Richards said.
“That just didn’t work. We
needed a fi rst class training
room and I wanted the fi rst
project to be doing something
to upgrade our training facili-
ties. Community, booster club,
they jumped behind it. We
repurposed an area. That then
led me to believe that we were
maybe ready to take on a big-
ger project.”
Next came the $1-million
turf fi eld project.
Please see RETIRED, Page 13