PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, DECEMBER 29, 201d
#5 Wise, Witt honored
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“You look at all of these
programs like Oregon and
Florida that are crazy kids
and times. If the DePaul
coaches think I’m capable of
doing that, I’m going to take
their word for it.”
McNary volleyball player
Valerie Diede signed with
the University of Hartford, a
Division I program in Con-
necticut, in November.
“It’s not so much that it’s
Division I. Yes, it’s cool that
it is but it was all about the
school and that it felt like
it was the right fi t for me,”
Diede said.
File
McNary senior Valerie Diede signed with the University of Hart-
ford in November.
“I just really liked that
school (Hartford) and I knew
that’s where I wanted to go.
The coaches were really
welcoming and just walk-
ing around there, I could see
myself going there and the
academics are really good
and it was just everything I
wanted.”
#4 Volcanoes hold fi rst
game delayed by eclipse
A crowd of 5,297 witnessed
the fi rst professional sporting
event to ever be delayed for a
solar eclipse at Salem-Keizer
Volcanoes Stadium on Aug.
21.
They came from 34 states
not including Oregon, as well
as nine foreign countries: Aus-
tralia, Canada, Colombia, the
Dominican Republic, Eng-
land, Italy, Japan, Norway and
South Africa. Canadians came
from British Columbia, Alber-
ta and Ontario.
Noah Petro, a research sci-
entist for the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administra-
tion, threw two ceremonial
pitches, one just before the
eclipse and one just after it.
Both balls were sent to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in Coo-
perstown, New York.
The game, which the Vol-
canoes lost 9-5 to the Hill-
sboro Hops, was delayed for
58 minutes after the top half
of the fi rst inning due to the
eclipse.
File
Salem-Keizer Volcanoe baseball players look up at the eclipse just before totality during a delay
on Aug. 21.
crossword
McNary softball coach
Kevin Wise and junior Na-
dia Witt were voted Greater
Valley Conference Coach
and Player of the Year.
Leading off for the Lady Celts,
Witt hit .600 with four home
runs, 14 doubles, 28 RBI and
38 runs.
“We’ve just watched her
grow up,” Wise said. “We
knew she had a lot of talent
but she was just so quiet at
fi rst. Even though she’s re-
ally good, she’s still kind of
shy. She’s not a cocky kid at
all. Just to see her get to that
level and her leadership and
the way she carriers herself. If
we need a hit, she just wills it
to happen. You just can’t put
into words what she means
to us.”
Wise was voted Coach of
the Year after leading the Lady
Celts to a 19-4 record during
the regular season, a league
championship and then a trip
to the state quarterfi nals.
Wise downplayed the hon-
or, giving credit to the players.
File
Kevin Wise and Nadia Witt were voted Greater Valley Confer-
ence Coach and Player of the Year.
“That stuff doesn’t happen
unless… it’s these guys,” Wise
said. “That’s not the coach. It’s
the girls. I just focus on them
because it’s just a phenomenal
group.”
#6 Ismay defender of year
Earning Greater Valley
Conference Defensive Player
of the Year was easier for Mat-
thew Ismay in his senior sea-
son at McNary, and not be-
cause he had already won the
award twice.
“When I was a sophomore,
everyone was just so much
bigger than me,” Ismay said. “I
would just get bullied down in
the post. It’s a lot easier now
when you’re a little bit bigger.
“It means a lot to me, es-
pecially when I was a sopho-
more I had no idea that I was
going to get it but I always
pride myself on defense.”
An emphasis on defense is
exactly what McNary head
coach Ryan Kirch needed
when he started turning
around the team four years
ago.
Ismay consistently guarded
the other team’s best player.
“It sure makes you look
good as a coach,” Kirch said.
“We always pride our pro-
gram on being able to defend
and rebound.
“When Matt was a fresh-
man is when we started to
turn things around and he’s
been as infl uential and he sets
the tone for us defensively.
He’s just a tone-setter. “
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