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MARCH 16, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1 WE’RE TOOTING OUR OWN HORN! OREGON’S FORD 2014 2015 2018 2016 2017 DEALER OF THE YEAR Keizer 5 YEARS IN A ROW 3555 River Road N, Keizer (503) 463- 4853 www.skylineforddirect.com KEIZERTIMES.COM Tentative fall sports schedules released By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary’s fall athletic schedules are coming together and if every- thing sticks the volleyball program will be traveling the most in 2018. Along with non-league weekend tournaments in South Eugene, Med- ford, West Linn and Portland, the Lady Celts would play conference games in Bend, Summit and Moun- tain View. The new conference would stick with a Tuesday and Thursday sched- ule with volleyball teams playing each other twice, home and away. McNary is tentatively scheduled to open the regular season at home against Mountain View on Tuesday, Aug. 28. All three trips to Bend are also scheduled for Tuesdays—Bend High School on Sept. 4, Mountain View on Sept. 25 and Summit on Oct. 2. Junior varsity teams would play at 4 p.m. followed by varsity at 6. McNary’s girls soccer team would do the least amount of traveling in 2018. The Lady Celts would go to Bend only once in the last game of the reg- ular season on Tuesday, Oct. 16. The girls would then play at Mountain View and Summit in 2019. McNary’s non-league games in- clude home contests against Forest Grove, Aloha and St. Mary’s and trips to Oregon City, Sheldon and Lin- coln. The boys soccer team would trav- el to Summit on Friday, Oct. 28 and Mountain View on Tuesday, Oct. 9. The Celtics would host Central, Westview, Centennial and Gresham in non-conference play and travel to Aloha, Canby and Madison. Cross Country wouldn’t travel to Bend until the end of the season for the district meet. The 2019 district meet would then take place in Salem. McNary athletic director Scott Gragg said all schedules are tenta- tive and won’t be fi nalized until May. Football schedules are still being ironed out. Lady Celts in it to win it By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary’s goals are to re- peat as Greater Valley Con- ference champions and then play for the 6A softball state championship at Oregon State University in June. But in order to get there the Lady Celts will have to take one game at a time. “Last year we took it day- to-day and that’s where we want to focus again,” McNary head coach Kevin Wise said. “These girls are very driven and losing that (state quarter- fi nals) game last year, it’s been a thorn in their side since last year and they want to go all the way.” The Lady Celts return seven starters from last season, including three seniors, Nadia Witt, Haley Ebner and Emma Kinler, who have all played on the varsity team since they were freshmen. “All three of them are just super good kids,” Wise said. “They got up really early this morning (March 1) and all of the girls that made varsity, they went and kidnapped them and that’s how all the girls found out they made varsity and they all went out to breakfast. That’s the kind of senior lead- ership we have.” Witt, who has signed with University of California, Riv- erside and was voted Greater Valley Conference Player of the Year in 2017 as well as First Team All-State, hit .600 last season with four home runs, 14 doubles, 28 RBIs and 38 runs. “They were astronomical,” Wise said of Witt’s statistics. “Last year there was a little less pressure on her because we had her playing at shortstop her fi rst couple of years and SCHEDULE March 16 at Churchill March 21 at Franklin March 23 vs Oregon City March 26-27 at West Linn tournament April 3 vs Forest Grove April 5 vs South Salem April 6 at North Salem April 10 at McKay April 13 at West Albany April 17 vs McMinnville April 19 at West Salem April 20 vs Sprague April 24 at Forest Grove April 25 at South Salem April 27 vs North Salem May 1 vs McKay May 4 vs West Albany May 8 at McMinnville May 9 vs West Salem May 11 at Sprague ROSTER #2 Kate Ronning FR #3 Taylor Ebbs FR #4 Kamryn Miller FR #5 Abigail Covalt FR #6 Haley Ebner SR #7 Courtney Roberts SO #10 Haley Bingenheimer SO #14 Shaylee Custer FR #15 Emma Kinler SR #16 Faith Danner JR #23 Nadia Witt SR #30 Alexa Cepeda SO that’s not her normal spot. She went back to the outfi eld and she just relaxed I think and then we also put her at leadoff, which is also her normal spot. “I expect a lot of the same or maybe even better. I don’t want to put those kinds of ex- pectations on her. For me, my expectations for her are to just work hard, be a great leader for her younger teammates. KEIZERTIMES/Delek Wiley McNaly letulns seven staltels off last season’s Gleatel Valley Confelence championship team. Pictuled ale Haley Bingenheimel, flont, flom left, Taylol Ebbs, Alexa Cepeda, Kate Ronning, Shaylee Custel, back, Kamlyn Millel, Faith Dannel, Haley Ebnel, Emma Kinlel, Nadia Witt, Coultney Robelts and Abigail Covalt. She’s already doing that.” Ebner, who moved to fi rst base after playing second as a freshman and catcher as a sophomore, was also voted to the All-GVC First Team last season after hitting .465 with two home runs, 30 RBIs and 33 runs. She has committed to Eastern Oregon University. “Haley can play anywhere you put her,” Wise said. “Her softball knowledge is off the charts.” Kinler, a Second Team out- fi elder, drove in 27 runs last year and scored 22. Faith Danner, a junior who has started in the circle since she was a freshman, is back. “I feel like she’s in a bet- ter spot this year and she’s working hard on a couple of pitches, especially her rise ball,” Wise said. “She knows she kind of struggled with it last year and left it a little too meaty. We want it to get up a little higher and she’s worked really hard on that. She has good movement anyways.” McNary returns three sophomores, Alexa Cepeda (outfi eld), Haley Bingen- heimer (shortstop) and Court- ney Roberts (catcher), who all started last season as freshmen. But this year’s freshmen class, which includes fi ve play- ers, Kate Ronning (infi eld), Taylor Ebbs (infi eld), Kam- ryn Miller (outfi eld), Abigail Covalt (infi eld) and Shaylee Custer (outfi eld) are more talented than any Wise has coached. “This freshmen class is probably the most athletic class that I’ve ever had, since I’ve been a coach,” Wise said. “They’re fast. They’re smart. I think last year we had more power, maybe, and this year all these kids can hit and run. It’s exciting.” Please see WIN, Page B4 McNary shut out in season opener KEIZERTIMES/Delek Wiley McNaly seniol Lance Becktel pitched a pelfect foulth inning befole getting intlo tlouble in the fi fth. By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary’s baseball season got off to a rocky start. The Celtics were held to one hit in an 11-0 fi ve-inning loss to Roseburg on Monday, March 12. “We need to get a lot better,” McNary head coach Larry Keeker said. “I thought our at bats weren’t that bad the fi rst time through the lineup against this guy (Zack Mandera). I thought we had some pretty good AB’s out of guys. We just didn’t have much to show for it. We had some balls that were hit pretty well. We just missed them or hit them at people.” The Celtics fell behind early after Roseburg scored four runs in the top of the fi rst inning on a walk, three infi eld errors and a wild pitch. McNary senior Collin Wentworth de- livered the Celtics only hit of the game in the bottom of the fi rst. Senior Carl Rumbaugh, who started on the mound for McNary, walked and then hit a better to begin the second. A double them gave the Indians a 6-0 lead. Rumbaugh’s fi rst start of the season ended after pitching a scoreless third. He allowed four walks, two hits and recorded two strikeouts. “Carl didn’t have a typical start,” Keek- er said. “Usually he’s a lot more reliable in terms or being around the zone and obvi- ously when he did get some ground balls for us, when you don’t make the plays, we’re giving them extra outs. The reality is we’re going to have to get much better on the hill and we can’t afford that many errors. So we’re going to have to play better defense. Our pitchers, they’re not the kind of staff that are going to strike a bunch of guys out so we have to play defense.” McNary got a runner on base through a walk or hit by pitch in the second, third, fourth and fi fth but couldn’t drive them home. In relief, McNary senior Lance Beck- tel pitched a perfect fourth, getting two ground balls to Wentworth at shortstop and a fl y ball to right fi eld. But Becktel ran into trouble in the fi fth, starting the inning by hitting a batter and then allow- ing an infi eld single and base hit to left fi eld. Becktel got a ground ball to third for a force out at home but two more in- fi eld errors followed by two hits led to fi ve more runs. Robert Benson worked a one-out walk in the bottom of the fi fth but the Celtics hit into a double play to end the game. Mandera pitched all fi ve innings for Roseburg. “That pitcher that we faced has been a starting pitcher for them for three years and has been really good in their league,” Keeker said. “He wasn’t a guy that was dominant but he certainly was around the zone most of the time and he forces you to put the ball in play, which we did and they were just able to play defense behind him.” The Celtics are back home Friday, March 16 against Willamette at 4:30 p.m. “It was a disappointing start but there’s a long way to go,” Keeker said. “We’ll bounce back. I have confi dence in these guys.”