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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2018)
MARCH 23, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1 KEIZERTIMES.COM McNary baseball gets fi rst win KEIZERTIMES/Delek Wiley McNaly juniol Devon Bedoya held Willamette to just two un- ealned luns ovel fi ve innings on Fliday, Malch. 16. By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary (1-3) celebrated its fi rst win of the season, defeating Willamette 8-5 on Friday, Match 16. The Celtics broke the game open in the bot- tom of the third. After David Allen singled and then stole sec- ond to start the inning, Ryan Thompson and Robert Benson both drew walks to load the bases with no outs. With two strikes, Lance Becktel then drove in Allen and Thompson with a base hit to left fi eld to give McNary a 2-0 lead. “I was looking to stay alive in that at-bat,” Becktel said. “I was looking for anything close to RBI and I hit the ball and it lucked out for us. We’ve been waiting for this today. We really wanted it. After struggling at the plate the fi rst two games, it felt good to fi nally let it all go and start hitting the ball.” After Collin Wentworth hit a sacrifi ce fl y to center fi eld to bring home Benson, Becktel scored on an infi eld error to stretch the lead to 4-0. The Celtics scored two more runs in the fi fth. Allen reached on an infi eld single, stole second, got to third on a passed ball and then came home on a wild pitch. Thompson drew another walk and scored on a single by Benson. “I thought we had really good base running and took advantage of some balls that were in play that they didn’t make plays on and we took some extra bases,” McNary head coach Larry Keeker said. “Scored a couple of runs on ground balls that were thrown over to fi rst and they couldn’t com- plete the play and we were able to score on that. I thought our base running was pretty good.” Willamette got on the scoreboard in the top of the fi fth, scoring two unearned runs on four infi eld errors. “Our defense needs to get better,” Keeker said. “Our pitching staff is not built to withstand a lot of free bases so we have to play good defense for us to be successful this season. We’re going to have to get better in that area. We just can’t afford that many extra base runners.” Devon Bedoya, who transferred to McNary from Salem Academy, started on the mound in place of Kyle McCallister, who missed the game with an illness. Bedoya went fi ve innings, allowing two hits and three walks, to earn the win. “It was my 6A debut,” Bedoya said. “It felt nerve-racking but I kept calm and played some catch with Ty (Covalt) and Ty did a good job back there (catcher). I just stayed focus and kept re- thinking what our coaches told us over and over again and cleared my mind and just worked.” The Celtics answered with two runs in the bottom of the fi fth as Thompson had a RBI single. Benson got the fi nal six outs to fi nish off the Wolverines. Please see WIN, Page B2 ATHLETE of the Week presented by David Allen McNary High School At the plate, David Allen went 3-fol-3 with two luns, a RBI and two stolen bases in an 8-5 win ovel Willamette on Malch 16. On the mound, Allen allowed two ealned luns ovel 14 innings in stalts at Canby on Malch 14 and against Tualatin on Malch 20. No substitute for experience By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes A lack of senior leadership shouldn’t be a problem for McNary’s lacrosse teams this spring. The boys bring back 10 seniors while the Lady Celts have eight on their roster. “We only lost one senior last year so we have a really good set of returners, who were also able to get our fresh- men to start practicing earlier and our other newbies to start practicing earlier so the standard of play is higher at the beginning of the season, which is awesome,” McNary head girls coach Rebecca LaFramboise said. The Lady Celts return leading scorers Carly Levario, Jessica Grimmer, Ashley Setzer and Katelyn Martinez. Grim- mer and Martinez each scored four goals on Tuesday, March 13 as McNary opened the season with an 11-7 win over Thurston. Kylee Daulton and Payton Wirt are also back at goalie. “I expect us to have more movement of the ball and more possession,” LaFram- boise said. “The game of lacrosse is a lot about possession. If you have possession you will score. I’ve been talking with the girls about that a lot.” McNary has 18 girls in the program, which is in its sec- ond year as a varsity team. McNary’s boys return two First Team all-league selec- tions from last season in lead- ing scorer Jonathan Williams and goalie Marcus McCoy. Both, along with Chad Pin- ney, who was second on the team in goals scored last sea- son, and Kory Pagels, are se- niors and have played on the varsity squad since they were freshmen. “It’s a very large senior class and they want to run all day so we try to keep them together,” Celtics head coach Michael Hochspeier said. Jack O’Connor, Second Team all-league last season, is also back. With so much experience, McNary has set a goal to win the league and get a home playoff game. The Celtics fi n- ished third behind West Salem and Sprague last year. KEIZERTIMES/Delek Wiley ABOVE: McNaly’s gills laclosse ploglam, in its second yeal with a valsity team, won its fi lst game of the season, 11-7, on Tuesday, Malch 13. BELOW: McNaly seniols Malcus McCoy, left, and Jonathan Williams, both voted Filst Team all-league last season and valsity playels since they wele fleshmen, will lead the boys laclosse team in 2018. “I think that’s very accom- plishable for this team this year,” Hochspeier said. “Ex- pectations are up there but I guess every team has that.” McNary opened the season with an 8-6 loss to Newberg on Wednesday, March 14. The Celtics next home game is Wednesday, April 4 at 5:45 p.m. against Chiawana, Wash. The Lady Celts host Cor- vallis on Thursday, April 5 at 6:30 p.m.