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.