PAGE B6, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 23, 2018
Naturals: Salmhofer, Lyda win fi rst match
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary’s boys tennis team
won’t be the most experi-
enced bunch in the Greater
Valley Conference.
But the Celtics are already
proving to be quick learners.
Brayden Lyda, a basketball
player, and Emil Salmhofer,
a soccer player from Austria,
didn’t pick up a tennis racket
for the fi rst time until two
weeks before the season.
But Lyda and Salmhofer
won their fi rst match, 6-2, 6-1
at No. 2 doubles on Thursday,
March 15 against Aloha.
“We practiced pretty hard
these last two weeks and it
paid off,” Lyda said with a gi-
ant grin.
“I feel like we just have
good chemistry out on the
court. We’re friends obviously
and I think that’s a big part of
it.”
“We thought it would be
fun to play, and we’re actually
pretty good,” Salmhofer add-
ed. “We had fun playing. We
made no mistakes. Usually we
make a couple of mistakes.”
Lyda had watched Alfredo
Villarreal, a basketball team-
mate, play tennis last season
and thought it looked like fun.
“They’re pretty good ath-
letes,” McNary head coach
Marc McAvoy said. “It’s amaz-
ing how fast they picked it up.
It really is.”
McAvoy, a long-time tennis
coach in the district at McKay
and North Salem, is back for
his second stint at McNary.
“I just missed coaching,”
said McAvoy, behavioral spe-
cialist at Claggett Creek Mid-
dle School and freshman bas-
ketball coach at McNary. “It’s
kind of my thing. I love doing
it. McNary always puts out
really good quality character
kids and it’s a lot of fun to
work with a kid like that. It’s
a really good group. There’s a
lot to learn, a long ways to go
but really, really good kids.”
The Celtics have 15 boys
on the team this season from
four different countries. Mc-
Nary has three exchange stu-
dents—Salmhofer (Austria),
Pong Sae-ku (Thailand) and
Zamour Sieben (Germany).
“People are going to ac-
cuse me of traveling the world
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Emil Salmhofer and Brayden Lyda won iheir fi rsi iennis maich 6-2, 6-1 ai No. 2 doubles againsi Aloha on Thursday, March. 15.
to recruit but it just landed in
my lap,” McAvoy joked.
Two returning players,
Adam Graneto and Villarreal,
both juniors, opened the sea-
son at No. 1 and 2 singles for
the Celtics. Sieben is playing
3 singles and Luke Skipper, a
freshman, is at 4 singles.
Matt Dice and Noah Kuhl
make up McNary’s No. 1
doubles team.
McAvoy convinced three
of his freshmen basketball
players to try tennis—Tristan
Proctor, Ben Roth and Kyle
Martin. Roth and Martin
opened the season at 3 dou-
McNary softball starts 3-0
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary wasn’t at full
strength for its fi rst three soft-
ball games.
It didn’t matter.
Playing a doubleheader at
Churchill on Friday, March
16, the Lady Celts opened the
season with a 16-6 victory in
game one. McNary then took
game two 16-4.
After the series, Churchill’s
pitcher, Sarah Sheppler, a se-
nior, told McNary head coach
Kevin Wise that she was trying
everything, didn’t know what
else to do and had never seen
a team hit like that.
Without shortstop Haley
Bingenheimer, who was re-
covering from the fl u and
second baseman Taylor Ebbs,
who was away on a family ob-
ligation, the Lady Celts com-
bined for 40 hits in the two
games, including 10 doubles
and a home run.
Catcher Courtney Rob-
erts was 6-for-9 with fi ve
runs, three RBIs, two doubles
and a home run at Churchill.
Outfi elder Emma Kinler went
6-for-10 with fi ve RBIs, two
runs and two doubles.
In Bingenheimer’s absence,
freshman Kate Ronning
moved from third to shortstop
and Nadia Witt went from
center fi eld to third. Shaylee
Custer, typically an outfi elder,
played second in place of Ebbs.
“That’s just this group
this year,” Wise said. “It’s re-
ally good because they don’t
care and you can put them
anywhere and they’re athletic
enough that they’re going to
play wherever you put them.”
McNary had 83 at-bats in
the two games at Churchill
and no one struck out.
Faith Danner pitched all 13
innings to earn both wins.
The Lady Celts remained
hot at Cleveland on Monday,
March 19, winning 11-0 in
fi ve innings.
McNary recorded 13 hits,
including two doubles and
two triples.
Sophomore outfi elder, Al-
exa Cepeda, was 3-for-4 with
two runs, three RBIs and two
stolen bases. Nadia Witt was
2-for-4 with three runs and
two stolen bases. Kinler was
2-for-3 with a double, triple
and two RBIs.
“The girl (Cleveland pitch-
er Anna Hawking) had a de-
cent rise and an OK curve and
they hit her, too,” Wise said. “I
don’t think it really matters.
The ball is just looking big to
them right now.”
Danner pitched all fi ve in-
nings, allowing four hits and
striking out seven batters.
The Lady Celts are sched-
uled to host Oregon City, the
team that knocked them out
of the state playoffs last season,
on Friday, March 23 at 4:30.
McNary is playing in a
spring break tournament
March 26-27 in West Linn.
The Lady Celts open with
West Linn on March 26 at
1 p.m. McNary then begins
league play at home on Tues-
day, April 3 against Forest
Grove.
bles.
McNary lost its fi rst match
5-1 to Aloha but Skipper led
6-4, 1-0 when his match was
called due to rain. Sieben was
also unable to fi nish after los-
ing the fi rst set 4-6 but win-
ning the second 6-2.
The Celtics are back home
Tuesday, April 3 for a league
match against McKay at 4
p.m.
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