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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2019)
PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 22, 2019 KEIZERTIMES.COM Bedoya leads Celtics to victory BY MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes With a pitching rotation that hasn’t been set yet, Devon Bedoya proved that he can be a reliable arm for the McNary baseball squad. In his fi rst start of the sea- son, the senior right-hander threw six scoreless innings for the Celtics, giving up just three hits and three walks while striking out six as Mc- Nary defeated Reynolds in their home opener 5-0 on Monday night. “I just made sure to throw strikes and trust my defense,” Bedoya said. Bedoya wasn’t overpow- ering by any stretch, but his ability to hit his spots and be in command of both of his pitches allowed him to be suc- cessful. “Devon obviously pitched a fantastic game for us,” Mc- Nary head coach Larry Keek- er said. “He was around the plate and forced them to swing the bat.” Without the benefi t of a hit, McNary took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Jamison Martin led off the frame by reaching on a catcher’s inter- ference. After advancing the third on a pair of groundouts, Martin scored moments later on a wild pitch to give Mc- Nary the early lead. However, offensive produc- tion was a diffi culty most of the night for this Celtic team. McNary only had four hits for the game and struggled to get base runners in the fi rst fi ve innings. “Moving forward, we’re hoping to be more competi- tive at the plate,” Keeker said. “It just seemed like we weren’t in a very good rhythm.” But with Bedoya’s dom- inance on the mound, the Celtics didn’t need much of- fense. After Bedoya retired the fi rst eight batters he faced, Reynolds had a threat going in the top of the third with back-to-back two-out singles. But Bedoya was able to get out of the inning after Mc- Nary shortstop Jacob Jackson made a terrifi c bare-handed play on a slowly hit ground ball in the infi eld grass. “I had my fastball going early, but I lost it a little bit. So I came back to my off-speed stuff,” Bedoya said. “I had a good day with all my pitches.” Coming into this year, one of the goals that McNary had was to clean up their play in the fi eld — the Celtics aver- aged more than three errors a game last year. McNary appeared to be KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings Please see BASE, Page A11 McNary pitcher Devon Bedoya threw six scoreless innings to help the Celtics defeat Reynolds 5-0 on Monday night. McNary bounces back with home victory over Sunset KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings McNary freshman Kaylee Schwab rounds third and heads for home in the Celtics 4-3 win over Sunset. BY MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes After suffering their fi rst loss of the season to Grants Pass in the previous game, the McNary softball team bounced back on Monday night with a 4-3 victory over Sunset. Faith Danner went the distance in the circle for the fourth time this season, pitching seven innings and surrendering just one earned run on seven hits. Shortstop Taylor Ebbs led the McNary offense by go- ing 3-for-3 at the dish with an RBI and a run scored. The Celtics struck in the opening frame as Alexa Cepeda singled to left fi eld to leadoff the inning. After Abbi Covalt reached on an error in the following at-bat, Ebbs knocked an RBI-single into center fi eld to put Mc- Nary on top 1-0. “It’s really important for us to score early,” Ebbs said. “If we didn’t do that, (Dan- ner) wouldn’t be pitching as well as she is.” It looked like the Celtics had potential for a big inning with a run already across and two runners on base with nobody out. But Sunset pitcher Grace Kimball retired the next three batters to get out of the jam. Back-to-back infi eld sin- gles by Ebbs and Kate Ron- ning put the Celtics back in business in the bottom of third. After a double steal that allowed both runners to get into scoring position, an RBI-groundout to sec- ond base by Hannah Ebner brought Ebbs in from third and extended McNary’s lead to 2-0. In Danner’s fi rst three in- nings of work, Sunset’s only baserunner reached via error. But the senior right-hander got into some trouble in the top of the fourth due to an- other defensive miscue. After an error by Ebner at fi rst base to start the frame, Danner retired the next two batters. Sunset, however, got their fi rst hit of the game from Kate Fogle, who laced a single into right fi eld to score Kimball from second and cut the McNary lead to 2-1. The Apollos scored an- other unearned run in the top of the fi fth to tie the game at 2-2. However, the resilient Celtics were ready to re- spond in the bottom half of the frame. Ebbs started the inning off with a single to center fi eld and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After getting Ronning to fl y out, Kimball issued free passes to the next two hitters, which loaded up the bases. Danner, who was the fol- lowing batter, hit a sharp ground ball to the right side that ended up hitting Ebner in the leg as she tried to ad- vance to second from fi rst, which caused the umpire to rule the play dead and call Ebner out for interference. With two outs and the bags packed, the eight hit- ter Shaylee Cluster stepped to the plate. With 1-1 count, Cluster hit a sharp ground ball to second base. Sunset second baseman Maddy Ter- hune was in position to make the play, but the ball glanced off her leg and trickled into the outfi eld. Two runs scored on the fi elding error as McNary Please see CELTS, Page A10 KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings McNary’s Avery Haymowicz fi res a backhand shot over the net in the #1 singles match. Lady Celts open season at Century BY MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes McNary’s girls tennis team lost six out of their eight matches in their sea- son-opening meet with Century on Thursday, March 14. But considering that the Celtics roster is fi lled with fi rst-year players, McNary head coach Sean Smith viewed the match as a moral victory. “This was the fi rst match for many of the athletes and they hung in there and battled well,” Smith said. “The fact that many of their matches lasted almost two hours demonstrated that. They also enjoyed them- selves out there and handled themselves well, and I was pleased with that too.” McNary wasn’t able to compete with Century on the singles side as the Jag- uars won all four matches. McNary’s top singles player Avery Haymowicz just fell short in her match as she lost to Olivia Vargas 7-6, 7-5. However, the Celtics doubles teams had solid fi rst matches across the board. Natalia Gonzalez, who is on the McNary’s top dou- bles team, was without her normal partner, Gina Mun- guia-Martinez — who had to miss the meet. Smith inserted Ariana Al- bright into the other spot to play with Gonzalez, and de- spite never playing together, the two won their match 6-2, 6-2 and were in control from start to fi nish. “They had good chemis- try obviously. I was pleased with their positive attitude and communication,” Smith said. However, the Celtics lost heartbreakers in the #2 and #3 doubles matches. The #2 Celtics duo of Jorie Skip- per and McKinsey Jarnagin started off strong by winning their fi rst set 6-4, but then lost their fi nal two sets to drop the match. Please see TENNIS Page A10