PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 19, 2019
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Celts win thriller to open conference play
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
It nearly took 48 hours to
complete, but at the end of the
day, the McNary baseball team
got the win over Sprague in
their Mountain Valley Confer-
ence opener.
The contest started on Tues-
day, April 9. However, with the
game tied 6-6 and heading to
extra innings, the umpiring
crew decided to call the game
due to darkness — there was
also a 45-minute rain delay.
The two teams resumed play
on Thursday, April 11. Sprague
got an unearned run in the top
of the eighth to take a 7-6 lead,
but McNary responded with
two runs in the bottom half of
the frame on a single from Alex
Tavera to walk-off with an 8-7
victory.
“I was kind of nervous at
fi rst,” Tavera said about his at-
bat. “But I just had to take some
deep breaths and help my team
out as much as I could.”
Sprague went on top 1-0
in the top of the second after
taking advantage of an error by
McNary third baseman Ren-
nick Jeffries. But the Celtics
were able to respond when they
came to bat.
Ty Covalt started out the in-
ning by legging out an infi eld
single. The senior catcher ad-
vanced to third after a pair of
groundouts, then came in to
score on an RBI-single to left
fi eld by Jamison Martin.
The Olympians, however,
regained the lead in the top of
the third on another defensive
miscue, which was a theme for
both teams throughout the en-
tire game — both teams com-
bined for nine errors.
After retiring the fi rst two
batters of the inning, McNary
pitcher David Allen surren-
dered a bloop single to Michael
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary’s Ty Covalt scores the fi rst run of the game in the Celtics 7-6 come-from-behind win over Sprague.
Soper. The senior right-hander
tried to pick Soper off fi rst mo-
ments later, but threw the ball
away as Soper got into scoring
position by advancing to sec-
ond.
The error proved to be cost-
ly as Brock McMullen singled
into left fi eld, scoring Soper.
Allen redeemed himself at
the plate in the bottom of the
fourth with a bloop single to
right fi eld that scored Covalt
from second, tying the game
2-2.
But in the top of the fi fth.
Sprague appeared to have bro-
ken the game open.
The Olympians scored three
runs on four hits in the inning
as Allen was replaced by Robert
Benson on the hill.
But Benson retired both bat-
ters he faced to stop the bleed-
ing, which ended up being very
key for the Celtics later in the
game.
“I thought Robert was
huge,” McNary head coach
Larry Keeker said. “He came
into a tough spot and got us out
of the inning. He did a good
job of damage control because
it could have been a lot worse.”
Soper hit an RBI-double to
the wall in right fi eld off Mc-
Nary pitcher Devon Bedoya
— who entered in for Benson
on the mound in the top of the
sixth — extending Sprague’s
lead to 6-2.
A sacrifi ce fl y from Martin
in the bottom of the sixth cut
Sprague’s lead to 6-3. McNary
faced that same defi cit going
into seventh, but the Celtics re-
fused to say die — they also got
some help thanks to a trio of
defensive mistakes by Sprague.
Sprague pitcher Cole Her-
schbach threw six solid innings
for the Olympians. He start-
ed the top of the seventh, but
was taken off the hill after Ian
Martin reached on an error
by Sprague third baseman Will
Deloretto.
Getting Herschbach off the
hill was crucial to the McNary
comeback
Another error from Delo-
retto, along with walks issued to
Benson and Jacob Jackson, al-
lowed Ian Martin to score and
gave McNary a bases loaded sit-
uation with nobody out.
The McNary threat nearly
died there as Covalt fl ew out
to shallow right fi eld and Allen
went down looking for the fi rst
two outs of the inning, leaving
it up to Jamison Martin to try
and extend the game.
“I was thinking that they
were going to pitch me mid-
dle-away in that situation, so
I just wanted to make some
contact and get the ball in-play
because I knew it would be a
tough play,” Jamison Martin
said.
With the game on the line,
Martin hit a slow roller be-
tween third base and shortstop.
Deloretto hustled quickly to
his left to cut the ball off and
hurried his throw to fi rst.
But the throw was in the dirt
and the Sprague fi rst baseman
couldn’t handle it as Deloretto
committed his third error of
the frame.
Benson scored easily from
third and Tavera, who was on
second and running on the
crack of the bat, never broke
stride as he scored on a ball that
never left the infi eld. Despite
not having a hit in the inning,
McNary had pushed three runs
across and tied the game at 6-6.
“We felt really good about
being competitive at the plate
down the stretch,” Keeker said.
“We knew their bullpen guys
were having some command
issues and we wanted to force
them to throw strikes. I knew
that if we had a chance to cre-
ate some traffi c, then we were
going to have a chance.”
“I was proud of the fact that
we executed our offensive plan
in the seventh.”
Bedoya had a chance to end
the game on the next at-bat,
but struck out.
It was 7:45 p.m. by the time
the seventh inning had fi nished.
The home plate umpire met
Please see BASE, Page A11
Tracksters take away 18
event wins at dual meet
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary’s Noah Unwin gets by a Beaverton defender and advances the ball upfi eld in the Celtics
9-7 loss on Friday, April 12.
McNary falls to Beaverton
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary boys lacrosse
team got goals from fi ve differ-
ent players, but it wasn’t enough
as the Celtics fell to Beaverton
9-7 on Friday, April 12.
McNary lost a pair of face-
offs in the fi rst minute of the
game, which led to two Bea-
verton goals before the Celtics
even got an offensive possession.
After the Celtics missed
three decent looks midway
through the period, the Beavers
came back with another score
to on top 3-0.
But McNary was fi nally able
to respond late in the quarter.
Tim Gross found teammate
Jamison Proulx from behind the
net and Proulx fi red a rocket
that one-hopped into the back
of the twine to put the Celtics
on the board.
Beaverton, however, in-
creased their lead early in
the second quarter with two
straight goals, putting McNary’s
defi cit at 5-1.
Fortunately, for McNary, the
Celtics were able to clean some
things up on the defensive side
to give themselves a chance at a
comeback.
“We starting putting our
long pole on face-off draws to
try and slow down their op-
portunities,” McNary head
coach Michael Hochspeier said.
“That’s what helped us come
back.”
Midway through the second
quarter, Cameron Parks got on
the board by going coast-to-
coast and reversing around the
post for an impressive jump-
goal. Then, with under 30 sec-
onds remaining in the half, Jesse
Proulx got loose up the left side
and put a beautiful touch shot
into the back of the net to cut
Please see CELTS, Page A11
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
McNary’s boys and girls
track teams had great showings
in their dual meet with Sprague
on Wednesday, April 10 as both
teams won nine events each.
McLean Schmit was the one
that stood out the most for the
McNary boys as the senior won
both the 110 and 300-meter
hurdles and set personal-best
times in each race. McLean fi n-
ished the 110-hurdles in 16.66
seconds and the 300-hurdles
in 44.36 seconds, helping the
Celtic boys dominate the ma-
jority of the running events.
“(Schmit) has just put in a
lot of really hard work and he’s
such a good technical hurdler,”
McNary head coach Frank
Gauntz said. “He’s running re-
ally well right now.”
Schmit, however, wasn’t the
only Celtic setting personal re-
cords in this meet.
Elio Carella hit a new
personal-high in the 400m
(53.70) as did freshman Ben-
jamin Standley in the 1500m
(4:42.59).
McNary sprinter Ethan
Martin continued his hot start
to the season with his win in
the 100-meter dash (11.75).
Bryan Hernandez, who is in
his fi rst season with the Celtics
as a junior, fi lled in for Sebas-
tian Shoemaker in the 200m
and wound up winning the race
with a time of 23.87.
The Celtic boys also were
victorious in both the 4x100
and 4x400 relay races.
Sunny Hoang was the other
individual winner for the Mc-
Nary boys with his victory in
the pole vault, jumping 9-feet-8
inches.
For the McNary girls, soph-
omore Audrey Williams set her
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Emily Lettenmaier breaks away from the pack to win the 1500
meters in McNary’s dual meet with Sprague.
new personal-record in the
800m (2:44.64) and freshman
Emily Lettenmaier was just able
to pull away down the stretch in
the 1500m (6:02.84).
Through four meets, Isabel-
la Walker is looking to be the
Celtics most versatile athlete.
The sophomore ran away with
the 300-hurdles (53.71) and
also pulled out a win in the high
jump (5-00).
“Isabella is a really good ath-
lete. If she could do every event,
she probably would,” Gauntz
said. “It’s nice to have that kind
of fl exibility in an athlete. We’re
still trying to fi gure out what’s
even is going to give her the
best chance to go to state.”
Caitlyn Kiefi uk Yates won
the other hurdles event for the
Celtics, winning the 100 in
17.67 — her top mark of the
season.
The McNary girls swept all
throwing events with victories
by Kennedy Buss in the discus
(89-0), Kylie Dean in the shot
put (29-7.75) and Sabella Alfaro
in the javelin (114-5).
With this being her second
season competing in track &
fi eld, Alfaro’s steady improve-
ment could land her in the state
meet in late-May.
“I feel like I have really been
able to focus more on throwing
this year than anything else,”
Alfaro said. “I just need to stay
motivated and keep learning
and working hard.”
McNary will compete again
on Saturday up north in the
Wilsonville Invitational along
with 26 other teams.