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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2019)
PAGE A16, KEIZERTIMES, DECEMBER 13, 2019 KEIZERTIMES.COM Cepeda and Ebbs are Division I bound KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings Alexa Cepeda (left) signed to play softball at Portland State University for the 2021 season while Taylor Ebbs (right) gave a verbal commitment to the University of Kentucky back in November, By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes Both Alexa Cepeda and Taylor Ebbs have been stand- outs for the McNary softball team over the course of their careers. And in the years to come, both players will get a chance to showcase their talents at a pair of Division I softball programs. Cepeda, who is entering her senior season with the Celtics, will continue her career at Portland State Uni- versity after offi cially signing with the Vikings last month. Ebbs, a junior at McNary, gave her verbal commitment to the University of Ken- tucky last month as well. Looking at their statistics and accolades, it’s obvious to see why Cepeda and Ebbs have been recruited so heavily. Last season, Ebbs had an unbelievable batting average of .628 with seven homers and 60 RBIs. She also had 22 extra-base hits on the year and was recognized as the player of the year in the Mountain Valley Conference. Cepeda also had an excel- lent year for the Celtics as she led the team in runs scored (48), and was second on the team in batting average (.495), on-base percentage (.560) and doubles (10). She also proved to be one of the top defensive center fi elders in the MVC. Both players were also selected to the all-state fi rst- team and helped the Celtics win the conference title in 2019. “I have been fortunate in my time at McNary to be able to coach some excellent players. With that being said, I would put these two at the top,” McNary head coach Kevin Wise said. “What stands out with both of them is their work ethic. They are not satisfi ed with being okay and if there is an area of weakness, they will work hard to improve it. They are also excellent teammates, very unselfi sh and great lead- ers.” Ebbs went on an unoffi cial visit to Kentucky in Septem- ber. Even though it’s more than 2,000 miles away from Keizer, she said that it felt like home. “I went to other places, but I just didn’t get that same feeling as the one I had when I was at Kentucky. I just knew that I could spend four of fi ve years of my life living there, even if I wasn’t playing soft- ball. It just felt like home for me,” Ebbs said. While Ebbs went on vis- its to several different schools, Cepeda knew pretty quickly that Portland State was the place that she wanted to be after high school. “I didn’t know much about the school at fi rst, but I have always loved Portland and after I went on my vis- it, Portland State was the only school that I was really interested in,” Cepeda said. “When I went and met my coaches and the team, I just felt like I was a part of the team already. I just can’t wait Please see D1, Page A13 Celtics come away with a pair of wins at Jerry Lane By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes In their season-opening tournament, the McNary wrestling team fi nished with a 2-2 record in their four dual meets at the third annu- al Jerry Lane Invitational on Friday, Dec. 6 — which took place at McNary High. The Celtics picked up their two victories against Glencoe and Cleveland. “The product that we put on the mat for our fi rst time out was as good or better than the product we put out at the end of last season. It was good to see our off-sea- son growth. I think our kids are growing stronger mental- ly and they are just maturing overall,” McNary head coach Jason Ebbs said. “We’re going to be a pretty good little dual team.” McNary senior Matt Me- hlhoff (160 lbs.) had one of the best tournament show- ings of his career, going 3-1 on the night with all three of his victories coming via fi rst-round fall. “(Mehlhoff) has never been a superstar on the team, but he has always been the guy behind the scenes that always is putting his hours in the practice room and get- ting better week by week,” Ebbs said. “He should start raising his expectations.” “Going 3-1 defi nitely gave me a boost of confi - dence,” Mehlhoff added. Mehlhoff ’s lone defeat came in the dual against Dallas. Although he ended up getting pinned by Dallas 160-pounder Colson Spen- cer in the second round, Mehlhoff believes that was possibly his best match of the day. “Honestly, I felt like it was a pretty even matchup. He kind of took over late, but I thought we both wrestled well,” Mehlhoff said. Freshman Brandon Blan- co also had a solid night for the Celtics in the 106-pound division, picking up a pair of pins and a forfeit win. Grady Burrows (120) and Gilbert Parra (145) — the Celtics two representatives at the state meet last season — each picked up three vic- tories as well. Parra earned a major decision victory to go along with his two oth- er victories, which came via pin. Burrows also pinned two of his opponents and won his other match thanks to a forfeit. Joshua Friesen (138) and Rigoberto Hernandez (126) contributed to the cause by adding a pin apiece. The Celtics jump into their Mountain Valley Con- ference slate on Wednesday, Dec. 18 when they take on Sprague at 7 p.m. McNary had a hard time competing with Sprague last season as the Olympians have one of the best programs in the state. But Ebbs welcomes the challenge that Sprague presents for his team. “Last year was last year. You don’t want to dwell on it, but at the same time, we want to use it as motivation. We should always be chasing the best teams in the state. Our kids should be learning to wrestle at that level,” Ebbs said. KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings McNary’s Brandon Blanco (blue singlet) tries to get position on Cleveland’s Sean Lee in a 106-pound bout. KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings McNary point guard Jando Gonzalez prepares to crossover in the Celtics 53-38 win on Tuesday, Dec. 18. Defense key in McNary’s victory over McMinnville guys who can guard one- By MATT RAWLINGS on-one. We want to make Of the Keizertimes It’s still early in the sea- everything diffi cult when son, but it appears that the we’re defending. Our guys identity of the McNary take a lot of pride in that,” boys basketball team can be McNary head coach Ryan Kirch said. found in their defense. T h e The Celt- Celtics got ics tenacious back-to- f u l l - c o u r t “ Every time we back triples press gave got a defl ection from Nate McMinn- Meithof and ville fi ts for or steal, it Riley Flores the majority gave us more to jump out of the night to an ear- as the Celt- momentum ly 6-2 lead. ics moved to Flores got an 2-0 on the and helped us easy lay-up season with on offense.” in transition a 53-38 vic- — Nate Meithof, moments lat- tory over the McNary guard er to increase Grizzlies on the lead to six, Tuesday, Dec. which was 10. McNary has held both of followed by another triple their opponents this season by Meithof after McNary forced McMinnville into a to under 45 points. “We always pride our- 10-second violation. McMinnville trimmed selves on our defense. We have a lot of quickness the defi cit to 16-11 by the and we have a lot of tough end of the fi rst quarter, but the Celtics continued to create offensive opportuni- ties with their ball-pressure. McNary forced three turnovers in a four-minute stretch in the second quar- ter, which allowed them to go on an 11-3 run to take a 27-14 lead late in the pe- riod. “Every time we got a defl ection or steal, it gave us more momentum and helped us on offense,” said Meithof, who led McNary with 21 points. “You can see when de- fense turns into offense, it can be backbreaking for a team,” Kirch added. After taking a 29-18 lead into halftime, freshman point guard Jando Gonzalez opened up the third quar- ter by nailing consecutive triples to increase McNary’s lead to 35-16. The Celtics lead by as much as 25 points in the Please see CELTS, Page A12
