PAGE A16, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 11, 2022
McNary two-sport star Ready for the next level
SPORTS
McNary senior Logan Ready plans to attend Pacfic Lutheran University next year to play football and baseball.
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic
throwing a wrench into high school
sports for the last two years, McNary
senior Logan Ready has been able to dis-
play his unique skill-set on the football
field and baseball diamond over the last
year.
Next year, Ready will be taking his
abilities to the collegiate level.
After receiving offers from a number
of Division III schools, Ready committed
to play football and baseball for Pacific
Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma,
Wash. last month. Ready will be a kicker
for the football team and a pitcher for the
baseball squad.
“It was a busy process, but it feels
good to be committed to PLU. I feel like
it's going to be a good fit for me,” Ready
said.
Out of the more than 460,000 student
athletes in the NCAA, only a select few
play multiple sports in college. Ready
said he received offers to play just one
sport at multiple schools, but that he had
his heart set on playing both football
and baseball, an opportunity that Pacific
Lutheran afforded him.
“I really wanted to play both. If I
played at a higher level, I probably
would have had to choose one, but since
it was a smaller school I wanted to try
and do both. And they were one of the
few schools that wanted me to do both,”
Ready said.
Ready also said he appreciates the
small size of the college and that academ-
ics are the priority at Pacific Lutheran —
Ready plans to major in business.
“I liked the campus. It was the right
size for me. I wanted to go to a smaller
school because I felt like I would be able
to fit in more,” Ready said.
Ready admitted that baseball is his
favorite sport and that he really didn't
have college football on his radar until
last year. He had been a kicker while
playing youth football, but hadn't kicked
in a high school game until last March
during the COVID-shortened spring
season.
After losing all-league kicker Daniel
Mood to graduation in 2020, McNary
head coach Jeff Auvinen told Ready that
he wanted him to be the team's kicker as
a junior.
Ready was reluctant at first, but came
to realize that he had one of the strongest
legs in the Mountain Valley Conference.
“Auvinen came to me at the start of
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
the COVID season and told me we need
a kicker, so I told him I would try it out.
But I just kept getting better and better
and more consistent,” Ready said.
“We talked him into it and he took on
the challenge so well. He knew that he
wanted to kick at the next level after he
had some success. It was nice to see him
gain confidence,” Auvinen added.
Ready made 18 of his 23 kicks and
had five touchbacks during the six-
game spring season. When the fall came,
Ready showed even more improvement,
making three field goals and going 35-of-
39 on extra points to go along with his 20
touchbacks.
But the most notable kick of his career
came in the second game of last season.
McNary and Newberg were tied at
14-all when Auvinen sent out Ready to
try a game-winning 43-yard field goal.
Before the attempt, Newberg head coach
Jeremy Johnson tried to freeze Ready by
calling a timeout. However, the decision
ended up having the opposite effect of
what Johnson intended.
“I felt less pressure after they called
the timeout. When I went out there the
first time, my whole body was shaking. I
was really nervous,” Ready said.
During the timeout, Ready went over
to assistant coach Brian Aicher, who gave
him a substantial boost of confidence.
“He told me, 'We know you have this
in you. Just go do it.' It was so nice to
know they had that belief and support in
me,” Ready said.
After a perfect snap and hold, Ready
booted the ball straight through the
uprights, and was mobbed by his team-
mates after hitting the game-winner.
“I just loved it. I just knew that the
whole team was going to come out and
support me. I just loved the feeling,” he
said.
Less than a week after making the
kick, Ready started generating inter-
est from Division III football programs
across the Northwest, which led to him
eventually getting an offer from Pacific
Lutheran.
“I definitely started getting looked at
more after the kick,” Ready said.
As a pitcher, Ready sits between 83-86
MPH on his fastball and has a 12-6 cur-
veball that can be difficult for prep hit-
ters to handle. However, Ready has had
limited opportunities to show his ability
for the McNary baseball squad over the
course of his career.
See READY, page A21