MARCH 25, 2022, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A21
SPORTS
McNary girls varsity softball
on track for a stellar season
BY CHARLES GLENN
Of the Keizertimes
This year’s McNary High School
girls varsity softball team has
already racked up five non-league
wins since their opening 4-2 vic-
tory over Roseburg High School in
Grants Pass on March 15. Their only
real disappointment to the season
so far was a 4-5 loss to Grants Pass
High School on the same away trip.
The girls responded by winning
four games in a row in dominant
fashion, starting with a 13-2 win
over West Linn High School on
March 16.
The team represented the 6A-6
Mountain Valley Conference against
squads from all over the region in
the Jesuit/Sunset Varsity Softball
Tournament March 21-22, opening
with back-to-back shellackings of
La Salle Prep (17-4) and and Sunset
High School (18-4). The following
day, March 22, they repeated their
performance by beating Camas
High School 15-2, and then Liberty
High School XX-X, sweeping the
non-league tournament.
“We’ve had a great start to the
season,” said Kelly Parsell, McNary
Girls Softball Head Coach. “In six
games, we’ve scored a combined 71
runs and hit eight home runs. The
girls come to practice ready to learn
and are visibly getting better each
day. This is a special group of girls
– they play hard and have fun while
doing it.”
The team’s starting pitcher,
Lacey Vasas, was on the mound
for 32 innings while maintain-
ing a 1.53 ERA over the last five
games. Batting average lead-
ers include Heather Ebner, at
.524, with seven doubles and four
home runs, and Madison Morse,
batting .611 since the opening game.
The Celtics have one more non-
league game this month, facing
Jesuit High School on March 30 in
Beaverton. They finish their non-
league play in the first part of April
at Tigard High School on April
1; followed by two home games
against Tualatin High School, April
4, and Newberg High School on
April 7; and then at Westview High
School on April 11.
League play opens against
McKay High School on April 12 in
Salem. The Celtics are currently
ranked #26 by the Oregon School
Activities Association (OSAA).
Celtic boys pick up steam in tourney
BY CHARLES GLENN
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary Boys Varsity Baseball
team had a rough opening to their sea-
son with an non-league endowment
game loss to Lakeridge High School, 4-7,
on March 16, but that game won’t count
against their season stats. They followed
this up with a 5-11 loss vs. Tualatin High
School on March 18. The low point of
the season, thus far, was getting blanked
by Putnam High School, 0-6, in their
opening game of the Red Lion Buckaroo
Classic at Blue Mountain Community
College.
They began turning things around at
that tournament, however, with a 7-7 tie
against a Pendleton/Griswold team, fol-
lowed by two back-to-back wins against
Roseburg High School, 8-5, on March 22,
and a 6-4 win over North Medford High
School on March 23.
Non-league play continues for the
Celtics at home vs. Reynolds High School
on March 28, followed by a four-game
road-trip to Crescent Valley High School,
and both North and South Medford high
schools from March 30 through April 5.
The boys return home for a non-league
game against Grant High School on
April 6, and they finish that segment of
their season at Roosevelt High School on
April 8.
League play kicks off for the Celtics
on April 12 at home vs. Sprague High
School. The team is currently 2-3-1 for the
season, and ranked #24 by the Oregon
School Activities Association (OSSA).
peacefully on the water across the
river. It slowly started to drift down
the river. Alone.
Normally there would be a num-
ber of other boats being launched at
this spot, but not this day. We had
the river to ourselves. Not a good
situation because there was nobody
down river to o grab our boat.
We all piled into the pickup and
raced down the road toward the
bridge. Halfway to the bridge, we
stopped. I scrambled over the steep
bank through thick blackberries and
mud. I couldn’;t see the river until I
reached the bottom, just to see our
boat lazily drift by, out of reach,
headed for the river rapids, just
above the bridge. The little 16-foot
boat seemed to be smiling, as it kept
drifting downriver. As it kept going I
sensed it flipped me off.
I crawled back up the bank, pull-
ing myself up using the blackberry
bushes for something to hant onto
so as not to slip back down in the
mud.
It occurred to me that I hadn’t
signed up for this abuse, but, it was
the lot I drew. Finally, reaching the
road, I piled back into the truck and
we headed for the bridge.
When we reached the bridge, there
was a construction crew unloading
equipment. One of them asked if we
were looking for a point, pointing to
the river eddy downriver from the
bridge. Next to the bank, there was
the boat, seemingly carefree, undam-
aged, without a drop of water inside.
I walked down and grabbed our way-
ward craft.
We loaded our fishing gear
aboard and headed down the river to
finally do some fishing. We hooked a
couple of steelhead but the trip will
be remembered for the sight of the
happy driftboat, unencumbered with
human load, taking its own path less
traveled down the river.
The happy driftboat
After more than 50
years of fishing with my
friend, Stinky, I have
book’s worth of his mis-
adventures. We all do
things that lead to small
disasters, but he is the
master of creating these
situations.
One recent exam-
ple occurred while
launching his drift-
boat on the Nestucca
River about a half mile
above the fifth bridge,
upriver from the town
of Beaver. The boat ramp is
actually a 30-foot slide on wooden
planks at a 45-degree angle. It
requires tying rope to the bow, then
around the trailer, to ease the boat
down the slide.
We had done this dozens of times
before without mishap. This time,
however, Stinky made sure to bring
about rope. He got the rope, for free,
from our friend Crab
Bait; it was used and
frayed, but Stinky
thought it was per-
fect for the job at
hand.
Especially
for the price he
paid—nohting.
We eased the
boat to the tipping
point to start its
slow descent down
the slide, keeping
the right tension on
the rope.As the full
weight of the boat
tightened the rope, it
suddenly broke. The boat took off
down the slide at an extraordinary
speed, hitting the river stern first,
the shooting across the river.
I was left standing next to the
trailer, holding what was left of
the rope while Stinky was rolling
around in the mud, halfway down
the riverbank. The boat was bobbing
(Jim Taylor lives in Keizer. His
column appears frequently in the
Keizertimes.)