PAGE A20, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 06, 2022
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SPORTS
Softball collides
with Crater
By JOSHUA MANES
Of the Keizertimes
With a six-run sixth, McNary softball
was able to come back and secure a home
win against the Crater High School Comets
on Tuesday.
The offensive explosion in the sixth
fueled the 6-3 win. The Celtics batted
around in the inning with eight hits, all
singles.
McNary had made contact all game,
but just couldn’t put together hits until the
sixth. Head coach Kelly Parsell credited
the early struggles to Crater’s defense and
a lack of adjustment at the plate to put the
ball on the ground or at a lower flight.
But in the sixth the hits kept coming.
“It was exactly what the girls have inside
them. It had been there the whole game and
it just finally broke through,” Parsell said. “It
was great to see them string together hits
one-by-one-by-one. Just really proved their
work ethic at the plate, their adjustments
and their drive.”
The Celtics took the lead on a two-out,
two-run single from Brookelynn Jackson.
Jackson said she went up to the plate
looking to make adjustments from her first
three at-bats. When she saw her pitch on
a 1-0 count, she sent a line drive into cen-
ter field that scored Karah Miller and Ellie
Martin.
“I just knew a base hit was going to work
in the gap,” Jackson said. “The pitch I hit
was a changeup, and I saw one before. So
being able to sit back and drive that to the
right side was a big thing I was working on.”
The sixth inning rally started when
Heather Ebner led off with a single up
the middle. With clean-up hitter Kayelee
Schwab up, Parsell made a call not often
seen. She called for Schwab to bunt, playing
for a rally and to take away the double play.
Schwab fouled two attempts off, and
with two strikes swung away and singled.
It wasn’t the first time in the game
Parsell called for Schwab to sacrifice. In the
fourth she successfully moved Ebner over
to second.
“We needed [Ebner] in scoring posi-
tion and had to make the choice to have
[Schwab] bunt,” Parsell said. “Later in the
game we were in the same exact situation
but needed four runs to win. We thought
about having Kayelee bunt, gave her a
couple opportunities and then she came
through with the hit.”
While the offense woke up late, defen-
sively the Celtics struggled, committing
six errors. All three runs allowed by pitcher
Lacey Vasas were unearned.
“It's still a lot of in-game situations that
are really hard to replicate in practice,”
Parsell said. “We just have to use these
opportunities and learn from them and
grow from them.”
The win for McNary snapped an eight-
game win streak for Crater in which they
had outscored opponents 115-9.
The tough non-league matchup late in
the season gives a bit of a postseason pre-
view, according to Parsell.
“This is a good opportunity to get a
fake playoff run,” Parsell said. “That is what
it feels like. You don’t know the team. You
don’t know much about them, they could
have traveled from far. But we’re here to
play a game, we’re here to win a game, and
it was great practice.”
And scheduling a similar late season
test in future seasons may be the plan
going forward, Parsell said.
Crater as an opponent may have made
the game a little more special. Former Celtic
Taylor Kenworthy was on the field for the
Comets at second base.
Vasas said Kenworthy is her best friend,
which can make pitching to her difficult.
“We make eye contact and I try not to
laugh,” Vasas said. “We both support each
other in every single way even though we’re
playing against each other and we’re sup-
posed to be enemies.”
McNary is set to finish out the week
on the road. They are at Sprague High
School on Thursday (score not available at
time of print) and have a doubleheader at
Mountain View High School on Saturday.
Ellie Martin slides home with the lead run for McNary on Brookelynn Jackson's two-
run single in the bottom of the sixth against Crater on Tuesday, May 3, at McNary.
The Celtics won 6-3 with six runs in the sixth inning.
Photo by JOSHUA MANES of the Keizertimes
Golf qualifies Mavericks League begins 2022 roster
at MVC districts reveals with Volcanoes and Mavericks
By JOSHUA MANES
Of the Keizertimes
McNary golf was at the Mountain
Valley
Conference
District
Golf
Tournament on Monday and Tuesday,
with positive results.
Colby Sullivan and Elijah Clendening
both qualified for state with their finishes.
Sullivan shot a 146 over the two-day tour-
nament, and Clendening a 150. They
placed third and fourth respectively.
The mens team shot a combined
637, finishing second to Summit High
School’s 590. McNary’s team qualified
for the regional tournament, with a shot
at state.
The regionals are next week at the
Tokatee Golf Club in McKenzie Bridge.
The men will play on Monday, May 9, the
women on Tuesday, May 10.
By JOSHUA MANES
Of the Keizertimes
The rosters for the 2022 Mavericks
League season have started to be
announced. The league unveiled the
rosters via Facebook for the Salem-Keizer
Volcanoes and Portland Mavericks to
start the week.
The Volcanoes roster features seven
returning players from last season.
Pitchers Brendon Nipp, Jake Lialios,
Jared Bell and Matt McDonald return to
the mound for manager Tony Torcato.
The four combined to go 12-6 last season
with 10 saves and 212 strikeouts.
In the field, catcher Keyberth Mejias
and outfielders Sam Jones and Tony
Holton are back. Holton batted .315 in 33
games last season and was second on the
team in RBIs.
A notable name at the bottom of the
Volcanoes roster, Torcato has listed
himself as a utility player.
The Mavericks only bring back
two players, pitcher TJ Pruneda
and outfielder Alex Emerson. They
also traded for corner infielder Nick
DiBenedetto from the Volcanoes.
Emerson was second on the team
last season in batting average (.321),
RBIs (31), hits (51) and runs scored (31).
DiBenedetto appeared in 33 games for
the Volcanoes last season, batting .307.
Rosters for the Senators and
Campesinos are expected later this week.
Opening day for the Mavericks league
is Thursday, May 12, when the Mavericks
take on the Volcanoes.
P - Brendon Nipp
P - Jake Lialios
P - Jared Bell
P - Matt McDonald
P - Colin Driscoll
P - Colton Meyer
P - Jacob Espitia
P - Aaron Neese
P - Javier Montero
Volcanoes
C - Keyberth Mejias
C - Jacobi Allen
1B/3B - Travis McFarland
INF - Ronnie Keaton
INF - Humberto Soto
OF - Sam Jones
OF - Tony Holton
OF- Juan Carlos Abreu
UTIL - Tony Torcato
Mavericks
P - Aldrick Jimenez
C - Aitor Hurtado
P - Evan Bowles
C- Hayden Williamson
P - Jacob Trupp
1B/3B - Nick DiBenedetto
P - John Over
INF/OF - Chase Bessard
P - Vyncent Manson
INF - Champ Davison
P - TJ Pruneda
INF - Mitchell Austin
INF - Billy Kittrell
OF - Quadrese Teague
OF - Jackson Day
OF - Alex Emerson