Eban Mayer hits a pitch against Sprague. (KEIZERTIMES/Dee Moore)
McNary Celtics redeemed themselves with an 11 to 2 win Thursday, June 20 when they battled against the Sprague Olympians in South Salem.
Logan Ready who pitched a strong game through the first five innings was relieved in the fifth by Alex Simpson. Both pitchers were pivotal to McNary’s win.
“Starting pitcher Logan Ready had a really good start for us and we had really good defense behind him. He had a lot of strikes and he kept the ball in play for us and we made a lot of defensive plays that he contributed to. Alex Simpson came in and finished the game for us. It was good to see him get back on the mound and have a good finish. He saved the game,” said head coach Larry Keeker.
As the game started the two teams appear to be equal in ability and skill level. Sprague took to the field keeping the Celtics from scoring at the top of the first of the inning. McNary returned the favor in the bottom half.
The Celtics scored their first run during the top of the second thanks to Cameron Zerbe but failed to bring in more runners. The team was once again plagued by faulty ball transfers and led to Sprague slipping two runs past them during the bottom of the second.
McNary continued to hold their own against the Olympians while blocking attempted runs through the fourth. They evened the score to 2-2 during the fifth while fighting off Sprague’s attempts to put more runs on the board.
Tensions were high as the Celtics finally found their groove during the sixth. With bases loaded the team added five runs to the board demonstrating their potential for greatness. McNary powered on into the bottom of the sixth preventing Sprague from completing any runs.
Like a well oiled machine the Celtics swung into the seventh inning with the same energy they had brought to the previous inning. McNary dominated the field adding four more runs to the board for a total of 11 at top of the seventh. Pitcher Alex Simpson did his part when he took the mound in the bottom of the seventh. He pitched a strong game insuring that the Celtics maintained their score.
“It was a tight ball game until the top of the sixth and they we able to break free for five and four in the sixth. There were some big RBI hits. Griffin Hubbard had one and Erik Sorenson had one. We had a lot of key hits with guys on base which is a big deal for us, because we’ve had some games where we’ve left some guys on base and didn’t pick them up. It’s good to see the offense come around with guys on base and score multiple runs in an inning to put the game away in the last two innings.
“I was proud of them because we had a rough game before that against West Salem, so it was a good bounce back game for us against a good team on top of it,” Keeker said.
MHS Relief pitcher Kyle Weathers takes over pitching in the fifth inning (KEIZERTIMES/Dee Moore)