Sports

Celts can’t extend summer season

Eric Olsen (middle) gets congratulated by teammates after hitting a solo homer in the second inning. It was McNary’s only run of the game as they fell to Silverton 7-1 (KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings).

With a trip to the state tournament on the line, the McNary D1 summer league team couldn’t get the job done as they fell to Silverton 7-1 on Wednesday, July 17, bringing their season to an end. 

“We had some traffic on the bases and some guys in scoring position, we just couldn’t get them in,” McNary assistant coach Jordan Keeker said. “That’s kind of dictated the rest of the game.”

Even though they only had four hits for the game, one of them was a monster solo home run by Eric Olsen, who launched a first-pitch fastball into the trees over the left field fence in the top of the second. 

“That was a pretty cool moment for Eric. There was no chance that ball was staying in the yard,” Keeker said. 

Olsen had another chance to do some damage in the top of the third. After a two-out infield single by Zane Aicher, Eben Meyer and Ian Martin were both walked to load the bases. But Silverton pitcher Gage Mack got Olsen to groundout to the first baseman, ending the inning. 

Despite a solid performance on the bump, giving up just two hits and two earned runs, McNary starter Logan Ready was issued the loss in this one.

Ready retired the side in order in each of the first two innings, but he started to get in trouble in the bottom of the third. 

An infield hit from Cole Mucken was compounded by a McNary throwing error, allowing Mucken to reach third on the play. An RBI-groundout by Shayn Tauer tied the score at 1-1. 

Ready began to lose his command later in the frame, giving up three walks and a bunt single which put the Foxes up 2-1. But Ready retired the next two batters to get out of trouble. 

Ready, who will be a sophomore in the fall, played on the Celtics freshmen team during the spring, but in his 5.2 innings of work, Ready showed that he might be prepared for varsity baseball next year.

“Logan is really reliable for us on the mound,” Keeker said. “Every once in a while, he’ll run into some command issues, but he has good stuff for his age. He’s just a competitor. I know when I give him the ball, I can trust him with it.”

After coming up empty in the top of the fourth, the Celtics had their best opportunity to tie or take the lead in the top of the fifth. 

A one-out bloop single from Aicher got the threat started. Mayer struck out in the following at-bat, but Martin got aboard with an infield single, and both he and Aicher advanced 90 feet on a

Silverton throwing error. 

But with runners on second third, Olsen fell just short of his second homer of the game, flying out to the warning track in center field.

Ready got through the bottom of the fifth with ease, but in the sixth inning, everything fell apart for McNary. 

Three Celtic errors in the inning led to five Silverton runs — only one of them was earned. Ready was replaced on the mound by Hayden Kaiser. 

“They started to put the pressure on us and we weren’t able to make plays,” Keeker said. “That sixth inning really snowballed on us.”

“Even though we didn’t get the result that we wanted, we hope that these guys grow from it moving forward.”