By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club honored West Salem’s Carter Howard (baseball), Salem Academy’s Addi Bennett (Softball), Sprague’s Bella Morrow (Golf), Sprague’s Andrew Mhoon (Baseball), West Salem’s Courtney Gills (Softball), Blanchet’s Facundo Zaror (Golf), West Salem’s Viviana Nunez (Softball), and McNary’s Isabelle Faulkner (Golf) at this past Friday’s meeting.
Here’s the Press Release
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Baseball, is Carter Howard.
Carter, a senior, had a great week against arguably the best team in the state, both on the mound and at the plate. He also caught the other two games against South Salem in the three-game series. Carter had 5 hits, including a double, a home run, and 3 RBI. His on-base-percentage was .600 and slugging was 1.000. As a pitcher, he went 6 innings against the Saxons, giving up only 5 hits, and held the South Salem lineup to a .238 average. That’s a 2.33 ERA.
From Coach Blair, “Carter has been catching for the Titans since his freshman year. He is one of the hardest working players in the program and is always striving to be better. Carter is also a great student working hard both at West and at CTEC…He is a great kid, and the program will surely miss him. Great job Carter!”
Carter was voted by Central Valley Conference coaches to the 1st team all-CVC team.
This is Carter’s first Athlete of the Week honor.
Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Les Schwab (since 2013), True Private Wealth Advisors, Olsen Daines Attorneys at Law, Salem-Keizer High School Sports Booster Club (sponsoring “The Beacons”), and Willamette University Admissions and Athletics.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Salem Academy Softball, is Addi Bennett.
Addi is a senior who has helped lead her team to an 18-0 conference record, a 21-4 season record, and a #5 OSAA ranking. In the Crusader’s five games prior to her nomination, Addi hit .667 with a slugging percentage of .944. Over that span she had 12 hits, including 5 doubles, to go along with 12 RBI, 8 runs scored, and 8 stolen bases. Addi was also in the circle for 4 of those games going 4-0 with an ERA of 2.24, striking out 40 along the way and walking only 2. On the season, Addi is 17-3 in the circle, with a 1.81 ERA and 198 strike outs. In the box, she is leading the Crusaders in average, on-base-plus slugging, slugging, hits, triples, HRs, RBI, and stolen bases.
Addi was named 1st team all-Tri River Conference as a pitcher as well as Pitcher of the Year and co-Player of the Year.
Other than that, she’s been pretty average!!! 😂
This is Addi’s 4th Athlete of the Week award. She has been honored each of her 4 years.
Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Les Schwab (since 2013), True Private Wealth Advisors, Olsen Daines Attorneys at Law, Salem-Keizer High School Sports Booster Club (sponsoring “The Beacons”), and Willamette University Admissions and Athletics.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Sprague Girls Golf, is Bella Morrow.
Bella, a junior, is in her 3rd year as a varsity golfer. She helped lead Sprague to an undefeated conference dual meet record, their 3rd consecutive Central Valley Conference championship, and their 3rd consecutive team appearance at the 6A OSAA Girls Golf Tournament. Bella won three tournaments during the season and also had a 2nd place finish. At the 6A State Tournament Bella finished 35th, the best CVC finisher.
From Coach Peters, “Bella is an integral part of our team’s success due to her leadership and knowledge of the game of golf. Bella is always promoting our team comradery…Bella is on the student council and leadership team. She was elected student council president for her senior year, 2025-2026”
Bella is also the goalkeeper for Sprague’s girls’ varsity soccer team and was named the league’s goalkeeper of the year.
Bella was honored as an Athlete of the Week in 2024 for girls golf as well.
Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Les Schwab (since 2013), True Private Wealth Advisors, Olsen Daines Attorneys at Law, Salem-Keizer High School Sports Booster Club (sponsoring “The Beacons”), and Willamette University Admissions and Athletics.
Andrew Mhoon, from Sprague Baseball, is the Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week.
Andrew is a senior, a 2-year captain, and the starting shortstop for the Olys who finished their Central Valley Conference season with a 6-3 record and a regular season record of 15-9 and a #15 ranking. Last week Andrew went 4 for 9 – a .444 batting average – over a 3-game series versus West Salem. Included were a triple and, according to Coach Buccheit, “a massive home run that would have left the yard at any ballpark”. He also had 3 stolen bases, 3 bases on balls, 7 runs scored, a .700 on-base-percentage, and was 12 for 12 fielding.
Andrew is a 2024 and 2025 1st team all Central Valley Conference infielder and was 2nd team all-state as a junior.
Andrew carries 3.93 accumulated GPA and a 4.2 weighted GPA and is scheduled to graduate this June with academic honors and will be attending Loyola Marymount University where he will play baseball.
Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Les Schwab (since 2013), True Private Wealth Advisors, Olsen Daines Attorneys at Law, Salem-Keizer High School Sports Booster Club (sponsoring “The Beacons”), and Willamette University Admissions and Athletics.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Softball, is Courtney Gills.
The Titans head into the playoffs with a final 9-0 Central Valley Conference record and a 21-5 record on the season. The Titans, ranked #5, will open the OSAA 6A playoffs at home versus Lake Oswego.
Courtney is a junior leftfielder. In the 3 games against McNary, South Salem, and Sprague last week she went 4 for 9 – a .444 average. That included 3 home runs, driving in 11 runs. She also scored 5 runs, had a base on balls, and her on base plus slugging was an amazing 1.944.
This is the first Athlete of the Week honor for Courtney.
Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Les Schwab (since 2013), True Private Wealth Advisors, Olsen Daines Attorneys at Law, Salem-Keizer High School Sports Booster Club (sponsoring “The Beacons”), and Willamette University Admissions and Athletics.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Olsen Daines Senior Athlete of the Year for Boys Golf is Facundo Zaror of Blanchet Catholic.
Facundo, an exchange student from Chile, who was honored as an Athlete of the Week earlier this season, finished 5th in the district tournament at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis with rounds of 71 and 77. Facundo then took the momentum from his district finish to then finish 15th in the 3A/2A/1A State Championship, also at Trysting Tree, with rounds of 75 and 77, only 6 over par.
Congratulations Facundo.
Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Les Schwab (since 2013), True Private Wealth Advisors, Olsen Daines Attorneys at Law, Salem-Keizer High School Sports Booster Club (sponsoring “The Beacons”), and Willamette University Admissions and Athletics.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from West Salem Softball, is Viviana Nunez.
The Titans head into the playoffs with a final 9-0 Central Valley Conference record and a 21-5 record on the season. The Titans, ranked #5, will open the OSAA 6A playoffs at home versus Lake Oswego.
Viviana, a 9th grader, is a designated hitter and also plays 1st base. Over this past week, in 3 games, she went 6 for 7 – an .857 batting average. She also scored 3 runs, accumulated 3 walks, and had 2 runs batted in. Her on base plus slugging percentage was an extraordinary 1.757.
This is the first Athlete of the Week honor for Courtney.
Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Les Schwab (since 2013), True Private Wealth Advisors, Olsen Daines Attorneys at Law, Salem-Keizer High School Sports Booster Club (sponsoring “The Beacons”), and Willamette University Admissions and Athletics.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Olsen Daines Senior Athlete of the Year for Girls Golf is Isabelle Faulkner of McNary. Isabelle is also being honored as a Les Schwab Athlete of the Week for her performances at both the district and state golf tournaments.
“Izzy”, as she’s known by coaches and teammates, has had quite a last couple of weeks. First, she won the district championship, with rounds of 80 and 89 at Mallard Creek Golf Course in Lebanon. She followed that with a 40th (of 93 entrants) place finish at the State Championship, shooting a +14 at the Emerald Valley Golf Club in Cresswell.
Izzy also represents the Celtics well off the course. She carries a 4.0 GPA and is a valedictorian.
This is Isabelle’s first Athlete of the Week honor.
Recognizing excellence through high school athletics.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Les Schwab (since 2013), True Private Wealth Advisors, Olsen Daines Attorneys at Law, Salem-Keizer High School Sports Booster Club (sponsoring “The Beacons”), and Willamette University Admissions and Athletics.
