MORAN — The Marmaton Valley High baseball dugout was subdued after the team’s 15-1 game one loss to Lebo Thursday afternoon. Most of the crowd was at the neighboring diamond, watching the Wildcats’ undefeated softball beat Lebo twice.
By the end of Thursday’s second game, the Wildcat baseball team had earned their fans’ full attention.
Despite losing to Lebo 18-12 in the second game, Marmaton Valley displayed the improvement and resilience that coach Derek Scharff hopes can continue all season.
“As long as we keep taking steps forward, then I’ll be happy,” Scharff said. “We obviously need to get a lot better.”
Marmaton Valley jumped out to an 8-1 lead in game two after two innings.
Senior Gage Adams led the team’s offensive output by going 3-for-4 with a double and a pair of RBIs and runs-scored.
Seven other Wildcat batters got hits in the game, and Korbin Smith and Keagan Boyd each had a pair of knocks. All 10 Marmaton Valley hitters that came to the plate in game two reached base.
Scharff says in order to stay competitive this season that kind of solid batting will need to continue.
“The second game, the offense was a little better,” Scharff said. “We were patient at the plate and got a lot of people on base. We still left way too many people on base. We left the bases loaded a couple times.”
The pitching continues to be a weak spot. Wildcat top pitcher Justice Pugh showed improvement from his start in the first game of the season where he gave up 10 runs, but he only lasted two innings in opener against Lebo and surrendered four earned runs. His record dropped to 0-2.
Jake Kale finished game one and he pitched three innings, giving up eight earned runs, which was an improvement from his first outing of the year.
“They just need to work on throwing strikes,” Scharff said. “We are putting way too many people on base.”
Smith started game two and started off with only allowing one run in the first two innings. But the third inning was a struggle, and he failed to record an out while surrendering four additional runs.
“Korbin looked great for two innings,” Scharff said. “Then he came in the third and struggled. He walked a bunch of guys and hit a guy.”
Adams came in for Smith and allowed six earned runs and only got two outs.
Mike Beggs finished the inning and game. He pitched 4 1/3 innings, and allowed only four earned runs.
