MORAN — It has been a long season for the Marmaton Valley baseball team.
Entering Monday’s doubleheader with Uniontown, the Wildcats were 0-10 on the season and game one against the Eagles provided no sign of that trend changing.
Uniontown thumped Marmaton Valley 22-4 in a four-inning shortened game. Uniontown posted 11 runs in the fourth inning alone to guarantee that the game was ended after four.
Game two felt different from the start and the biggest reason for that was on the mound where Justice Pugh took the ball for the Wildcats. Pugh missed the game-one loss as he had to sit out one game following his ejection the last game for Marmaton Valley.
“(Sitting out the first game) fueled a fire for me coming out there and I just really wanted to get a win,” Pugh said.
Pugh got started fast with a shutout in the first inning and the Wildcat offense felt the momentum and ran with it.
Jake Kress, Pugh, Keagan Boyd, Gage Adams and Korbin Smith all had consecutive singles to begin the bottom of the first inning. Trevor Wilson and Jake Kale also added hits in the inning and just like that the Wildcats held a 6-0 lead. It was the largest advantage they had built in a game all season.
The Eagles responded with three runs in the second inning but Marmaton Valley’s offense continued to surge. Back-to-back hits from Pugh and Boyd in the home-half of the second resulted in two more Wildcat runs. After two innings, Marmaton Valley held a 8-3 lead.
“It is nice to know that when I am pitching, we can score runs,” Pugh said.
Uniontown scored three runs in the third and fourth inning. The struggles that Marmaton Valley has been dealing with all season fielding the ball resurfaced. Scharff was happy with the way Pugh handled himself despite the defense behind him struggling.
“As a pitcher, it is tough when people are making errors behind you,” Marmaton Valley coach Derek Scharff said. “It is tough to stay focused, but he did a good job. He kept throwing strikes and keeping it in there and we finally fielded a few behind him.”
Pugh says when he is on the mound he tries to block out any mistakes that happen behind him and worry about what he can control.
“When there are errors behind you, you can’t let that affect you,” Pugh said. “A lot of people let that happen but you just have to stick to your game.”
Pugh buckled down in the fifth inning with a shutout inning and which again seemed to ignite the offense.
“Justice pitched great, we fielded some of the balls behind him and hit the ball well, so that usually turns into good things,” Scharff said.
With two outs and nobody on base, the Wildcats got hot again. Six straight hits allowed Boyd and Adams to score and Marmaton Valley retook the lead at 10-9.
