The Marmaton Valley Wildcats showed they have some pop in their bats despite a sweep at the hands of the Central Heights Vikings during Monday’s opening day doubleheader.
After falling 11-1 in the opener, the Wildcats proved their resilience in the finale but ultimately fell 8-6.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead when freshman pitcher Thomas Allee scored on an infield error, but that was all of the offensive production Marmaton Valley could muster as Central Heights scored 11 unanswered runs to put an end to the opener by the fifth inning.
Allee had a team-leading two hits while batting 2 of 2. Sophomore designated hitter Andersyn Carr hit 1 of 2 while junior shortstop Tyler Lord and junior outfielder Todd Stevenson hit 1 of 3. On the mound, junior Garrett Morrison tallied five strikeouts over three innings over three innings with Stevenson coming on in relief in the fourth.
In the finale, the Wildcats battled back from an early deficit to make a game of it, but their rally fell two runs short in their final at-bat.
Held scoreless through the first two frames, Marmaton Valley found its footing in the third on an RBI double by senior third baseman Dominic Smith — the first of his team-leading four RBIs.
Marmaton Valley continued to chip away at Central Heights’ lead with a fifth-inning RBI grounder by Morrison, then a sacrifice fly by junior outfielder Brevyn Campbell in the sixth.
A two-out, base-clearing Smith double pulled the Wildcats within a pair of runs, but a strikeout on the next at-bat sealed Marmaton Valley’s fate.
On the mound, Allee tallied a pair of strikeouts over four innings while giving up five hits and eight runs.
Smith came on in relief in the fifth with a strikeout and two hits. In the batter’s box, Smith had a team-leading three hits, followed by Morrison and Campbell, who had two each to complement their single-RBI efforts.
entral Heights 11, MVHS 1
Central Heights AB R H BI
Kraft 4 0 1 0
S. Miller 3 1 0 0
Garrett 3 3 3 1
Stroup 2 1 1 0
Dunbar 4 2 3 3
Canna 2 3 2 3
P. Miller 2 1 0 0
Brock 2 0 0 0
Meyer 3 0 2 2
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO
S. Miller 3.1 3 1 0 1 9
Dunbar 1.2 2 0 0 1 3
MVHS AB R H BI
Lord 4 0 1 0
Stevenson 3 1 0 0
Morrison 3 3 3 1
Allee 2 1 1 0
Newman 4 2 3 3
Smith 2 3 2 3
Ferguson 2 1 0 0
Campbell 2 0 0 0
Carr 3 0 2 2
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO
Morrison 3.1 8 9 8 3 5
Stevenson 1 4 2 2 2 0
Central Heights 8, MVHS 6
Central Heights AB R H BI
Kraft 3 2 2 1
S. Miller 0 2 0 0
Garrett 4 2 3 4
Stroup 4 0 2 1
Dunbar 3 0 0 1
Canna 2 0 0 0
P. Miller 3 0 0 0
Brock 2 0 0 0
Meyer 2 0 0 0
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO
Garrett 3.2 5 1 1 1 4
Dunbar 3.1 5 5 3 2 2
MVHS AB R H BI
Lord 4 0 0 0
Stevenson 2 2 0 0
Morrison 4 2 2 1
Smith 4 0 3 4
Allee 3 1 1 0
McVey 2 0 1 0
Campbell 3 0 2 1
M. Ferguson 3 0 0 0
C. Ferguson 2 0 0 0
Newman 1 1 1 0
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO
Allee 4 5 8 8 6 2
Stevenson 2 2 0 0 1 1
