MORAN Everything that went right on the baseball diamond for Marmaton Valley High Thursday soured a day later.
The Wildcats struggled at the plate and in the field Friday in a 10-0 loss to St. Paul High in their Class 2-1A regional semifinal matchup.
The defeat ends Marmaton Valleys season at 7-12, while St. Paul had little time to gloat. The Indians were dispatched later in the day, 9-1, by Pittsburg-St. Marys Colgan, which earned a berth in the upcoming state tournament.
This was kind of how our whole year was, hot or cold hitting the ball, Wildcat head coach Derek Scharff said. This was one of those days.
Marmaton Valley was held without a hit until Gage Griffith and Korbin Smith laced back-to-back singles in the top of the fifth.
Otherwise, St. Paul starter Koby Spielbush was masterful, striking out seven and walking none.
On the other side, St. Paul did much of its damage with two outs, scoring six times in the bottom of the first and once again the second via the two-out rally.
Two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings ended the game via the 10-run mercy rule.
Caiden Elliott surrendered five hits and a walk with a strikeout, while Justice Pugh gave up two hits with a strikeout.
The Wildcats bid adieu to seniors Pugh, Smith, Chase Heap, Trevor Wilson, Brenton Simpson, Tallon Kress and Brock Hall
We only lose one pitcher, and we have four kids coming back who can pitch, Scharff said, But we will be young. The freshmen coming up will have to play.
Scharff noted most of his outgoing senior class had been active in multiple sports since their freshman year.
Its gonna be tough to replace them.
