ARMA — The Marmaton Valley baseball team’s recent slide continued on Monday when they traveled to Northeast Arma for a doubleheader.
Marmaton Valley was swept by Northeast Arma, 9-1 and 14-3.
The Wildcats got off to a terrific start with a run in the first inning when a hit from junior Brock Hall drove in freshman Lane Bahnsen.
Junior Justice Pugh was able to hold that lead through three innings, but in the fourth inning, the Viking offense was able to finally gain some traction.
“Justice pitched game one and did a good job,” Marmaton Valley coach Derek Scharff said. “It was a good pitching dual for the first four innings. They broke out in the fifth inning and started to pull away.”
The Wildcat offense went into hibernation after the first inning, managing only four hits for the entire game with Bahnsen and Hall each collecting a pair.
“We never could get anything going on offense,” Scharff said. “We never really had a lot of opportunities.”
Pugh wore down as the game continued and gave up three runs in the fifth inning and four runs in the sixth inning as Northeast Arma cruised to a 9-1 game one victory.
Pugh finished the game with seven hits allowed and four walks while striking out five.
In game two, Northeast Arma was able to jump on Marmaton Valley quickly with three runs in the first inning and one in the second.
The Vikings put up eight runs in the third inning to bust the game wide open.
“Lane started the second game and pitched well for the first two innings,” Scharff said. “In the third inning, he had trouble throwing strikes and we had several errors behind him.”
Bahsen finished with 2 1/3 innings pitched, while allowing 10 runs- seven earned — on three hits and five walks.
Marmaton Valley scored three runs late, but Northeast Arma cruised to a 14-3 victory in five innings.
“We need to get better on both sides of the ball,” Scharff said. “I think we have a few winnable games coming up to hopefully get back on track.”
SOFTBALL
Northeast Arma was also able to sweep Marmaton Valley on the softball diamond.
In game one, the Wildcats were unable to mount any runs until the seventh inning, despite Shaylee Woods, Karlie Stephens and Paige Becker each having two hits as they fell 7-1.
Stephens pitched a complete game with only three earned runs on ten hits and one walk. She struck out 11 Vikings.
In game two, the lead changed hands six times, before going into extra innings tied at 9-9.
The Vikings were able to win it 10-9 with a walk-off double in the bottom of the eighth.
Stephens had four hit to lead the Wildcats and Becker had three, including a huge triple in the seventh inning to help send it to extras.
Stephens pitched another complete game and allowed eight earned runs on 15 hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
