By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School baseball team travelled to Pahrump on Tuesday, Mar. 14, for a duel with the Trojans. And the game got off to a rough start for the Pirates. In the first inning, the Trojans scored three runs to take the early advantage.
“We came out a little flat for our first road game and they jumped on us,” said MVHS head coach Ed McCann.
But the Pirates responded in the second inning with a major offensive spark. Junior Chase Hadley got on base due to an error, Then Tyler Peterson, senior, was walked to put the Pirates’ second runner on base. Finally, a two-RBI double from sophomore Kolby Longman brought those runners in.
Junior Chase Guesman later got a hit, and Drake Staheli, senior, hit a double to bring Guesman and Longman in. Thus, Moapa took a 4-3 lead.
But the Trojans tied it up in the bottom of the second inning and eventually reclaimed the lead with a run in the third.
Both teams would remain scoreless for the remainder of the contest and the final score was 5-4 in favor of Pahrump.
“We were in it every minute and had our opportunities at the end, but just weren’t successful,” McCann said.
McCann praised the resilience of Chase Hadley, who had a rough start to the game. “After he wasn’t really good early, Chase was really good late,” he said.
In the second game of the week, on Thursday, the Pirates hosted the Rattlers of Mojave.
In the first inning, the Pirates scored four runs to jump out to an early lead. The Rattlers responded in the third with three runs of their own. But the Pirates maintained the lead throughout.
Behind another big inning in the fifth, the Pirates went on to win 10-4.
The difference in the game was senior Jade Marshall’s pitching. In the first inning, Marshall was able to strike out Mojave’s best stretch of hitters consecutively (in the second, third, and fourth spots in the rotation), to set the tone.
“I give Jade Marshall such a hard time, but he just competes,” McCann said. “His change-up was the difference in the baseball game. That’s just the truth,”
This game was also Anthony Cornwall’s first back off of injured reserve (broken hand). Cornwall came in and closed the game from the mound. In the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, Cornwall struck out seven batters total.
McCann was pleased with where his team is headed. Admittedly, there are some facets of the game that need some patching up for the Pirates, but they potential to become a machine later in the season. Not many other schools expected this from Moapa Valley, but they are beginning to notice, McCann said.
“The cat’s out of the bag,” McCan said. “Before, everyone thought, ‘Oh it’s just Moapa Valley, they’re just gonna be average Joe bag-o-donuts.’ The secret is out now. We’re not just average Joe bag-o-donuts. We’re pretty good!”
