After going 14 days without a game, the Dragon baseball team took the field again on Tuesday, April 7 in Marsh Valley to take on the Eagles.  With only one day of rest, the MHS stacked the remainder of the week with a home game against the Firth Cougars before traveling to Glenns Ferry to compete in the annual tournament where they went undefeated against teams from Wells, Kendrick, Grangeville, and Challis, ending the week with a 5-1 record.

The matchup against Marsh Valley proved to be more of a challenge than the MHS team anticipated.  Coming off a long break, it took some time for the team to fall back into their team rhythm.  Marsh Valley jumped to a quick lead, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first.  Slowly but steadily, the Eagles continued to pull away as they added runs in the third and fourth innings while the Dragons remained scoreless.  

Finally in the fifth inning, Easton Green managed the only Malad score of the game, stealing home while Braxden Kaufman stood at the plate to bat.  But without any additional runs, throughout the game, the Dragons fell 1-6.

Head Coach Chad Maroney shared, “I think the long spring break affected us.  We had a fourteen day span without a game then started with Marsh Valley.  Thankfully we will see them again next week at home.  We had a slow start after the break, almost a reset on the work we had done with pitching and hitting.”

Feeling the sting of the loss, the Dragons went to work both in their practices and in their following games to tighten up those things Coach Maroney noticed had slipped.  It was easy to see improvement throughout the week after the defeat, beginning with their win over Firth as they hosted them Thursday afternoon.

The scoring began early for the MHS team, tallying their first run in the opening inning from Dawsyn Peterson as Carter Carey singled on a ground ball to center field.  Carey had another big hit in the third inning to collect another RBI, hitting a triple to punch in Cale Briggs.  Two batters down the lineup, Ethan Horsley hit a sacrifice bunt to finish sending Carey around to give Malad 3 runs to Firth’s 1.  With Braxden Kaufman on second, Kurt Ward then stepped up to the plate to drive a home run to left field to expand their lead to 5-1.

With momentum on their side, the Dragons continued to outpace the Cougars on the scoreboard, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.  With another scoreless inning for Firth, the game was called at the half of the fifth inning, Malad claiming the 12-1 victory.

 The Dragons carried that win into the weekend and multiplied it by four.  As they played through each game, their hitting, defense, base running and all around awareness improved to help them not only collect four more wins, but to completely dominate in each game.

The tournament began with a matchup against Wells High School.  Malad consistently scored runs in each inning beginning in the first with Green stealing home and Peterson running in off a triple hit from Carey.  In the bottom of the second, Green and Briggs added to more runs as Peterson hit a fly ball to left field.  

The top of the third inning saw Wells punch in two runs, but the Dragons were quick to rebut with a score from Holdyn Higley off a hit by Ky Willie to left field.  Willie finished his lap around the bases on a ground hit by Briggs late in the inning.  Ward had another big hit in the fourth, doubling on a line drive to left field to send Ethan Horsley in for the Dragon’s seventh run of the game.  Ward and Hudson Daniels tallied two additional runs to end the inning.  

The momentum carried on through the final two innings as the Dragons scored five more runs in contrast to the two scored by Wells.  Malad played a solid defensive game, led by two pitchers who split the time on the mound.  Higley opened the game, allowing 2 runs on 1 hit, walking 3 and striking out 3.  Daniels finished the game, also allowing 2 runs on 1 hit, walking 1 and striking out 6.  

Later the same day, the MHS team defeated the Kendrick Tigers with a defiant win of 10-2.  The Dragon defense held the team scoreless until the fifth inning where the Tigers put their only two runs across the plate.  Peterson, at short stop, had four putouts on four opportunities, including a double in the sixth inning.  With one out and one runner on first base, the Tiger batter popped the hit up to second base territory for Peterson to snag out of the air.  In kick succession he fired off the ball to get the final out as the runner on first attempted to advance to second.

From the mound, Daniels opened the game, not allowing a single hit or walk while striking out 16 batters.  Horsley came in to relief pitch in the fifth inning, striking out 5 batters while allowing 2 runs on 3 hits, walking 2.

Saturday saw two more wins for the Dragons, as they defeated the Grangeville Bulldogs in a shutout game and Challis in a high scoring win.  Despite tallying just six hits against the Bulldogs, Malad made them count, capitalizing on opportunities and keeping pressure on the basepaths.  Green led the way at the plate, going 2-for-4 and crossing the plate three times.  In addition, Peterson and Brooks Blaisdell each drove in multiple runs, helping fuel the big third inning that ultimately put the game out of reach.

On the mound, Peterson threw a complete game, allowing only one hit while striking out seven and walking two.  The hurler was backed up by a solid fielding defense, the remaining put outs scattered across the team including Daniels, Blaisdell, Briggs, and Higley.  

The MHS team put their runs up early in their final game of the weekend as the played Challis.  By the third inning, the team had already collected 13 runs while only allowing 4 to their opponent.  The coaching staff used the lead as an opportunity to shake things up, moving players around and bringing in new hitters for the team.  The game proved not only a great team win but also an opportunity to share experience around to multiple players.

After the conclusion of the weekend games, Coach Maroney shared, “This weekend in Glenn’s ferry we got back on track and are ready to finish strong.  Our lineup is hitting great again.  We have a deep pitching rotation. It has been hard to get everyone in the game to pitch.”

Pleased with the progress the team made over the week, Coach Maroney and his team look forward to their next games in Preston on Tuesday, April 14 before hosting Soda Springs the following day.  Thursday the team will play in Firth before traveling to Soda Springs on Friday for a second matchup.