Ark Valley News - Valley opens season with split of triangular

Valley Center pitcher Jeremy Chase tags out a Derby baserunner in the final game of the March 31 tripleheader.

Valley opens season with split of triangular
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: April 02, 2015

It was a night of contrasts for the Valley Center High School baseball team, as the Hornets opened their season with a split of a triangular March 30 at Stevens Field. Valley (1-1) came from behind to defeat Hays 7-3 in the first game of the afternoon. In the nightcap, Derby High School broke away and rolled to a convincing 15-2 win.

Strong pitching and timely hitting powered Valley Center to its first win of the season, a 7-3 come-from-behind victory over Hays in the 2 p.m. game.

Nathan Postlethwait scattered five hits over as many innings to pick up the win. He struck out four and didn't walk a batter.

"I think it all started with Nathan on the bump," Valley coach Nick Barnes said. "I think he gave us a great opportunity to be successful. He kept the ball downhill real well and worked ahead in the count."

The Indians touched Postlethwait for single runs in the first and fourth innings for a 2-0 lead.

"They got the early lead, and I thought we did a good job battling back and overcoming some adversity early on," Barnes said. "We settled in and played the game pretty well.

Starter Josh Schumacher retired the first two batters in the fourth before Valley put together a two-out rally to tie the score.

Ryan Garcia coaxed a walk, the first free pass by either pitcher, with two outs and nobody on. Don Boone hit a come-backer to Schumacher that should have been the third out. Instead, the Indians' hurler threw to the home plate side of first as the ball sailed by to the fence. Garcia scored all the way from first, and Boone hustled into second. Jason Barbour singled to score Boone and tie the game at 2.

Valley pulled away in the bottom of the fifth. Postlethwait started the rally with a one-out single. Courtesy runner Jeremy Skaff scored from first on Jeremy Chase's double for a 3-2 lead.

Chris Bluml walked and courtesy runner Austin Kruckenberg advanced to second on a passed ball. With two outs, Boone came through with his first varsity hit, a double that scored Chase and Kruckenberg for a 5-2 lead. Boone scored on a single by Barbour for a four-run cushion.

Valley added a run in the sixth on a single by Blake Crager, a walk to Tanner Padgett and a RBI single by Chase.

Stanton Schnittker came on in the sixth and got out of an instant jam thanks to some good defense. With runners at first and second and one out, Barbour went behind second base to gobble up a grounder. He stepped on the bag and threw to first to complete the double play and end the inning.

Chase collected two of Valley's 11 hits and knocked in two runs. Barbour and Crager each had two hits, and Padgett hit a double.

Postlethwait got the win, equaling his win total for all of 2014 in the first game of the season.

In Valley's second game, Derby jumped on top 1-0 in the top of the first. But as they did in the first game, the Hornets came back in the bottom half of the inning. Valley also took advantage of some shoddy fielding as well.

Again with two outs and nobody on, Crager checked his swing and hit a slow roller down the third-base line. Derby pitcher Cody Bush grabbed the ball, wheeled and fired to first. The throw was wide and got by the first baseman, as Crager advanced to third on the error. Tanner Padgett reached on an error with Crager taking third.

Bush walked the next two batters, forcing in a run. Padgett scored from third on a passed ball and Valley had a 2-1 lead.

The score stayed 2-1 until the top of the third, when Derby went up 5-2. The Panthers were aided by a walk, an error and a wild pitch.

The Hornets had runners at second and third with one out in the third. Bush then struck out the next two batters to maintain control. After Valley scored its two runs in the first, Bush allowed just one hit and four base runners, three on walks, the next three innings.

Derby pulled away with four runs in the fifth and six in the sixth for the final score.

Chase took the loss, going four-plus innings. Crager and Padgett had both of Valley's hits, and Chase had an RBI on a walk.

JV opens with split — Valley Center had no problem with Hays, winning 11-5. Kaden Pearson went 2 for 4 and Bailey Burns was 2 for 3 with a walk.

"We started slow, but finally came around in the fourth inning, scoring nine runs," Valley coach Jordan Folland said. "Colten Richardson was a beast behind the plate, with zero passed balls in both games."

Derby scored in each of its six innings and took the measure of Valley by a 10-0 score.

"We had horrible approaches at the plate, only getting four hits in the game," Folland said.

Hays 100 100 1 — 3 6 2

Valley Center 000 241 x — 7 11 2

WP — Postlethwait (1-0). LP — Schumacher. 2B — H: Rule 2, Delzeit, Altman; VC: Padgett, Chase.

Derby 104 046 — 15 13 3

Valley Center 200 000 — 2 2 5

WP — Bush. LP — Chase (0-1). 2B — DER: Whitten, J. Ash.