Springs Valley Community High School

The Springs Valley baseball team continued its hot streak on Thursday, traveling to West Washington and beating the Senators 8-1. The Blackhawks followed the same formula they used the previous night in a win over Salem, using strong pitching and defense alongside opportunistic offense to get the victory. Mavrick Land led the way from the mound, pitching the first five innings for Springs Valley. The junior allowed only one unearned run on three hits. He wasn’t overpowering, only striking out two while walking three, but he got through his outing in just 64 pitches by allowing the Senators to hit into his defense. “It started on the mound. We’ve had great pitching performances back-to-back here and I think everybody fed off of it,” Springs Valley coach Rob Denbo said. “I think they’ve been craving wins and once they got one they kind of got rolling. We saw what they can do (tonight) and we’ve known all along that this is their potential.” The Blackhawks’ defensive effort was exactly what they expected coming into the season. It wasn’t perfect — they committed a pair of errors — but there were so many big plays made that were more than enough. In the first inning, Jonas Hammond erased a lead-off walk by throwing the runner out at second base on a steal attempt. In the second inning, Hammond sprung from his spot behind the plate to snag a foul pop-up, then threw down to first base to turn a double play. In the fourth inning, Henry Cruz, Braylon Kovas, and Keyton Jones turned a 6-4-3 double play to halt the Senators’ momentum after a leadoff single. Those sorts of plays are exactly what the ‘Hawks need when they’re in the field. “We always talk about not letting errors compound and they really didn’t last night or tonight,” Denbo said. “Whenever we would make an error it seemed like we would rebound right on the next play, come back, and get out of it. That kind of stuff creates momentum and the guys just feed off of it.” Springs Valley also continued to hone in on its offensive identity at West Washington. Their first run was a manufactured one, as a leadoff single combined with a sacrifice bunt, a dropped third strike, and a ground–ball single to get the Blackhawks on the board. That all led to another sacrifice bunt, another single, and a double that cracked the score open to 4-0. That second single, the one that drove in the opening run, came off the bat of Keyton Jones. The freshman has been one of the key players in Springs Valley’s offensive rejuvenation. After struggling through his first dozen varsity at-bats he’s finally starting to find his role at the bottom of the lineup by getting on base however he can and putting pressure on the opposing pitcher once he’s there. He went 1-3 against the Senators, but actually reached base all three times and drove in three runs. He got aboard on an error in his first at-bat, then took second on that same error. His second at-bat was his single, then in his final at-bat of the game he reached on another error. He didn’t light the world on fire, but the Blackhawks don’t need him to. They just need him to create opportunities for the players around him to thrive and he did just that. “He was on base three times and he goes in there and gets his money’s worth. That’s kind of what you expect from the number-eight hitter,” Denbo said. “If you look at his cuts, every one of them is healthy. He’s not check swinging, he’s not taking easy swings, he’s not indecisive. “We’re still not really driving the ball, but this week we’ve put the ball in play, ran, had fun, and we’re going to be fine when we do that because when you put pressure on the defense good things are going to happen.” The win marks the first winning streak of the season for Springs Valley (4-6, 1-2 PLAC), as the Blackhawks have now won three in a row. The win was also their first in the conference, pulling them out of the cellar after a pair of losses to start their PLAC slate. They’ll try to continue building on Saturday against Class 3A No. 5 Charlestown if they don’t get rained out. If they do, they’ll be back in action on Monday at Crawford County. Either way, they’ve got a very realistic chance to break through and get back to a .500 record or better thanks to the run they put together this week. “To go from 1-6 to 4-6 is a pretty big job and compared to where we were at this time last week, it’s a monumental shift,” Denbo said. “There’s a different look in their eyes now. I still hold to the fact that this is the most talented group we’ve had in a while, they’ve just got to understand it and I think they’re feeling that now.” BLACKHAWKS 8, SENATORS 1 SPRINGS VALLEY;|;WEST WASHINGTON ;AB;R;H;BI;|;;AB;R;H;BI Chase cf;4;1;3;2;|;Cox ss;3;0;0;0 Thomas ph;1;0;0;0;|;Rosenbaum p, 1b;2;0;1;0 C Kovas 3b;4;1;1;1;|;Nanq 3b, p;4;0;0;0 Cruz ss;3;1;1;0;|;Clunie dh;2;1;0;0 Hammond c;3;0;1;0;|;Haley c;1;0;1;0 B Kovas 2b, p;1;2;1;0;|;Morrow rf;3;0;0;0 Land p, lf;3;1;2;1;|;C Williams 2b;2;0;0;0 Allstott rf;4;1;0;0;|;A Williams lf;2;0;0;0 Jones 1b;3;1;1;3;|;Miller lf, 3b;1;0;0;0 Phillips ph;1;0;0;0;|;T Williams 1b, rf;1;0;0;0 Farris dh;2;0;0;0;|;C Timberlake ph;1;0;1;0 Buchanan ph;1;0;0;0;|;Long rf;1;0;0;0 Pantoja lf;0;0;0;0;|;Cambran cf;0;0;0;0 Lee lf;0;0;0;0;| Totals;30;8;10;7;|;Totals;23;1;3;0 Springs Valley (4-6);000;521;0—8 West Washington (7-4);000;100;0—1 E: West Washington 4, Springs Valley 2. DP: Springs Valley 2, West Washington 0. LOB: West Washington 8, Springs Valley 8. 2B: C Kovas. SB: Chase, Cruz, B Kovas. S: Farris, B Kovas, Land. ;;IP;H;R;ER;BB;SO Springs Valley;Land (1-1);5.0;3;1;0;3;2 ;B Kovas;2.0;0;0;0;1;6 West Washington;Rosenbaum (1-2);4.0;9;7;4;3;5 ;Morrow;1.2;0;1;0;1;1 ;Nanq;1.1;1;0;0;1;0;1 HBP: Haley (by B Kovas), Cox (by B Kovas), C Williams (by Land). WP: B Kovas, Rosenbaum, Nanq.