Springs Valley Community High School

The Springs Valley baseball team played nine innings on Monday, locked in a dead heat with visiting West Washington beyond the seven they typically played. After taking a 2-1 lead in the fourth on the back of doubles by Konner Chase and Keyton Jones the Blackhawks buckled in the seventh, allowing a walk, a double, and a sacrifice fly to tie the game 2-2. They’d strand the winning run at second in the seventh, then at second again in the eighth. The ninth, however, would prove to be different. After a fly out and a strikeout to open the inning, Mavrick Land stepped to the plate. He took the first pitch he saw and flared it down the line in left field, rumbling around to second base to get into scoring position. Jones followed him and presented with an opportunity to be a hero, he took it. He fouled off a pair of pitches, then finally got one into play. He rolled a ground ball out to right field for a single, Land flew around third and slid into home safely and the game was over, 3-2 Blackhawks. It was an exclamation point on Jones’ rise in the Blackhawks’ lineup. After opening the season with just five hits in his first 33 at-bats, good for a .152 batting average, he’s gotten hot to the tune of nine hits in his last 18 at-bats. He’s impressively raised his batting average above the .300 mark despite that slow start and is getting on base in nearly half of his plate appearances. He’s also brought value on the basepaths, stealing 11 bases this season, and has been excellent in the field. Like Jones, Land had three hits against West Washington. He also drove in a run and scored a pair. Springs Valley also got one hit each from Braylon Kovas, Henry Cruz, Jonas Hammond, Noah Allstott, Chase, and Tanner Phillips. Kaden Dunn got the start for Springs Valley on the mound and worked into the fourth inning, getting an out before exiting the game. He allowed one earned run on two hits and four walks. Tanner Phillips relieved him and came up big. Entering with the bases loaded, he got a strikeout and a popout quickly to end the threat and keep the Blackhawks out front. He’d ultimately finish having pitched 2.2 innings and allowed just one earned run on no hits. He walked three and struck two. Kovas closed the game for the Blackhawks, pitching the final three innings and allowing no runs. He gave up just one hit and struck out four on the way to getting the first win of his varsity career. Springs Valley (8-14, 2-4 PLAC) has now won back-to-back games for the first time in about a month. The Blackhawks will try to tie their season-high winning streak of three games on Thursday when they travel to Perry Central. BLACKHAWKS 3, SENATORS 2 West Washington (13-9);001;000;100—2;3;0 Springs Valley (8-14);000;200;001—3;12;0 W: B Kovas. L: Williams. 2B: Chase, Jones, Land, Cox.