CENTER TWP. — Through six games, Central Valley baseball has found an inexact script that’s been effective.
There’s been the strong pitching, as the Warriors have held opponents to three runs or less in five games, and compiled two shutouts. There’s the clutch hitting, sometimes in larger spurts, other times a bit more fleeting. And most of all, there is the grind-it-out mentality of the team, a mindset that has allowed the Warriors to secure wins despite adverse circumstances at times.
In a 4-3 win over Quaker Valley on Wednesday, the Warriors again followed that script. Nate Coe pitched six gutty innings despite not having his best stuff, the offense scored three runs in the third inning and the Warriors improved to 6-0 on the season and 4-0 in conference play, while Quaker Valley dropped to 0-3 in both departments.
“These guys have a lot of competitiveness. They have a lot of fight,” Central Valley coach Ray Antonelli said. “It’s a young group with only two seniors starting, but we’re learning how to win.”
The process of learning how to win games, of learning how to get past adverse factors and pull through, is something that takes time. That sticktoitiveness wasn’t necessarily there last season for Central Valley, as the Warriors went 7-11. But as the team’s experience has grown, their confidence has grown. The result has been more wins and a confidence boost.
“We’re focused this year. Last year we were always messing around and nobody was really in the game. This year we’re in the game all seven innings,” Coe said. “We knew we had talent, but the past years have been kind of crappy. We knew we could do it, it’s just playing team baseball. And every win just adds onto the confidence.”
Central Valley’s winning script on Wednesday started with Coe, who surrendered two runs in six innings, while striking out six batters and walking five. From the start, it was apparent that Coe didn’t have tight control, as he walked two batters in the first inning and gave up a run on a sacrifice fly by Issac Guss. Coe got through the next two innings without a run, then gave up another in the fourth inning via an Isaiah Piatt RBI groundout. Coe closed out his outing with two scoreless innings, an all and all solid performance that reasonably could’ve gone worse, if Coe couldn’t fight through the control troubles.
“Our pitching coach tells me to just throw like we’re playing pitch and catch. That’s when I have my best control. And when I’m out of control they say to calm down and throw the ball, and that’s what I do,” Coe said. “My fastball, it tails a lot, so that’s a bit of the reason why I got some swings and misses. I don’t throw the hardest, but the movement is where I get my strikeouts.”
Coe’s outing was supplemented by an offense that was just timely enough to pull the win out. The Warriors got on the board in the second inning when Logan Murgenovich tied the score on an RBI groundout. The next inning, the Warriors found their stride, as Chase Morrison drilled an RBI double off of Christian Johnston, which was followed up by RBI singles by Matt Ramsey and Nico Hall off of Isaiah Pitt. Quakers' starter Johnston, who was chased out of the game following a walk after Morrison's double, was charged with all four runs. Quaker Valley added a run in the seventh inning, but the Warriors’ third-inning burst proved to be enough protection.
“The guys are buying into having a team approach offensively,” Antonelli said. “Putting the ball in play is an important thing. It’s important to keep putting pressure on the defense and not strike out.”
With a perfect record thus far, Coe said the team’s confidence is “sky high.” Each win is validation for the Warriors that they have what it takes to be a playoff team for the first time since 2015.
“They’re tired of the losing that Central Valley has had over the past couple years,” Antonelli said. “A lot of guys worked really hard in the off-season. And a lot of guys want to change where this program is headed. It’s an exciting thing.”