“For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out at the old ball game.”
On March 20, fans were taken out to the ball game at Maclay School. The Marauder varsity baseball team faced Wakulla in a matchup that commenced at 4:00 p.m. Though the game was all tied up with a score of 4-4 in the fourth inning, the War Eagles scored four runs in the top of the sixth. The Marauders were unable to escape the run deficit, and the final score was 8-4.
“I felt like our guys played hard and battled and we were a lot closer to winning that game than what the final score says,” head coach Drew Sherrod said.
Sherrod notes that in Monday’s game, the Marauders left over ten runners on base.
“We have to do a better job of chasing in [when we get runners on base],” Sherrod said. “If we get a hit or a bunt that was less than inches from being fair, it’s a whole different ball game.”
Junior Grady Brown agrees that the runners left on base would have given the Marauders many more chances at scoring. According to Brown, pitch selection is also a major factor.
“I swung at some bad pitches that put me behind in the pitch count,” Brown said. “[Though, when I made contact], I feel like it hit the ball extremely well.”
Furthermore, eighth grader Chase Fuller was 2-3 at the plate with an RBI (run batted in). Fuller explains that even though the team hit the ball hard the whole game, there’s still work to do.
“We need to improve on our communication and picking each other up [when the game isn’t going our way],” Fuller said.
Sherrod plans to keep working with the team so that the Marauders will be their best when it becomes time for the playoffs. Brown trusts that the Maclay varsity baseball team is progressing toward its full potential. The Marauders can work on correcting past errors and integrating new strategies as they will next face Madison County on Friday, March 24 at 4:00 p.m. at home.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how good we can become,” Brown said. “As a team, we’re still getting better.”
