Two straight Saturday game days. Two straight morning first pitches.

Community R-6 vs Slater Photo Gallery

Community R-6 put two straight losses in the rearview mirror with a 7-4 victory on Saturday morning at home against Central Activities Conference foe Slater. The Trojans scored four runs in the fourth inning to take control of the game, unlike the 18-2 loss last Saturday morning at home against Marceline.

Head coach Joel Krato admitted he even tried to be more patient and calm as the Trojans (8-5, 3-1 CAC) didn’t play flawlessly this time either, but the difference is that they made plays when they needed them. Since Slater (1-8, 0-2 CAC) had prom later in the day, first pitch was an hour earlier than last week at 9 a.m. so Krato infused some energy into his team.

“We tried to change up the music we listen to in the pregame — some funky 1970s disco music,” Krato said. “The kids were loose. They didn’t know what was going on, but I saw some hips movin’ and saw some fingers getting pointed in the air like they were dancin.’ We were just trying to do something different.

“I’ve got to get better at being more patient. They’re kids. I think they fed off of that. I was calm. Last week, when we played Marceline, it was ugly and I let them know I thought it was ugly. I was stoking the fire. It felt like, even though we were down 4-2 at one point, that we were completely out of the game because we just didn’t want to be there.”

Slater did score the first run in the second inning not long after a Community error and then the Trojans followed in the next half inning by losing a runner on the basepaths. Mistakes were made but not all the way through.

Community took a 2-1 lead in the third inning after Lane and Aaron Carter each stole a base before eventually scoring runs. Lane Carter took third and home on a play when Community missed a bunt and the ball got away, which Krato said was a blessing in disguise.

“Third baseman goes up on the bunt, you steal third and the batter is supposed to know to pull back,” Krato said. “Thank God we missed the bunt. The idea is the third baseman goes up, it’s an automatic fake, you pull back, let him steal third and then you still get to bat with essentially the same (result) as a sacrifice bunt. We missed the bunt, and somehow, things worked out in our favor.”

Community then batted around in the fourth inning after Slater tied the game at 2 in the top half of the inning. Eli Johnson and other Trojans have had their fair share of bad luck recently, Krato said, as was clear in their 3-0 loss on Monday at then-state-ranked New Franklin. After hitting several hard-hit balls that never found holes, resulting in a no-hitter for the Bulldogs, Johnson legged out an infield single to score a run against Slater.

Johnson lined into a double play at New Franklin to end an inning when the Trojans had two runners in scoring position. Safe to say Johnson was relieved that he was able to get into the hit and RBI column in the next game.

“It felt good,” Johnson said. “We had a potential double-run situation at New Franklin. I hit a ball right to third on a line drive and he made a double play on it, got us out of the inning and that sucked.”

Johnson wasn’t done either as Slater threw down to second base to try to catch him stealing, but the Wildcats mishandled the ball to allow another run to score.

“We go early, and they try to throw it down for whatever reason, the kid misses it and we score another run off that,” Krato said. “We were very fortunate. Neither team played pretty today, but we executed when we needed to execute at certain moments.”

“I was supposed to get in a pickle (or rundown), but they never stepped off so the catcher threw down when I was still trying to get in a pickle,” Johnson said. 

Krato said being patient paid off in these aforementioned moments and has in the case of the team’s younger players, including Caden Thomas. A half inning after Thomas allowed a shallow fly ball to drop and the tying run to score, he stepped up to the plate and delivered a RBI triple that ended up being the game-winning run. No. 1 pitcher Mason Caroll, who pitched four innings and was able to be removed early to be available on Tuesday at home against conference foe Glasgow (2-8, 0-4 CAC), and Kyler Swaim added RBI later in the game.

“It’s tough to be a freshman with a lot of upperclassmen because you feel out of place,” Krato said. “They have a lot of inside jokes, they’ve been around each other a lot longer and you’re just trying to find your spot. There’s a lot of pressure that comes with that, especially with the success we had last year, and it doesn’t help that I put him in the 2 spot the last couple games. I put him in the 2 spot because those are the things he’s capable of doing.”