BLYTHEWOOD – Tuesday night was a quick night for Spring Valley pitcher Brady Evans, and a frustrating night for the Westwood bats.
Evans gave up three hits and one unearned run, and struck out a dozen Redhawks batters in a complete-game performance that gave Spring Valley a 4-1 victory.
“He threw a lot of strikes, he pounded the zone, and we didn’t put enough balls in play today,”
Westwood (3-5, 2-3 Region 5-5A) head coach Tyrin Pickett said. “We’re hitting around .225, .230, not doing a lot of hitting. Defensively we’re playing all right, and our pitching is doing a great job, but we’re just not producing on the offensive side.”
Spring Valley (6-8, 3-4) took a 1-0 lead with one outs in the bottom of the second when Jacob Smoak moved to third base on a passed ball, then scored on Parker Connoly’s ground out. Ben Pierce ended the inning on a flyout to centerfielder Jayden Quarles.
The Vikings got another run in the bottom of the third with one out when Dylan Redden scored on Luke Smoak’s sacrifice fly to Zachary Nelson in leftfield. After Jackson Williams singled, Westwood pitcher Austin Jeffcoat struck out Evans to retire the side.
The Redhawks got one run back in the top of the fourth that began with Jeffcoat’s leadoff line-drive double to rightfield and Kellen Moore’s bunt single. W Graves, the courtesy runner for Jeffcoat, moved to third on Moore’s bunt, but Graves was caught trying to steal home for the first out.
Nelson flied out for the second out, but Moore moved to third after tagging up, and scored on a passed ball as Blaize Owen batted.
Unfortunately for the Redhawks, Owen flied out to end the inning.
Spring Valley got three more runs, one each in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to seal the win.
Jeffcoat worked four innings on the mound to start the game, giving up three runs—one earned—on two hits. He struck out three and walked one.
Christian Schumacher and Raelyn Seaton both saw time on the mound before Owen took the hill with one out in the seventh.
Last week the Redhawks fell at home 22-8 to Great Falls March 25. The Red Devils had a 10-run fourth inning and an eight-run seventh inning. Cameron Skinner hit a 3-run double for Westwood, and Jeffcoat and Seaton each had two hits.
In softball, Westwood’s Annarea Wilson pitched a 5-hit complete-game victory as the Redhawks beat Spring Valley 8-6. Jersey Brass went 2-for-4 and Nayanna Shannon tripled and batted in four runs. Regan Remia also tripled.
The Redhawks baseball and softball teams play host to the Vikings tonight.
“We don’t want this to be a long season,” Pickett said about having the team improve through the season. “We get back at them Thursday and let’s see if we can get a region ‘W’.”
Baseball
Great Falls – 0-1-0-10-1-2-8 – 22-11-2
Westwood – 0-0-2-3-2-1-0 – 8-8-4
WP: Kelby Brantley, 3 2/3 IP, 4H, 5R, 3ER, 4BB, 3K
G – Jayden Brown 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI. Austin McManus 2-2, 2 RBI. Weston Stalls 2-4, 2B.
W – Cameron Skinner 2B, 3RBI. Austin Jeffcoat 2-4. Raelyn Seaton 2-4.
Westwood – 0-0-0-1-0-0-0 – 1-3-2
Spring Valley – 0-1-1-0-1-1-x – 4-3-0
WP: Brady Evans, 7 IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 3BB, 12K.
W – Austin Jeffcoat 2-3, 2B.
S – Dylan Redden 2B. Luke Smoak 2RBI.
Softball
Westwood – 0-4-0-1-3-0-0 – 8-7-2
Spring Valley – 1-0-0-4-0-1-0 – 6-5-3
WP: A Wilson, 7 IP, 5H, 6R, 1ER, 6BB, 6K.
W – Brass 2-4, Shannon 3B, 4 RBI. Remia 3B.
S – Nora 2-2. Ropel 2 RBI.