(Greenfield, IA) – On a gloomy Wednesday evening, the Nodaway Valley Wolverines fell to Martensdale-St Marys 19-3 in five innings of action. While the score may not show it, the Wolverines had the game close at quite a few points and were able to hold on in the early innings of action. However, Martensdale-St Marys hit the gas and never looked back.
At the top of the first inning, Martensdale-St Marys struggled to get the bats rolling after hitting into a groundout, flyout, a player hit by pitch, and another groundout. Things defensively were already looking up for Nodaway Valley after a promising start and those defensive keys carried over onto the offense in the bottom of the first. Deakon Mullen was able to start things off with a first pitch, first hit single to put one runner on. Keyin Steeve walked following after and with two runners on with no outs brought shortstop Paul Berg up to the plate. Berg was able to launch a deep triple to score both Mullen and Steeve to put the Wolverines up 2-0. This is the last time we would see the Wolverines on top.
The Blue Devils would hit the second inning and would bat around the order with key hits by Jason Fugate with a double while Cale Morrow, William Denny, and Cooper Oberbroeckling all hit singles in the seven-run inning for Martensdale-St Marys. The Wolverines weren’t able to get anything going in the bottom of the second which led to the top of the third where the Blue Devils put down five runs that featured a long home run by Cooper Oberbroeckling to score three runs. This inning also featured a key double by Fugate and a single by Jensen Dyer. That is when the game sat at 12-2 headed into the bottom of the third, and Nodaway Valley’s Paul Berg got on with a single and wasn’t able to score.
Martensdale-St Marys then went on into the fourth and added five more runs with another double in the game by William Denny and two singles by Travis White and Jaxson Bowlin. The Wolverines did go on to add a run in the bottom of the fourth after some heads-up baserunning to put the game at 17-3. The Blue Devils then halted the pace in the fifth inning by scoring two runs to put the game at 19-3. While Nodaway Valley had two runners on to start the bottom of the fifth, the game was already out of their hands and the Wolverines fell 19-3.
The Wolverines will look to get back on track in their doubleheader on Thursday against Lenox while Martensdale-St Marys will attempt to keep their 10-game conference winning streak alive as they battle Mount Ayr at home on Thursday.
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