Maybe all they have to do is just keep singing.
The Emporia A-16 Blue team, on a mission to stay loose and have fun throughout the Mid-States Class A Regional tournament, is doing that, in part, by busting into song — in the dugout, during warmups, whenever the Blues feel the need. Whether it’s something someone heard on the radio on the way to the park, or an oldie like “Hey Baby” or “Build Me Up Buttercup,” Matt Fry says the singing is a secret to the Blues’ success.
“Helps loosen us up,” Fry said. “Keeps us in a good mood, and we just play hard all day.”
If it works, you keep on doing it — and Emporia is now two straight wins away from singing “We are the Champions” after disposing of the Bloomington (Minn.) Blues 7-2 on Friday night at Soden’s Grove. Emporia will play Ballwin (Mo.) tonight at 6 p.m. for a spot in Sunday’s 2 p.m. championship game.
Behind a tone-setting, three-run first-inning homer from Jacob Loucks and a three-hit complete game by Ethan Hall, Emporia continued the roll that began with Thursday’s tourney-opening 8-0 win over Fargo. Loucks got an inviting, navel-high fastball on the outer half from Bloomington starter Ryan Sirro and drove it high over the right-center field fence. The three-run shot brought Loucks in behind Dusty Maas and Fry, who had led off the Emporia first with back-to-back walks.
“When I hit it, I was like, ‘OK, it’s in the gap, so I’m gonna score maybe two runs,’” Loucks said. “I didn’t think it (would) carry as much as it did. I didn’t know what to think; I thought it was just a popup, but I really didn’t care, because I knew I was scoring runs. ... But when it carried out, I just got all excited. It was awesome.”
Those three would have been enough for Hall, who just kept retiring hitter after hitter, allowing only a single base hit in each of the first, sixth and seventh. Hall’s command was sharp — he walked just two hitters — and he kept both the infield and outfield busy, with his defense making just one error behind him. Both Bloomington runs, one coming in the sixth and one in the seventh, were unearned, and Hall struck out five, including a called strike three on Brady Dornfeld to end the game.
“It was big in the beginning of the game when we were making some plays,” Hall said. “And then, coming out and putting up three runs real quick was nice, too. It sure did help.”
Remington Pinick and Brian Keisler made it 5-0 with a pair of RBI fielder’s choices in the fifth after Emporia loaded the bases with no one out. In the bottom of the sixth, Ryan Huth led off with a walk and Brett Lechien reached on an error to set up Fry, who lofted a double into the gap in right center to score both and make it 7-1.
Emporia made the most of its opportunities, getting just four hits of its own but augmenting them with four walks and a pair of hit-by-pitches. Fry had a bunt single in the fifth to go with his double, and Loucks followed his homer with a single in his second trip to the plate.
If its singing voices and game are both in top form, Emporia might well have a good shot to be celebrating a championship on its own field.
“Our defense stepped up really good today,” Loucks said. “And if we just keep playing like that, there’s no reason we shouldn’t win.”
Tonight’s opponent, Ballwin, advanced with a 12-9 victory earlier Friday over State champion Manhattan Manko. If Emporia loses to Ballwin, it will play Sunday at noon and will be required to win two games Sunday and one on Monday to take the title.
Strickland move
surprises Spartans
Loucks and Fry, two of the Blues who will be seniors on the Emporia High baseball squad next spring, said they were surprised Friday morning when EHS coach Mike Strickland announced he was going to become the Spartans’ new softball coach.
“He called us in this morning to talk to us all, and we thought it’d be something (like) ‘Good luck with Regionals’ or something,” Fry said. “But I understand where he’s coming from. He’s always looking for challenges. He left us off on a good note. Hopefully we can just continue on and build on it.”
Loucks said he also understood Strickland’s motivation for returning to coaching softball, which he did at Chase County in 2003 and 2004.
“He’s all about taking new challenges and wanted to see if he can do it,” Loucks said. “And I respect him for that, but it’s just gonna be weird without him next year. I really liked him as a coach, but I hope to see him excel with the softball program.”
Friday at Soden’s Grove
Emporia Blues 7, Bloomington Blues 2
Bloomington 000 001 1 — 2 3 2
Emporia 300 022 x — 7 4 1
WP — Hall. LP — Sirro.
2B — EMP: Fry. HR — EMP: Loucks.