Sigourney Storms Past English Valleys in First Round of Baseball Playoffs

SIGOURNEY—On June 6, the #8 ranked Sigourney Savages hosted the English Valleys Bears for the first round of the Class 1A Substate-6 bracket. The Savages advanced to the second round with a 18-0 rout of the Bears.

The offense came early and often for the Savages with 10 runs in the first, three in the second and then five in the third.

Sigourney Head Coach Lee Crawford talked about the mentality change he has seen from his team as, “The mental approach in pregame. In my world, I knew they flipped a switch and knew it was gametime. You could tell when they were playing catch pregame, they were jacked up on adrenaline and ready to play the game. Then we took the infield, and that was one of the sharpest our infield has looked. You could tell they were game ready, and ready to go.”

Junior Caden Clarahan showcased his bat in the first inning with four RBIs off a three run home run and a single. Clarahan finished the day with a perfect batting average. He sits in third in all classes in batting average and on-base percentage. 

When asked about the work he put in to achieve this successful season, Clarahan responded with, “Keep my hands loaded long enough. I have been working on trying to hit it to the opposite side of the field. The inside of the zone is easier for me, so I'm getting better at outside pitches. Overall, just make contact.”

The Savages had seven athletes secure an RBI on the night: Caden Clarahan-4, Cole McKay-4, Jake Moore-4, Isaac Bruns-1, Chase Clarahan-1, Ike Molyneux-1 and Brady Clark-1.

Senior Jake Moore and junior Caden Clarahan spoke on the explosive 10 run first inning for the Savages. Moore started it off with, “I don’t think we knew it was going to be a big first inning, but that was our hope. Then to have him (Caden Clarahan) step up and hit a three run shot, that gets the dug-out going. It was a momentum swing for us, and we just kept it rolling from there.”

Clarahan shared a similar sentiment with, “Like Jake said, in a big inning nobody knows it is going to happen. You just hope it’s a big inning. When the leadoff hitters get a base hit, it builds a lot of hope in other people’s eyes to get a base hit.”

Senior Reid Molyneux put up another impressive showing against the Bears with four innings pitched, no earned runs on two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts.

Molyneux spoke on his mentality stepping up the mound with, “Just throw strikes. I don’t need to try to overpower them or do anything crazy. If they hit the ball, I know I got my defense behind me.”

Coach Crawford described the night from his senior with, “He threw 75% strikes tonight, and that is a big deal. It was a really great outing from him, and throwing strikes at a high percentage is just what we need.”

The Savages advance to the second round of the Class 1A-Region 6 bracket, and will host the Lone Tree Lions.

“Throwing strikes. I thought Lone Tree hit the ball really well, and took advantage on the base path. We will have to let the cards fly, and be prepared again,” explained Coach Crawford on the game plan for the second round.