PCHS baseball in sectionals this week

The Pocahontas County High School baseball team completed its regular season and competes in the sectional playoffs this week. The Warriors were scheduled to play at Pendleton County on Tuesday, and at home against Pendleton on Wednesday.

Due to inclement weather, the Warriors played just two games since April 26, when they defeated Webster County, 11-5. The team traveled to Fayetteville on May 3, where they dropped both games of a doubleheader to the Pirates, 4-1 and 9-3.

Senior first baseman Judd Walther said the team couldn’t marry good offense and defense.

“The last couple games we just haven’t been clicking real well,” he said. “We’ll have real good defense and no batting, or we have good batting and no defense. It’s like we can’t get it together all in one.”

Walther gave credit to the Pirates for a good effort.

“The doubleheader at Fayetteville – they were a really good team,” he said. “The kid that pitched the first game, he was actually throwing in the low 80s. We were hitting the ball against him but they were just making plays.”

The senior slugger said the team’s morale is high going into the playoffs.

“We’re pretty pumped,” he said. “We had a good, solid practice today [Monday],” he said. “Both coaches gave us some good words of wisdom. I mean, if we go up there and we play ball the way we can play ball, we’ll be alright.”

The Warriors will have their hands full with Pendleton. The Wildcats finished with an 18-7 record and drubbed the Warriors in two previous meetings this season. But those losses came early in the season and the Warriors have had time to regroup. PCHS finished their regular season at 5-12.

Walther has a .307 batting average in the last three games – what he described as a slump.

“I’ve been in kind of a slump, lately,” he said. “My last 15 at-bats, I’ve gone four for 13, I think.”

See next week’s edition of The Pocahontas Times for a report on the Warriors sectional playoff games.