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(ARCHIVE PHOTO | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Cooper Corley makes contact with the ball in one of the Steers’ previous matchups. Corley provided the signature moment on offense Saturday, March 14 against the Godley Wildcats with an RBI triple. -
(ARCHIVE PHOTO | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Toby Boenisch fires a throw to first in one of the Steers previous matchups. Beonisch has served the Steers this season as an infielder.
The Graham Steers traveled out to Godley for a weekend matchup against the Wildcats ahead of district play. While the Steers were not able to pick up the victory there were still notable plays to highlight in the contest.
The game took place Saturday, March 14 and while the bats for Godley gave them an early lead, the Graham pitching staff eventually settled in as the game went on.
After allowing five runs through the first four innings of play, The team only allowed two more runs the rest of the way to stay competitive.
Tyson Louder and Cooper Corley took over on the pitchers mound in the second half of the game and only allowed three runs combined. The pitching staff as a whole also struck out six batters total between Louder, Corley and Ayden McDougal.
Head coach Allen McGee also gave McDougal his props saying that his overall start was a solid one. Unfortunately, several of the runs that Godley scored were unearned.
“We had a solid outing from Ayden McDougal again on the mound,” McGee said. “A bunch of those runs were unearned and five of those runs came with two outs.”
Offensively, the bats were cold for Graham for most of the contest, but they had a breakthrough moment to score a run in the top of the sixth inning.
After a pair of strikeouts to start the top half of the frame, Tanner Hurford gave the Steers some momentum by making contact with the ball and driving it into left field for a single.
Corley followed that up with the signature moment of the game offensively for the Steers, driving the ball to right field and racing around the basepaths for a triple while also scoring Hurford to cut Godley’s lead down to four 5-1.
Unfortunately for Graham, the Wildcats would put up a pair of runs in response to reach the final 7-1 score. The Steers will use games like these as learning experiences in the final week before district play, according to McGee.
“We’ve got one more week to tune up before the games really matter,” McGee said. “We’re just trying to get better every single pitch and get ready to roll into district.”
After the team’s senior night Tuesday, March 17, the Steers will play one final non-district game against Iowa Park on the road at noon Saturday, March 21. After that it’s full speed ahead toward district play.
