Coaches often make reference to "in-game adjustments." It's just that some of those adjustments are bigger than others.
Take for instance the one the Calvary baseball team had to make Tuesday. While the Lions thought they were going to be playing the South Callaway varsity at home, a scheduling mixup saw the Bulldogs put their JV team on the field.
The change didn't seem to affect the Lions' focus, however, as they scored in four of their five trips to the plate and notched a 14-4 win in a game shortened to five innings due to the run rule.
"We knew pretty quick that it wasn't their best team," Calvary coach Rusty Bourg said. "But they still had some athletes out there."
After South Callaway scored a run on an error in the top of the first inning, Calvary came back with two runs in the bottom half. After Hance Sommerer singled, Caleb Propst and Wyatt Archer both got hit by pitches. Bradley MacLaughlin then ripped a two-run single that gave the Lions the lead for good.
"(South Callaway's) first pitcher threw the ball pretty well, he was just kind of around the plate a little bit and hit a couple batters," Bourg said. "Fortunately we took advantage."
The Lions made it 5-1 in the second. Tristan Clementich walked and scored on an RBI double by Beau Monson. After a walk to Sommerer, Propst ripped another RBI double to plate Monson. Archer drew a walk before MacLaughlin plated the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly.
"The kids noticed we were playing their JV, but you've still got to play the game," Bourg said. "You've still got to put the ball in play. We very easily could have lost to their JV. You've still got to play with effort."
South Callaway cut the lead to 5-4 with three runs in the top of the third. Two of them came home on a Calvary throwing error, while the other scored on Trevor Miller's RBI single. Miller had three of South Callaway's five hits, with Cooper Dunnavanat getting the other two.
The Lions were able to end the game early thanks to four runs in the fourth and five in the fifth.
In the fourth, they got four hits and two errors to produce their runs, with Propst and Trevor Dusheke getting RBI singles and Archer driving in one with a sacrifice fly.
Then in the fifth, the Lions ended it early thanks to four hits, three South Callaway errors and a dropped third strike. MacLaughlin's two-run double was the big hit of the frame, while Propst had another RBI single.
MacLaughlin ended up with two hits and five RBI, while Propst racked up three hits and three RBI. Beau Monson had two hits and one RBI, while Sommerer had a pair of hits.
The Lions (6-2) racked up 12 hits, with the hitters in the top five spots accounting for nine of them.
"The top five or six in the lineup are doing the job, we've got to find a little more consistency defensively," said Bourg, whose team committed four errors.
MacLaughlin pitched the first 22/3 innings to get the win, allowing four runs (two earned) on three hits and three walks while striking out three. Sommerer pitched the final 21/3 innings and allowed just two hits while striking out two.
Bourg said it was good to get a win on a day where the Lions weren't guaranteed to play, as rain fell not long before the start time.
"When we first got here we were thinking, "Is it going to dump on us and are we even going to play? That was hard for them to get ready and it took a couple innings to find a groove," he said.
Calvary returns to action Thursday when it travels to Linn.