After missing spring, Morriss enjoys being 'boy of summer'

Kamron Morriss of the Renegades' White team reaches out to catch a pitch during Wednesday night's scrimmage at Vivion Field.
Kamron Morriss of the Renegades' White team reaches out to catch a pitch during Wednesday night's scrimmage at Vivion Field.

WARDSVILLE - It has been more than a year since it happened, but Kamron Morriss can still recall the moment in an instant.

Bottom of the seventh. Two outs. Runners on first and third base. Blair Oaks leads Fatima 1-0.

Jaden Hoskins steps to the plate, with a chance to tie the game or even win the 2019 Class 3 state championship for the Comets at CarShield Field in O'Fallon. He then connects on a 2-0 pitch that's headed toward left-center field.

Morriss is positioned in left field for the Falcons, and he starts sprinting toward the ball. If it gets down, the game is tied. If it gets past him, Fatima wins.

"When Jaden hit that ball, I thought he got all of it, and that it was going farther than it did," Morriss said. "It was an anxious moment."

Center fielder Nolan Hair was there to help if Morriss needed it, but he didn't. The ball found the webbing of Morriss' glove for the third out, and he sprinted toward the infield to join the celebration with his teammates.

Blair Oaks was the Class 3 state champion, capturing its first state title since 2006.

"I have the video of me catching it," Morriss said. "Sometimes I go back and watch that every single day. I'm just glad I caught it."

It's a moment Morriss will never forget. He just had no idea at the time it would be the final play of his high school baseball career.

Blair Oaks was eager to make a run at another state championship in 2020, even as it bumped up to Class 4, but on the week of the Falcons' first game this spring, the coronavirus pandemic suspended all practices and games. Less than a month later, the regular season and the postseason were canceled.

"I thought it wasn't real," Morriss said. "I just thought it was going to be here a week, it would be out the next week. Once Twitter broke us the news, all of us seniors were heartbroken."

Then the Missouri State High School Activities Association offered the class of 2020 spring athletes a consolation. Its board of directors issued a waiver "to allow the seniors to be viewed as enrolled students through the summer," giving them a chance to play with their teams one last time.

Morriss and six of his senior teammates took advantage of the waiver to play in the annual summer baseball league against other Mid-Missouri teams during the past six weeks.

"I'm glad the high school did something, so we could at least play on our field one last time," Morriss said, "to get out here and do something, other than just canceling the whole high school season."

However, it wasn't like Morriss just sat around for two-and-a-half months. He found ways to stay in shape during the quarantine months of March, April and May.

"We'd try to come hit and throw and get our arms going, and not just sit at home and play Xbox and eat potato chips," Morriss said. "If we weren't hitting and throwing, we wouldn't be out here playing very well."

He started working with teammate David Dell, and they were joined by Creighton's Ryan Mantle (Linn High School) and minor league players Jacob Voss (Linn High School) and Will Robertson (Fatima High School).

Morriss, who would have transitioned from left field to starting catcher this season for the Falcons, got in plenty of bullpen work catching Voss' fastball that reaches faster than 95 mph.

"The first day, it was coming in, and it was rough," Morriss said. "His curveball is like 88 mph, and it was like, 'Wow.' Once I caught him a few times, I settled in and it was all right."

The summer league consisted of nightly doubleheaders. Morriss would catch the first game, but because the league is designed to develop players for the following season, he would be the designated hitter in the nightcap, allowing for players like Parker Wilson to catch some innings to prepare for the 2021 season.

"We put a big premium on the seniors this year, we wanted them to have a great experience this summer, but he knows deep down we're still shooting for next year," Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. "He gets it."

Morriss was the Falcons' No. 3 hitter in the state championship game, but in the summer league, he was the team's leadoff hitter.

"He probably should be batting No. 3 or 4 for us like he did last year, but to be honest, he's been a good leadoff hitter and did a great job for us this summer," DeMilia said. "As your leadoff hitter gets on base, it gets everybody going."

The summer league was Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Morriss has spent plenty of weekends this summer playing for his other team, the Adidas Athletics, which is based out of St. Louis. The team features several baseball players who will continue their careers at the college level.

"And we all committed before Christmas," Morriss added.

Morriss committed to William Woods and signed with the Owls in November.

"I got all my offers playing summer baseball," Morriss said. "I knew coming into my senior year that I was going to commit during football season."

Some baseball players, however, needed their senior season to help their cause in the recruiting process, and they didn't get it.

"You wouldn't know what to do at that point," Morriss said. "You would try to do anything: email college coaches, text them. It's to the point where you just have to hope one of them responds, and wants to see your highlights and what you can do."

Morriss will head to Fulton for college next month, but there's still more baseball to be played. In addition to playing games with the Athletics, Morriss is also playing in the scrimmages that began last week with the Jefferson City Renegades. Some of his former Blair Oaks teammates and future William Woods teammates are also participating.

"I think it's a great thing for him," said DeMilia, who also coaches the Renegades. "He's played a lot of good, competitive ball his whole life. This will just be another opportunity to take a next step to the college level."

Even though he didn't get to have an official senior season, Morriss is content with winning a state championship in his last official high school baseball game.

"What I tell myself every day is we went out state champs," he said. "I mean, what's better than that?"

Answer: catching the ball for the final out of the game.

"I think that's pretty cool that's going to be the last play I made in a regular high school game," Morriss said. "It'll always be something I remember."