Ottawa Legion AA hitters tee off on Fort Scott

Professional athletes talk all the time that the difference between good and great players is all about making adjustments.

That part of the game also can pay dividends at other levels. Even down to the youth.

The Ottawa American Legion AA baseball players talked among themselves and watched Fort Scott’s Matt Carrillo’s pitching Thursday night at Harvey M. Drake Field at the Orlis Cox Sports Complex, K-68 and Beech Street.

The hurler kept coming at Ottawa with curveballs. Nothing else. Ottawa mustered three hits and a run the first time through the lineup in the first two innings.

The second time through was a different story. Ottawa rocketed balls all over the field in the third inning.

Ottawa pounded nine hits, five for extra bases, and scored a season-best 11 runs.

That inning propelled Ottawa to a 12-0 victory in the first game that did not last an hour.

The Ottawa bats, despite hitting with the wood ones, did not slow down in the nightcap.

Ottawa ripped eight hits in a 9-0 win in a game that barely went an hour.

“That was phenomenal,” Ottawa’s Chase Dengel, who had a single and a double in the third inning, said. “Once we adjusted [to his pitching], it was a snowball effect.

“We have not seen a pitcher throw constant curveballs. We worked as a team.”

Ottawa sent 15 hitters to the plate in the big uprising. Blake Firestone, Connor Goedert, Dengel and Blake Hiatt had doubles. Jake Moore came off the bench to nail a two-run home run.

Dengel said for Moore to come off the bench cold and hit his curveball showed he was paying attention to the game.

“It was a copycat effect,” Dengel said.

Ottawa coach Shawn Herrmann said the hitters came to the plate with the right mindset.

“Our key is we did not get power happy,” he said. “We were hitting the ball hard. We can play small ball. We can play gap-to-gap.”

The Ottawa pitchers limited Fort Scott to four hits in two games.

The Ottawa defense played flawlessly.

In the opener, Curtis Clayton tossed a four-inning one-hitter.

Dengel, who was the catcher in the first game, said Clayton’s six-pitch first inning set the tone.

“He was getting pop flies and ground balls,” Dengel said. “He was working quick.”

In the nightcap, Carson Dunlap kept the ball low and made quick work of Fort Scott.

“He is a competitor,” Herrmann said of Dunlap. “He got a lot of groundballs.”

Herrmann said at this level, pitchers don’t have to be overpowering to get hitters out. Placement and movement is just as effective.

Dunlap felt strong on the hill.

“I was hitting my spots,” he said. “We have a good defense. You just challenge hitters.”

The Ottawa offense gave him all he needed with a four-run second inning and scored five in the third.

Dunlap said it makes a pitcher feel real good when the offense is clicking.

“We can play small ball and hit home runs,” Dunlap said. “We have defense, pitching and hitting. We got on a roll.”

Ottawa sent eight hitters to the plate in the second frame and 10 in the third. Firestone and Devin Martin had RBI singles in the second inning.

Firestone and Moore ripped RBI doubles in the third. Adam Maxwell had an RBI single.

Dengel said everybody could not wait for their turn to hit.

Ottawa (24-0) plays Tuesday at home against Garnett.

Greg Mast can be reached at sports@ottawaherald.com. Comment on this story at ottawaherald.com.