C4D1: Nice season by Pirates goes down vs. stellar pitching

DEXTER – Slowly over the past 15 months, the Perryville High School baseball program has worked to build some positive mojo around the program, and the Pirates carried that into their MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 semifinal game with Fredericktown with Marquand-Zion at East Park in Dexter on Monday. However, Perryville had to endure a dominant pitching performance and fell 3-1.

“There wasn’t much we could do,” second-year Perryville coach Don O’Keefe said following the loss.

The Pirates (12-11) had just wrapped up a regular season that was the most successful spring since 2018 for the green-and-white.

Statistically, Perryville was better at the plate and on the mound than any previous squad since that 14-win campaign in 2018.

“I think (this team’s (legacy will be the beginning of possibly trying to change what the culture was,” O’Keefe said.

The Pirates opened with a bang against Blackcat junior pitcher Ryan Souder, as senior Grant Smith drew a two-out walk and then scored on a triple hit by senior Adam Green for a 1-0 Perryville margin.

Unfortunately, Souder immediately found his groove and never relented throughout the remainder of the game.

Perryville managed to draw just one more walk and didn’t muster a hit again, as Souder struck out seven Pirates and walked just two.

In five of the remaining innings, Perryville sent the minimum hitters to the plate, and only another walk by Smith in the fourth inning forced Souder to face a fourth batter in an inning.

“He did well for today,” O’Keefe said of Souder. “That is just the stuff. (Fredericktown) made the plays, so I can’t be disappointed.”

Smith also managed to steal a base while Pirate junior Troy O’Keefe was solid on the mound in the loss.

O’Keefe threw 6 2/3 innings and allowed just five hits, two earned runs, and walked a couple of hitters.

He struck out 11 Blackcats.

“We went from a team,” Don O’Keefe said, “where we felt, at times, we were kind of looked at like a laughingstock, and it was ‘Hey, you pulled off two wins (three in 2021 and four in 2022).’ Now, there is pride in how they carry themselves around the school.”

Perryville graduates six seniors (Green, Smith, Logan Hoehn, Tyler Jannin, Caleb Triller, and Elijah Derickson), but returns 21 players on its roster.

“It is people that bought into what I asked them to do,” Don O’Keefe said of his six seniors. “Even at times when they didn’t like it. People got moved to different places. There were times, unfortunately, when I wasn’t thrilled with something, and I would let them know. But they kept coming back and they wanted it.

“They wanted to play well.”

Fredericktown (14-7) will face Dexter (14-10) today at 4:30 p.m. in the District championship game.

The Bearcats topped three-time defending champion Kennett 3-1 on Monday.