ORAN — Steven Dooley walked into a jam Monday afternoon in the Class 1 state sectional game against Cooter.
Bases loaded with Wildcats in the fourth inning. Two outs. Oran clinging to a one-run load.
"I don't get nervous," Dooley said. "I just pitch. That's all I do."
Dooley closed out that threat by striking out Cooter leadoff hitter Aaron McCaig. He threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Jayden Pobst to pick up his third save of the season in Oran's 12-4 win.
"I thought Dooley threw really well," Cooter coach Allen Crawford said. "I thought he got his breaking pitch over and busted the ball in on us, and we had trouble getting to him."
Dooley struck out five, walked none and allowed three hits. He was helped by a sliding catch by Cody W. Dirnberger in center field and a double play started by shortstop Tyler Beardslee and turned by second baseman Cody L. Dirnberger.
But mostly he threw strikes, and his efficiency surprised Crawford.
"We beat Dooley last year in the spring, and we thought we would hit him," Crawford said. "When they brought him in, I thought we would get four or five more runs, but we didn't.
"He's a smarter pitcher than he was last year. He's not trying to throw it by everybody, and it showed today."
Unbeaten this season
Dooley actually has increased his strikeout total this season, fanning 74 in 40 innings while racking up a 5-0 record and 1.75 ERA. But he has been on ice for a while, pitching just one inning last week in the three district tournament wins to rest a tender bicep.
"I needed some work before the quarterfinals and state," Dooley said. "Coach [Mitch Wood] said I was the first one in relief."
That relief became necessary when Oran's 5-2 lead shrunk to one as Pobst surrendered a hit and three walks, and Beardslee committed an error on a throw to third.
Enter Dooley.
"It was really the same as any other situation," he said. "I just pitch the same to every batter."
By the time Cooter put anyone else in scoring position — on McCaig's double with one out in the seventh — the one-run lead had ballooned to eight.
"We were saving Steven for this game," Wood said, "but Jayden is one of those guys you can't really bring in relief because he has trouble throwing strikes. Dooley came in and did a fine job."
Pobst, who entered the game with an 0.87 ERA but a team-high 21 walks in 32 1/3 innings, walked five in 3 2/3. He earned the win despite allowing four runs, two earned.
"He's really come on strong in the last half of the year," Wood said. "He's a junior and he really hadn't pitched in any big games yet, so this was a big game for him.
"If his arm feels good, I wouldn't hesitate to throw him again Wednesday. He's a competitor and he throws hard enough that they have a tough time hitting him."
Wood also can call on junior Alex Chasteen (4-2, 1.65 ERA in 32 innings), and Dooley said he would be ready to go again Wednesday.
Wood won't name the pitcher until the day of the game.
"It's definitely mental," he joked. "Because they're mental, no doubt about it.
"We're blessed with pitching right now."
"We are very fortunate," Dooley said, "because not many small schools have what we have. We have pitching. I know if I can't do it, somebody else can."
Dooley hopes that is enough to carry the Eagles, who were state quarterfinalists last year, to a place they have never been — and that doesn't mean the final four. Oran has plenty of those trips.
"We want the state championship," he said. "We've got to have it."
Dooley completed his day with an impromptu signing ceremony, as the coaches from Florissant Valley, a junior college in the St. Louis Community College system, were on hand. "I didn't actually know they were coming," said Dooley, who picked Flo Valley over Mineral Area and Three Rivers.
And even if he knew his future coaches were coming, he said he still wouldn't have been nervous.
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