Scott City storms past Neelyville and Meadow Heights

Scott City beat the weather and destroyed the competition at home on Thursday by run-ruling Neelyville 10-0 in six innings and Meadow Heights 15-0 in three innings within a grand total of nine innings.

Junior Gavin Venable hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning to cap the blowout over Neelyville in the first game of the doubleheader. It was his second home run on the season, and his only hit of the game.

“It felt amazing,” Venable said. “I didn’t even know it was a walk-off until I scored.”

Venable was originally worried that it wouldn’t go all the way over the fence. Once it did, he threw his arms in the air while rounding third base on his way to home plate, where he was mobbed by teammates.

“Oh my god, it’s the greatest feeling ever because you got the whole team hyping you up,” Venable said.

Blake Wilburn threw a no-hitter against Neelyville with 11 strikeouts. He struck out the side in the first inning and had thrown two strikeouts in three innings.

“I think my curveball looked good, and my fastball had good life on it,” Wilburn said.

Lawson Graff pitched the second game of the doubleheader. He threw three no-hit innings with five strikeouts against Meadow Heights.

“My fastball and curveball looked good. I located the changeup a couple of times but I was just really focusing on bearing down and competing and not leaving too many high or too many low, just finding the plate and not going too deep into counts. Getting that first pitch strike, I think that’s what really helped me today.”

Senior Dalyn Littlepage hit a home run in both games. He totaled five RBIs over both games.

“We’ve been hunting fastballs,” Littlepage said. “I’ve been seeing the ball well off the pitcher’s hands. It always feels good, just energizes the whole team, gets everybody going.”

The Rams totaled 11 hits against Neelyville. Kobe Watson, Luke Umfleet, and Luke Holder knocked in a pair of hits.

The Rams also tallied 11 hits against Meadow Heights in half the innings. Mark Panagos went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI. Umfleet, Levi Senn, and Chase Venable had a multi-hit game against the Panthers. The older Venable brother hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Littlepage and trigger the run rule in the third inning.

The Rams (12-5) have won five of their last six games and have outscored opponents 57-18 during that stretch.

The Rams travel to Woodland on Monday, April 24.