Malad runs all over Soda Springs to earn conference win behind stout Howe

SODA SRINGS — On the surface, there are few things to nitpick about the Malad Dragons’ 16-0 conference win at Soda Springs, Wednesday.

The Dragons got a strong start from senior Brycen Howe, and an equally impressive relief outing from junior Kurt Ward. The offense racked up 14 hits en route to the 16-run outburst — their second-highest output this season. And, for the most part, they played a clean defensive game.

But head coach Jeff Snow identified some things he pointed out as needing improvement, following the six-inning mercy-rule victory.

For starters, Malad left 10 runners on base, stranding loaded bases in the second and sixth innings. And in the bottom of the sixth, with the victory well in hand, Snow’s defense commit a pair of errors that forced Ward to throw extra pitches — though he did strikeout the last two batters he faced.

About the offense leaving so many runners on, Snow said clearly: “I’m not happy about that.”

“I’ll tell you right not, we can’t have that many pop flys on the infield,” he said, adding that, to him, popups are as bad as strikeouts. “I don’t think we had any strikeouts today, but I want to say, we have six or seven popups. … You need to get the ball on the ground.”

In fact, the Dragons did not go down on strikes a single time. And they were retired on popups five times.

Still, behind multi-hit games from Holdyn Higley (3-for-4 with a walk), Carter Carey (2-for-4 with a double and a walk) and Kyson Willie (3-for-5), Malad created so many opportunities that those missed will go unnoticed in the final score.

Malad’s Cale Briggs leads away from second while Soda Springs starter Kyen Kirby throws a pitch. Briggs finished the game with one stolen base and three runs scored. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoSports.com

And Malad wasn’t just getting on and moving station to station, they were running all over the Cardinals.

The Dragons combined to steal 10 bases on the afternoon. “Aggressive baserunning,” Snow said, is a “core focus” for his team this year.

“We are going to be aggressive … smart, but aggressive,” he said.

As impressive as the Malad offense was, it wasn’t entirely necessary as the tandem of Howe and Ward completely stymied the Soda Springs bats.

Howe held the Cardinals scoreless on three hits over his 4-2/3 innings of work, while striking out seven. Ward got the final four outs, two on strikeouts, with two runners allowed — both on sixth-inning errors behind him.

Snow said that Howe, a senior, has come to be expected to shut down opposing offense. The coach noted that the big right-hander is capable of leaning on his fastball and breaking ball — which he used heavily Wednesday.

Due to the effectiveness of Howe’s breaking ball, Snow said he was happy to call for his starter to pitch backwards — using the breaking ball to get ahead in counts and the fastball to finish batters.

“He’s very, very comfortable with the off-speed. He had some gas going early on … he was able to go curve, curve — throw ’em off-speed — then just gas ’em. That’s tough,” the coach said.

Soda Springs starter Kyen Kirby battled through 5 innings, slowing the Dragons to eight runs — with three errors leading to a pair of run-scoring rallies.

Offensively, the Cardinals were led by William McCullough, who recorded two of his team’s four hits.

With the district tournament just a couple weeks away, Snow said that he wants to see his team continue to pitch and defend the way it has — Malad is allowing 2.93 runs per game played. He would also like to see the offense get better in with their situational at-bats — moving runners over and pushing them across the plate.

The Dragons and Cardinals will renew the rivalry Friday, at Malad.