MOKANE -- While it may have gone 1-2 in the Callaway County Baseball Jamboree, New Bloomfield scored 10 runs in its one victory, lost a game with a junior varsity team and nearly became the only team to score against South Callaway.
The Wildcats beat North Callaway 10-5 before losing 7-1 to Fulton and 5-0 to South Callaway Wednesday at South Callaway High School.
New Bloomfield coach Justin Forsythe shared his thoughts on the Wildcats' victory against the Thunderbirds.
"I threw Braden Jackson, Gavin Thomas, and Wyatt Jordan," New Bloomfield coach Justin Forsythe said. "Did some good things. Took advantage of some walks, ran the bases extremely well that game and put some pressure on them offensively. We're just being aggressive on the bases. Played solid defensively. We didn't pitch the best, but that's to be expected early."
While it may have lost by six runs against the Hornets, an asterisk should be next to the loss as New Bloomfield played a junior varsity team.
"It was 1-0 in the first two innings, and then kind of fell apart defensively and walked some people," Forsythe said. "They hit some balls well in the third inning; Fulton did. It was good to see our JV guys compete with a talented team that Fulton has and be in it for the first couple innings and compete."
Capping off the jamboree, the Wildcats took on Show-Me Conference rival South Callaway, giving it their all.
New Bloomfield only allowed two hits but wild pitches and walks led to the Wildcats falling.
South Callaway scored three runs in the first inning, with two coming on New Bloomfield wild pitches, one on a groundout.
Following that frame, the Wildcats hoped to put a run across as the Bulldogs walked two straight hitters with one out. But South Callaway turned a rare 3-4-5 double play following the second walk.
That may have been an unfortunate way to end the first for New Bloomfield, but it had a stellar start to the second. The Wildcats sent the Bulldogs down 1-2-3, striking out the first two hitters, one swinging, the other looking.
Keeping up its strong second inning, New Bloomfield hit a leadoff single, then loaded the bases with back-to-back walks after South Callaway struck out the Wildcats' second batter.
After New Bloomfield loaded the bases, the Bulldogs made two straight outs, with a popout to first and a strikeout swinging.
South Callaway used that resurgence to end the second to begin the third, as the Wildcats walked the first two Bulldogs.
Making matters worse, South Callaway scored two runs over the next two at-bats -- the Bulldogs scored one on a sacrifice bunt and another on a groundout.
Maintaining the strong frame at the plate, South Callaway hit back-to-back singles, one past the shortstop, the other up the middle. Luckily for New Bloomfield, the Bulldogs popped out to second for the final out.
However, luck wasn't on the Wildcats' side in the bottom half of the inning, as they could only muster a one-out single before South Callaway made two outs to end the game.
"They are an experienced team," Forsythe said. "They've had that group for a couple of years now that have played all that time at the varsity level when they're probably weren't ready and forced to play a little bit, but now they're all upperclassmen -- a good squad.
"I threw Brayden Carroll in the first inning, and Day 1, obviously a freshman getting varsity things in there. I threw Brendon Carter in the 1-2-3 second inning, and then I came back with Eli Bailey and another freshman that last inning. They're gonna go through nervy situations for spring baseball and getting into a season that counts and not just fall baseball, but it's gonna take a little bit to adjust."
New Bloomfield will open its season with a doubleheader against Wheatland at 11 a.m. and Clever at 1 p.m. Saturday at Wheatland High School.
"Next couple of weeks, we really started to kick things off," Forsythe said. "But it was good to see them compete and overall very pleased with the way that we played, the things that we did. A lot of notes written down for the coaching staff and some things that we're going to talk about, clean up and work on and try to develop. We'll go after that and try to clean those things up."