Cubs scratch way to conference play

Monett’s Aidan Clapper dives back to tag the bag during a win over East Newton this season. Kyle Troutman/editor@monett-times.com

Monett undeterred by 5-game skid, focused on the now

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Monett baseball team was on a five-game skid, three of which were to the same opponent, and is looking to get things back on track with conference and district opponents coming.

Monett (4-9) hosted Lamar Tuesday, with results not available at presstime, and will host East Newton Thursday and district rival Aurora on Friday.

Kaden Palmer cracks a hit during a game against East Newton this season. Kyle Troutman/editor@monett-times.com

“We have lost five in a row, but we played Nevada three times in a row because of how things worked out, and they are a good team,” said Michael Calhoun, Monett baseball coach. “We hit well against them, but we made some mistakes at key timed that made those games look much more out of hand than they actually played out.”

The Cubs’ 22-6, 11-1 and 10-0 Nevada losses were sandwiched between a 9-8 loss to Carthage and a 6-0 loss to McDonald County.

“We played really well against Carthage, and Mac is having a good year,” Calhoun said. “We had some good bats, and Marcus Young threw a good game. We worked hard and made a lot of good plays.”

A battle for the Cubs this year has been the weather, especially preventing any play or practice on their home field. This week was the first time Monett has been able to use its field since March 29.

“It’s disheartening not to play last Friday after having a long eight games over two weeks,” Calhoun said. “Weather, injuries and other things popping up have had an influence on our season, but the kids have good attitudes and continue working hard. And, Larry Howard and his field crew have been working very hard to get us playing at home again.”

With the home swing this week, Calhoun said it may be easy to look ahead, but he wants his team focused on the now.

“We are getting better one day at a time, and if we get to play all our games this week, great, and if not, we will be where we can trying to improve on something,” he said. “You try as a coach to maintain the importance of each game, even though the kids know some may have conference or district meaning. With our small numbers and experience, we stay positive and focused on the present. We want to go 1-0 every day we have a game.

“We have to get wins for better district seeding, so we have to focus on one game at a time because when you look forward to much, it’s easy to lose focus.”