VALLEY — Valley head baseball coach Patrick Shivers talked to his players a little longer than usual after Friday night’s 5-4 home loss against Dadeville (9-6, 3-0).

“That was the first game [this season] that we lost to an opponent under a 6A,” Shivers said of his 5A Valley Rams (4-6). “Every loss that we’ve had this season has been to a 6A ball club. That to me was the biggest and hardest thing to take because Dadeville is a ball club that one of our area opponents have already beaten. Beauregard’s beaten them twice, and we split with Dadeville. We should’ve beat them today, but we didn’t. That’s what I told the team, that Beauregard has already beaten this team twice.”

The Rams entered the bottom of the fifth inning trailing 4-0 after Dadeville senior Jacob Outlaw belted a two-run home run over the wall in left-center field. 

Valley junior Daniel Osborne opened up scoring with an RBI single that shot through the middle. The Rams scored another run before Dadeville’s manager took a trip to the mound to meet with the pitcher. After the meeting, Valley scored two more runs, with the last run being an RBI single that flew over the head of Dadeville’s third baseman to secure a standing run to tie the game at 4.

After a scoreless sixth inning and top of the seventh inning, Valley had a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the seventh.

Osborne was walked as the first batter in the order. 

Sophomore Hunter Meadows struck out before seventh-grader Jackson Sanders got a ball to drop in the outfield for a single. 

Sophomore Will Kennedy then struck out, and junior William Bush had a ball pop up into right field for Dadeville’s second baseman to grab.

“Other than the fifth inning, we lacked focus at the plate tonight,” Shivers said. “Our approaches were off. When we got up in the count, we would let their pitcher battle back. Instead of getting a good pitch that we could swing at, we let their pitcher throw strikes without us putting swings on the ball. It was almost like we were trying to bait walks at the plate. We took an unprecedented amount of backward Ks today, which is normally not like us. We swing. I tell the team that if we go down on strikes, we better be swinging the bat.”

Valley has a quick turnaround on Saturday morning hosting 1A crosstown rival Lanett (3-7, 1-0).

“If we play like we’re capable of, they shouldn’t be able to play with us,” Shivers said. “We’ll more than likely get a run-rule, end the game early and focus on the task at hand, which  is area play at the end of spring break week.”  

Area play for Valley begins on March 28 at Tallassee.