VALLEY — The Valley baseball team opening its home schedule with a 3-1 win over Handley on Friday night.

“A win’s a win,” Valley head baseball coach Patrick Shivers said. “We’ll take them any way they come. I told the team that it was an ugly, hard-fought win. There were some times where we were inconsistent on the mound with some leadoff walks and two-out walks. You can’t really do that and be successful throughout the duration of the season because those are going to catch up to you.”

Despite the pitching flaw that Shivers pointed out, the Rams defense only gave up one run on a night where Valley only used sophomores Hunter Meadows and Will Kennedy on the hill. 

Senior shortstop made a couple of impressive double plays himself, seventh-grader Jackson Sanders stopped a double with a gunning-throw from center field and right fielder CD Clark made a catch against the fence as well. 

On the mound, Meadows pitched for five innings, while Kennedy took over for the final two innings.

“Overall, Hunter Meadows had a pretty good performance on the mound for us,” Shivers said. “He was good enough to give us the lead. He had. one walk in the first inning, and then we made an error behind it. That was their only run. Anytime you can come out and only. give up one run, you hope to win the ballgame.”

With one out at the bottom of the fourth inning, Valley junior first baseman Daniel Osbourne smacked the ball against the fence in left-center for a double. A walk eventually loaded the bases for the Rams, as Handley made a pitching change. Sophomore CD Clark stepped in the batter’s box when he hit the ball foul in right field, but Handley’s catcher made contact with his bat during the swing, which was ruled catcher’s interference and gave Valley the lead. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Kennedy got a ball to drop in right field for a double. After stealing third base and Handley’s catcher throwing a wild ball to third base during the steal, Kennedy was able to score the third and final run for the Rams on the night.

Valley returns to action on Monday at Dadeville.