Malvern closes regular season with offensive outburst

The cruel thing about tournament draws is they do not care about feelings, confidence or a desperate desire to avoid seeing the same buzzsaw for a third time.

Malvern opened postseason softball play May 11 by once again facing Inter-Valley Conference North Division rival Strasburg-Franklin. The Tigers erupted for seven first-inning runs and rolled to a 15-0 sectional final victory over the Hornets.

Sophia Moore recorded Malvern’s lone hit, while Strasburg — currently pursuing its 11th state title — totaled nine hits. Haille Argabrite drove in four runs for the Tigers.

Malvern finished the season 4-21.

Baseball

Malvern baseball’s week began with frustration before ending with an offensive explosion.

The Hornets traveled to East Canton May 11 for an IVC North matchup and were shut out 4-0 by East Canton pitcher Hunter Spencer, who scattered four hits over seven innings.

Malvern finished with only one fewer hit than East Canton, but timely hitting proved difficult to find.

Jaxon Jones pitched well for the Hornets, allowing two earned runs over six innings while striking out five. Wade Barkley, Bryson Casler and Cooper Kiehl each had hits for Malvern.

Two days later, the teams met again in Malvern, where East Canton pulled out an 8-6 victory in a back-and-forth contest.

Malvern erased deficits multiple times and took a 6-4 lead after five innings before East Canton answered with four runs in the sixth.

Darnell Jackson drove in four runs, Cameron Good went 3-for-4 with a double, and Barkley scored twice for the Hornets. The game featured 19 combined hits.

On May 15, St. Thomas Aquinas blanked Malvern 6-0 despite a strong outing from Owen Warth, who struck out eight and allowed no earned runs in a complete-game effort.

Aquinas pitcher Sam Walker tossed a shutout while allowing only two hits. Jaxon Jones and Dakota Barger recorded Malvern’s hits.

Malvern rebounded Saturday with a doubleheader sweep of Wellsville.

The Hornets won the opener 11-1 behind a combined no-hitter from Jaxon Jones and Gage Haught. Jones struck out 10 over four innings, while Haught closed out the game in the fifth inning.

Dakota Barger went 3-for-4 with a double, while Jones scored three runs and added a double.

Malvern followed with a 17-3 victory in the nightcap.

Wade Barkley went 2-for-5 with a double and five RBIs while pitching four innings and allowing one earned run without giving up a hit. Darnell Jackson added two hits, and Bryson Casler stole four bases.

Malvern closed the regular season 9-15 entering tournament play.

Track and field

At the Inter-Valley Conference Championships in Newcomerstown, the Malvern boys team finished fourth overall, while the girls placed seventh.

The boys were led by Parker Bowe, who won conference titles in both the shot put and discus. Bowe captured the shot put with a throw of 52 feet, 1 inch and broke his own IVC Championship record in discus with a throw of 178-9.

Owen Ball added runner-up finishes in both hurdle events, placing second in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.12 seconds and second in the 300 hurdles in 40.43.

Camrin Detchon also placed second in the 800 in 2:06.02.

The Hornets added third-place finishes in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays. The 4x800 relay placed fourth, while the 4x100 relay took sixth.

Julius Gore finished sixth in the 200 and eighth in the 100, while Jacob McLelland placed eighth in the 3,200.

For the girls, Olivia Maher won the 100 hurdles in 16.49 and placed fourth in the 300 hurdles.

The 4x200 relay team finished fourth, Mya Doughty placed fourth in the 400, and Marissa Passio earned fifth in discus.

The 4x400 relay placed fifth, while Avery Sprague and Emma Maher added seventh-place finishes in the 100 and 300 hurdles, respectively.