Community R-6 went for perfection on Tuesday.

Community R-6 vs Pilot Grove Photo Gallery

The Trojans needed a high-quality game at home in their Central Activities Conference meeting with Class 1 No. 10 Pilot Grove, and they won 8-0. Mason Carroll led Community by pitching a one-hitter that was lost with one out in the seventh inning as he struck out 12 and allowed three baserunners in seven innings.

Carroll said it wasn’t as easy as the team made it look, which meant the Trojans (10-7, 5-2 CAC) played well for the first time in three games. Community was coming off an error-rich 11-6 loss to ranked conference rival Cairo and a two-hit output in a 3-2 loss the previous night at North Shelby.

“We had to win a game sometime,” Carroll said. “We haven’t been playing well for the past few games. Last night was bad. We finally came out and played some ball.”

“It was the best game we played all year,” head coach Joel Krato said. “Carroll threw phenomenal. It was big time and needed someone to step up so who else but Mason Carroll?”

This wasn’t the first challenging conference opponent Community has faced this season as it was the third game against a CAC team that was state-ranked at the time. The Trojans lost 3-0 to New Franklin and then Cairo, which has one loss in the CAC along with New Franklin and Pilot Grove (9-8, 6-1 CAC). 

Carroll pitched two games against Cairo, having to deal with an elevated pitch count after a long first inning that ate up more than 30 pitches. The all-state pitcher ate up Pilot Grove in 82 pitches, surrendering an outfield error, a walk on a 3-2 pitch and a dribbler up the middle that ricocheted off of him.

“It was my high mindset. We had nothing to lose here in conference,” Carroll said. “I just went out and pitched.”

The catcher Lane Carter has caught Carroll all season and has never seen Carroll in that good of a state while he was behind the plate. Carter even thought that translated to when Carroll was at the plate, pointing to his home run to center field in the eighth inning that made it 8-0.

“He was more confident today than I’ve seen before,” Carter said. “He was ready to throw. There were a few games last fall where he was really confident. He struck out once last night and was upset about it, but today he hit a few popups and then leveled out and got one.”

Krato said before the game that Carroll had a sore bicep so Community wasn’t completely sure how long Carroll could go. Carroll confirmed he did have a sore bicep that persisted during the game, leading Carter to joke that maybe Carroll needed to be sore every game he pitched.

“Nope. I didn’t care,” Carroll said when asked if he felt limited at all. “I didn’t feel it until I came into the dugout every once in a while.”

Krato said Pilot Grove might have been trying to do too much at the plate after Community jumped ahead 3-0 with five straight hits in the third inning. Eli Johnson then smacked a two-RBI home run in the second, Lane Carter’s bunt brought home two runners in the fifth and Carroll launched one in the eighth inning. 

Pilot Grove “never caught on” to Community’s unchanged pitching strategy, Krato said, since the Tigers flung at pitches outside of the strike zone. Having an “unsung hero” behind the plate also helps.

“Lane Carter steals a ton of strikes,” Krato said. “That’s something we work on all the time, getting the eyes behind the ball and catching it. You’ll see a lot of kids turn the glove over, catch it outside their body and it looks like a ball all the time. It was a phenomenal job by Lane to steal a ton of strikes, as you could tell they were flustered.”

Krato said Carter does many things he doesn’t get recognition for, which includes his bunt on a double-squeeze play in the fifth inning. First, Community set up a second-and-third situation for Carter after his brother, Aaron, stole second. Then, Lane Carter laid one down to easily score Mason Rohan and then a sliding Aaron Carter.

“We’ve attempted it (this year) and fouled it off twice,” Krato said. “The key is the person on the second isn’t getting held on so they get a huge leadoff, and they are also (along with Rohan at third) going on the pitch. By the time the pitcher or whoever picks it up, you should be rounding third and you should score easily. We probably practice that 20 times a week because you never when it’s going to come out and be used.”

Carter said he was worried while bunting because a slider was coming his way and not the usual fastballs he sees low in the order, but he pushed through.

“Krato said we’re going to fake bunt steal so I pulled it back in the catcher’s face and (Aaron Carter) got to second easily,” Carter said. “He had already told us squeeze so I all I had to do was get it down no matter where it was at. He threw me a slider high, and I kind of freaked out for a minute but got it down.”

Krato said the play was executed well but not perfectly, and the dominating performance Community wasn’t perfect either. He said Aaron Carter could have had a better jump to make the play at home not as close.

For Community to beat high quality competition at the end of the season, Krato said he wants the Trojans to go for perfection on this play as well as every play.

“I want perfection, and perfection is going to lead to wins in the postseason. We’re going to aim for this, and if we fall short, it’s still better than aiming for here and getting it,” Krato said while holding his hand at his head and going down a bit more. “It should be more fuel of, ‘We can do this all the time, and we’re not.’ We did that against a top-10 team in the state that could potentially win conference.”