A few plays can make the difference in a baseball game.

Community R-6 vs Van-Far Photo Gallery

That’s why Mason Carroll hustles and why he was able to make key plays on Thursday to lead Community R-6 to a 4-0 home victory over Audrain County rival Van-Far. Carroll pitched seven innings with seven innings with seven hits, six strikeouts, and one walk but also made plays to set up runs and prevent runs.

“Mason Carroll is a kid where if you said, ‘Go run through that wall. He would run through a wall through you,’” Krato said. “That’s a lot of the kids we have. They do a great job of hustling and are held accountable to hustling.”

Community R-6 (5-2) took a 1-0 lead after the first inning thanks to a Van-Far error but prevented the Indians from scoring on a second-and-third-base situation after Carroll lunged for a catch near third before completing the double play. The Trojans tacked on two runs in the third inning after Carroll’s two-out routine fly ball wasn’t caught, scoring a run and running to second to set up Brant Cope’s RBI single. Van-Far (4-4) couldn’t score a run in the fourth inning either after Carroll rushed home to tag the runner out before touching the plate.

“That’s culture,” Krato said. “When your best player acts like that, like for instance, a routine fly ball, we score a run and he gets to second on it. We got an extra run just because a kid busted his butt out of the box on a routine fly ball.”

“I like to hustle more than walk because, if you do it in practice, you’ll do it in the game,” Carroll said. “You’ve got to hustle constantly.”

Carroll encountered another second-and-third situation in the early innings while pitching on the mound. With one out, Carroll buckled down and induced a ground out back to him and struck out the next batter. 

Through three seasons, Carroll has been through a lot and said is feeling good after a landmark season last year. No matter how dire the situation is, he said his confidence doesn’t waver.

“I was an all-stater so I had more confidence going into the game,” Carroll said. “I knew we were going to play well. We played well and made routine plays to keep zeros on the board.”

Krato said “little things” could lead to big things like confidence since Van-Far put another couple of runners on in the seventh inning but not before Community tacked on a fourth run in the sixth inning. Nik Krider placed an infield hit up the middle to pick up a RBI. That was made possible after Van-Far committed an error to advance the runner to second base but then the runner was at third after a stolen base. 

“They didn’t hold us on, and we just took it,” Krato said. “Now because Nik Krider hits a 45-hopper, if he’s at second, he doesn’t score. In fact, if he is at second, they’re probably somewhat holding and he probably makes that play, but instead, they’re playing over. It’s the little things.”

Krato said his fielders made good decisions of which bases to throw to qualify as little things Community executed well. Those loomed large as the Trojans struggled against Culwell, who had six innings with 11 strikeouts, eight hits and no walks. Through seven games, Krato said Culwell was the best arm Community had seen, bringing good velocity along with control.

“He threw a ton of strikes, and he attacked the zone, particularly the outer part of the plate,” Krato said. “He’s going to be good, and he’s going to be good next year too. If he wants to play college ball, he’ll probably have the opportunity to if he continues to work.”