By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
MORRISVILLE – Prior to his eighth-grade baseball season, Marionville pitcher Cale Clark subtracted one from his uniform number to reflect the loss of one of the most important people in his life.
He changed from No. 18 to No. 17 to honor his late grandmother, who passed away on July 17, 2017. Clark still has the date – 7-17-17 – written on the inside of his baseball cap.
Now a senior, Clark was on the mound Monday with a chance to send the defending state champions back to the state quarterfinals. He was determined to go the distance to ensure the rest of the Marionville staff would be available for their next game, but it wasn’t entirely up to him.
Should Clark exceed the state’s pitch count limit, he would have to come out of the game. But at the start of inning No. 7, No. 17 had exactly 17 pitches he could throw before it became an issue.
The man with 7-17-17 on his hat made sure to get the job done.
Clark closed out yet another dominant performance, striking out 13 batters in a complete-game one-hitter as the Comets recorded a 5-2 victory over host Marion C. Early in a Class 2 sectional.
“It means a lot to come out here and play for her,” Clark said. “It’s a really big thing for me.”
Clark, an all-state selection one year ago, has been nothing short of spectacular in the playoffs.
He struck out 16 in another complete-game one-hitter last Wednesday against Purdy, which gave Marionville the District 11 title. That’s 29 strikeouts – and just two hits allowed – in his past two starts.
Both came against state-ranked teams.
“There are a lot of kids that have some good stuff around the area, but Cale just has that extra fire behind him,” Marionville coach Alex Weathermon said. “He’s one of the most competitive kids that we know. Everytime that he’s on the mound, we know that we’re going to have a good shot to win.”
Clark walked two batters and hit two others on Monday, but largely worked around the hiccups.
He won’t be able to pitch when the second-ranked Comets (22-2) host ninth-ranked Gainesville (21-6) in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, as he threw well above 76 pitches and must have at least four days of rest between starts. But he fell just short of the daily max of 105, allowing him to close out Monday’s victory with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
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“I really wanted to finish it,” Clark said. “Just had to come right out there and come right at them.”
Marionville’s offense started the game the same way, as Wyley Brown cleared the bases with a two-out double off the center field fence to give the Comets an early 3-0 advantage.
Jakey Davis made it 5-0 with a two-run double in the third, but the damage was already done.
“The turning point was the three-run inning in the first,” Marion C. Early coach Jason Grose said. “In big games like this, you need to get out of the first with a clean inning – and we didn’t. They got a big hit and that kind of was the story of the game.”
Clark carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning before Marion C. Early starter Triston Bruegman hit a solo home run to cut the deficit to 5-1, but Clark retired the next three batters to eliminate any potential momentum.
“He competes in every last thing that he does,” Weathermon said. “Our kids feed off his energy. He shows up. He’s putting in work. I tell people all the time, it’s not very often at any level – especially this level – that you get a kid that talented. We’re just trying to enjoy it.”
The only time Clark looked shaky was the fifth inning, when he hit a batter and walked another to give the Panthers two men on with no outs. Marion C. Early’s Isaac Francka then scored on an error, bringing the tying run to the plate with runners on the corners.
But Clark struck out the next batter he faced, then a Marion C. Early baserunning mistake turned a potential sacrifice fly into an inning-ending double play.
Grose said that play was inconsequential, pointing to the slow start as the difference.
“We knew Cale was good and a three-run deficit was going to be tough to overcome,” Grose said. “We kept battling. We thought we had a good game plan offensively heading into it. I felt confident. We just didn’t execute it.”
Part of the reason the Panthers knew Clark would be good? Grose knows him well.
Grose led the Marionville program before Weathermon was hired as head coach in April 2020, about a month after the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Weathermon, a former Marionville player, had spent 2019 as Grose’s assistant coach.
“I’ve learned a lot from him,” Weathermon said. “He’s really been a mentor for me.”
Grose landed at Marion C. Early, a program that had won three straight district titles, and coached them to two more.
Both of his seasons with the Panthers have ended with sectional losses to Marionville.
“I still have good relationships with those boys and – obviously – I don’t want to lose at all with my group I have now,” Grose said. “It’s just we really wanted to beat them for a lot of different reasons and we just didn’t play well enough to do it.”
With that storyline looming, the Comets tried to keep the focus in their own dugout.
“It’s fun to compete against your friends, but someone has to lose,” Weathermon said. “We just try to tell the kids ‘Do it for the guys around you. Do it for the guys around you.’ We knew that (Grose) was going to give us a good look and we just executed the game plan tonight.”
Their reward is a continuation of a playoff run that is already strikingly similar to last year’s.
During their seven-game playoff run to the state title, the Comets defeated five teams that were either ranked – or had received votes – in the final regular-season state rankings of 2021.
That included wins over Purdy in the district tournament, Marion C. Early in the sectionals and Gainesville in the quarterfinals. Those three teams are again ranked in this year’s state poll – and again on Marionville’s gauntlet of a playoff schedule.
“It’s about as crazy as it gets, but I love it,” Weathermon said. “It prepares us. Whatever team comes out above – us and Gainesville – they’re going to be battle-tested. They’re going to be ready to go.”
Marionville’s showdown with Gainesville last year was highlighted by poor weather. The game started on a Wednesday but was suspended until Friday after heavy rains swept through the area.
Clark started the Gainesville game, but was unable to pitch when it continued because of rest rules. Brown closed things out and will be this year’s starter, though weather could be an issue again.
Should the Comets win on their home field, they’ll advance to the Final Four and be just two wins away from defending their state championship.
“We want it real bad,” Brown said. “We’ve made it a goal since day one. Knowing that we can do it from last year, we strive to get better every day so we can get back in that situation to win another one.”
The Panthers are taking a similar approach.
They finished the season ranked fifth in the state, going 19-5 while starting four sophomores and a freshman. All but two of their starters will be returning to the lineup next year.
“We’ll be right back here,” Grose said. “Great season. I’m really proud of them, especially with our youth. We’re looking forward to getting back to work.”
MARIONVILLE (22-2) 302 000 0 — 5
MARION C. EARLY (19-5) 000 110 0 — 2
