Chloe Brooks 

Writer

With the spring portion of MHS’ athletics starting up, the defending state runner-up Marlow Outlaw baseball team has started their season off with a strong statement or two.

Since the heartbreaking loss in the state championship last season, the Outlaws have spent the off-season polishing and perfecting every aspect of their performances.

Through the off-season, head coach John Morgan noticed the team grow in their mental and physical skills and in their overall quality as a team.

“All of those kids have shown big improvements in the offseason,” Morgan said. “The older ones have opened up a little bit more and cut loose, and the younger guys came along [and] got better, got stronger.”

All of their improvements have paid off as the Outlaws kicked off their season with an impressive 3-1 record.

Right off the bat, the Outlaws faced a district opponent, but John Marshall did not stand a chance as the Outlaws dominated the Bears with an 18-0 win and a 19-0 win back-to-back.

The two major wins over the Bears provided motivation to players such as sophomore Tyler Callahan.

“It was a great way to start the season off,” Callahan described. “It gave us a little bit of momentum for moving forward into the season.”

Unlike the first two games, the third game was a challenge for the Outlaws as they went up against 6-A Westmoore.

Taking their momentum into the Westmoore match-up, the Outlaws led 5-2 for a majority of the game, but the Jaguars caught up and gave the Outlaws their first loss of the season 6-5.

Despite the loss, the Outlaws had numerous takeaways that gave them insight into how to approach each game.

Sophomore Brennan Morgan has confidence in that the loss does not define how well the team played.

“We played very well,” said Brennan Morgan. “The team hit well. Our defense was probably our best. Out of all of our shots, we only had one error. We just need to learn how to finish the game.”

The loss to Westmoore did not slow down the Outlaws as they headed to Madill and defeated the Wildcats 10-0.

Senior Tag Allen believes the team met all of the tasks needed to beat the Wildcats, and through that, earned an impressive win.

“The game went good. We did what we needed to do to win,” Allen said. “The team worked together by putting a lot of good at bats and having our pitchers throw strikes and locate the pitches well.”

With how well week one of the baseball season went, the Outlaws are expectant of having a success-filled rest of the season.

With three blowout wins and one narrow loss, the MHS baseball team opening week of the season went exceptionally well and has propelled them into knowing the skills they possess and the skills to be improved on.

Senior Peyton Ladon believes that the first four games of the season have perfectly prepared the Outlaws for the competition to be faced.

“The teams we faced helped us get our feet wet,” Ladon described. “I think we have a lot of talent in the field, on the mound. I think that this season is set up to be one of our better ones.”

With an early 3-1 record and the momentum taken from last season, the MHS baseball team hopes to continue their exceptional run in week two.

After this week, the Outlaws will be traveling to Broken Bow and will spend their spring break facing numerous opponents from across the state. The Outlaws will be back on their home turf this Thursday against Blanchard at 4 p.m.