Mission Valley baseball swiping away records

ESKRIDGE, Kan. (WIBW) - The Vikings knew after losing eight seniors and most of their power from last season, they knew they would have to play more small ball.

The reigning 2-1A state champions, Mission Valley baseball had a tough go early on but now, they’re rewriting the history books.

“If you get the green light, it’s up to you and I get the green light pretty often and I take advantage of that,” Sophomore Porter Deters said.

That green light earned Deters the all-time Kansas record for most stolen bases by one player in the regular season. He’s stolen 53 bases in 54 attempts.

“Well first off, you have to get on base to start with and then you have to read the pitcher’s back foot. If he lifts it, get back, if he doesn’t take off,” Deters said.

Mission Valley certainly takes off on the base paths. They hold the states’ *team record for stolen bases as well.

“We have stolen 164 bases as a team and we’ve attempted 180… that’s how we score is by stealing bases and we have to get in scoring position and then the other kids are doing a really good job of doing a job by scoring those runners,” Godfrey said.

91 percent of the time, the Vikings will be successful at stealing a base, let that sink in. Deters says he knew he was close to that record.

“Not until about halfway through the season,” Deters said. “I was looking at the stats and I saw the Braden Love kid from West Franklin, he had the record and I went and looked at it and saw the steals and was like I’m pretty close to that if I keep going.”

And this team keeps going, a squad that lost eight seniors and returned three from that championship team has adjusted well.

“It changes the whole mentality of the boys in the dugout,” Godfrey said. “They get behind their team when we start stealing bases. You can hear them, they’re chirping at each other, they’re up and rowdy.”

“Just brings the momentum to our dugout. Everyone is excited and it’s great to see and I think to be good at baseball, you have to have a good dugout and just to be excited and up and ready is awesome,” Junior LHP Nick Price said.

The Vikings have won nine of their last 11 and are averaging 10.5 runs a game.

Copyright 2023 WIBW. All rights reserved.