BRANSON, MO -- Coming into this season, it was hard to tell how this team would pan out. With no season in 2020, many area baseball teams found themselves in the same situation. Many baseball teams are starting players with limited or no Varsity innings at all. The Irish would find out where they stood pretty quickly by starting their 2021 campaign against C6 Lee's Summit and C6 Poplar Bluff. In game one the Irish fell behind early on and saw the Lee's Summit lead extend to 6 in the 6th inning. The Irish never gave up and took the game in the bottom of the 7th inning with a dramatic walk-off grand slam by sophomore Ben Smith to end the game. In that one game, the players knew that they had the potential to have a great season. The Irish followed up with another convincing win, beating Poplar Bluff 11-1 in 6 innings. 

Since that time the Irish have won 7 of 8 with their only loss coming in extra innings at Aurora. In those 7 wins, the Irish knocked off C3 #2 Forsyth and C5 #3 Webb City. The Webb City game also ended with fireworks when senior Caden Davis walked off another win with a 3-run homer over the left-center field fence. 

The Irish were recognized for their quick start by the MHSBCA with a #5 ranking in Class 4. 

The team has a break this week before kicking off play in the Hollister Baseball Festival on Friday. The Irish will play Hillcrest in Rogersville on Friday and will then face C6 Joplin and C5 Willard on Saturday in Willard.