After Bryson Hoffman slid into third base after getting a bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the first inning against Wellsville-Middletown on April 25, he pumped his arms in excitement.

But the Montgomery County junior outfielder was exhausted.

“I was gassed,” Hoffman said. “(MCHS) Coach (Vince Wolk) was talking to me and I was out of breath. I couldn’t listen to him because I was out of breath.”

Still, Hoffman was happy to get his first triple of the season. His big hit highlighted a six-run inning for the Wildcats, who went on to win 15-0 in four innings.

“I just came out and wanted to do something special,” said Hoffman, who also stole a base and scored a run in the third.
Hoffman also helped MCHS improve to 4-0 at home this spring. The Wildcats also had home wins over Mark Twain, Bowling Green and Van-Far. Their next home game will be against Elsberry on May 3.

MCHS shut out W-M for the second year in a row. Last year, the Wildcats cruised to a 12-0 win over the Tigers at W-M.
Hoffman said he was thrilled that his team celebrated another victory over its cross-county rivals. The Tigers came into the contest with a 7-3 record, surpassing last year’s win total of two.

“I knew they weren’t bad,” Hoffman said. “They had a pretty good record, so I knew that we weren’t going to go out there slow. We needed to start things off fast and we did.”

MCHS scored six runs in the first, one in the second, four in the third and four in the fourth. The game ended with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, when two MCHS runners scored on an W-M throwing error.

Freshman Edwin Garcia struck out eight batters and gave up only two hits in four innings of work to pick up the win on the mound for the Wildcats. He also had a hit and an RBI.

Also for MCHS, senior Harrison Bishop had a hit and two RBIs and sophomore Jacob Hogue had two hits.

Dylan Alsop, who was the losing pitcher, had two hits to lead the Tigers. He doubled in the first and singled in the fourth.

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead on a one-out, RBI single by Bishop in the bottom of the first. After Hogue extended the lead to a 3-0 lead on an RBI single, Hoffman cleared the bases with a triple to right center, scoring Hogue, junior Dayton Simmons and freshman Mac Farrar.

Hoffman’s triple wasn’t his first extra base hit of his high school baseball career.

“I had a few last year,” Hoffman said. “I had a double a few weeks ago. I usually just hit singles.”

Hoffman said when the season began in March, one of his top priorities was to work on his hitting.

“After school, we always have hitting (practice) like every Tuesday and Thursday at the middle school batting cage, so I try to make sure that I go to every single one of those,” the junior said. “I don’t think I missed any.”

Hoffman is playing in his third year with the varsity. When he was a freshman, he was on a squad that reached the district championship game. Last year, his team fell short of another trip to the district finals, losing to South Callaway 6-5 in the district semifinals.

Hoffman said the loss to the Bulldogs motivated his team to turn in a strong season this spring. MCHS improved to 8-2 with the win over Tigers.

“I knew that we had to work hard this offseason and work hard in practice every day so we could go farther than the first round,” Hoffman said.