Oran wins Scott-Miss Conference Championship with 2-0 win over Kelly

BENTON, Mo. (KFVS) - In a rivalry matchup for the Scott-Miss Conference title, Oran and Kelly both brought their high-powered arms on the mound.

One day after Kelly set a new Missouri Class 3 single-season strikeout record at 240, Dalton Forck continued the trend. The Hawks’ southpaw put out eight batters over 6.1 Innings.

On the bump for Oran, Kolten Payne somehow upped the ante. The Eagles’ ace threw a complete game allowing only two hits to go along with 10 strikeouts.

There was hardly any offense to speak of until the fourth inning.

With a runner on second, Oran’s Gabe Dirnberger hit a shallow fly ball to right field for a base hit. Parker Bryant came around to score to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

During the top of the seventh, Payne helping himself out on offense with a sharp grounder toward short that brought Kole Burger home safely.

Oran extended their lead to 2-0 and Payne retired the side in order bottom of the inning to seal the victory for the Eagles.

Payne says the win puts Oran on the right track heading toward the end of the regular season and start of postseason.

“If you want me to be honest we haven’t been playing really (lately),” said Payne. “We played really good yesterday, really good today, and that’s a big momentum builder. I think we’re ready for districts now if we play the way we’ve been playing the last two games.”

Dirnberger, who drove in the game-winning run, agrees.

“I won’t sugarcoat it, we’ve been slumping, we haven’t been hitting good,” Dirnberger said. “Our last two games have really helped us a lot.”

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