HAHIRA –– The more, the merrier –– typically.

Unfortunately, the Valwood Valiants (6-15, 4-4 Region 3-3A) simply couldn’t score enough runs as they fell 2-1 against the Hamilton County Trojans (Fla.) (12-12, 4-2 district) on Thursday.

Following base hits by Caleb Burns and Jaharie Boone, Colby Thomas connected on an RBI single to put the Valiants ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning.

Valiants starter Joseph Hopper began the top of the fourth with a strikeout but walked the Trojans’ Javy Zamora. On the next at-bat, Trojans infielder Douglas Barker hit a roller that hopped past the glove of the Valiants’ third baseman, resulting in a double. With runners on second and third, Trojans infielder Kaleb Albritton came up with a sacrifice fly ball that brought Zamora in to tie the game at a run apiece.

Despite a solid outing on the mound, Hopper committed a costly mistake in the top of the sixth. Barker sprayed a ball high into the infield. Hopper turned his back to home plate, looking to track the ball in the air to make a play. Facing the prospect of executing a difficult, over-the-shoulder basket catch, Hopper couldn’t locate the ball as it dropped in, allowing Barker to reach base and bring in the Trojans’ tie-breaking run.

Following the game, Valiants coach Robert Shipman graded his team’s effort favorably but lamented his team’s inability to score runs to help their defense, which has been recurrent throughout the season.

“I’d grade us high –– B-plus,” Shipman said. “The only reason I can’t give us an A because we didn’t win. I’m really proud of my seniors, they played well and the team played well behind them. It’s just the same bug-a-boos that we’ve had all year –– we just haven’t been able to score a lot of runs. When you score as few runs as we do, you have to be perfect.

“In baseball, runs allow you to play more relaxed, more comfortable. When you score only one or two runs, every area is big and that did us in today. We had a base-running mishap and a miscue in the field but I was pleased with how we battled today.”

The Valiants lost on senior night as they concluded their final home game of the season. Hopper, a senior, pitched a complete game and gave up just two hits while striking out three in the loss. Shipman liked what he saw out of Hopper on the mound Thursday despite the miscue in the infield.

“No. 1, he was able to keep his composure,” Shipman said of Hopper. “When things didn’t go quite right, although it didn’t happen very often tonight, he did a good job of staying in the moment. No. 2, he was able to expand the strike zone. Early on, at least through the fourth inning, he threw strike one pretty regular so after that, he didn’t have to throw it over the plate much. 

“He was ahead in the count a lot and that helped him out. In the fifth and sixth, he got behind a little bit and become more predictable. When he’s throwing his fastball, his curveball and his change-up for strikes, that’s three pitches you’ve got to worry about as a hitter –– he had those going early and often.”

Though it has been a lean year for the Valiants, Shipman has openly insisted his team needed to grow up over the course of the season. With one regular-season game remaining, Shipman still sees a lot of room for improvement offensively but has seen the team grow closer on and off the field by learning to talk to each other more.

“I think we understand what we need to do but the execution is still lacking, especially in pressure or game situations,” Shipman said. “We’ve definitely got to grow and be able to transfer what we do in the cage to the game.

“Overall, the thing they’ve done better is get behind one another and communicate. Literally, I want to hear you talking in the field about what’s going to happen next, what’s going to happen if this happens. We’ve done a better job of that, just communicating openly and in the field.”

The Valiants travel to Perry to take on the Westfield Hornets tonight at 6:30. The Hornets, who drubbed the Valiants 10-3 on March 24 at Browning Field, will be celebrating their seniors in their final home game of the season. With no postseason in sight and nothing more than pride to play for, Shipman wants to see his team fight and make the Hornets sweat in their season finale.

“(Westfield) is really talented this year…they’ve got a kid that’s probably going to go really high in the June (MLB) draft in Cole Brannen,” Shipman said. “I anticipate that they’ll play with emotion and they’ll really want to win that ball game. I would love to see us come in and resist that, fight and take their best shot and then be aggressive and offensive against them.

“It’ll start on the mound. If we throw strikes and make them put the ball in play and we play as good of defense as we did tonight, it’ll be a matter of scoring runs which is baseball –– nobody wins with zero.”