Casey Cooper pitches a three–hit shut–out for Spring Valley against Blythewood. A year ago at home, Casey Cooper pitched a complete game against Blythewood – only to lose when Spring Valley was shut out and held to two hits.

For much of teams’ Region 4–4A opener on Tuesday night, March 16, history seemed on the verge of repeating.

Cooper dueled Blythewood starter Travis Purvis for five scoreless innings before the Vikings broke through with three unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 3–0 victory.

“(This) is probably the best he has pitched since last year against Blythewood,” Spring Valley coach Charlie Wentzky said. “He was throwing really good, and (Taylor Purvis) was throwing really well there, too. We just got a couple breaks in the sixth.”

Cooper, who kept his pitches low in the zone and effectively worked the inside of the plate, needed only 81 pitches to finish the three–hitter.

Brandon Burris hits a single for Blythewood. “This was definitely the best command I’ve had this season,” Cooper said. “I think I’m just finding the groove after a few starts now. I had everything working: change, curve, fastball, two–seamer.”

Though he only struck out three, he did not allow a hit after one out in the third. Only two of the final 14 batters he faced reached base – both by errors.

“Casey’s going to throw strikes and keep you in the game,” Wentzky said. “If you’re going to beat him, you’ve got to hit him, and you’ve got to put a lot of hits together because he won’t put three guys on base by walking them.”

Blythewood never had more than one runner on base – thanks to two runners who were caught stealing in the first and third innings. Spring Valley, however, fared little better after stranding runners at second and third with one out in the first inning.

The Vikings broke through as darkness settled over the field contributing to two outfield errors when Blythewood fielders had trouble picking up the ball and misplayed both. A third error, on an infield grounder, scored two runs. Thanks to the three errors, Spring Valley scored three runs on two hits. The outburst handed Purvis the loss even though he allowed only four hits and didn’t walk a batter.

“Anytime we play a team as good as Blythewood, our goal is to split against them,” Wentzky said. “We want to defend our home. If we can win all of the home games and win three or four more, we’re in the playoffs easily and might be in region title hunt.”

The victory against Blythewood started a week that might tell the Vikings how realistic that hope is. A region game against Ridge View and a non–region game against Spartanburg are scheduled.

“This (4–2) is a better start than we were anticipating coming out of the RBI Tournament,” Wentzky said. “The key now is to not let this one carry over into Friday against Ridge View, another rivalry game. If we can come out of this week 5–3 or better, then we can say this is a very successful start.”