ShawneeDispatch.com

Connor Koch made the all-Kaw Valley League first team last season. He was voted as Mill Valley's team MVP. He lead the team in hitting his first two seasons and was second last year, batting .476.

So when Piper intentionally walked a freshman catcher to get to Koch, a senior, it raised some eyebrows and even garnered a legitimately awestruck "they're intentionally walking to get to Connor!" response from a teammate in the MVHS dugout.

But Luke Lawyer, the aforementioned freshman catcher, doesn't talk like a freshman.

"I wasn't here last year, but these guys were talking about having a strong pitching lineup and they had a lot of seniors returning," he said. "I normally don't like to take a lot of intimidation from a lot of talk. I was just coming out with high confidence."

Lawyer also doesn't play like a freshman.

His three-hit performance in the Jaguars' opening 10-0 victory of a double header Monday against Piper proved that point.

It may shock some that Lawyer has been so good so early, but not at Mill Valley.

"I heard things about him; I knew he'd be good," senior Trey Scott said.

Plus, deception has been a theme of the season so far for the Jaguars; Lawyer is just another example. The Jags began the season 0-3 and got hammered 10-1 in their opener against Bishop Ward. They were playing sloppy in the field and not scoring enough runs.

Then all of the sudden the fielding got better, they started getting timely hitting and the pitching followed suit. Now the Jaguars have won five straight games and all of the changes were on display Monday in the 10-0 victory in Game 1, which finished in five innings because of a high school spread rule. Mill Valley tacked on a 9-3 victory in Game 2.

Well, take that back. Everything appeared to be on display.

The Jags played nearly flawless in the field with no errors. Scott pitched all five shutout innings in the first game and struck out seven batters. Seniors Jared Smith and Tanner Muckenthaler gave up only three runs in the second game. The Mill Valley offense scored 19 runs against Piper, but as for the hitting: "Mediocre," Mill Valley coach Jeff Strickland said. "We can improve on it. Some of them were seeing-eye hits."

Strickland then paused and added, "Luke Lawyer had a good offensive game."

Lawyer had an RBI double in the third inning that bounced off the wall -- the first run in a four-run inning. He also hit a line-drive single in the fourth inning, which prompted Piper to intentionally walk him the following inning.

Koch led the Jags in hitting his freshman season. If Lawyer keeps this up, he might just do the same.

"It's unusual for a freshman to step up, but we expected that from Luke," Strickland said. "We kind of knew what we were getting."