By Garrett Kroeger

The Natchez Democrat

FERRIDAY — Delta Charter School was in a 4-0 hole in fourth inning against Rayville on Tuesday afternoon. After a double that drove in two runs by Chase Gillespie the Hornets’ lead was cut to two, and it seemed like the momentum was going to shift in the Storm’s favor.

Yet, it never did as Delta Charter fell to Rayville in seven innings, 6-2.

“Very (frustrating),” said Delta Charter coach Jarrett Hoffpauir. “It’s kind of the same thing that we have been doing all year.”

Hoffpauir said the Storm didn’t make the necessary adjustments at the plate, which has plauged them all year.

That type of playing style was evident on Tuesday, as Delta Charter was struck out nine times and only mustered two hits versus Rayville. Hoffpauir said that his team expects different results despite not making the changes they work on in practice.

“We had a big practice (on Monday) about two strike hitting, getting our foot down and eliminating strikeouts,” Hoffpauir said. “Just putting pressure on the defense. Anytime pitchers get comfortable, it’s tough and we let (Rayville’s pitcher) get comfortable tonight.”

With the loss to the Hornets, the Storm are now 3-6 and are on a two-game losing streak.

Coming into the season, Hoffpauir had high hopes for Delta Charter. Yet, the Storm have not been getting the leadership from the upperclassman that Hoffpauir would like. And against Rayville, Delta Charter had Andrew Brown, Eli Brown, and Landon Davis pitch — all underclassmen. Andrew and Eli are both freshman and Davis is a sophomore.

“We just got to get some leadership from the top,” Hoffpauir said. “You just have to have guys step up. Can’t rely on freshman and sophomores, and that’s what we are doing right now.”

Although the Storm have been relying more and more on their young pitchers as the season progresses, Hoffpauir has been pleased by their development. Despite that, young players can only do so much in Hoffpauir’s eyes.

“We are running out freshman and sophomores every game,” Hoffpauir said. “Those guys are our competitors, my young guys. But, at the end of day, when we have a 14, 15 year old pitching against 17, 18 year olds it is tough.

“You can’t rely on those guys every day.”

Hoffpauir believes Delta Charter is at a crossroads. He has seen sparks out of the Storm this year that makes him strongly believe that they could compete with any 1A team in the LHSAA. Yet, Hoffpauir doesn’t know why his team can’t put all those pieces together. He doesn’t know if his players don’t trust themselves or what it is, but Hoffpauir does know Delta Charter hasn’t been showing that “want to” attitude when it comes to winning games.

“I think (it is a) lack of desire at this point,” Hoffpauir said. “I think that’s really it. You have to have guys that want to win. You have to have multiple guys that want to win, and I just don’t think we are there right now.”

The Storm will have to find that winning attitude soon as they play once again at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday against Winnfield. If they don’t, Hoffpauir believes it will continue to struggle.

“We got to have some guys that step up,” Hoffpauir said. “Something has got to change or it is going to be a long year.”