Some Indians took their final at-bats on their home field in Farber.

Van-Far vs Cairo Photo Gallery

Van-Far beat Class 1 No. 10 Cairo 9-2 in the regular season finale on Tuesday after finishing with 10 hits and nine stolen bases. The Indians go into the Class 2 District 5 tournament at Clopton in Clarksville with momentum as they face No. 5 seed Paris (4-12) at 4:30 p.m. Friday as the No. 4 seed.

"We needed it," senior first baseman Carson Huff said. "We haven't been playing the best lately. It's good to get a good quality win before districts."

Each team went into Tuesday 2-4 in their previous six games. Two of Van-Far's losses happened against district opponents.

Head coach Cameron Huff talked with his seniors after the game to deliver the message that their at-bats in every game from now on could be their last ones. If they don't want that, the Indians (12-9) have to continue to win. 

"We looked really good at the plate tonight," coach Huff said. "We took great at-bats and made contact when we needed to make contact. Everything I've been preaching all year is finally started showing up. It's a good step."

Carson Huff went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and a double, Tyson Douglas went 2-for-2 with two stolen bases and one RBI, Ronnie Stanich finished 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI, Gaven Gaston scored two runs and Gibson Condie had one double and a run scored. Coach Huff complimented to nice contact made by kids like Carson Huff, Gaston and Condie.

Huff hit two rockets in two situations with multiple runners on base. His first run-scoring hit was a two-out double in the second inning that gave Van-Far five runs before Cairo (10-8) could cross the plate once. 

"You just have to make an adjustment because every pitcher is a little different," Carson Huff said. "He was just a tad bit slower than what we normally see. I was a little out on the front foot a little too much so I had to make a little adjustment for that one. Outside of that, we hit pretty well as a team, too."

Huff's older brother, coach Huff, said he has "no idea how he does it" when speaking about Carson's talent. Coach Huff said the reigning all-state player came back to the game last year after not playing since elementary school and is having a comparable season as last year.

At Monday's all-Eastern Missouri Conference meeting, Carson Huff was one of three Indians to be named all-conference along with fellow reigning all-stater Malik Douglas and Reece Culwell. Douglas made second team while Huff and Culwell were each named first team utility. Huff said personal awards don't matter to him as much as team success and explained why he repeated as an all-conference player by explaining his role at first base.

"I couldn't do it without my teammates," Carson Huff said. "I play first base. I can't do anything without them throwing the ball over to me and making their plays."

Coach Huff said Culwell was as efficient and effective as he's been all season, pitching 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts, two hits and one earned run on 58 pitches. Huff said Culwell's limit was 60 pitches since he wanted him to available for districts on Friday.

Huff and Culwell had ideal performances in their last home game and the same applies to the Malik and Tyson Douglas. While Tyson had some at-bats, the leadoff hitter Malik didn't need an official at-bat to score two runs after being hit three times and being walked once, and the freshman Cayden Douglas stole three bases. The three Douglas brothers combined for seven stolen bases and four hit by pitches as Tyson was plunked once.

"It just goes to show that (Malik) gets on base," coach Huff said. "That's amazing when they put pressure on defenses by moving that guy to second so we can continue getting base knocks and scroring runs."

Coach Huff said a week ago that Van-Far wasn't quite at the level he wanted them to be for districts. After seeing the Indians knock off a state-ranked team in the regular season finale, he said he hopeful that the last at-bats of those seniors can be pushed off for a while.

"There wasn't any doubt," coach Huff said. "It was just whether we were going to show up and play. If we play the way we did tonight, there's not a team that's going to stop us. When you have an efficient pitcher on the bump and we're making solid contact, look out because we're coming."