The Panther baseball team as of this writing are still in the hunt for a Sectional Championship. On Thursday the Hoover Huskies defeated Nicholas County, pitting the Panthers against the Huskies on Friday evening. It was a tough game for the Panthers. When the two teams lined up against each other the last time, the Panthers bested them. The Huskies came with all guns blazing and scattered hits all over the field. They also homered early in the game to take a big lead. The Panthers just couldn’t seem to get the bats cracking and runners on base. Errors and mistakes plagued them as the game went on, and the Huskies took this meeting of the teams by the score of 0-13. Since this is a double elimination tournament the Panthers were still in it. However, they had to cross paths with the Grizzlies of Nicholas County. This was a different game for the Panthers; they started off pretty slow, and at the end of the third inning the Grizzlies were on top 3-8. The Panthers turned on the fan after that, started picking the bases apart and scoring runs. At the end of the sixth, it was 7-8 Grizzlies. The Grizzlies added another run in the seventh inning for a small cushion in the lead, making it 7-9. The Panthers never gave up and stood fast in the trenches, and they had some great at bats and got people on bases. Then the chaos began. There was a hit driving in two runs, and an errant throw out of the playing field automatically advanced the Panther runner from third to home plate resulting in the win for the Panthers. The Panthers will go on to play the Huskies once again on Monday night, weather permitting, and they will have the daunting task of beating them in two games. If they accomplish this, they will move onto the regional championship. If they lose once, the Huskies advance. It will be tough, but it can be done. The Panthers are a great team with a lot of talent.
