CCHS Panthers Season Opener
Global warming has taken a back seat to a lingering winter that doesn’t seem to want to let loose, only occasionally giving us a glimpse of spring. After winning their season opener against Sherman 15-8, the CCHS Panthers travelled to Herbert Hoover to take on the Huskies and the blankets came out as the sun dropped out of sight. It was an impressive back and forth game of sticks and defense. Geordie Wilkinson took to the mound with his bag of nasty pitches and got to the business of three up three down. The Huskies jumped on the board with a run in the first inning but were shut down the next three innings by Wilkinson who got in his groove. The defense kept their game on, making few mistakes. The Panther bats were getting the job done but were held on base at the end of the first and second innings. In the third, however, the Panthers had a run to cross tying the game at one all. The flood gate opened up in the 5th and 6th innings for the Panthers as their bats heated up scoring four runs, making the game 5-2 in the top of the 7th inning.
Ninth grader Caleb Wynn came in at the bottom of the seventh to close out the game for a Panther win; however, it was not to be. The score was 5-2 with two out and it looked as though the Panthers had the game. The Huskies tagged Wynn for some hits and they came back and tied the game at five. The Panthers got out of the inning with an unusual play – the winning run for the Huskies forgot to tag the base. With some good heads up play by the catcher, Cooper Osborne, he tagged the player out ending the inning, and the game went into extra innings. The Panthers were first to bat but just couldn’t catch up to the wicked curve ball thrown by the Huskie pitcher. Colten Moore came in for the Panthers to try and take the game to the next inning, but it was not to be. The Huskies capitalized on a couple of mistakes and won the game 5-6. It was a great game, even with the loss. It was 100 percent baseball. Logan Knopp went 2-3 with an RBI Sam Edwards went 1-4 with 2 RBI’s. The Panthers came back with the big sticks against Calhoun beating them 5-4 and then against Valley, whipping them 18-8. In that game, the Panthers scattered 17 hits across the field. They went up against the tough South Harrison team and lost the double header. There is plenty of baseball left in the season, and it will only get better as it goes along. Get out and catch a game.
