The CCHS baseball season came to an end this past week in the Sectional tournament held at Maysel Park. Hoovaer was the first up, and from the beginning it looked like the game would be a good one with neither team gaining the upper hand through four innings. After those four innings, it was tied up at four runs each. The game went south after that; in the fifth inning the Huskies scored six runs on five hits and added two more in the sixth and seventh innings to put 12 runs on the board. The Panthers were in catch up mode, needing eight runs to catch up. Unfortunately, they couldn’t manage to get runs to cross until the sixth and seventh innings when they made a push to take the lead but fell short scoring just four runs. The final score was Hoover 12, Clay 8. It was a well fought game, but a few mistakes will ultimately take the wind out of your sails at this level. It was just one game, however, and the Panthers were still in the hunt for a title because Sectionals are a double elimination tournament. Nicholas County was next up and would prove to be a tough one for the Panthers. The Panthers never did get the bats fired up enough to get the runs across. Noah Taylor scored the only run for the Panthers in the first inning. Caleb Wynn, Eli Osborne, and Colten Moore each scattered hits but was left on the bases as the innings ended. A questionable baulk call against pitcher Colten Moore with bases loaded allowed the runners to advance, scoring a run for the Grizzlies. This capped a five run inning for the Grizzlies in the fourth inning, making the score 1-7 at this point. The Panthers shut them down after that but couldn’t get their offense going, and with that the Panthers season ended. In a recap of the season, the Panthers were 13-14 in regular season play. With a few more breaks, the season could have been a lot different. The Panthers will be back next year, and it already looks like the team will back in business with a lot of talent coming up in the ranks. It should prove to be a good 2017 season.
