Mountain Grove baseball made its first appearance in the Final Four in program history on Wednesday, but you couldn’t tell by the way the Panthers played.
They put up one run in each the first and second innings and three in the third on the way to a 12-1 win over Scott City to advance the Class 3 State Championship game on Thursday at 1:30.
“It is crazy. We kind of got the nerves out in the first inning after we scored a run and kind of got settled in,” Mountain Grove senior DJ McNew said. “We just started hitting and it all came together.”
The Panthers wasted no time showing off their speed against the Rams. Blaine Halford took the first pitch he saw and legged out an infield single to start the game. He would steal second during the next at bat. Halford would then make it to third on Brock Coffman’s infield single and score on a throwing error, as the Panthers put up a run without getting a ball out of the infield.
“It (speed) is huge. We do that quite a bit. We have done that all year long. We just like to take off and run,” Mountain Grove head coach Derwin McGownd said. “It puts pressure on their defense and has them make mistakes, and we try to take advantage of those mistakes.”
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Hard-throwing Alex Moore stepped to the hill in the bottom of the first and went to work logging a strikeout to open the game. After a walk, DJ McNew caught a line drive and doubled off a runner at first to end the inning.
Moore wouldn’t give up a hit or run until the fourth inning.
“It (having Moore pitching) gives them a lot of confidence because they know they can go up and swing the bats,” McGownd said. “It is easier instead of trying to scratch runs across to just relax and put the ball in play and do what we do best.”
Moore would throw six innings with eight strikeouts with one walk while giving up one run. He threw just 81 pitches on the night and has four innings available to him tomorrow if needed as the Panthers try to complete the run to a state title.
“All of us expected to be here. We came out in the start of the season and got after it right away,” Moore said. “We came out here with all of the confidence in the world. It just ended up our way. We played some good baseball today.”
McNew had a good day in the field, at the plate and on the mound as he went 2-for-4 with four RBI and threw a scoreless seventh inning with a strikeout to close the door on the Rams.
“That is DJ. That is the senior leadership that we have come to expect out of him all year long. To continue to do what he does whether it is on the mound, at the plate or at shortstop. We could put him out in centerfield and I still think he would do a good job for us,” McGownd said.
Halford finished the game going 3-for-5 with two runs, an RBI and a steal. Cade Coffman and Conner McNew also had two hits each. Mountain Grove knocked 14 total hits in the game with all but one starter logging at least one hit.
Now the Panthers will face off with the winner of Summit Christian and South Callaway, but don’t expect the Panthers to show any nerves as they chase the title.
“I think it (the semifinal win) made a statement that we have come to play. The big stage doesn’t intimidate us too bad,” McGownd said.
The Mountain Grove Panthers play in their first state title game at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in O’Fallon, Mo.
