By Amanda Perkins
In a showdown between two dominant baseball programs Monday night, the Mountain Grove Panthers persevered, topping the Mansfield Lions 7-5.
The Lions opened with four consecutive batters reaching base. Devin Kingery knocked in two batters in the frame, then rounded the bases himself to advance his team to 3-0.
Mountain Grove countered similarly as the first four in their line-up reached as well. A Treye Collins single scored two, but the Lions were able to get out of the jam and maintain their lead when pitcher Sean Neal struck out two batters to end the inning.
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After the first inning, Mountain Grove tightened their defense and Connor McNew came alive on the mound. However, Mansfield was able to score in the fourth, and again in the sixth in identical fashion; seven-spot hitter Payton Watterson led off each inning with a single, and was plated each time by leadoff hitter Jonah Williamson.
The Panthers entered the bottom of the sixth trailing 5-4. A two-out rally helped them score three runs on a Treye Collins double to take a 7-5 lead. Errors also plagued the Lions defensively in the inning.
Mountain Grove head coach Derwin McGownd said his team’s resilience helped them to victory.
“We kind of came out flat in the first inning and spotted them three runs, but credit the team coming back and battling all the way,” he said. “They came through with a couple of big hits in the bottom of the sixth to kind of take care of the game for us.”
Coach McGownd said his team was also able to capitalize on uncharacteristic errors by Mansfield.
“Connor battled through pitches and Cade came in and did a great job in relief,” he said.
Brock Coffman reached on all four of his plate appearances for the Panthers.
“It was a great team effort,” said McGownd.
Mansfield superintendent Dr. Nathan Moore and middle school principal Dr. Gary Greene are serving as co-coaches for the team.
“We had five good innings and then we fell apart in the sixth,” said Coach Greene. “Our pitcher battled and we gave him six outs in the sixth inning. We run into some outs on the bases early that we shouldn’t, we don’t swing the bat with the bases loaded, we take a called third strike there, and then we come out in the bottom half and we don’t catch the ball. And that’s the difference in the game. And they’re a good team, we know they’re a good team. We’ve got the guy on the mound we want on the mound in that situation, and he battled and he did a great job and we didn’t catch it for him.”
Coach Greene credited Jonah Williamson and Peyton Watterson with a strong defensive performance. Each went 2-4 on the night at the plate and the two scored three of the five runs for the Lions.
“Sean Neal on the mound gave us a really good game,” he said. “He got after it and battled through some adversity.”
Mountain Grove defense and pitching came alive after the first inning, as they went on to strike out eight Lions and limit Mansfield to just two more runs. Mansfield struck out nine on the night.
The Panthers move to 11-4 and finish up their conference play in Houston Tuesday, followed by Seymour Thursday and Carl Junction and Seneca on Saturday.
Mansfield records just their second loss, dropping to 11-2. They face Norwood at home Tuesday with the goal of earning their conference championship.
Box Score
Mansfield 3001010
Panthers 201103x
