Mt. Pleasant softball team falls twice

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant softball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader on Thursday in a Southeast Conference bout with Fort Madison. The Panthers fell 14-0 and 12-0, both in three innings.

The Panther bats were silenced all night long. In Game 1, Mt. Pleasant mustered just two hits, one single by Grace Kelley and another by Jersey Beachy. In Game 2, the Panthers were held hitless.

Starting pitcher Madison Helling gave up 11 runs in two innings in Game 1, but just three of them were earned. Bethany Drury gave up three earned in an inning of relief.

It was a similar story in Game 2, as Kelley started the game and gave up 11 runs, all unearned. Ella McNamee came in to relieve Kelley with two outs in the second inning and relinquished three runs over 1 1/3 inning, just one of them earned.

“We didn’t execute at times,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Mike Beason. “We made too many errors, and a good team like that is going to capitalize on that.”

Mt. Pleasant got no breaks later on in the weekend. In a tournament at Iowa City West, the Panthers lost 12-0 against Benton, 12-0 against Davenport North, 11-0 against Iowa City West and 14-1 against Independence.

The Panthers ended the regular season on Monday night at Washington. Their first postseason game will be on Thursday at Keokuk.