One isn’t enough: Panther girls split

FAIRFIELD - A four-run seventh inning in game one gave No. 12 Mt. Pleasant's softball team a big conference win and a share of first place in the conference on Tuesday night in Fairfield, but the Trojans scored a comeback win in game two to clip the Panthers and win the Southeast Conference championship.

Mt. Pleasant needed a sweep to take first place in the SEC. The Panthers won the first game 5-1, but Fairfield won a nail-biter in game two, scoring two in the sixth to take it 3-2.

Mt. Pleasant's Sydni Coleman and Fairfield's Allison Rebling went punch-for-punch in game one, each pitching five scoreless frames before the first run crossed. Makayla Cam scored on a wild pitch after a leadoff double to make it 1-0 Panthers in the top of the sixth, but Fairfield's Coty Engle scored on a little-league home run in the sixth, finding home plate after a double and two Mt. Pleasant errors.

In the seventh, the top of the Panther order came up clutch again. Lyndi Vantiger broke the tie with a two-out RBI single, and then with the bases loaded, Trinity Krabill cleared the bags with a deep fly ball to center field that was bobbled by a Trojan outfielder, plating three and sending her to third base.

Coleman took the ball again in game two and held Fairfield to just one run over the first five innings. The Panthers scored two early, scoring Cam in the first inning and making it 2-0 in the second after Samantha Broeker tripled to the fence and scored on a Hannah Newman single.

Fairfield scored their first run in the bottom of the fourth, and hadn't done much against Coleman all night, but the Trojans found their bats in the bottom of the sixth. Fairfield loaded the bases with nobody out. Destiny Gridley eventually tied the game on her second RBI of the inning, and Jenna Norris brought the eventual game-winner in on an RBI-infield single.

Mt. Pleasant had the top of their order back up in the seventh, but Engle stayed hot in the circle for Fairfield, pitching a 1-2-3 inning to clinch the win, and the conference title.

'Again, we scored two runs in the first two innings and just kind of sat,” said head coach Troy Mear after the split. 'I don't think we had bad swings or anything like that, but we've just got to keep that killer instinct and score more than two runs, for that reason.”

Mt. Pleasant is now 18-9 overall. They finished SEC play 12-4, and will finish their doubleheader with West Burlington tonight (Tuesday). The Panthers may still play Fairfield one last time, as they'll draw the winner of the Keokuk-Fairfield first round game in their regional semifinal showdown in Mt. Pleasant on July 13.

'I told them, a conference championship would have been cool. Would have been real cool,” Coach Mears said. 'But if we get to play them again, there is one game that is more important than tonight.”