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Panther softball splits in slugfest
Mt. Pleasant earns first SEC win of the season, drops Game 2 in Keokuk doubleheaders
MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant softball team went into Monday night looking for its first two victories of the Southeast Conference slate. The Panthers had to settle for just one.
Mt. Pleasant’s offense boomed in both games. The Panthers held on defense to win Game 1, 12-6, but a shaky Game 2 led to a 13-10 defeat.
“I thought our pitchers pitched good enough to keep the score down,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Mike Beason. “We helped them out. In the first game, we were able to overcome it, and in the second game, we put ourselves in a hole.”
The Panthers certainly had to battle in Game 1. Keokuk scored four runs in the first inning to put Mt. Pleasant down early, but the Panthers scored in all but one inning of the game.
“When we were down 4-0, I thought 'are we going to roll over like we have in the past, or are we going to fight through it,” Beason said. “I thought they fought through it really well.”
The Panthers bounced right back with three runs in the first, one in the second and one in the third to take a 5-4 lead.
Keokuk had the game tied at 5-5 after a one-run fifth, but Mt. Pleasant had some magic left in the bats. Bethany Drury broke the tie with an RBI single, and Addison Clark followed that up by knocking two in on a triple.
Keokuk would get one back in the sixth, but Mt. Pleasant poured it on with a four-run bottom of the inning.
Clark had a monster game, going 3-for-4 with a triple, a double and five RBIs in the win. Emma Starr was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Jayden Housh knocked in two runs, and Kynlee White was 3-for-4 with a triple.
Along with two base hits at the plate, Jolynn Martin had a nice day in the pitcher’s circle, throwing a complete game, and giving up six runs (one earned), while striking out nine Chiefs.
Mt. Pleasant went down again in Game 2, as Keokuk had leads of 7-0 and 10-2, but the Panthers clawed back to make it interesting.
A four-run sixth inning helped the Panthers cut the lead to just three runs before the final frame. After Tyi Alter held Keokuk scoreless in the top of the seventh, the Panthers put one runner on with one out, but an unlucky line out double play ended the threat.
Housh knocked in five runs to lead Mt. Pleasant in Game 2. Starr was 3-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs, and Ella McNamee knocked in a pair of runs as well.
Alter and Myah Starr both split time in the circle for the Panthers.
Mt. Pleasant is now 3-8 overall and 1-4 in SEC play. The Panthers will play Game 3 against Keokuk on the road on Thursday.
