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Washington Evening Journal
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Panthers pick off Bloodhounds
Mt. Pleasant baseball keeps season alive, softball team falls in DeWitt
MT. PLEASANT — Both the Mt. Pleasant baseball and softball teams put their seasons on the line. The Panther baseball team hosted Fort Madison on Friday night, and the softball team took a long trip to Central DeWitt one night prior.
It was the Panther baseball team who won the weekend, not only earning revenge against Fort Madison but moving on to the Class 3A Substate 5 semifinals with a 4-2 victory.
The Bloodhounds put pitcher Hunter Cresswell on the mound, relying on the same arm that defeated Mt. Pleasant in a Southeast Conference title spoiler last month, but Panther senior Ben Newton stepped onto the mound on the other side.
It was Newton that shined brightest, throwing 103 pitches and giving up just two runs in a complete-game victory.
“I got down a lot early in counts and early in innings,” Newton said. “But I battled back.”
The Panthers, themselves, had to battle back from a 1-0 deficit. Fort Madison took the one-run lead into the fourth, but Mt. Pleasant’s Payson Coleman knocked a two-run single into left field and it was 2-1 Panthers after four frames.
“I knew we were at the point of the game where we needed to get something going,” said Coleman. “We had guys in scoring position, and we needed to get them in.”
The Bloodhounds tied the game with a run in the fifth, but the Panthers had two more in them. Payton Hagans knocked in one run in the bottom of the fifth, and Brayton Hutson scored on a wild pitch in the sixth.
“It's playoff baseball. Everything is usually a tight game,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Brent Broeker. “You wish for those games where you can go in and blow somebody out, but it's playoff baseball and anything can happen.”
The win put the Mt. Pleasant baseball team into the semifinals, where they are scheduled to take on Central DeWitt on Monday, weather willing. DeWitt is the exact place the softball team fell on Thursday.
The Central DeWitt softball team knocked out Mt. Pleasant 15-2, ending the game on a mercy rule. Just two days later, the Sabres were knocked off 6-1 against Burlington.
The Panther softball team ended its season 3-28. The baseball team is 22-8 heading into the semifinals.
