Tale of 2 softball games

MT. PLEASANT - It was a tale of two very different games Thursday when the Panther softball team scored a thrilling 6-5 walk-off victory on an Anni Liechty single in the eighth inning, but Washington scored the final 11 runs of the second game to take a 12-2 five-inning win.

Mt. Pleasant struck first in Game One, scoring a run in the first. Washington tied the game up in the top of the second but the Panthers scored two in the bottom to lead 3-1.

Both teams put up a run in the fifth, giving Mt. Pleasant a 4-2 lead going in to the final two innings. A scoreless sixth set up for a chaotic finish.

Washington tied the game in the seventh on a cluth two-out, two-run double by Kaitlyn Mitchell, who lined the ball into the outfield and flipped momentum to the Demons. Cara Linnenkamp followed with a hard grounder to shortstop that Liechty couldn't coral, and that scored Mitchell to give Washington a 5-4 advantage.

Sam Broeker had a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Trinity Krabill came around to score from second on the single, narrowly escaping the tag at home to save the game for Mt. Pleasant.

Washington stranded runners at the corners in the top of the eighth. The first two Panthers reached base in the bottom half and a Lyndi Vantiger sacrifice bunt set it up for Liechty, who hit a hard ground ball past second base for the win.

'That was a good win, a come from behind win again, but there again we had the lead early,” Panther coach Troy Mears said. 'But as good of a hitting team as Washington is, we were lucky to get that win, and Anni was solid at the plate all night.”

Sydni Coleman picked up the win. Molly Sparks was tagged with the loss.

Mt. Pleasant held a 2-1 lead after one inning in game one, but it was all downhill from that point. Washington strung together eight runs in the third inning, highlighted by a two-RBI single by Mitchell, and all of the sudden, it was 9-2.

Haylee Wilson knocked in a Demon run in the fourth inning, helped out by a Panther error. Kinsey Duwa and Mitchell both had RBIs in the fifth inning and the Demons held a commanding 12-2 lead.

Mt. Pleasant needed at least one run in the bottom of the fifth to keep the game alive. Liechty got on with a two-out walk, but Washington starter Alexa Mitchell shut the Panthers out once more and the Demons earned the split.

'I told the girls after the game, they're the most mentally tough team I've coached in any sport,” Washington coach Ben Obermann said after the win. 'Nothing really fazes them. We got walked off in Game One where we probably should have won it. A lot of teams would have came out flat in Game Two, and I know we did get behind, but you have to give our girls a lot of credit for being so mentally strong upstairs.”

Mt. Pleasant is now 17-7 overall and 11-3 in the Southeast Conference. The Panthers are one game behind Fairfield for first place with two games at Fairfield coming up Monday.

Washington is now 21-11 overall and 10-6 in conference play.

The Demons play at Durant Tuesday.