The Clay Panthers swept the season series with the East Tartans, putting themselves in position to finish third in the SOC behind Green and Notre Dame.
Clay was victorious 19-2 in Friday night’s game when they hosted the Tartans. Keith Cottle gave up only three hits while striking out five batters in the victory. Cottle also went 4-4 with 2 RBIs, while Wyatt Large was also perfect at the plate going 3-3 with 3 RBIs.
“It was a good win after a very tough loss the night before,” said Panthers Head Coach Marc Cottle. “Keith pitched the ball very well tonight and he hit pretty well, too.”
Last Monday night, the Panthers traveled to Sciotoville and once again came out with a win, this time by a score of 17-4.
Brody Riffe gave up only 2 hits and a run as the winning pitcher, while Cole Gilliland came on in relief allowing only five hits and three runs the rest of the ballgame. Seven different Panthers had RBIs during the contest with Brayden Queen leading the charge with four. Devin Holcomb had three while Cole Gilliland and McGwire Garrison had two.
“This was a great overall team win, tonight,” said Cottle. “Brody and Cole both pitched well and we hit the ball extremely well, too. This sets us up to try and finish in the top three in the SOC standings with only two conference games remaining.”
The Panthers travel to Symmes Valley Monday, May 2nd to face off against the Vikings, and will host them the very next day on Tuesday, May 3rd.
Going forward, Cottle believes the Panthers are improving in all facets of the game. He hopes to have them in playoff form by the end of the regular season.
“These last few games our hitting has been vastly improved,” said Cottle. “One through nine, they are hitting less fly balls and more line drives and hard ground balls. Holcomb, Gilliland and Hempill have been leading us at the plate all year while Riffe and Cottle have been very consistent on the mound.
Sometimes, we have struggled defensively but we are continuing to get better on that side of the ball and hope to finish the season strong.”
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
