Magnolia scored its most runs in a month, but it wasn’t enough during the opening round of the Class 4A South Region Baseball Tournament.
The Panthers gave a great effort, but came up short 9-6 to the Malvern Leopards. They had finished strong during the regular season to be the No. 2-seed team in the region tournament that was held at Panther Field. The Panthers, along with three others, were eliminated from Class 4A State Tournament action with their losses.
In first-round action between the 4A-7 and 4A-8 Conferences playing in the South Region Tournament, fourth-seed Camden Fairview stunned top-seed Arkadelphia 8-6, while top-seed Monticello blanking Bauxite 10-0. Second-seed Nashville blanked Warren 4-0.
Nashville (first seed), Malvern (second seed), Monticello (third seed), and Camden Fairview (fourth seed) will play in the state tournament, which begins Thursday morning at Southside Batesville..
During the Panthers’ battle with the Leopards, starting pitcher Halen Sanders of Magnolia and Micah Holyfield of Malvern were having good days on the mound before both had to be pulled later in the game.
Sanders, who had nine strikeouts on the day, sat down two Leopards batters on strikes in the first inning.
Magnolia took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Connor Harrington drew a walk, but the next two batters were put out.
Adam Pieratt then responded with a big RBI-single to score Harrington and put the Panthers in front.
Sanders sat the next three Malvern batters down on strikes in the second inning, but Garrett Clark managed Magnolia’s only hit during the bottom half of the frame.
Sanders continued to dominate in the third, striking out two more hitters and forcing a third to hit a ground ball back to him.
Despite a walk and another single by Pieratt, the Panthers were not able to add to their lead.
The Leopards used a pair of singles and two successful bunts to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth. The Panthers aided them with a throwing error that allowed one runner to cross home plate.
Harrington scored on a wild throw by the Leopards to cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom half of the fourth.
Sanders ran into trouble on the mound in the top of the fifth, hitting his first batter and then giving up a RBI double to make it 4-2.
Pieratt relieved him, but also got off to a shaky start, walking two batters and hitting another after striking out the first man he faced.
The Leopards managed to add one more run to make it 5-2.
Magnolia had its best offensive inning in the bottom of the fifth, when the bases were loaded following a pair of singles and a hit batter.
Sanders then came through with a RBI single, followed by a RBI fielder’s choice by Eli Ward to make it 5-4.
Garrett Clark later hit a solid single to the outfield that put the Panthers up 6-5. Magnolia produced four runs on four hits during the inning.
Neither team managed to score in the sixth inning, but the Leopards answered with four big runs in the top of the seventh.
After hitting a pair of batters and giving up a bunt single, Pieratt was pulled and Harrington entered with the bases loaded.
He walked the first batter that tied the game at 6-6 and gave up a two-RBI single to make it 8-6. A couple of errors provided the Leopards with another run, making it 9-6 before the inning ended.
The Panthers threatened in the bottom of the seventh and final inning, loading the bases with two outs.
The Leopards forced Dayton Dickson to ground out that ended the game and season for the Panthers.