Panthers defeat Indians, 16-2, to become champions of the Indian Classic
Both the Magnet Cove Panthers and Poyen Indians battled tough competition to make it into the championship game of the Poyen Indian Classic Tournament hosted at Poyen last week.
The tournament started on March 6 with the Panthers downing the Fountain Lake Cobras 6-5 and the Indians defeating the Bearden Bears 17-4. Last Monday, the Indians took on Junction City and got the win 7-4 to advance to the finals. Then on Tuesday the Panthers faced Mountain Pine and got the win 12-7 to fill in the final spot in the championship game.
Saturday the Panthers jumped out to an early lead that to a 16-2 victory over their arch-rivals the Indians. Magnet Cove head baseball coach Robert Webb credited the early start and the pitching of senior Lucas Smeltzer as the game winning factor. “Boys did a good job,” he said. “We came out and we hit the ball really good tonight and that was important. I think we got five in the first inning and that just kind of set the tone. Lucas Smeltzer did a great job, five innings pitching, really that was the difference, just the quick early start and then his pitching.”
The Panthers got things started with Luke Harper hitting a ground ball that sent Landon Stone across home plate for the first run. The Panthers continued to score with Smeltzer sending home Harper, Owen Tillery bringing in two runners, Connor Hurley, a courtesy runner for Smeltzer, and Rowdy Lathrop. The final run came from Tillery after Levi Horton hit the ball up the middle. In total the Panthers scored five runs to take an early lead over the Indians.
In the bottom of the first Smeltzer allowed one ground ball that put Jaxson Carter on base. Carter was left on base as Anthony Nannemann hit a fly ball that was caught for the third out.
The hits just kept coming for the Panthers at the top of the second inning. On his second at bat, Julius McClellan hit a home run that scored two runs to put the Panthers up 7-0. The Panthers scored one more run in the second, with Lathrop getting the RBI as Stone crossed home plate. The Panthers held the Indians to three batters in the bottom of the second that included a double play. At the end of two innings, the Panthers led 8-0.
A change at the pitching position for the Indians helped the Indians slow down the Panthers. In the third, the Indians held the Panthers to just three batters and were able to score their first run of the game. Justin Meyer hit the ball towards first base and was able to bring Carter Webb home for the score. At the end of three innings the Panthers led 8-1.
The Panthers scored one run in the top of the fourth with Stone, to take a 9-1 lead, but were mostly held in check by the Indians. The Indians went scoreless in the fourth inning.
The next run came in the bottom of the fifth inning and was scored by Poyen’s Kinnin Dobbs off the Meyer’s RBI. After five innings, the Indians trailed the Panthers 9-2.
The biggest inning for the Panthers came in the sixth inning when they scored seven runs. The Panthers loaded the bases with their first three batters. With another new pitcher for the Indians, Lathrop was able to ding the ball to left field to record two RBIs as Stone and Harper scored. Tillery added another two RBIs when he hit the ball to midfield to bring home Smeltzer and Lathrop. The runs kept coming as Tillery scored after a hit by Gavin Sullivan that put the Panthers up 14-2. The last two runs came from Horton and Sullivan when Harper hit the ball to left field with the bases loaded. In the bottom of the inning, the Indians had two runners on base but failed to bring them home to fall 16-2.
In total the Panthers recorded 16 runs on 16 hits while the Indians had two runs on seven hits.
Moving forward, Webb feels that winning in the Indian Classic will build momentum going forward with the 2021 season, especially moving into conference play. “We’ve started playing better of late,” he said. “We play a pretty tough non-conference schedule, and see some really good teams. So when we step on the field, we feel like no matter who we play we’re going to be able to compete with them, to not get rattled and to just keep working and getting on them at the beginning to set the tone.”
This week the Panthers are scheduled to take on England, tonight at 5:30 in England, Mt. Ida, at home at 4:30, and at Jessieville at 4:30 p.m.