Grundy R-5 and Mercer locked up in a pair of HDC Conference softball games Thursday night in Galt. The girls game saw Grundy win in dramatic fashion, taking a pitcher’s duel in extra innings, 3-2. Meanwhile, on the boys side, Mercer evened the score with an 11-8 win.
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Girls
Vanessa Lentz gave the Lady Panthers all they could ask for and more on the hill and Mina Headrick came to the rescue in the bottom of the ninth as Grundy evened their season record with a 3-2 win.
The Lady Panthers proved their run to a second-place finish in the conference tournament was no fluke, defeating the Lady Cardinals for the second time in as many weeks.
Lentz was dominant, working all nine innings allowing just two runs on three hits. The R-5 senior fanned a season-high 16 in the contest. Mercer pitcher Courtney Owens was equally as brilliant, however, keeping the Lady Panthers in check.
It wasn’t until the ninth inning that Grundy broke through. Headrick got a pitch she liked and drilled it, resulting in a walk-off home run, giving the Lady Panthers the one-run victory.
Shelbi Stimpson also homered for the Lady Panthers earlier in the contest.
“We had a dominating pitching performance from Vanessa and Mina hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning,” Lady Panthers’ Head Coach Curtis May said.
The win moved the Lady Panthers to 5-5 overall and 2-3 in the HDC standings.
Boys
The boys game wasn’t quite as dramatic, but was still a close contest. Four runs in the top of the first gave Mercer a lead, but Grundy scored six in the bottom of the second to carry a 6-4 lead into the third.
The Panthers’ lead held until the fourth inning when Mercer tied the contest with a pair of runs in the top of the frame. Mercer took the lead when they tacked on five more runs in the fifth inning and then put out a Grundy rally in the bottom of the sixth to hold on for the win.
Jordan Whitney led the Panthers at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, home run and four RBIs. Destin Gann was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs and Brody Hatcher finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
The Panthers fell to 1-5 overall and 1-4 in the conference standings.
Grundy will be in action again tonight in Ridgeway. Mercer travels to Winston. Both games get under way at 5:30 p.m.