Hesston, KS- On Sunday, Neosho traveled to Hesston, KS to face the Hesston Larks for their first conference game. The Panthers split with Hesston dropping the first game in 5 innings 9-1, then coming back and winning game two 8-0 in 5 innings. Freshman pitcher Abby
Brickey and Sophomore utility player
Hannah Reed were the key players for the Panthers in Sunday's games. Abby had an outstanding performance on the mound in the second game, while Hannah produced at the plate, where she hit her first double of the season.
Sophomore, Taylor
Holtkamp started game one for the Panthers on the mound and then Freshman,
Emma Cooper brought in to pitch the top of the fourth inning. Cooper picked up two quick outs, then put some runners on base, so Holtkamp returned to finish game one. The game started off slow with no runs scored in the first inning. The Larks were the first to put a run on the board in the bottom of the second. The Panthers down 0-2, finally scored on a Hesston error. However, the Panthers failed to hold the Larks in the bottom of the third inning, where they scored two more runs, pushing the lead to 3 runs as Neosho trailed 4-1. Neosho struggled to score runs throughout the rest of the game, unlike the Larks who scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Panthers failed to produce any more runs giving the Larks the 9-1 win.
Game two the Panthers started off strong, they scored the first two in the line-up and held the Larks in the bottom of the first to keep the score at 2-0. Both teams would struggle to bring in runs until the fifth inning. At the top of the fifth inning, the Panthers were at the top of their line-up and manage to bat all the way through the line-up, producing six runs on a great base running and errors by the Larks. The Panthers came out strong after adding 6 runs to lead 8-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning. Freshman pitcher, Abby
Brickey finished the game with a big strike out, leaving a runner stranded on first to end the game in five innings. Abby
Brickey finished the game with four strikeouts for the game and only two walks.
Neosho Softball will be back in action on Tuesday, March 7
th in a double-header at Crowder College in Neosho, MO starting at 2pm.
