Playoffs end for Bobcats
By Bart Moss / For the FCT
The highly-anticipated fourth installment of the Class 2A playoff series between the top-ranked Mars Hill Panthers and the ninth-ranked Phil Campbell Bobcats lived up to the lofty expectations. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, the Panthers were able to squeak out a fourth-straight series win and eliminate Phil Campbell from the playoffs.
Mars Hill took game one in an extra-innings pitching duel, 3-2. Phil Campbell got some timely big hits from seniors in game two to win 6-3. After two pretty solid defensive outings, the Bobcats were beset by eight errors that eventually ended Phil Campbell’s season 10-7.
“It was a great series,” said Phil Campbell coach Jonathan Raper. “We gave it everything we had. I felt like we had a chance to win both the games we lost; we just were not able to make the plays.
“I am very proud of these guys, especially our seniors. They worked so hard this year, and they have nothing to hang their heads about.”
Ridge Raper got the start for the Bobcats in game one of the series. He pitched a gem, striking out seven and giving up only six hits and two runs.
Trailing 2-0 in the fourth inning and struggling to make contact with the baseball, Peyton Thomas crushed a two-run homer deep into the left centerfield trees to tie the game. Raper, who had reached on a base on balls, scored on the home run.
The game went into extra innings, and Mars Hill scored in the top of the eighth inning to take the 3-2 lead. The Bobcats went three-up, three-down in the bottom half of the inning, leading them to must-win game two.
Facing elimination, Phil Campbell sent Thomas to the mound in game two. Thomas responded, striking out 11 Mars Hill batters in six and a third innings. Thomas found himself in a couple of jams and pitched his way out of them – one with bases loaded in the fifth, the other with runners on the corners in the sixth.
With a 6-3 win in the second game, the Bobcats forced the decisive game three Saturday, a game that ultimately went the Panthers’ way.
Phil Campbell ends the season 25-10.
