Panther softball splits with Cyclones

Creston dropped the first game, 7-5, and won the second game, 6-3 against the Harlan Cyclones Tuesday night.

The Panthers lead the series 14-13, since 2009.

Creston landed on the scoreboard first, with a single run in the bottom of the first.

The Cyclones rattled off seven unanswered runs and the Panthers responded with four of their own in the third and fourth innings, but it wasn’t enough to close the deficit.

“Game one you know just a good lesson for pitchers, both of them,” head coach Mike McCabe said. “He had a pretty tight strike zone, but he was consistent. We just had a couple innings there where we kind of let them build a couple rallies.”

The Panther defense saw some balls goes through their respective gaps.

“We had a couple bunt situations we didn’t handle the best,” McCabe said. “Credit there, they’re (Harlan) going to keep going until we figure it out. We had a couple bloop balls that fell in the outfield. It’s a tough play in the sun over there on the right side.”

The positive note for game one came in the demeanor from the team.

“The positive I saw was that we stayed positive,” McCabe said. “We didn’t put our heads down and start sauntering and that kind of thing. That’s been a problem so I was pleased with the way we gave ourselves a chance late in that game.”

A late game hit couldn’t be found which left runners at second and third stranded.

“Give Kasperbauer credit, she’s pretty crafty,” McCabe said of senior Harlan hurler Tianna Kasperbauer. “We had some kids who had a hard time staying off the up stuff. It looks nice and big up there but it’s hard to get the bat up there and catch up.”

Morgan Driskell, Daile Keeler and Ava Adamson each had home runs in the second game. These tallies added up to a 5-0 Panther lead after the fifth inning.

“Morgan got us off and running with a home run early, Daile had a home run down the left field line and Ava I wasn’t sure on that one if it was high enough,” McCabe said.

Glenwood comes to Creston on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., the Panthers lead the series 16-9 since 2010.

“All I can tell you about Glenwood is throw at the records, I don’t care if they’re the favorite or if we’re the favorite,” McCabe said. “It’s Glenwood and Creston and it’s going to be a war, it’s going to be a battle. We’re just going to hope to be a little bit better on Thursday, especially on some of those areas defensively and take those outs when they’re giving them to us.”