The final game of the best of three between Klein Oak and Lufkin proved to be a hard fought match up down to the final pitch.  Klein Oak losses the coin toss and we are the visiting team.  With two quick outs,  Wes Theiss pounds a line drive which reaches the 390’ center field wall, he tries to stretch his double into a triple and is tagged out for the final out of the Panther first inning.   Ryan Hudnall takes the mound for the Panthers and faces  ive Lufkin batters allows one hit, one walk and leaves both on base.

Top of Two. Lufkin saw only three Panthers while Hudnall has only four batters including a strike out. Zip to zip, and we move to the top of three.

Panther’s catcher CJ Manning gets a base hit with two outs, but is put out on a fielder’s choice to end the top of the third inning. Lufkin comes up empty in the bottom of the third while Hudnall gave up a double and an intentional walk. The Panther’s did not allow any runs to be scored.

The top of the fourth inning Kaleb Goodell leads off with a single and then he steals second base. With one out Garrett Harrison hits a sharp infield ground ball that advances Goodell to third and Harrison beats the throw to first base.  Travis Walker then hits a sacrifice fly ball to the center fielder to score Goodell. The Panthers strike first, 1-0. The bottom of the fourth Hudnall takes the mound and will face six Lufkin batters. First man gets on base from an infield error; next two batters get base hits and the fourth batter hits a sacrifice fly ball to right field to tie the ball game. 

The top of the fifth inning brings up Brent McMinn to the plate with one out on the scoreboard. The first pitch looked pretty good, McMinn parks it over 330’ left field fence for a solo homerun.  2-1 Panthers.  Pitcher Ryan Hudnall see’s only three batters; he walks the first batter which two pitches later is gunned down by a CJ Manning rifle shot from home plate to Scott Arthur tag for the first out.  Then Hudnall strikes out the next two batters.

The sixth inning brings up Goodell who hits another single, steals second base and advances to third base from an errant throw from the catcher to second base. No outs and a Theiss fly ball to right field is caught and Goodell tags up and runs for home plate, but is caught short by a good throw from the right fielder, for the second out. Harrison hits a hard ground ball up the middle but is caught by the Lufkin shortstop for the last out of the inning. The bottom of the sixth Hudnall walks one and sits three down including the last batter with a strike out.  2-1 KO Panthers

Top of the seventh Lufkin only lets three KO Panthers come to bat and ends the inning with a Austin Jackson line shot that is snagged by the shortstop. The top of the Lufkin lineup is up with the leadoff batter receives a walk, the second batter struck out, the third batter hits a single to put a man on first and second bases with the cleanup batter, Tatum, at bat. Tatum like the first pitch he saw and put it over the same spot that McMinn did, left field fence for a winning walk off homerun.

Our guys have a lot to be proud of, great season Panthers!