South Ridge can't find offense at state tournament

Entering the Class A State Baseball Tournament, the South Ridge Panthers were hoping experience would pay off at their second-straight appearance, but South Ridge fell twice last Thursday and Friday.

The Panthers opened up play Thursday afternoon at the Mini Met Stadium in Jordan facing No. 2 New York Mills.

The Panthers scored the game’s first run — and what turned out to be their only run of the game — in the top of the second inning when Riley Kinsley scored on an infield single off the bat of Elis Tuominen. The Panthers led 1-0 after two innings of play.

The Eagles plated their first two runs of the game in the bottom of the third inning, scoring two runs on three hits. The game continued on with both teams having chances in the fourth and fifth innings to score, but stellar defensive plays from both teams kept the score at 2-1.

Following a scoreless top of the sixth inning for the Panthers, New York Mills exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. They were aided by three walks, three errors and two batters that were hit by pitches, giving the Eagles a 10-1 lead, which was too much for South Ridge to overcome.

Jaxon Bennett led the Panthers with two hits on the afternoon. Only one run scored was ten runs below the Panther’s per game average. Mason Lane took the loss for South Ridge, allowing only three earned runs.

With the loss, the Panthers moved on to the consolation round of the Class A tournament Friday in Chaska where they took on Hayfield. Making their first state tournament appearance, the Vikings didn’t show any nerves Friday as they jumped out to an early lead, scoring one run in the first and four in the second to take a 5-0 lead after two innings of play.

The game remained 5-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning when Riley Kinsley walked; he moved to second on a wild pitch and came in to score on a Jaxson Bennett single. The one run scored cut the lead to 5-1, but the Vikings added one in the top of the sixth when Drew Risius hit a solo home run to give Hayfield a five-run lead again at 6-1.

The Panthers mounted a comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring four runs on two hits and aided by two Viking errors. Logan Young, Joey Janke, Tayler Anderson and Riley Kinsley all scored in the inning, but with two outs and two runners on base in the inning, the Panthers threat ended on an inning-ending strikeout.

The Panthers cut the lead to 6-5 but a scoreless bottom of the seventh inning allowed Hayfield to advance and face Randolph for the state consolation title.

The Panthers — with the two losses at state tournament — saw the season end with a 20-8 record.

With only three graduating seniors, South Ridge again looks to be an early favorite into next season.