WEST ALEXANDRIA — Twin Valley South’s baseball team won three of five games last week to even its record at 6-6.
South picked up a win over Bethel and swept a doubleheader from Stivers.
South began the week with an 8-6 loss to Ansonia on Wednesday, April 18.
“It wasn’t our best game from a pitching standpoint, but we have got to do more to help our pitchers out. Ansonia did a good job at the plate tonight by making consistent contact and finding holes, but we still made too many mental mistakes and did not help ourselves out at the plate,” South coach Cory Bassler said. “We have got to have a much better approach as we step into the batter’s box and focus on doing all the little things right, if we want to take the next step as a team.”
South trailed 3-2 after the first inning and tied the game at 3-all after three.
The Tigers regained the lead with five runs in the fourth
Josh Wysong got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly in the first to score Cade Cottingim. Travis Lovely followed with an RBI single to score Buddy Henderson. Wysong also drove in the Panthers lone run in the third inning, scoring Henderson. Ryan Bassler had an RBI single in the 5th to score Cottingim. Josh Wysong hit a sacrifice fly in the 7th to score Henderson, cutting deficit to 8-5. Travis Lovely followed with an RBI single to score Ryan Bassler to cut the deficit to 8-6.
Cade Cottingim 2-for-4 with two runs and two stolen bases. Buddy Henderson 3-for-4 with three runs and a stolen base. Ryan Bassler 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Josh Wysong 1-for-2 with 3 RBIs and Travis Lovely 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
On Thursday, the Panthers scored in every inning but the third in claiming an 11-7 win over Bethel.
Ryan Bassler gave South the early lead with an RBI single in the first to score Buddy Henderson. Cade Cottingim drove in Hunter Bennett in the second with a single and Buddy Henderson added an RBI single in the fourth to score Jayden Bassler.
South was able to jump out to a 9-2 lead in the fifth inning behind a two RBI single by Hunter Bennett that plated Chase Denlinger and Travis Lovely. Branden Perry added a couple insurance runs in the sixth after Bethel closed the gap to two runs, as he drove in Ryan Johnson and Hunter Bennett with two outs to extend the lead to four. Buddy Henderson came in with one out and the bases loaded in the sixth inning and close out the game from there, picking up the save.
“We honestly played a pretty decent game until things unraveled a bit in the sixth inning. I was happy to see us bounce back from that and add a couple more runs in the bottom of the inning, just to show some grit,” Cory Bassler said. “All-in-all, I thought we fought hard all game and hopefully this is something we can build on going forward.”
Cade Cottingim went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Buddy Henderson went 2-for-3 with an RBI, run, and a walk. Ryan Johnson went 3-for-4 with two runs. Hunter Bennett went 1-for-2 with two RBIs, three runs, and two walks. Branden Perry went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk.
On Friday, the Panthers were run-ruled by Tri-Village 13-1.
“Aside from all of the errors and the lack of production at the plate, the bottom line is we were not ready to play tonight and it showed,” coach Bassler said. “Pitch by pitch we just did not have the focus that it takes to be a good baseball team and hopefully it can be a learning experience going forward.”
South wrapped up the week with an 11-1 and 14-0 win over Stivers.
The Panthers were scheduled to play Covington on Tuesday, April 24. They are to travel to Arcanum on Wednesday and Miami East on Friday. South will wrap up the week with a trip to Dixie on Saturday for a doubleheader.
