Bryce Hirayama
Student Sports Media
Late game heroics were not enough in Butler Community College’s game against the Neosho County Panthers, as they lost 4-3 in 11 innings.
The Grizzlies finished with nine hits and two errors in their loss.
The first few innings may have been scoreless, but there was no short of highlight reel defensive plays by the grizzlies.
In the top of the 3rd, sophomore left fielder Javier Pena made a phenomenal diving catch which helped end the inning as well as prevent a run from coming home.
Subsequently in the following inning, with the bases loaded and one out Butler pitcher Zach Nagel struck out two batters back to back to get out of the inning with no runs on the board for Neosho.
The first run of the game was scored in the bottom of the 5th as sophomore Jack Maki doubled in sophomore Patrick Bethea.
The RBI double for the Grizzlies awoke the slumbering Neosho offense who scored two runs of their own in the top of the 6th.
The first came by way of a single by Brant Scrivener.
Preceding Scrivener’s single were back-to-back walks by Neosho. The two runners got into scoring position by performing a double steal which allowed them to be on second and third base respectively.
Scrivener’s single was a nice flip of the bat as the ball narrowly flew over the glove of sophomore shortstop Colby Deaville.
With runners on first and third, a ground ball was hit to Deaville. The runner on first was stealing and he had no choice but to throw it to first to get the sure out.
With that, the runner on third scored and the Panthers jumped out to a 2 to 1 lead to finish out the top of the 6th.
The top of the 7th was another scoring opportunity for the Neosho Panthers as they scored on a two-out single, extending their lead to 3-1 going into the bottom of the 7th.
Butler’s 7th and 8th innings went by without any runs as their offense stayed dormant. Multiple strikeouts and a picked off runner at first did not help their offense get on track.
At the top of the 9th, Butler got a “one, two, three” inning with two strikeouts and a ground out. This caused a great momentum for the Grizzlies going into the bottom of the 9th.
The Neosho Panthers loaded the bases with a couple of walks and eventually walked in a run.
The next run came off of a sacrifice fly by sophomore Parker Base, which tied the game up for the Grizzlies at three apiece.
The ending of the 9th had a controversial ending though.
With one out, Butler hit a blooper to the second baseman of Neosho. He stumbled a bit and it gave the runner on third for Butler a chance to run home and score for the win. The second baseman’s throw was offline, and the runner had a clean chance to the plate.
The runner was Maki, and the throw was off line and got in the way of his running lane.
He had to maneuver around and lunged for the plate.
At the same time, the Neosho catcher lunged to tag him as well.
With the umpire standing right there, he called Maki out causing an up roar from both sides as the game carried into extra innings.
After that controversial call in the bottom of the 9th, Butler wasn’t the same. The offense could not generate enough firepower to finish.
In the top of the 11th, Maki came in to pitch. He got a few strikeouts, but he gave up a mammoth of a home run to Sam Kissane and that was all she wrote.
The home run was the final nail in the coffin as Butler lost 4-3 in 11 innings to the Neosho.
Butler continued their season next against Cloud County on Wednesday, April 4. The Butler Grizzlies are currently 3rd in the West division of the KJCCC with a record of 10-6.