Yazoo County made it six in a row on Wednesday when they defeated Amanda Elzy 21-4.
The win moved the Panthers to 12-3 overall and 7-1 in district play.
According to Yazoo County head baseball coach Corbin Ellis, the reason for such the massive offensive numbers as of late has been due to the entire lineup contributing, and he believes his team is a dangerous one when everyone is hitting well.
“Their pitcher struggled throwing strikes the first two innings,” Ellis said. “He settled down and started throwing strikes in the third and our bats came to life again. We were seeing the ball well and hit the ball hard on every hit. Our six through nine hitters drove in nine runs. That production from the bottom of the order is big. Ben Luckett our eight hole hitter is tied for the team lead in RBIs. We have a pretty good order 1-9, so it’s hard for teams to pitch around us when we are hot.”
Although the final score would not indicate it, Amanda Elzy actually struck first in the contest, scoring a run due to a catcher’s interference and an RBI single to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
But the Panthers came to life in the second inning.
Four walks, a hit by pitch and two timely hits led to the Panthers scoring five runs, giving them a 5-1 lead after the second inning.
In the third inning, it was more of the same, as Yazoo County was able to put up four more runs to extend their lead to 8-1.
The Panthers hit an offensive crescendo in the fourth inning when they were able to put up nine runs, making their lead 18-1 with another inning left to play.
Yazoo County broke the 20 run mark for the first time this season in the fifth inning with three more runs, bringing the score to 21-1.
Amanda Elzy came back and scored three runs in the bottom of the inning, but it wasn’t even a dent in the deficit, giving Yazoo County a 21-4 win.
Ellis’ pitching did exactly what he needed them to do: keep the opposition down.
“Trevor did another good job on the mound today throwing strikes,” Ellis said. “Tanner came in and gave us a good inning of relief. They scored three runs against Tanner but two of those were because we got a little lazy with the big lead.”
Trevor Leal earned the win on the mound after giving up one run (0 ER) on two hits in four innings of work with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Leal also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk, an RBI and three runs scored.
Senior Cailton Shaffer had a monster game at the plate for the Panthers, going 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk, two RBIs and three runs scored.
Jamari Brown and Ben Luckett each produced three RBIs in the victory.
While the late runs did not hurt Yazoo County in the grand scheme of things, Ellis understands that his team cannot afford the mental lapses against a team like East Side.
“We will stress finishing every game strong in practice tomorrow though,” Ellis said. “Humphreys County lost to East Side on Tuesday night so now we control our own destiny. We have to take care of East Side Friday night then the rematch with Humphreys on Tuesday.”
The game against East Side was not upon completion by press time.
The first pitch of the game between Yazoo County and Humphreys is set for 6 p.m.
