PANORA — Thursday’s WCAC baseball doubleheader between Woodward-Granger and host Panorama was dominated by the starting pitchers for both teams, as each tossed complete games and were masterful on the mound.[wpedon id=”82220″ align=”center”]
Panorama claimed a 3-1 victory in the opener, with Luke South topping Cole Theisen, while Caden Easter outdueled Hunter Holmes in a 1-0 W-G victory in the nightcap.
South went seven innings and Theisen six in the first game, with each tagged for one earned run on four hits. Both pitcher hit one batter and struck out four, with South issuing four walks and Theisen one.
W-G (11-3, 8-2) was the visitor and scored their sole run in the third when Bryce Achenbach and Matt Buch drew consecutive walks. Reese Jamison singled home Achenbach, and although Joe Rhodes followed with a hit the Hawks had to settle for a 1-0 lead.
The Panthers (3-9, 3-7) broke through in the bottom of the fourth when South walked and Holmes singled. A critical Hawk error mixed with RBI-singles from Tanner Godfrey and a Steve Soreide and a base hit from Dominic Walker to give the hosts a 3-1 lead they would not relinquish.
Achenbach walked with two outs in the seventh, with Buch adding a base hit to put runners on the corners, but South induced a pop out to end the game.
For as stingy as South and Theisen were in the opener, W-G’s Easter and Panorama’s Holmes were even more unforgiving in the closing contest.
Easter allowed a single to South, and yielded a single and a walk to Levi Richey, but that was it. He finished with 10 strikeouts while facing only 24 batters in seven innings to earn the victory.
Holmes surrendered three walks, allowed a single to Buch and a hit to Rhodes while fanning two and also facing just 24 batters in six frames.
Buch doubled in the third, with Hunter Pifer brought on as a courtesy runner. He scored on a RBI-ground out from Achenbach for the only run in the contest.
W-G hosts Ogden Monday and visits Des Moines Christian Tuesday, with Panorama hosting DMC Monday before visiting Earlham Tuesday.
