Local sports roundup: MW edges PHS softball
The Porterville High softball team was on the verge of picking up an impressive win at Mt. Whitney, but showed its inexperience in losing to the Pioneers 8-7 in eight innings on Friday.
Maddison Emerson deserved a better fate on the mound for Porterville as she gave the Panthers a valiant effort, pitching a with a fractured wrist on her catching hand. Porterville assistant coach Bill Linley also said McKenzie Bean had a solid game at catcher combining with Emerson.
The Panthers led 5-3 going into the bottom of the sixth inning when Whitney scored two unearned runs to tie the score 5-5. The Pioneers then scored a uneared run in the eight for the win.
Emerson scattered seven hits while striking out just two. But one of her strikeouts came against Whitney’s outstanding No. 4 hitter with the bases loaded in the fifth to preserve a 3-3 tie. Emerson got the hitter with an outstanding changeup. PHS went on to score two runs in the sixth to take a 5-3 lead.
Linley said mental errors and defensive struggles ultimately cost the Panthers, adding base running mistakes also hurt PHS. Offensively for Porterville, Dewey Dale, Bean and Kayleigh Berra all had two hits and an RBI, Madison Avila added three hits and Kim Hulse added a hit.
Whitney is a team who has beaten Tulare Union 13-3 and 8-7 and lost to Tulare Western 7-5.
BASEBALL
MT. WHITNEY 12-7, PHS 1-2
It was a tough day for PHS who was swept in a doubleheader in Visalia, losing the opener 12-1 and the nightcap 7-2. Connor Carson pitched four innings for PHS in the opener and Nolan Guzman pitched five innings for Porterville in the nightcap. Chris Beltran had an RBI single in the opener and Jordan Duran had an RBI single in the nightcap for the Panthers.
PHS played without standout Tyler Davis, who’s out with a sprained ankle. Porterville coach A.J. Watts said Davis should be limited at best for the time being. Watts said in a best case scenario, Davis could start on the mound when PHS opens in the Fresno Easter Classic a week from Monday.
