Panthers lose a tough one, fall to Klein 6-4 in KISD Championship.

It was a crazy night at Klein Forest Saturday with too many errors on both sides and some crazy umpire moments; but in the end Oak came up short losing 6-4 to Klein in the championship game.  Houck was on the mound for Oak and the Panther defense made quick work of the first two batters with a Rocka-Williams grounder and a caught pop up by Frazier.  The first of five errors for the Panthers put the third batter on base, followed by a walk and an RBI single scoring the first run for the Bearkats.  Things became a little confusing after that when another error and a missed count by the umpire resulted in Oak leaving the field on a 2 strike out call that later was reversed and put the Panthers back on the diamond.  The inning finally ended with three runs by Klein, two errors by Oak and the Panthers up to bat.

Rocka led off with a line drive.  A Moon double later in the inning moved Rocka to third and Frazier sent him home but failed to reach himself.  Oak ended the inning behind 3-1.   The top of the 2^nd started with another Panther error resulting in a base runner for Klein.  A strike out and another Frazier catch in foul territory made things look promising but the 4^th error of the game resulted in an RBI and a base runner.  Moon jumped on the next batter’s bunt, throwing him out at first to retire the side.  Oak hung tough and came to plate behind 4-1.

Tyler Williams walked to start the inning and DH Matt Sloan moved Williams to second but did not beat the throw to reach.  Blake Ashford singled and an error by the Bearkats scored Williams.  Alex Hass hit a blooper that dropped in behind second base scoring Ashford.   A walk by Rocka put him at first but a double play, short – 2^nd – 1^st retired the side.  Oak shortened Klein’s lead to one and returned to the field behind 4-3.

Oak’s 5^th error of the game allowed a runner to reach but he was caught off base and Houck went back to work with the bases empty.  A single line drive over first put another runner on but a strike out and a defensive play from Frazier to Williams kept Oak in the game with 0 runs for the half inning despite the errors. 

In the bottom of the third, Frazier walked among a pop up and a strikeout and Adam Lemmon came to bat with two outs.  A line drive to center put him on first and Matt Sloan’s single up the middle scored Frazier tying the score 4-4.  A strike out left two stranded.   Houck went back to work and some great Panther defense in center by Holland and right by Lemmon put two quick outs on the scoreboard.  Two walks followed and Oak made a pitching change bringing in Chad LaPaglia.  LaPaglia retired the side with a pop up to Rocka at second.

Alex Hass led off the bottom of the 4^th with a single and a dropped third strike call with Moon at the plate started an umpire controversy.  On a dropped third strike the umpire did not call the batter out; as a result, Hass ran to second and Moon ran to first in the confusion.  After an umpire conference, Moon was properly ruled out but Hass remained on second after advancing at his own risk.  The end result was that Hass was ultimately left stranded when the next two batters failed to reach.  The score remained 4-4.

A long single by Klein put the first batter on base and LaPaglia struck out the second.  A single blooper over short moved the runner followed by a fielder’s choice moving him to third.  A wild pitch scored the runner putting Klein up 5-4.  LaPaglia struck out the next batter retiring the side.   Oak started the bottom of the fifth with a Klein error putting Frazier on first.  Tyler Williams followed with a huge double to center but unfortunately a strike out and two ground outs retired the side.

Klein scored one in the sixth with a single, followed by a bunt and a walk put a runner in scoring position.  The next batter singled, scoring the 6^th run and a fly out to Ashford and a Rocka-Williams grounder ended the side.   Oak tried to answer in the bottom of the 6^th with a line drive by Hass and a stolen base put him in scoring position.  Unfortunately the next 3 batters ended in a 1-2-3 for Klein.

Panther defense came to life with a Frazier to Williams throw,  fly out to Lemmon and a strike out ending the Kats’ last at bat 1-2-3.  Oak came to bat for their last chance still trailing by 2.  Frazier singled but 2 fly balls to right and one to second ended the game.  Tough loss.