The third-ranked Akron-Westfield baseball team won their sixth game in a row with a road victory at Kingsley-Pierson on Tuesday night by the score of 7-4.
The win was Akron-Westfield’s first over Kingsley-Pierson since 2018, but it was not their most complete game to get the job done. That meant it would take all nine guys in the lineup to have to step in some form. They did that, and Akron-Westfield head coach Gordon Johnson says having guys that can battle out tough wins is really important.
The Westerners had six different guys drive in a run with their offense producing one run in all but two innings in the victory. Coach Johnson says this lineup has proven time and time again why it is the best one through nine in Westerner history.
The game was tight all the way through with Kingsley-Pierson’s three-run second inning giving them the lead and allowing them to hang with Akron-Westfield. That three-run inning saw all nine Panthers come up to bat in the inning. Kingsley-Pierson head coach Taylor Doeschot says that inning was something he wanted to see from the offense all game.
Four Westerners were called on to pitch in the victory with all of them having to fight through tough innings and doing so in big ways. Coach Johnson says it was just a situation where each guy had to be ready to come in and get the job done.
The Panthers dropped to 10-5 this season with the loss. Most teams would be happy with a record like that, but the Panthers are not most teams having been to the state semifinals in three of the last four years. Coach Doeschot says the young group he has this season needs to play with some confidence every time they step on the field so they can be ready for teams like this come tournament time.
The Westerners up their record to 13-1 on the season and continue a tough week at MMCRU in the third game in three days. They will follow that up with Kingsley-Pierson again at the always tough Spalding Catholic Tournament in Granville on Friday and Saturday. The key to playing their best ball this week, according to coach Johnson, is not getting too far in the schedule and just focusing on the next game at hand.
The Westerners and Panthers play each other in the Spalding Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday at 5:00 PM at Vosburg Field in Granville.
